Friends rush to help Zevon cut his last album

By Geoff Boucher
Los Angeles Times

Warren Zevon is dying, and he wants to make a record.

It was a jolting and macabre message, which propelled it only faster through the circuit of friends, managers, agents and labels that link rock musicians.

The ones who know Zevon best probably allowed themselves a sad smile. It was just the sort of thing you'd expect from the singer-songwriter whose music always seemed like a margarita stand in a mausoleum: Have some fun, his songs seemed to say; just don't forget where this party is going to end.

Zevon is much beloved by many fellow artists, not only for his talent, but in equal measure for his uncompromising career path and wry charm. So when the call went out that cancer had him at death's door, a crowd came running to sing with him at the threshold.

"The Wind," due Tuesday, includes contributions by Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Tom Petty, Emmylou Harris, Ry Cooder and others. The context of the recording and VH1 cameras taping a documentary make it a strange hybrid between a tribute album and an Irish wake.

For Browne, the project was "an enjoyable task that you stepped into in hopes of, for a minute, finding some joy and dealing with grief." He and Zevon have been close friends for decades, and Browne produced the 1976 album "Warren Zevon," which put the title troubadour on the musical map.

"It's such a difficult place he is in," Browne said, "and he is approaching it as best he can, in his trademark style of honesty and artistic courage."

Zevon has been bedridden since January. The album was assembled late last year, with much of the work done in his home studio.

"He had a choice how to proceed with his life at this point," said Danny Goldberg, chief of Artemis Records, Zevon's label. "It speaks of him as an artist that he wanted to make art."

Closest to Zevon on "The Wind" is longtime friend and collaborator Jorge Calderon, who produced the album, played or sang on all 11 tracks, co-wrote seven, and laid down dummy lead vocals when Zevon was too ill to show up.

For him, Springsteen's visit was especially memorable. "What he brought emotionally into the room, the way he handled himself and gave of himself — well, to me he is a national treasure."

Calderon laughed and added that Zevon, after Springsteen played, shook his head and said, "So you are him."

Zevon has made a habit of deflating one-liners. After he heard Bob Dylan sprinkle his Los Angeles concerts with Zevon songs, the dying man cracked a smile. "Maybe this is worth it," he told Calderon.

He included a Dylan song on "The Wind," much to Calderon's initial dismay. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" hardly needed reinterpretation, and Calderon worried about the emotional setting. "But I was wrong. ... His vocal takes it to a place I was not expecting."

The most compelling piece is the final track, "Keep Me in Your Heart," which bids farewell with lines such as "I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse/ Keep me in your heart for a while."

Drummer Jim Keltner said he was overwhelmed with emotion as he played the final version. Zevon was too ill to be there the day the track was finished.

"To be playing that song, to know the words and not have him there to sing it, well, it really hit me," Keltner said. "I was playing through tears."