Terry Telson - While In Exile

Arizona has long been a land of outsiders, roamers, wanderers and honest 'real people' artists. One such of these characters is Terry Telson. For nearly three years Terry isolated himself in the high mountains of Prescott, Arizona working diligently to perfect his craft. His effort, 'While In Exile' (released locally in 1975) fully embodies the spirit of the true Arizona poet, who's both dedication and skill is displayed through grueling hard work, sacrifice and outright honesty. While there are bountiful amounts of privately pressed folk records from the 1970's, very few are as genuine, and even less display the level of musicianship and resolve which Terry Telson delivers in sole Arizona release. 'I was in Chicago (born and raised) doing the folk club and college circuit. Which you have the live cuts from. I had a friend telling me how mellow Prescott was and that I could think and put the next level for me together. Finally after hearing that two dozen times and getting bored with where I was musically I bought into it. At the time there were some great players on the same circuit. John Prine, Steve Goodman. Bonnie Koloc, Tom Dundee, the Holstein brothers (Ed & Fred) etc. They all went on to bigger and better things and deserved to. I met several other good musicians who also unplugged from the grind / rut they too were in. It freed us all to just play and be creative. The people was a makeup of cowboys, retired and hippies. Cowboys down in Prescott Valley, retired in cabins, hippies renting cabins. The three groups didn't get along that well, so we all kept to ourselves. We kept our musical hippie lifestyle going by making turquoise jewelry that the hustlers down in Phoenix sold as 'authentic' Indian. I as others kept working on our music. When I thought I had the right amount of good cuts at the time, I recorded 'While In Exile' the name was meant to mean that I was in exile from the live music scene. It was recorded on a ¾' reel to reel recorder in a home studio we set up so any of the musicians could record their songs to hear what it sounded like all of us broke and a step away from living out with the bears. I filed for copyright and then the album was pressed in Phoenix. The cover photo was taken by my wife. The music scene in Arizona at the time was closed to everything but country and western. Figuring I got what I wanted from the mountains, I moved to San Francisco and the rest is yesterday's look in the rear view mirror.' - Terry Telson