Ed Askew

Autumnal albums recorded by older artists in their twilight years have a way of stripping all manner of bullshit from their work, chipping the songs down to their bare essence.  They can be knowing, world weary affairs.  They can be denouements.  And usually, they can be quite awesome (read: Johnny Cash, Lee Hazlewood, Warren Zevon, etc).  Ed Askew comes from underground of strange and outsider psych-tinged country and folk from the 1960's.  At 71, he just released a new album, "For the World," on Tin Angel Records.  The album consists of beautiful and melancholy songs, a journey into old age.  Listen to the title track, featuring Sharon Van Etten, below.