Alex Dawson, right, and Arlan Feiles rehearse for “Room to Swing an Ax.”
In April 2024, Alex Dawson’s folk-horror play “The Devil and Daisy Dirt” — featuring the Jersey Devil himself, represented by a life-size puppet — premiered at The Old Franklin Schoolhouse in Metuchen. Dawson and his small group of collaborators went on to bring it to many other venues, in New Jersey and elsewhere, culminating with four shows at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in February of this year. A comic book – “and, who knows, maybe a movie” — is planned for that story, going forward, Dawson told the audience at The Old Franklin Schoolhouse, last weekend.
He was there to premiere a new work, “Room to Swing an Ax,” which should appeal to anyone who enjoyed “The Devil and Daisy Dirt,” and may have an even brighter future. “Room to Swing an Ax,” which Dawson said was “loosely” inspired by Waylon Jennings’ autobiographical 1987 album A Man Called Hoss, is very different from “The Devil and Daisy Dirt.” It’s a blend of storytelling and songs in which Dawson revisits his own childhood — in harrowing detail, and with cathartic purpose. It is described in the program as an “Audio-Biography & Southern Gothic Song Cycle.”
“Certainly there are monsters,” Dawson said, introducing the show on July 12. “But they’re not the kind of monsters with horns and teeth and fur.”
“Trust me when I say it’s all true,” said Dawson, a little bit later.
The two-man show alternates between spoken-word passages — delivered with theatrical flair and rhythmic propulsion by Dawson — and equally hypnotic songs. Dawson wrote all the words, including the lyrics. Feiles wrote the music and does all the singing, as well as playing guitar and harmonica — both during the songs and, occasionally, during the stories, too.
ALEX DAWSON
The songs often have the same subject matter as the stories, but that’s not a problem, as it adds to the sense of Dawson endlessly mulling over these memorable and sometimes traumatic episodes from his past, hoping to reach some kind of resolution.
Dawson, a professor of creative writing (with a focus on folklore, fantasy and horror) at Rutgers University, grew up on a horse ranch in rural Alabama. Burly and bearded, he gives the impression of someone who could still feel just as comfortable there as in a New Brunswick classroom. Many of the stories in this show are about family members, neighbors and animals he grew up with; occasionally the stories touch on the supernatural forces he and his family believed to be at play in this small town, too.
Most prominent among the characters is Dawson’s stepfather, a dentist whom everyone called Doc. In the show’s opening song, he is described as a “unpleasant hard, man”; in this immediately arresting section of the show, Dawson remembers Doc striking him with an ax, then calmly saying of the wound, “Well, that’ll be with ya forever.”
Doc died about 30 years ago. “Thought I’d forget him, but so far no luck/Like he said of the cut, I’m stuck with that fuck,” Feiles sings.
The show’s musical highlight is “Whaddya Call Wood With Nothing to Do?,” a song about a classmate of Dawson’s whose mother abandoned him and his father to run off with another man. Feiles sings, with gradually building intensity:
“I gotta leave this tired old town, got to let myself roar, gotta make a loud sound
“And I can’t do that with a ball and a chain,”
She said as they stood, and it started to rain.
“I’m sorry, my love, but mama is through.
“But always remember, I’m thinking of you.”
ARLAN FEILES
The story is structured more or less chronologically. Dawson’s mother doesn’t really come into sharp focus until after she divorces Doc, and he dies. She remarries, but then dies, too. She was “a force of nature,” Dawson says. “Hard to believe a woman like that could ever die.”
Feiles sings another lovely song, the warmly nostalgic “Supergirl (All I Wanted Was Her Boots),” after Dawson talks about all the memories stirred up by her death.
After the initial presentation of “Room to Swing an Ax” at The Old Franklin Schoolhouse, Dawson posted on Facebook that “working with (Feiles) on this was one of the most joyful creative experiences I’ve ever had, despite the intensely personal nature of the subject matter, the songs built from bitter memories. What an honor to hear his voice and music in the wings of my words. I really do love this dude, he is my brother, and I can’t wait to see where this show takes us. …
“In the meantime, kiss your mom and good luck with your own ghosts.”
Upcoming venues for “Room to Swing an Ax” will include Flounder Brewing Co. in Hillsborough, July 20 at 6 p.m. (visit flounderbrewing.com/music-and-events.); The Bernards Township Library, July 22 at 7 p.m. (visit bernardslibrary.org); and The Toms River Branch of The Ocean County Library, July 27 at 7 p.m. (visit theoceancountylibrary.org).
For updates, visit facebook.com/raconteurbooks.
_________________________________________
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
