THE FINAL PAINTING

Time stands stunningly still on The Final Paint
ing, the dreamy, elegiac final album from leg
endary underground singer-songwriter/poet/
painter Ed Askew.
Ed started his singing career in 1968 with a
self-titled LP release on NYC''''s infamous free
jazz/free-folk ESP-Disk' label. Known today as
Ask the Unicorn, this album is wintry psych
folk of the highest order, with Ed''''s yearning
lyrics and high-strung vocals fully emoting
over the bright, mandolin-like strum of his
chosen axe, the South American tiple. The
record caused a flare of acclaim, but after
a second album went unreleased, Ed went
back home to Connecticut, where, quietly and
locally, he taught art, painted (houses AND
paintings) and made music. Upon returning
to New York in the early '''80s, he began cir
culating cassettes of his self-recorded new
songs. This was a fascinating and unlikely
new chapter in his music, but only a few
noticed. It wasn''''t until De Stijl''''s 2002 release
of Little Eyes, his lost second album, that his
naive songs and singing began to receive the
respect they deserved.
It was just enough visibility to dream a bit
bigger. In 2013, Jerry David DeCicca produced For the World (featuring Sharon Van
Etten, Marc Ribot, Mary Lattimore and Eve Searls), augmenting Ed''''s performances
with minimal instrumental touches and vocal harmonies, presenting his music in a
Bacon & Eggs
Long Night
Lost in the Kitchen
A Train is a Thought
Gray Air-o-Plane
Someone
Tough Guys
Nightingale
ED ASKEW ON DRAG
CITY:
A Child in the Sun: Radio Sessions 1969
1970
DC670
wonderful new light. Released on the UK-based Tin Angel Records, it resulted in
several European tours, where Ed shared bills with Destroyer, Trembling Bells and
the Incredible String Band''''s Mike Heron. In the years following, additional new and
archival Askew recordings have been released through Tin Angel, Drag City and
Improved Sequence Records.
By the time Ed turned 80 in 2020, his health was declining to the point that touring
was impossible and even leaving his place was a challenge. In his Brooklyn apartment,
he continued to tape new songs, posting them on his Bandcamp page. In 2022, Jerry
called Ed to compliment him on the songs. Their stark and fragile quality was singular,
inspiring thoughts of a new production fleshing out Ed's two-track home recordings.
Ed was into it; he forwarded nearly three dozen songs in different stages of completion
and the two plotted a path forward. For the World featured acoustic piano, banjo and
harp; the songs here, played by Ed on keyboards, synth and harmonica suggested
trumpet, tenor saxophone and other sonic touches to expand their existentially lonely
sound. Health scares for both men delayed things until early 2024, when various
musicians recorded their parts either at home or in a Nashville Studio, with Styrofoam
Winos'''' Trevor Nikrant and Ryan Davis's Roadhouse Band taking their turns almost
in response to one another.
The Final Painting not only defies the curse of sequels and the ten-year gap between
the two DeCicca/Askew productions, it''''s also a wonderous variation on the intimacy
of the self-portrait, an expression from the twilight of one of the most unique artists
to emerge in last half of the 20th century. The Final Painting reinvites For the World
contributors Sharon Van Etten, Eve Searls, and Canaan Faulkner and new guests Bill
Callahan, William Tyler, Ryan Jewell, Dustin Laurenzi, and Fulvio Sigurta. In their
last conversation, just days before Ed passed in January 2025, he and Jerry agreed
to: a) use the painting left on the easel of Ed's now-empty apartment and b) call the
album The Final Painting.
Profoundly resonant in the style of Frank Sinatra''''s Watertown and David Bowie''''s
Blackstar, The Final Painting is faithful to the spirit of Ed Askew and his DIY nature
and Modernist values, pursued for years and years throughout life, art and music, all
the way to the very end.