The Lonesome Troubadour Photo - The Skinny

I was asked today about the history of this photograph and I am happy to oblige. When I first had the idea of "The Lonesome Troubadour", I rather fancied myself as a traveling minstrel, roaming the land and playing songs at ale-houses for a free meal and possibly a tumble with one of the local lasses. A grand idea - and in my opinion, along with the distilling of spirits, one of the few that has held water over the ages.

I had recently opened a website, on which I figured I could peddle my wares - sell some books (available at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/jeraldford, or Amazon), put up my music (via http://www.reverbnation.com/jerryford) or post videos through http://www.youtube.com/user/TooFarJerry. A grand idea, it seemed. So, I needed a photo - one that could capture all my fancies and let folks know that I was no one-trick pony. And as a live performer, I would be The Lonesome Troubadour.

So, I coerced my daughter, Allie to take a few minutes out of her busy day and take some pictures of the old man, posing in front of a bookcase, showcasing his wares and an autographed photo of the Pistoleros from the 90's. And she was more than happy to do so, once I convinced her that if she did not help me out, she would have to do all the dishes for a month and watch me pout.

  This is the original photo - note The Beatles Anthology Box Set and autographed Pistoleros publicity shot.

Once the photo was complete, Allie cleaned up my red-eyes and began to work her Photoshop magic. In what might have once taken precious months to complete, Allie made the photo look pretty friggin' cool... I added some self-promoting text and we had ourselves a promo-shot worthy of Madison Avenue.

Of course the box set and autographed Pistoleros photo had to go into an appropriately fuzzy background, bringing my come-hither look to the forefront, but there was "Speaking of Michelangelo" (my second novel) and the guitar and my sassy face. All bases duly covered. I was giddy with delight. When she had a chance to design tee-shirts for a high-school class, I offered up the idea of Lonesome Troubadour shirts and Allie came up with the stark black and white design that is plastered all over everything I do, like Jerry Lewis's Hirschfeld caricature from the early 50's that the comedian still carries to this day, brandishing everything from mugs to bass drums. Maybe one day, Allison's work will become my own personal Hirschfeld -  if it hasn't already.