"The Largest Working Man In Show Business"
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Many moons ago Michael Eck took his first bow in a rat's-ass punk rock band called The Plague; blasting out the news of the day like the Almanac Singers on crack. He hasn't shut up since; even if he has toned things down to Woody Guthrie wired on black coffee."I actually have a bust of Woody on my desk," Eck says, "just to keep me honest."

He calls his thing "maximum solo acoustic" and it's maximum in every way, from his hulking frame and primal-folk bashing to his quiet country-tinged ballads. It's roots-rock that traces the bloodline from Blind Lemon Jefferson to Hank Williams, and from Tim Hardin to Tom Waits.

.In 1995 Eck pulled out his battered old Martin and recorded his long-awaited debut album, "Cowboy Black" -- a direct to two-track collection of road-weary songs written in Texas and Louisiana. The album garnered plenty of critical acclaim and established Eck as a literate new force on the songwriting scene -- one influenced as much by Sam Shepard and Raymond Carver as by Johnny Cash and Townes Van Zandt.

"Resonator" followed in 1998, with a passel of guests (including vocalists Rosanne Raneri, Kris McKay and Lonesome Val) decorating Eck's distinctive tunes with an Americana palette of banjos, fiddles, dobros and more. In a full-page feature No Depression magazine compared "Resonator" to the work of Joe Ely, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan and the brilliant but obscure Ted Hawkins.

Eck's latest album, "Small Town Blues," reflects his recent deep immersion in American folk music from the 30's and 40's, and three of the album's tunes were, in fact, recorded with the same steel-body 1931 National Triolian guitar that graces the album's cover. The National's not the only new addition -- mouthbows, washboards and harmonicas have replaced the cellos, violas and accordions of "Resonator's" more baroque moments.

"It's my best album yet," Eck says, bowing to cliche. "I went back to the live feel of "Cowboy Black" for the basic tracks, and then set the best of the "Resonator" gang loose on these new songs. It's a keeper."

For those keeping score at home, Michael Eck has recorded and performed with Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, 10,000 Maniacs and Hamell on Trial, (who dedicated his 1992 indie release "A Letter To Mike" to Eck). He has opened shows for Ani DiFranco, Jeff Buckley, Ben Folds Five, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Alejandro Escovedo, Dave Van Ronk, Jonatha Brooke, Richard Buckner, Leon Russell and so many others. He is also the host of the long-running Borders SongWriter's Forum -- which has presented over 100 artists since its inception in 1994.