Living in the Woods in a Tree

Book excerpt: This is an intimate glimpse into the turbulent life of Texas music legend Blaze Foley (1949-1989), seen through the eyes of Sybil Rosen, the woman for whom he wrote his most widely known song, "If I Could Only Fly." It captures the exuberance of their fleeting idyll in a tree house in the Georgia woods during the countercultural 1970s. Rosen offers a firsthand witnessing of Foley's transformation from a reticent hippie musician to the enigmatic singer/songwriter in the Austin, Texas, music scene. His songs have been covered by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, and John Prine. "Thumbs up!"--Merle Haggard "There are no books that compete with Rosen's, and it's quite unlikely that any ever will. Rosen's time with him (and her deft telling of that time) reveals so much about the man and the music."--Peter Cooper, The Tennessean "Poetic and gripping, this beautifully written book ends up being about Blaze, the author, the times, and the creative journey. An impressive work in every way!"--Louis Black, editor, Austin Chronicle and executive producer of Be Here to Love Me: A Film about Townes Van Zandt "Romantic without being cloying, Living in the Woods in a Tree is perhaps the most complete vision of the Duct Tape Messiah as we're likely to get, and Rosen portrays a complex, confounding subject with a simplicity and seductiveness that's all too rare."--Jim Caligiuri, Austin Chronicle "Though [Foley's] recorded output is scarce, his influence remains large."--New York Post Number 2: North Texas Lives of Musicians Series SYBIL ROSEN was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and holds a BFA from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She recently published a collection of Blaze Foley-inspired short stories called Riding the Dog, which won the Gold Medal for Fiction/Short Story in the Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest. A screenwriter and playwright, she has won many awards. A short documentary for which she wrote the narration was nominated for an Academy Award in that category, and while she wrote for the TV show Guiding Light, it won an Emmy for best writing. She currently lives in Whitesburg, Georgia.