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A rare treat is in store on Tuesday, 11th May, when the legendary TERRY ALLEN makes it all the way from Lubbock, Texas to appear at South Parade Pier. There's no greater maverick in all of country music -his audience is not the country mainstream at all, he appeals mainly to open-minded listeners who enjoy alternative rock and folk singer/songwriters. Terry Allen digs into modern-day concerns with a gutsy, liberal perspective, tempered with a dry humour and irreverence, which make his shows such a delight. Like fellow Texans and collaborators Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Allen maintains a firm musical grounding in regional country and folk traditions. Terry Allen is the most ambitious of them all, writing complex song cycles that have been performed with the help of fellow eclectics ranging from Little Feat's Lowell George to Talking Heads' David Byrne - wrote "New Delhi Freight Train" for Little Feat, and contributed some songs to the soundtrack of David Byrne's True Stories film. Terry Allen's first album, "Juarez", released in the mid-'70s, was a conceptual work that originated as a soundtrack to an imaginary film, evolving in performance to a set of songs inspired by Mexican imagery. This is an awesome album, thankfully just re-released on CD. However, "Lubbock On Everything", released in 1979, is his most significant album. Inspired by his experiences growing up in the Texas town of Lubbock, the songs keenly observe the details of regional life and characters with a sensitivity and wit more akin to rock and folk singer/songwriters than country artistes. With many artistic projects always in the works, Allen has never had the need to record frequently. His singing and songwriting prowess remained undimmed, though, and he's also expanded his musical horizons significantly with support from such noted stars and cult figures such as David Byrne, Lucinda Williams and Joe Ely. Jimmie Dale Gilmore calls Terry Allen, whom he first saw perform when both were high-schoolers in Lubbock, "the impetus for me to become a songwriter . . . It wasn't his style that affected me, just the pure fact that he was so brazenly creative." When drummer Davis McLarty of Joe Ely's band recently had the chance to accompany Allen, he said he felt like bowing down and admitting, "We're not worthy." McLarty calls Allen a "chicken-fried renaissance man . . . the world's best-kept secret." Terry Allen appears at South Parade Pier on Tuesday 11th May, doors open 8 p.m. Tickets available from (023) 92863911 (Wedgewood Rooms Box Office)