Terry Allen: MemWars + Truckload of Art

In celebration of the publication of Truckload of Art: The Life and Work of Terry Allen (Hachette, 2024), artist and musician Terry Allen performs selections from MemWars, a sprawling multimedia series that has spanned drawings, performances, and installations to meditate on the intertwined mythologies of the artist’s childhood and the American West. In live settings, these “little stabs of memory” take the form of story-songs and sintesi (a type of short-form theater favored by the Italian futurists), often joined by his wife and frequent collaborator Jo Harvey Allen. The stories explicate, deepen, and in some cases confound the meanings of the related songs, performed here by the pair, their son Bukka Allen, and frequent collaborator Richard Bowden. 

Allen will be joined by Paradise of Bachelors founder, folklorist, and Truckload of Art author Brendan Greaves, who will read excerpts from the newly published biography and appear in conversation with the artist. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.