Blaze of Glory: Celebrating the life (and death) of the Duct Tape Messiah

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Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah followed by a set of Foley songs by Gurf Morlix. $15 adv. 8 p.m. Fri., April 22. The Atlanta Room at Smith’s Olde Bar. 404-875-1522. www.smithsoldebar.com.

Repeats Sat., April 23. With readings from Living In the Woods In a Tree by Sybil Rosen. $15. 7 p.m. Lowell Opry House, 821 Liberty Church Road. 770-854-8435. www.lowellopryhouse.com.

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Hardly a household name, Blaze Foley could easily be considered just another obscure Texas singer-songwriter who never made it big and ultimately faded away. Known as Michael Fuller in his youth, Depty Dawg in the mid-’70s during his Georgia years, and Blaze Foley in Texas, his tale is somewhat unique. Twenty-two years after his tragic murder in Austin, he is being discovered by a new audience. This resurgence is led by several individuals, some who knew, loved, and worked with Foley, and one who never knew him.

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Foley’s music is being revisited by fellow Austinite Gurf Morlix, who befriended him in the late-’70s, and recently released a tribute album of Foley songs. “I loved his songs, his persona, he was not like anyone I had ever seen. The funniest person I’ve ever known.” In spite of Foley’s debilitating battles with drugs and alcohol, his “was a life well lived," Morlix adds, "with an amazing sense of justice, and a strong code of honor.” Sadly it was that sense of justice that resulted in Foley's untimely death when he was shot by the son of an elderly man he was defending. Sounds like a movie, right?