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Texas-born singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave dies of cancer at 61 

Up until his death, he was recording new songs in his Austin studio and working on a book that showcased his photography

Texas-born singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave, whose Americana recordings and distinctive voice and whose covers of songs by Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan elevated his national profile, died Sunday of cancer. He was 61.

Born in Wills Point, 49 miles east of Dallas on U.S. Highway 80, LaFave spent his early years in Texas before his family moved to Oklahoma when he was a teenager. There, he acquired a reputation for being what one critic called "the red-dirt Van Morrison."

LaFave performed often in Dallas over the years, playing such venues as Poor David's Pub, Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse and the Granada and Kessler theaters. He sang the final song last Thursday at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, where he was the focal point of a concert called in his honor, in which more than 20 of his friends performed.

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Attached to an oxygen tank, he huddled in an alcove near the front of the theater until the finale, when he appeared on stage in a wheelchair to lead the audience in "Goodnight, Irene," amid dozens of onlookers sniffling or sobbing openly.

His voice pitched higher than normal, his strength barely evident, he told the crowd, "I love you all. I'm sorry. I've been trying to get on stage for the last 30 minutes." Big laughs.

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And then he sang, gaining strength as he headed toward the end:

Goodnight, Irene

I'll see you in my dreams

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With the crowd offering a prolonged standing ovation, mixed with laughter and love and tears, LaFave summoned his teenage son to his side and put his arm around him.

"This is my son, Jackson," he said. "Take care of him for me. Please. I love him so very, very much. He's a great kid. Take him into the community and nurture him. Thank you so much."

LaFave was too ill to attend Saturday's Cherokee Creek Music Festival in the Texas Hill Country, on a parcel of land owned by Dallas energy executive Kelcy Warren, with whom he shared the Austin-based label, Music Road Records. The label disclosed LaFave's death in a Facebook post on Monday.

Music Road Records had recently described his affliction as "a very rare fast-growing cancer called spindle cell sarcoma."

In 2012, Warren gave the largest gift to Klyde Warren Park, which he named for his son. LaFave performed at the park's opening.

In 2005, LaFave released one of his best albums, Blue Nightfall, which generated a rave review from Mario Tarradell in The Dallas Morning News.

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"Jimmy LaFave makes melancholy sound like jubilation," Tarradell wrote. "On Blue Nightfall, his first CD in four years, the Austin-based singer-songwriter taps into the inner beauty of a broken heart, delivering a batch of songs that penetrate the soul without ever turning maudlin. In between the laments and ruminations, he injects dashes of hope, of up-tempo optimism. The results are arresting on every level."

That same year, LaFave was invited onstage in a Dallas-area show to sing a duet with rock 'n' roll great Bruce Springsteen. That same month, he was invited by Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie's daughter, to look through the unseen lyrics from the Woody Guthrie Archives. Nora Guthrie "helped Jimmy choose 19 songs," read Monday's statement from Music Road Records, "for a future 'Woody' CD project." He then co-wrote music to the lyrics "using his own style and interpretations."

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The result was the 2008 CD, Ribbon of Highway: Tribute to Woody Guthrie, a 40-song compilation. In 2013, LaFave shared a stage in Washington with Judy Collins, Jackson Browne, Rosanne Cash and John Mellencamp as part of Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center, which was shown on PBS.

LaFave performed often at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, held annually in Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, Okla., not far from where LaFave spent his teenage years.

Abby Goldstein, who for years hosted musical shows on KERA-FM (90.1), helped introduce LaFave to Dallas listeners. She played many of his songs, in particular his exquisite cover of "Walk Away, Renee," first made popular by the Left Banke in 1966.

LaFave enjoyed a large following in Dallas, where his fans included Texas Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel, former WFAA-TV (Channel 8) news anchor Gloria Campos and Veletta Lill, a former City Council member and past executive director of the Dallas Arts District. In 2014, LaFave and Warren co-produced Looking Into You: A Tribute to Jackson Browne, which included appearances by Springsteen, Don Henley and Bonnie Raitt.

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Noted music critic Dave Marsh, whose byline has appeared over the years in such publications as Creem and Rolling Stone, celebrated LaFave's career in a recent essay in the Austin Chronicle:

"In a city crowned by world-class singer-songwriters, Jimmy LaFave nestled near the top from the time he arrived in 1985. The company he keeps on that list is impressive, but more remarkable is that he goes about all of it — composing, recording, performing — with an awareness that he's an Oklahoma-Texas folk musician."

In its post, Music Road Records noted that LaFave was, until days before he died, recording new songs in his Austin studio and working on a book that showcases his photography, which he posted often on Facebook. The record label suggested this as the best way to remember LaFave:

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"In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to the pet charity of your choice or perform an act of unsolicited kindness."