Tom Waits, who is to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 15^th (by no less than Neil Young) has created some unusual background noise for the proceedings. He has ventured beyond his customary terse, hardbitten lyrics into sweeping verse with Seeds on Hard Ground (X-Ray Book Co., 2011). It was first published on his website, then brought it out as a limited edition chapbook of 1,000 copies, which sold out in minutes. Waits subsequently issued a second edition of 1,000 copies, to be released on February 28^th; this has also sold out.

Above: Title page and inside spread, Seeds on Hard Ground by Tom Waits.

Proceeds from the sales of the chapbook, whose theme is people who have fallen through the cracks in these hard times, will go to California homeless services organizations in his area.

Above: Spreads from Hard Ground, Photographs by Michael O'Brien, Poems by Tom Waits, photos courtesy Pentagram.

In addition, Waits will soon bring out an album of the same title, with photographs by Michael O’Brien, with whom he collaborated on O’Brien’s recent book Hard Ground (University of Texas Press, 2011). Designed by DJ Stout at Pentagram’s Austin office, it is scheduled for release on March 1^st.

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