About
To his small but intense legion of fans, many of which hail from South Africa, Rodriguez (born Sixto Diaz Rodriguez) is the lost Dylan, a post-psychedelic folksinger who trafficked in stream-of-consciousness surrealism and fuzzed-out soundscapes. He only made two studio albums (1970's Cold Fact and '71's Coming from Reality), and both were ignored stateside. He was, however, huge in South Africa, which may be attributable to a tour that he may or may not have done of the country. The lack of subsequent studio albums led to rumors that he had died of a heroin overdose or had been institutionalized or imprisoned. One rumor even speculated that he self-immolated onstage. In truth, he largely retired from music, earned a B.A. in philosophy and ran for office in Michigan several times. It wasn't until 2002, with the help of tastemaker David Holmes, that Rodriguez finally broke into the North American market. Holmes included "Sugar Man" on the Come Get it, I Got It compilation. Soon crate diggers began clamoring for more material, and in 2008 Light in the Attic Records reissued Cold Fact.
- Sam Chennault
