First Listen: Jeff Buckley's Mea Culpa

Image credit: Benjamin Oliver / Retna

By the time of his death (by drowning) in 1997, singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley had released just one full-length studio album, 1994's astonishing Grace. But in the decade since then, seemingly unquenchable interest in his soaring folk-rock and evocative lyrics has led to several posthumous records — compiling everything from unfinished demo tracks to remixes to live performances. The latest from the Buckley audio archives: a never-before-released 1993 clip of Buckley at a poetry event, reading an apology letter he wrote to his idol Bob Dylan.

The reading is included on a CD accompanying the new book The Spoken Word Revolution Redux (out April 17 from Sourcebooks Inc.). In it, Buckley begs Dylan's forgiveness for something he'd said about Dylan once during a show. Buckley worries in his apology letter that he has offended his hero, who had championed his budding career: ''I have no way of knowing how my words were translated to you... It wasn't funny at all. And I f---ed up,'' he says.

To hear an excerpt from the letter, play the clip below.

Jeff Buckley, ''A Letter to Bob Dylan'' from the book The Spoken Word Revolution Redux, edited by Mark Eleveld, published 2007 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Jeff Buckley recording used with the express permission of Jeff Buckley Music, Inc. and SonyBMG-Legacy Recordings (c) 2007. Audio recording used with kind permission of Elena Alexander.