Contributor Q&A
Scott Barretta is a resident of Oxford, Miss., where he teaches courses at Ole Miss, including Anthropology of the Blues. The former editor of LIVING BLUES, Barretta is a researcher/writer for the Mississippi Blues Trail, hosts the radio show HIGHWAY 61 for Mississippi Public Broadcasting, and is the co-author of MISSISSIPPI: STATE OF BLUES.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
New Orleans soul-blues singer Brother Tyrone's MINDBENDER contains post-Katrina songs including "If You Ain't Cheatin'," a story of temptation facing a man dislocated from his family, and the darkly humorous "When It's Gone, It's Gone," which follows the flood waters as they rise up a record collection ("there goes Albert King, he's too big too float.")
What is your favorite album title of all time?
I'LL DRINK YOUR BATHWATER, BABY—Ollie Nightingale, Ecko Records.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Black Slacks" by The Sparkletones.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Jim O'Neal, who I'm fortunate to work with on the Mississippi Blues Trail, is a cofounder of LIVING BLUES magazine whose encyclopedic knowledge is matched by his concern with honoring artists' humanity. Like other of my favorite writers, "I" is a word that only appears in his work when quoting others.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
I have many favorites who are grievously unknown, but in terms of underrated I'd have to say someone like Charlie Rich, whose great body of work is overshadowed by "Behind Closed Doors" or "Most Beautiful Girl." His swan song, the jazzy PICTURES AND PAINTINGS, is one of my favorite albums.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Back in the early '80s, I had a series of crappy jobs and bosses with bad taste, and as a result, I know the lyrics of many stadium rock anthems better than some of the songs most dear to me. So I sometimes can't tolerate myself.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
That one of my musical idols had murdered another of my musical idols. I had no reason to doubt his veracity but don't care to spread the story.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Feeling like a fraud because you're not actually writing about the music most of the time.
Dan Baum, who knows less about music than almost anybody, has been featured in DA CAPO BEST MUSIC WRITING 2004, and his most recent book is NINE LIVES: DEATH AND LIFE IN NEW ORLEANS. He lives in Boulder, Colo., with his wife, Margaret Knox; their daughter, Rosa; and Farangis Sindarova, an exchange student from Tajikistan.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
CANTO by Los Super Seven.
What is your favorite line from a song?
That's the difference between God and me. (Lyle Lovett)
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"I'm So Excited," by the Pointer Sisters.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Jon Pult, who understands the inherent humor and drama therein.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Tom McDermott.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Rod Stewart.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
People pretended to like him....
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"Let me get this."
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Staying up late enough to do the interviews.
Kevin Brockmeier is the author of the novels THE ILLUMINATION, THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD, and THE TRUTH ABOUT CELIA, and the story collections THINGS THAT FALL FROM THE SKY and THE VIEW FROM THE SEVENTH LAYER. Recently, he was named one of GRANTA's Best Young American Novelists. He lives in Little Rock, Ark., where he was raised.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Many of them are listed in my feature for the Southern Music Issue, but one that isn't, because it's neither Scandinavian nor recent, is MISS AMERICA by Mary Margaret O'Hara.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
THINGS THAT FALL FROM THE SKY, released in 2003 by Vyktoria Pratt Keating.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"The Hokey Pokey."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
I was impressed with Carl Wilson's recent entry in the 33 1/3 series, LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE: A JOURNEY TO THE END OF TASTE, about the life, music, and cultural phenomenon of Celine Dion, in which he manages to investigate the whole notion of taste and how malleable or intractable it might be, with clarity, incisiveness, and open-mindedness.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
Let me borrow a song title from Mary Margaret O'Hara's aforementioned MISS AMERICA: "Body's in Trouble."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Do you have a few hours? To name one—and just one—of many, the great British post-punk band New Model Army, whose best album is 1989's THUNDER AND CONSOLATION; who're still writing their impassioned pugilistic questing anthems of rage and hope after thirty years; and who really should have been U2.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Trying to approximate the wordless in words; "not merely to translate from a strange tongue or speech," as G. K. Chesterton put it, "but from a strange silence."
Franklin Bruno's writings appear. So do his recordings. Most recently, though, in the poetry chapbook POLICY INSTRUMENT, and The Extra Lens' album UNDERCARD, respectively. He currently fronts The Human Hearts, who are completing a new record, and he lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, a few blocks from the apartment where Les Paul and Mary Ford recorded "How High the Moon."
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Slow Children, MAD ABOUT TOWN.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
THE CORRECT USE OF SOAP, by the British post-punk band Magazine.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
The Table, "Do The Standing Still."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
I don't think this way, but I will say that a touchstone sentence of rock criticism is Robert Christgau's: "Another thing that interests me about The Eagles is that I hate them."
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Bulk Removal Truck."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
It's hard to know where to begin, but I don't think Tom Verlaine's solo records get their due.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Overcoming myths about solitary romantic genius, authenticity, and pure expressiveness.
Marc Burckhardt lives in Austin, Tex.—the Live Music Capitol of the World—and Sony Records, ROLLING STONE, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame have commissioned his work. He once spent four days hanging out in Johnny Cash's living room and has danced onstage with Elvis Costello. He's been walking on air ever since.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
MAGIC CHAIRS, by Efterklang.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH, by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
Hayden Childs is the author of RICHARD AND LINDA THOMPSON'S SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS, from the 33 1/3 series. A native Alabamian, Childs is willing to concede that the barbecue in your town is probably pretty tasty, but it can't touch the barbecue at Dreamland.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Acetone's CINDY.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
Captain Beefheart's LICK MY DECALS OFF, BABY.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
My Bloody Valentine's "You Made Me Realise."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Greil Marcus is definitely the most influential on me, but my friend Leonard Pierce is my favorite: he's funny, insightful, and unafraid to risk making a fool of himself.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Better Strap Yourself In, Baby ('Cause This Is Going To Be Painfully Mundane)."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Richard Davies.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
There is a very long list of such, starting with Jimmy Buffett.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"With the last notes of his epic guitar solo still hanging in the air, Leon nodded curtly to the cheering crowd and coolly turned for the exit, his inner triumph only slightly diminished by the realization that one of the stage lights had broken loose and was in the process of describing an arc that would soon meet its apogee somewhere near the proximity of his cerebral cortex."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Paul Westerberg once called me a douche.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
It's, surprisingly, not being called a douche by Paul Westerberg, even though you're only eighteen and he was your absolute favorite songwriter. The worst part is realizing that almost every musician thinks almost every music writer is a douche. The hardest part, though, is just getting started, as with any writing endeavor.
Alex V. Cook lives in Baton Rouge where he's writing a book about La. juke joints, dancehalls, and honky tonks. He is possibly the only soul presently enamored of Pearls Before Swine and how their singer Tom Rapp lisps the secrets of the ancients.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
TALL HOURS IN THE GLOWSTREAM, the 2010 offering by Cotton Jones is a luminous beauty, but their 2009 effort PARANOID COCOON, equally new to me, is a ferris wheel that takes you up through an opiate cloud of teenage idyll only to careen you down almost to the loamy earth and back up again.
What is your favorite line from a song?
The speech at the beginning of Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain": "Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time, for y'all have done knocked her up".... It should replace the Pledge of Allegiance.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
I once did an elaborate improvised lip-sync routine to Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" in a contest at a teen club named Porky's, just to impress a girl. So, I suppose I'll dance to anything anywhere for the right stakes.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Alex Ross because he does the best history, Greil Marcus because he's the smartest, and Lester Bangs because he died for our sins.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
(instrumental)
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
I once almost got in a fight in a bar by saying I hated Steely Dan. A friend of mine was asked to step in until he heard what it was about, then turned back to the bar. "He's on his own with that one." I've grown to appreciate Steely Dan but still don't care for Supertramp.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Sukie was a kid that liked to hang out in the graveyard." That's already a Belle & Sebastian opening line and their songs already are incredible short stories.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Peaches sneered at me backstage once.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Trying to be as good as your subject.
L.A.-born Kim Cooper is an unpredictable being, whose only constant is a passion for celebrating underappreciated or endangered wonders. While editrix of SCRAM, a journal of unpopular culture, she arranged to have a train demolish a vintage Mercedes for an art installation.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
I've been on a Jimmy Webb kick. His LETTERS knocks me out.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
FUN AND INSPIRATION WITH JIGGERS JOHNSON.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"I'm Gonna Find a Cave" by The Banana Splits.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
My occasional collaborator David Smay, because he's whip-smart and hilarious, and lets me read his copy before anyone else has seen it.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Revelations."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Scott Miller of Game Theory and Loud Family.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Talking Heads make me break out in hives.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Radio Birdman guitarist Deniz Tek, my first interview, refused to start his car until I buckled my seatbelt, and told me terse and horrifying things about the unbuckled car crash victims who came into his emergency room every week. I've never ridden unrestrained since.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Since I'm a hobbyist who only writes about music that I completely adore, finding the angle that properly reflects that love.
Holly Day is a freelance writer living in Minn. with her husband and two children. She co-wrote MUSIC THEORY FOR DUMMIES, MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR DUMMIES, and GUITAR ALL-IN-ONE FOR DUMMIES, while her poetry and fiction have recently appeared in THE MACGUFFIN and THE MIDWEST REVIEW.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
I absolutely love the compilation DENGUE FEVER PRESENTS ELECTRIC CAMBODIA (Minky Records). On bad days, it depresses the hell out of me, because most of the artists performing on it were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge. On good days, it makes me blissfully happy, and hopeful for the world knowing that such beautiful, spontaneous music can happen when different cultures collide musically.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
Oh, Lordy—my husband and I have over four thousand records in our collection. Right now, without really thinking about it, I'll have to say BAD MUSIC FOR BAD PEOPLE (The Cramps) is a pretty good title.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
That's easy: ABBA's "Dancing Queen."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Lisa Carver. Her magazine ROLLERDERBY had some of the funniest interviews and reviews I've ever read.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Why?"
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Antony from Antony & the Johnsons. I just love his voice. Although lately, he's gotten lots of awards and had his music appear in a lot of movie soundtracks (mostly foreign), so I suppose he's not really an "underrated" artist anymore.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
There's not really anyone I can't stand. I'm mostly just apathetic to things I don't like.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Bob got up, brushed the Cheeto crumbs off his protruding belly, and thought about the girl from the bar."
Most memorable thing a musician has told you?
Rick Miller from Southern Culture on the Skids once told me a really gross story about a woman in his audience having sex with a fried-chicken drumstick. People traditionally bring fried chicken to their shows to throw at the stage, and this woman decided to do something else with hers.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Trying to genuinely explain why I love the music I love, without being a vague cheerleader; conversely, how to explain why I hate the things I hate, without just sounding mean and bitchy.
Natalie Elliott is a pretend-music writer and cinephile living in Little Rock and working tirelessly for THE OA. She grew up in Birmingham, Ala., but you can't tell unless you overhear her speak politely to a person over the age of sixty. Her writing also appears in the ARKANSAS TIMES.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Best New: POP NEGRO, El Guincho. Best Old: HIGH LAND, HARD RAIN, Aztec Camera.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
LISTEN WITHOUT PREJUDICE, George Michael.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
I only have hundreds of favorite dance songs, but if totally pressed, I guess I would say "Jenny Take a Ride" by Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
David Hajdu, mostly because I think he possesses the same sense of genuine wonderment about American music that I feel.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"The Story of the Child Inside the Memory of the Man," as stolen from a Maurice Manning poem.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Nick Garrie.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Matt & Kim, for one—it's like Radio Disney for the faux-indie set. And Kimya Dawson generally makes me want to retch.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"This is not a story about a musician."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"She went to take a shit!"—Ari Up, The Slits (R.I.P., Lady.)
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Inevitably, you adopt a sub-taxonomy of nonsensical "music-writer-y" terms that, once acquired, is almost impossible to unlearn. By this, I mean describing bands in terms of lesser-known (if not totally contrived) subgenres ("proto-dreampop") and too-handy synesthetic turns of phrase like "shimmering melodies" or "crunchy guitar riffs," and so forth. It's shameful, but I'm totally guilty of it.
Kitty Forbes writes poetry from Lookout Mountain, Ga., and loves to make music with her husband, musician Walter Forbes.
Best album I listened to in 2010?
NASHVILLE by Solomon Burke.
Favorite album title of all time?
GOOD AS I'VE BEEN TO YOU (Dylan) and THEFT-PROOF (by The Dismembered Tennesseans).
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
I would do a tap routine to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Peter Guralnick, I guess, for his books on Elvis. Unless you mean lyricists—and my favorites are Lucinda Williams, John Prine, and Richard Thompson.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Ain't This Grand."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Gove Scrivenor.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
I can't tolerate country-pop.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"They'd been on the road for six weeks, four days, and eleven hours."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"I wrote this song for you."
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
You are really writing about how you feel about a particular piece of music. So you need to keep your distance a bit and not get too emotional. Hard to do with something you really love.
Ben Greenman is an editor at THE NEW YORKER and the author of several acclaimed books of fiction, including SUPERBAD and PLEASE STEP BACK. His newest book is CELEBRITY CHEKOV. If he had to dance, onstage, in front of a million people, he would dance to Ian Dury & the Blockheads' "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll."
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Probably Aretha Franklin's SPIRIT IN THE DARK, though I listen to it every year. I love the end of "Pullin'," when she says "Well." It's just a word, just a moment, but more than both.
What is your favorite line from a song?
Ever? There are at least two. I like Paul Simon's "Train in the Distance," when he says "From time to time he'd tip his heart / But each time she withdrew." And also I like the several unprintable insults in Ice Cube's "No Vaseline," in which he disembowels Eazy-E. My favorite of them is this: "I couldn't stop you from gettin' ganked / Now let's play big-bank-take-little-bank." But this leaves out so many people: John Prine, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Rakim, Lou Reed, Rhett Miller, Cheap Trick.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
Ian Dury's "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Depends on whether we're talking about criticism or reporting. I have a great, great love for the Peter Guralnick biographies, even though there's something in each of them that frustrates me. Also, Greg Tate.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Sailor's Grave on the Prairie."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Most of the people I think are grievously underrated are power-pop and/or New Wave bands, because there were so many and so many good ones. The Toms? Luxury? The Scruffs? The Expressos?
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
I go back and forth on U2.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Call me Mick."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Todd Snider told me a great story about meeting Chuck Berry at Mr. Berry's club. Todd was playing that night. He was thrilled about meeting Mr. Berry. Who wouldn't be? Finally, Mr. Berry approached him. "Are you the kid who's playing tonight?" he said. Todd nodded nervously. "Move your car," Mr. Berry said. "You're blocking me."
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
The rhythm. In the funk-rock novel I published in 2009, PLEASE STEP BACK, I wrote the whole thing with various eccentric funk bands in my mind—Sly & the Family Stone, obviously, but also War, Mandrill, Con Funk Shun, Cameo, and others. I don't mean that I had them in mind for the characters. I mean that I heard rhythm tracks. I think that's what music writing, at least fiction, has to do. Criticism, well, that's a different deal entirely.
Jamey Hatley was born and raised in Memphis, Tenn. She is especially fond of men who write real letters delivered via the United States Postal Service and fiercely believes in the healing powers of stories and sweet tea (especially if the tea is spiked with bourbon). When it comes to music, she likes songs/artists that are a bit "wrong."
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
I've been listening to THE STAX STORY four-CD box set. Such an amazing legacy of music. The amount of music history on those ninety-eight songs is staggering. The enclosed booklet with commentary from Rob Bowman, Greil Marcus, Charlie Gillett, and Deanie Parker reminds you what liner notes are for.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
MAMA'S GUN, Erykah Badu. I almost feel like I should say something else—Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, even THE MIS-EDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL. But when I listen to this album, I feel more myself. I was nearing thirty the year MAMA'S GUN came out, and it spoke to the kind of woman that I wanted to be. I got the very first pressing of the CD where the track listing is wrong and they had an insert with the new order. I remember thinking that Erykah probably really pissed the record label off with those last minute changes and something about that was thrilling to me. When I listened to the CD I knew she had absolutely made the right choice. Her commitment to get it right for herself spoke to me as a writer trying to figure out exactly how to be a writer. The whole progression of the album is amazing. She manages to reference musical styles from rock to reggae to ragtime, but still be utterly Erykah. Although wildly different, each song is woman, Southern, vulnerable, and true.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
I'd do a slow gangster walk to Playa Fly's "Nobody Needs Nobody." "Mane, I'm from Memphis!"
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Right now, I am loving Breath of Life from Kalamu ya Salaam and Mtume Salaam. Each Sunday, this father-son team have a conversation about black music on their website. Each week, they discuss a classic, contemporary and cover selection. Reading it is like sitting at the kitchen table listening in on the music scholar uncle and cousin you wish you had.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
I don't know what it would be called, but I'd like my cover art to look like Jessie Mae Hemphill's DARE YOU TO DO IT AGAIN. Cowboy hat, printed dress, and pistol.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
I'd like to offer an underrated musical style. North Mississippi fife and drum music in the tradition of Otha Turner and Napolean Strickland is vastly underrated. I'll play it for my friends and ask where they think it is from. Most people hear the African roots of it instantly. It is a vanishing art form. If I was a hip-hop producer, I'd sample it. Since I'm not, I just try to work it into my writing and play it at every single gathering I have.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Plenty. I really don't care for a technically perfect voice or song. I like songs/singers that are a bit wrong, so I don't like many of the people I "should" like.
"What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?"
By the time Rabbit left for the Marines, he was communicating almost entirely in song.
(From my own work-in-progress. Don't steal it. I'm still using it.)
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
When I was an intern at the Memphis Chapter of NARAS, I was supposed to go pick up Al Green in a limo for an awards ceremony. Although everything had been arranged in advance, he called just before he was scheduled to go on and said he wasn't coming. He was preaching revival at his church. Still the best excuse I ever got for getting stood up!
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
You want to impress the song, to do right by it, to make some sort of a connection, discover some secret, some startling insight about it, but no matter what, the music doesn't care. The songwriter might care. The musicians might care, and the people reading about the song might care, but the song doesn't. You are writing in the end for yourself, to explain the song to yourself. Through writing, you try capture its essence, but still the experience will forever be incomplete without the music that inspired it. But still, you try. You use what you have to try to give back to the music what it has given you. You will most likely fail. And still, the song doesn't care.
Roy Kasten lives in St. Louis, where he writes regularly for the RIVERFRONT TIMES and hosts FEEL LIKE GOING HOME, a radio show named for the Charlie Rich song.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Bob Dylan: THE WITMARK DEMOS: 1962–1964 (THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 9).
What is your favorite line from a song?
"Negotiations and love songs are often mistaken for one and the same...."—Paul Simon, "Train in the Distance"
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Uncontrollable Urge" by Devo.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
David Cantwell. Because he always hears humanity—but with honesty.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Chris Smither.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
The Decemberists.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"The final night of the two-month run was over, and the singer was looking for a way out."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"I think getting under people's skin is part of show business. I want to entertain people, but I also want to twitch them out a bit. So if I'm making you uncomfortable that's a good thing."—Loudon Wainwright III
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Getting the words right.
Managing Editor, writer, and photographer for All About Jazz, the internet's most popular jazz website, John Kelman has contributed liner notes to record labels including HATology, Criss Cross, Summerfold, Fresh Sound, and the legendary ECM. Based in Ottawa, Canada, where he lives with his wife and venerable Shih Tzu, John has also contributed to two recent books about ECM: HORIZONS TOUCHED: THE MUSIC OF ECM (Granta, 2007), and DIE BLAUE KLANG (Wolke Verlag, 2010) released in Germany to celebrate the label's 40th anniversary. John spends more and more time abroad, in countries ranging from Finland, Norway, and Germany to Holland and Estonia, in search of new music, and scratches his head in wonder at any suggestions that jazz is either dead or dying.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Argh. I can only pick one? Stian Westerhus, PITCH BLACK STAR SPANGLED (Rune Grammofon, 2010).
What is your favorite album title of all time?
BEAUTY IS A RARE THING (Ornette Coleman box set).
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
Steve Reich: "Music for 18 Musicians." Just to prove it's possible.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Anil Prasad. Few writers are as broad in their interests or as deep in their insights.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Guitarist Vic Juris.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Guitarist John McLaughlin once told me that "...when you play music, even if you're jet-lagged, some psycho-physical thing happens to your body and it's very, very benevolent. I've noticed it my whole life. One of the best anti-jet lag treatments there can be is playing music." I've learned the same thing applies when you're flying around the world to hear music. No matter how little sleep you might have had, no matter how messed up your inner clock is, once you hit a festival, filled with great music, everything else is forgotten.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Finding ways to contextualize music so that it appeals to both folks who know nothing about it and to folks who know everything about it.
A former ROLLING STONE editor, Mark Kemp has interviewed artists from Marilyn Manson to Merle Haggard. He is the author of DIXIE LULLABY: A STORY OF MUSIC, RACE & NEW BEGINNINGS IN A NEW SOUTH and likes his biscuits and gravy with a little wasabi, tahini, and diced jalapeños.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Memphis, Egypt," by The Mekons.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Stanley Booth, because he is the only music writer I know of who has seamlessly combined music journalism, criticism, and literature. Others succeed to one degree or another, but Booth's magnum opus, THE TRUE ADVENTURES OF THE ROLLING STONES, is quite simply great literature.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"It's a Long Way to the Bottom (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
I've determined that there is no such thing as "underrated" in popular music in the twenty-first century, because: 1) The worth of nearly all previously underrated artists (from Abba to The New York Dolls) has been universally revised by now, and 2) Music is so niched today that very smart, creative, discerning critics can find a proper niche for just about any artist and make a good case for them. The main culprit in the "Death of Underrated," of course, is irony. That leaves only the truly bad artists, like Pat Boone, to choose from, and they cannot be underrated. If cornered in a desolate alley at night with a knife to my throat, however, I guess I would say The Osmonds. There's been no revisionism of The Osmonds yet that I know of, and two or three of their AM hits ("One Bad Apple," "Crazy Horses") were more worthy than most critics would admit at the time. But I wouldn't say they were grievously underrated.
Underappreciated by a mass audience is another thing altogether. There are tons of them. I'd say the most underappreciated act of all time is The Mekons, who should be as well-known as The Clash or The Band. The second-most underappreciated artist would be Phil Ochs, who should be mentioned in the same breath with Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan but hardly ever is.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Many. The first names that come to mind are Creed and Céline Dion.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"He brought a mud shark to the party."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
I've heard lots of memorable stuff, but the most pithy memorable comment came from Lou Reed. I was doing a cover story for OPTION magazine on his reunion with fellow former Velvet Underground band mate John Cale for their 1990 Andy Warhol requiem, SONGS FOR DRELLA. To try and get him to open up more about his feelings for Warhol, I told him some of the things Cale had said to me in an earlier interview. With no hint of emotion on his face, Reed stared at me from across the table, a cigarette in his hand, and deadpanned, "Well, you can just say that John Cale was the easygoing one and Lou was the prick."
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
The biggest challenge of writing about anything, for me, is staring at that blank page when you sit down to begin writing. But the hardest aspect of writing about music, specifically, is coming up with new ways to describe variations on familiar sounds. That's also one of the most satisfying aspects.
Jon Kirby is a freelance journalist born, bred, and bound to Winston-Salem, N.C. He maintains the music blog CarolinaSoul.org and once served an eighteen-month sentence in New York City, where he edited WAX POETICS and weaseled his way onto NPR. He now lives with his father, Greg, whom he helps calculate the financial burden associated with heating the house.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Full Disclosure: I wrote the liner notes for this record, but the Love Language's Merge debut, LIBRARIES, is just absolutely everything. Not since Elliott Smith have I seen one overcast songwriter's graceful disintegration and occasional redemption so effectively documented on LP.
What is your favorite line from a song?
Nothing brings me greater joy than hearing R. Kelly's ad lib at the end of "Big Chips": "Either I'm high, or, I think I just saw a dolphin." Can't it be both?
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
Despite the success Oprah Winfrey experienced with the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling," I'd have to say, "Step in the Name of Love" by R. Kelly. I'm told this has replaced "The Electric Slide" at black weddings nationwide. Exciting!
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Dave Tompkins. From the foreboding GRAND ROYAL MAGAZINE feature on Lil Jon, in 1997, to his recent hard-bound vocoder opus, HOW TO WRECK A NICE BEACH, Tompkins lures his subjects into his brightly colored geek vacuum, rendering consistently humorous and immersive articles. Try dipping a ROLLING STONE in LSD, then getting it airbrushed at the mall.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"The Son of a Renaissance Man and a Multi-Tasker."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Earth, Wind and Fire. I'm serious. As performers, composers, and visionaries, they are still a long way from being properly immortalized. A fountain would be a good place to start.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
I have never enjoyed the music of Bob Dylan. There are many of us. We are not very popular at parties.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
If you can incorporate the ARSENIO HALL SHOW in any way, you're off to a good start.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
I met Lou Donaldson on my thirtieth birthday at the American Legion in Harlem. Being from nearby Badin, NC, I told him I was from Winston-Salem. "Winston-Salem?" he responded joyously, "That's a terrible place!"
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Long Answer: Writing about anything else. Short Answer: Stopping.
Jesse Lefkowitz was born and raised in the hills of rural Va. His first choice of vocation was that of cowboy but, in 2001, he put those dreams aside to attend the Rhode Island School of Design. He has since found employment in the illustration business as a gun-for-hire and now lives and works in Berkeley, Calif.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
CONTRA by Vampire Weekend was easily the most satisfying to me in both cohesiveness and depth.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU AND I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS by Yo La Tengo. The sheer audacity of that one never fails to make me chuckle, let alone the fact that, like many of their song titles, it's derived from an obscure pop-culture quotation.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Toe Jam" as performed by David Byrne because why not be ridiculous?
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
As for writers, I can't say, but I love listening to Bob Boilen and the rest of the crew at NPR's ALL SONGS CONSIDERED.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"The Ballad of Davy Crockett." Wait—that sounds too familiar.
What musician/band is grievously underrated?
The Aislers Set was a San Francisco act that put out three albums in the late '90s/early aughts. They might just be the best indie band you've never heard of.
Is there a famous band/musician you can't tolerate?
Sting & the Police although, in fairness, this may be due to the number of friends I've heard singing along to them loudly and out of key.
James BW Lewis is a printmaker and illustrator in Bristol, England, where he creates drawings, woodcuts, and screen prints. He gets excited about comics and quantum physics and is currently working on a record sleeve for Silent Dust's eponymous debut album.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
I don't know if I could choose a best album, but if you twisted my arm, it might be Sign o' the Times by Prince (mostly for THE BALLAD OF DOROTHY PARKER). But the album I've enjoyed listening to most recently is LOVE WALKED IN by The Flamingos. A bit of doo wop is good for winter, it always makes me feel like it's Christmas.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
STRANGEWAYS, HERE WE COME by The Smiths
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"ABC" by The Jackson 5 is impossible not to dance well to.
Zeth Lundy lives in Maine and co-owns a funky D.I.Y./eco-friendly general store for the modern age. When he's not wrangling his maverick eighteen-month-old, he contributes music reviews to the BOSTON GLOBE and the BOSTON PHOENIX.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Tampa Red's GUITAR WIZARD. The kazoo is the new cowbell!
What is your favorite album title of all time?
It's a tie between two Ornette Coleman records: THIS IS OUR MUSIC and THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
I would most definitely be paralyzed by fear in front of that many people. Perhaps OFF THE WALL-era Michael Jackson would un-paralyze me.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Nick Tosches's HELLFIRE is my favorite music book of all time, perhaps because it transcends music crit and taps into some serious Faulknerian voodoo. Or maybe because it's simply one heck of a read. (That said, I find myself subconsciously stealing from Greil Marcus on a regular basis. Sorry Mr. Marcus—if it's any consolation, someone told me that theft is the highest form of flattery.)
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
It would probably have a Dylanesque title like "Zeth Lundy's #115 Dream" and ramble on semi-coherently for six or seven minutes.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
The Black Crowes. My wife just stopped reading this questionnaire.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
I used to have a short list of strong dislikes, primarily to invite debate. These days, I'd rather find the good in everything.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"All this happened, more or less."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
I'm just happy that musicians will talk with me in the first place.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Once you move beyond the scribblings of a helplessly devoted fan, it's all hard.
Before the print edition closed, Rachael Maddux was an editor at PASTE, where her music writing was a finalist for a 2010 National Magazine Award in Reviews & Criticism. Now, she writes for ATLANTA magazine and NEW YORK MAGAZINE's Vulture.com. She loves barbecue, cicadas, and takes unreasonable personal offense when Southerners move to New York City.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
How about new-old? Yes! Fleetwood Mac's self-titled.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
Every title I've encountered since Limp Bizkit's CHOCOLATE STARFISH AND THE HOTDOG FLAVORED WATER has seemed like a masterwork of elegance and subtlety.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
The Beatles' "Her Majesty," because it would allow me to do my one move—"goofy white-girl jig"—which no one wants to see for more than twenty-three seconds anyway.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Joan Didion, because she's my favorite anything writer.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Lil' Fart Blossom."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
I'll probably never stop preaching the gospel of The Everybodyfields, a country-folk band from Johnson City, Tenn., that made three totally beautiful and devastating albums before breaking up a couple years ago. I'm not sure if "underrated" is the right word for them, though, because I think everyone I've ever forced them upon has loved them—it's just a grievously small number of people.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Let's just say that the members of Train, especially whoever's responsible for that "Hey, Soul Sister" lyric about untrimmed chest-hair, should hope they never meet me in a dark alley. (To be any sort of a threat, of course, this dark alley would need to be located in some alternate universe where I am possessed of both upper-body strength and a violent streak. But I guess if we're talking about alternate universes I could just wish for one in which that song does not exist. Hmm! That might be easier.)
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"His one regret was that he could not grow a beard."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Once, during a phone interview with M. Ward, he paused for twenty whole seconds—not between thoughts, but right in the middle of a sentence. Those twenty seconds bore down on my soul like no combination of words ever have, mostly because I thought I had gone deaf or perhaps died. Turns out he's just careful about what he says to an extreme degree, which is admirable if not a little unsettling.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
The ever-looming threat of my subjective, deeply personal assessment being absolutely and utterly wrong.
Greil Marcus's latest and third-longest book is BOB DYLAN BY GREIL MARCUS, WRITINGS 1968–2010, which, by its chronological end, is heading farther and farther into the past—into Skip James territory and farther back than that.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Carolina Chocolate Drops, GENUINE NEGRO JIG (Nonesuch).
What is your favorite line from a song?
"There must be a cloud in my head / Tears keep falling from my eye-eye"—Dee Clark, "Raindrops," 1961.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Silence, 4.33" by John Cage.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
You mean someone who writes about music? It depends on who I'm reading at the moment. Could be Howard Hampton, could be Rebecca Shoenkopf aka Commie Girl, could be Melissa Maerz when she was at CITY PAGES in Minneapolis, could be Nick Tosches or Lester Bangs.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
I don't like to write about myself.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Any group with the recently late General Johnson: The Showmen, The Chairmen of the Board.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Journey, first and always.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Three shots from somewhere in the audience slammed into my chest, and I was off on the greatest adventure of my life."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"You only scratched the surface"—Bob Dylan, on my book INVISIBLE REPUBLIC, aka, THE OLD, WEIRD AMERICA.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
It's not that hard. Just keep the music on while you're doing it.
Terry Minchow-Proffitt lives in St. Louis but grew up in West Helena, Ark. His poems have appeared in DESERT CALL and THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY. His muse and mentor is a brown leghorn rooster who is on in years, yet still manages, most mornings, to hobble out of the backyard coop and hold forth.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Iron and Wine's OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
Wilco's SUMMERTEETH.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
Almost any cut off Kings of Leon's AHA SHAKE HEARTBREAK. Choose one? Okay: "Slow Night, So Long."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
That's easy, Lucinda Williams. She's so, well, soulfully idiomatic—and has such a keen sense about her. For example, in "Where Is My Love," once she has lost her love, she knows to look for it first in Helena (where she must have just missed me) before, in descending heartfelt interest, combing the streets of Tupelo, Birmingham, and Gainesville. That's pure genius.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Itchy Gets It On."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Tyrannosaurus Chicken.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Wayne Newton. (It's the hair; I envy the hair.)
Tom Nolan is the author of the Edgar Award–nominated ROSS MACDONALD: A BIOGRAPHY and of THREE CHORDS FOR BEAUTY'S SAKE: THE LIFE OF ARTIE SHAW. In 1957, as a kid actor, he sang in the movie—and on the soundtrack for—AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, a Leo McCarey film that college student Susan Sontag described as "awful!"
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Joni Mitchell, BLUE (1971).
What is your favorite album title of all time?
MEET THE BEATLES.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Didn't It Rain" as done by Tom Jones on PRAISE AND BLAME (2010).
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
The late Whitney Balliett and the living Alex Ross—for inspiration, enthusiasm, poetic metaphors, and lyrical prose.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Words Don't Fail Me Now."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Artie Shaw.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Most punk rock leaves me cold, as does most rap.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Gabriel was watching the best movie the President of the United States had ever made."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"There is a time-machine," Artie Shaw said. "It's called memory."
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Getting editors to say yes.
Kevin Nutt is a folklife archivist at the Archive of Alabama Folk Culture in Montgomery and hosts the radio and podcast sensation SINNER'S CROSSROADS, which features "scratchy, vanity 45s, and pilfered field recordings" of "gospel throw-downs." He also runs the CaseQuarter record label.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Any and all of the 1970s era African-pop LPs posted on the Oro African music blog.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
IT'S A LONG WAY TO HEAVEN NONE CAN GO UP THERE BUT THE PURE IN HEART by the Flying Eagle Gospel Singers on the HSE record label.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
Johnny Taylor's "Disco Lady."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Doug Seroff and Lynn Abbott. For the past twenty-five years, Abbott and Seroff have been quietly rewriting the received history of African-American music circa 1875–1920 in numerous essays and in two co-written books: RAGGED BUT RIGHT and OUT OF SIGHT. Their style is modest and spare, with no subjective, impressionistic myth-making that mars so much music writing.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Damn-Son-Why-Did-You-Wait-Until-You-Were-Forty-To-Get-Your-Life-Going Blues."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Love Tractor (first two albums).
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Jessie Higginbotham's wedding ring caught the low E-string on his '52 Telecaster mid-song snapping it like a rubber band and causing Jessie to pack up his guitar and walk off the stage straight to the bar."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Foster Daniels of The Montgomery Gospelaires, "Gospel don't ever wear out."
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Deciding how much technical, musicological analysis, and jargon to include, which is actually impossible because I know nothing of musicology.
Zachariah OHora is a full-time freelance illustrator, a part-time practitioner of the occult, father of two, and author of the children's picture book STOP SNORING, BERNARD!, upcoming in spring 2011. He is known to snore loudly and hopes to have a long career creating children's books based on other facets of his personality that happen to annoy his lovely wife.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
The reissue of AFRICA by the '70s Zambian Rock outfit Amanaz has been blowing my mind.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH by Frank Zappa & the Mothers is probably the best title and one of my favorite cover illustrations of all time.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
The last time I had to dance onstage in front of people, I was dressed as an old man à la Kaufman's Tony Clifton and my golf pants split up the rear in the first minute. I didn't have underwear on so I left as soon as I could get off stage. It was one minute after midnight on a New Year's Eve in San Francisco. I think the song was James Brown's "Give It Up or Turn It Loose."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Sasha-Frere Jones, because he has an amazing ability to describe sounds and vibes. And he can make me read about artists that I already know that I'm not interested in or don't even like.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
Mingus already wrote it: "II B.S."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
I would have to say Ralfi Pagan, an amazing Latin soul crooner who was mysteriously murdered while on tour in Columbia. He was a substitute for Joe Bataan, who is another living legend who is criminally underrated.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
That's a long list, but at the top would be Billy Joel.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
I have no idea. And that's not the line, that's the truth.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
I interviewed Grant Green, Jr., for an article on his dad, jazz guitarist Grant Green. I had spent about five minutes trashing the much more famous and lauded George Benson. He just listened and in the course of answering my question casually mentioned that George Benson was his godfather. Oops!
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Good or bad, music speaks best for itself.
Amanda Petrusich is the author of IT STILL MOVES: LOST SONGS, LOST HIGHWAYS, AND THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT AMERICAN MUSIC. Her writing has appeared in the NEW YORK TIMES, SPIN, and Pitchfork. She's at work on a new book about 78-rpm collectors (if you've got a basement crammed with shellac, she would very much like to speak with you).
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
My cop-out answer is that at this precise moment, it's a three-way tie between No Age's EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN, I'M GOING WHERE THE WATER DRINKS LIKE WINE: Eighteen Unsung Bluesmen, and Titus Andronicus's THE MONITOR.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
Double cop-out: My favorite book title of all time is, without a doubt, ANOTHER BULLSHIT NIGHT IN SUCK CITY. More recently/musically, I'm fond of Califone's ALL MY FRIENDS ARE FUNERAL SINGERS.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Ellen Willis and Robert Gordon. I wish I knew how to pinpoint exactly how and why, but the how'd-they-do-that is a big part of their particular magic.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
Right now? "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
He's not underrated, exactly, but I think Will Oldham is a spectacular songwriter.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Rod Stewart. I also have a visceral reaction to too much AC/DC, although just the right amount of AC/DC is always okay.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Oops."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Tom Waits once told me that if you record the sound of bacon in a frying pan and play it back it sounds like the pops and cracks on an old 33 1/3 recording. He also told me the only two things it's legal to throw out of a moving car are feathers and water.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Capturing all the tiny little things that make a song or record of performance resonate, and then pinning them down on a page.
Nancy Prager, our co-compiler on the CD, is an intellectual property and corporate attorney with deep roots in the American South. While she fancies herself a writer, she recognizes that her greatest contribution to the arts is writing and negotiating contracts.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Clare Burson's SILVER & ASH, which weaves the stories of her maternal and paternal grandmothers through beautifully haunting songs.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
R.E.M., AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Be a Star" by Oh No, Oh My.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"A Little of This, A Little of That."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
The founder of an important independent label from the 1950s told me that he did not understand the value of the rights he acquired when artists performed in his studio and on his label. Unfortunately, I thought, neither did the artists who signed that simple contract assigning all of their rights to him.
Kent Priestley has spent the last two decades filling the following occupational roles: student, truck farmer, HVAC repairman, reporter, editor, and shrub salesman. He's now a Del. resident and would entitle a song written about his life "I'm Sorry, Mom."
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
KITTY LIE OVER (2003) by the Irish traditional musicians Mick O'Brien and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
SATAN IS REAL, by The Louvin Brothers.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Ventura Highway."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
The Scottish novelist Duncan McLean wrote a hilarious and touching book maybe fifteen years ago called LONE STAR SWING about his trip across Texas in search of the roots of Western swing. I always like an outsider's perspective.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"I'm Sorry, Mom."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
I can't think of anyone at the moment.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Toby Keith.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Frances stared absently out the window, a moistened oboe reed dangling from her lips."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"I don't see a future for us."
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Words (the ones I know, at least) hardly seem up to the task.
Austin L. Ray's work has appeared in SPIN, BILLBOARD, and PASTE. He's interviewed Zach Galifianakis at Bonnaroo, profiled Savannah, Ga.'s metal scene, and discussed Twitter with Robert Plant in Fla. When not writing, he spends his time tending to his facial hair and trying as many new microbrews as possible, the hoppier the better.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
LCD Soundsystem's THIS IS HAPPENING is my favorite album of the year. If the rumors are true and James Murphy never puts out another record, at least he'll be able to say he put out three near-perfect ones under the LCD moniker.
As for pre-2010, I've spent an inordinate amount of time this year listening to a pair of New Orleans funk compilations on Soul Jazz Records. I'll listen to them for weeks at a time, convincing myself I've finally grown tired of them, but inevitably they're back on the player sooner rather than later. Ear candy. Buy them both.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
Mclusky's THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ME AND YOU IS THAT I'M NOT ON FIRE.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
I would have Hot Chip choreograph a dance set for me. After all, a million people is a lot to impress.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Lately, I've been seeking out every word of NEW YORK MAGAZINE popular-music critic Nitsuh Abebe's work. He's casual, but clearly very well listened, and his tastes run the gamut, as I think any decent music writer's should.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Bearded Beauty." Alternately, "I Told You I Was Sick."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Right now, I'd say Gentleman Jesse. But I also think his time is coming soon.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Kings of Leon currently hold that illustrious title, but ask me again next week.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold." (My apologies to the Good Doctor, may he rest in peace, for stealing that one.)
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
When I called Mike Watt of The Minutemen to interview him for my college newspaper, he answered the phone, "Watt!" It was meant in the way that I might answer the phone when I didn't know who was calling and say, "This is Austin." But it was more than a little terrifying, given that it sounded like, "What?!?" and I was nineteen years old at the time. It's stuck with me more than any actual quote a musician has given me.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
For me, typically, it's getting started. Once I get working, I'm good.
Ed Reynolds lives in Birmingham, Ala., where he writes for BLACK & WHITE. The first five George Jones concerts he attended, Jones didn't bother to show up. Some called him a fool, but Reynolds persisted and won.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
ONE by Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Released in 1995.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD by Jefferson Airplane.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
Julie Andrew's version of "I Could Have Danced All Night" from the Broadway production of MY FAIR LADY.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Jimmy Silva, because he was the supreme blender of catchy melodies and clever lyrics, and worked a day job at the same time.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"The Loveliest Girl in the World."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Jimmy Silva & the Goats.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Prince.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Once my band was playing a club and we sounded great (I thought), people were dancing, and I assumed all in the band were having as much fun as me. When I announced that we were going to play one more, the guy I hired to play guitar that night leaned over to me and said, "Man, there's nothing I like better than quitting time!"
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
I hate record reviews and therefore have an aversion to spending words describing music. It's more fun writing about those who make music.
Things you may know about Nicholas Rombes: He has authored A CULTURAL DICTIONARY OF PUNK, 1974–1982 and the experimental, serialized novel NIGHTMARE TRAILS AT KNIFEPOINT, and he writes a film column for The Rumpus. Something you may not know: Were he to dance onstage, in front of a million people, he would dance to "Open Your Heart" by Lavender Diamond.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Dean & Britta, 13 MOST BEAUTIFUL...SONGS FOR ANDY WARHOL'S SCREEN TESTS (2010).
What is your favorite album title of all time?
LET'S GET OUT OF THIS COUNTRY (by Camera Obscura).
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Open Your Heart" by Lavender Diamond.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Richard Meltzer because, word for word, you never knew what was coming next.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Blessed and Refused."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Peter Laughner (1952–1977).
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
It's too easy to avoid intolerable music today, so to make up for that, I periodically listen to Jackson Browne's album THE NAKED RIDE HOME (2002).
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"For two full days she had waited for him to return from his 'world tour,' the loaded shotgun in her hands, on the third-floor balcony of the imploding Gothic mansion whose foundation had sunk so deeply into the swamp that the living-room floorboards had soaked into mush, which was pretty much what she wanted his face to look like when she was through with him."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Earlier this year, I met with a prospective student who was interested in majoring in English with an emphasis in creative writing. She was in her fifties. Near the end of our talk, she offered to show me some of her writing. A "poem," she said. She removed a few sheets of clean, white paper from a notebook, and instead of reading, she stood up and began to sing. A clean, soft, beautiful voice, a gospel song she had written. It was one of those moments that quiets the rattling of your life. I held my crying until later. After she sang, she said, "I thought it would be best for you to hear it, rather than read it." Understatement of the year. And the most memorable thing that any musician has ever told me.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Crafting words that are a performance in their own right.
Matt Rose grew up watching his father work in his darkroom and vividly remembers the chemical smells and the images appearing on paper as if by magic. Matt worked for the SEATTLE SUN and later the TIMES-PICAYUNE, where he shares a staff Pulitzer Prize for Hurricane Katrina coverage. He now resides in Asheville, N.C.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
I don't listen to or buy albums anymore—I just download a tune I like from iTunes. The tune I keep listening to, this year, is "Say The Brother's Name" by Pat Metheny from the album called METHENY MEHLDAU, a collaboration with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau. Metheny is such an emotional player and composer. His music is lyrical and comes from the heart.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
That is so difficult. I am a big jazz fan and have my list of heroes. One of my favorite albums that works as a whole instead of being a bunch of unrelated tunes is one by great jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins from 1966 named ALFIE. It was written as a soundtrack for the British film ALFIE, which starred Michael Caine and Shelly Winters. It is not musically related to the Burt Bachrach/Dionne Warwick pop tune except for the name. It is made up of six pieces of cohesive music written to go along with the mood of the film and is a breathtakingly beautiful work.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
That won't happen.
Who is your favorite music photographer and why?
My favorite music photographer is Herman Leonard, who passed away this year. His work helps us to feel what it was like at performances of the great jazz artists like Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and Miles Davis. He left us with a priceless body of work.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Collage."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Most jazz music is underrated in today's pop culture.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
There is music I can't stand but I don't know what band or who it is because I won't listen to it long enough to find out.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
I'm not much of a writer but here goes: "Following the line of the melody, taking side trips here and there, the music was like a travelogue of well-traveled life."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Paraphrased: "Genius is not about using everything you know...but knowing when and how to use what you know." —John Engle
What is the hardest aspect of photographing music?
One of the most difficult aspects is just getting access to a musician. The more famous the artist gets, the more restrictions are placed on access. At big concerts, photography may not be allowed or be restricted to the first song.
Tony Russell is an English archaeologist of American vernacular music whose excavations have appeared in his book COUNTRY MUSIC ORIGINALS: THE LEGENDS AND THE LOST. His research trails have taken him to Eden (N.C.), Arcadia (La.), and Paradise (Ky.).
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Lightnin' Hopkins, HIS BLUES (Ace).
What is your favorite album title of all time?
If you do mean title, then it would have to be: IF YOU DIVORCE ME, BABY, WHO'LL GET THE TRUCK?
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"I Can't Dance (I've Got Ants in My Pants)."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
The jazz chronicler Gene Lees: knowledgeable, perceptive, humane.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
The Van Brothers.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"So I quit the music business, heartbroken, and I just put all my time and effort in the lock business." (Bernard "Slim" Smith)
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
The first line; the last line; getting paid.
Steve Scafidi works as a cabinetmaker, sometimes teaches poetry at Johns Hopkins, and has two collections of poetry out, SPARKS FROM A NINE-POUND HAMMER and FOR LOVE OF COMMON WORDS.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
GIANT STEP, by Taj Mahal.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
SONG FOR MY FATHER, by The Horace Silver Quintet.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Theodore Roethke, American Poet (1908–1963).
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
The Louvin Brothers, Johnny Paycheck, and, well, Leon Redbone.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"When they laid me in the ground, I woke up."
Lee M. Shook, Jr., is a writer, photographer, music promoter, and aspiring documentary filmmaker from Birmingham, Ala. He is currently working on a documentary about the life and art of Davey Williams called CONVULSIVE BLUES. He once dreamt he was in the circus only to find out the next day that he actually had been.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
LCD Soundsystem's THIS IS HAPPENING.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
Tom Waits's SWORDFISHTROMBONES.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
The Shaggs' "My Pal Foot Foot." That way I couldn't possibly embarrass myself.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Greil Marcus. Hands down. No one has a stronger, more engaging narrative voice. He's the greatest detective in all of music. As a reader, you want to follow him wherever he may lead you.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"The Audiovore's Dilemma."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Man Man.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Kings of Leon.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Fear of failure is the blessing and burden of every great performer."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"Good luck." As told to me by David Thomas, when he found out I was writing my senior thesis on Pere Ubu. He was right....
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Turning music into words. Always has been....
Sarah Strickley is a writer and a fine-arts editor living in Houston, Tex. She's the recipient of an Ohio Arts Grant, a Glenn Schaeffer Award, and the Swink Magazine Editors' Award for Emerging Writers. Her work has appeared in THE HARVARD REVIEW, THE SOUTHEAST REVIEW, SENECA REVIEW, THE BARCELONA REVIEW, QUARTER AFTER EIGHT, and elsewhere.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Esperanza Spalding's CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY. There's something persistent about it that jimmies my locks.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
GOOD DOG BAD DOG by Over the Rhine, though I can't actually listen to the thing without openly weeping. I could cry right now just thinking about it, it's so damn beautiful.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
I'm going to base this on the fact that the song would have to be ear-murdering loud for a million people to hear it and say that I'd want it to be "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals. I've always wanted to hear that song at a gigantic volume.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Brandon Hernsberger. Local dude who blends pomo lit crit with his treatments of Coldplay and The Jonas Brothers. He manages to upset and charm friends and foes alike, a skill I greatly admire.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Girl Trash Noir."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Wussy. You read good things about them from time to time, but not enough. Not on a scale that seems deserving.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Right now my resentments are centralized around those same ten or so tunes that always inspire spontaneous sing-a-longs in bars. You know what they are and you know who to blame.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
I actually write short stories so this should be easy, but it's killing me. How about, "You wouldn't want to meet the girls who waited backstage. They all carried .22s in their bras."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Karin Bergquist once told me that I looked so nervous I was making her nervous. This was in 1996. I like to think I have recovered since then, but if I had occasion to meet her again, I know I'd blanch.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
I find it difficult to stifle my urge to let my prose about the performance run a little purple, especially if I'm listening as I write.
Justin Taylor is the author of the forthcoming novel THE GOSPEL OF ANARCHY and the story collection EVERYTHING HERE IS THE BEST THING EVER. He grew up in the part of Florida that isn't really part of the South, but went to college in one of the parts that actually is. He now lives in Brooklyn.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Hard to pick just one record, but my favorite newly discovered musician of 2010 would probably have to be The Tallest Man on Earth—both his full-length albums (THE WILD HUNT, KING OF SPAIN) and the new EP, SOMETIMES THE BLUES IS JUST A PASSING BIRD.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
I don't have a good answer for this, but the first few times I read the question, I missed the word "title" and thought you were asking for my all-time favorite album, so I'll just answer that. It'd almost certainly be RECKONING by the Grateful Dead, which I've listened to more times than any other album I've owned—it's like my comfort-food record. I go to sleep to it a lot. But I can also put it on in the middle of the day and just blast it. It's a live record, culled from a series of shows in the fall of 1980, when they decided to go retro and open their shows with acoustic sets like they'd done in their early days.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
4'33" by John Cage.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Hard to pick just one of these either. I like Brandon Stosuy at Stereogum a lot. Also, Jace Clayton, aka DJ/rupture. Oh, and David Gates. David's my No. 1 pick for "person I wish would write a 33 1/3 book"—and when I say that, you should know that I've proposed books to 33 1/3 on two separate occasions, one of which made it to the final round. But if I had to choose between writing a 33 1/3 book, and reading one that David wrote, I'd choose the latter.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Jason Molina, and his band Magnolia Electric Co.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Well I'm the king of jazz now, thought Hokie Mokie to himself as he oiled the slide on his trombone." —This line has the superlative virtue of belonging to a story that actually exists. "The King of Jazz" by the great Donald Barthelme.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
When I interviewed David Berman (of The Silver Jews) for THE BROOKLYN RAIL back in 2005, I asked him a question that mentioned his use of Civil War imagery. He said: "I tell people that the Civil War is too commercial for me now. I'm only into obscure little wars you've never heard of."
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
I don't play an instrument and have no technical vocabulary for music at all. This can make it difficult to describe what I'm hearing or how something is working without resorting to metaphor and risking windiness. This forecloses the possibility of writing serious music criticism of any kind, but actually I find this fact liberating rather than limiting. When I write a book review, for example, I'm coming at it from the position of being another writer—this cannot help but have a serious impact on my approach. But I can only write about music from the somewhat more pure perspective of the fan, and therefore I tend to write about what I love, rather than about what seems to require explication or critique. That's a very liberating feeling.
A coal miner's daughter (okay, not really), Lara Tomlin got her start illustrating for THE NEW YORKER. She has since illustrated for the NEW YORK TIMES, TIME, and GQ, and in the past year, her work has appeared on Broadway posters. She currently resides in the great state of N.J., with her husband and their dog, Dino.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
The Smiths, LOUDER THAN BOMBS.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
DIG YOUR OWN HOLE (Chemical Brothers).
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Single Ladies" by Beyonce, and I'd even wear a leotard.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
I can't decide between "I Am the Champion" or "Hey, Jerk, Get Outta My Way."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Mark E. Smith (The Fall) and Chan Marshall.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Without a doubt, Creedence Clearwater Revival.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"The moment the spotlight hit her sequined hotpants, she knew—finally, really knew—who she was born to be."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
"Thank you for the illustration!"
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
It's too personal, most of the time. It's all about feelings...just so much easier to sing along and go with it.
John Uhl is a staff writer at THIRTEEN, a public media provider based in N.Y. He has written about music for the ALL MUSIC GUIDE and DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Lady Gaga's BAD ROMANCE is a remarkably well-constructed song, and the best use of riff development I've heard in ages. Count Basie would be proud of this—even if THE FAME MONSTER is an overstuffed, though frequently enjoyable, mess.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
MINGUS MINGUS MINGUS MINGUS MINGUS (by Charles Mingus).
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
Ravel's "Bolero," but only if the following conditions are met: I am provided a large red cape and a shaman to summon the spirits of my dead ancestors as I pay tribute to them in rhythm and movement.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
George Bernard Shaw, who once wrote, "Never in my life have I penned an impartial criticism; and I hope I never may."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Only history will have a chance to acknowledge the gift to music that was Michael Jackson, I'm afraid. His was the voice of the angels—I also hear he was a terrific dancer. Such a shame his death last year received so little attention.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
There are many, but my distaste for these two in particular has brought me considerable grief: Wilco, Keith Jarrett.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a giant Beatle."
Lately, Susan O'Dell Underwood is having fun promoting her poetry chapbook, FROM. It took her forty-seven years to write a poem about the infamous Southern tune "Dixie," and she hopes to teach her students at Carson-Newman College to be more impatient than that.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
I know the band has more recent albums, but I'm still grooving at least once a week to WARPAINT by The Black Crowes.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
MUDSLIDE SLIM AND THE BLUE HORIZON.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
The late Kirsty MacColl's fabulous, funky "In These Shoes."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Joni Mitchell. Hands down. Because she experimented in a wide range of genres. Because she's a poet as well as a musician, equally genius at both.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Hillbilly PhD."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Jim White!
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
GAH! Britney Spears and all her ilk, who are only pretending to be musicians.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"Carter smelled bad, but he could sure wail the hell out of that banjo-claw hammer, he'd told her, like Grandpa Jones, only twenty-first-century, an independent writer of new millennial twang; he'd by-God be his own grandpa."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Do you know the difference between a onion and an accordion? Nobody cries when you cut up an accordion. (No, seriously, I studied classical piano for a decade. My teacher told me that a musician practices and suffers and sacrifices, so that the experience seems effortless...all in order to make the lives of others happier. Great training ground for a writer.)
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Knowing that if only I could, I'd rather be able to make music than write about it.
Richie Unterberger is the author of several rock history books, including THE UNRELEASED BEATLES: MUSIC AND FILM, which won a 2007 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
The Who's MY GENERATION, two-CD expanded Japanese 2008 deluxe edition.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
REVOLVER.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Peter Doggett, because he combines a high level of enthusiastic passion with deep research.
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
The Great Society.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Seal.
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Doug Yule of The Velvet Underground expressing regret that the band recorded LOADED without drummer Maureen Tucker, not just because they missed her musically, but because she made the whole band get along better personally.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Convincing musicians to do interviews, and/or navigating their publicists and representatives.
Jerald Walker is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir STREET SHADOWS: A MEMOIR OF RACE, REBELLION, AND REDEMPTION. His essays have been featured in numerous anthologies and periodicals, including BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS and BEST AFRICAN AMERICAN ESSAYS. He is an associate professor of creative writing at Emerson College.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
NO LINE ON THE HORIZON, by U2.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION, by Parliament.
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
"Make It Funky," by James Brown.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Prince. No reason, other than I like his stuff.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Lucky Sonofabitch."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
I honestly don't know.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Michael Bolton.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
Don't know if I'd call it great, but here's the opening sentence of a true story I published about Michael Jackson: "Before the glove; before the anorexia and addictions; before the moonwalk and the crotch grabs and Fred Astaire's admiration and envy; before his color faded and his nose shriveled; before he stunned and confused me, entwining one arm with Brooke Shields's and nestling Emmanuel Lewis with the other; before he was said to be spending some nights with Lisa Marie and other nights alone in an oxygen chamber; before Bubbles and the boa constrictor and the rest of the menagerie that he'd come to trust more than people; before the people he did finally trust mentioned 'Jesus juice' and sleepovers and gave me reason not to trust him, another reason to wonder if now was the time for my disavowal, the moment when I'd say, at last, I've had enough, even though I knew I never could, because yes, before all of this there was the dazzling child vocalist with a pink gangster hat slicing toward one eye, his four brothers dancing at his side, while the Walker Six—that's what we called ourselves—mimicked their act, imagined that it was us up on Ed Sullivan's stage, blowing people's minds."
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
I've never spoken to a musician.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Not being a music writer.
Daniel Wallace is the author of BIG FISH, and his illustrations have appeared in the LOS ANGELES TIMES and ITALIAN VANITY FAIR He is the J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Utterly ridiculous question for me, but off the top of my head, I'd say Vol. 3 of the THEME TIME RADIO HOUR compilations from Ace, or the soundtrack from the book MORE MILES THAN MONEY, also on Ace. Or ISABEL I, REINA DE CASTILLA, by Lacapella Real de Catalunya and Hesperion XXII, directed by Jordi Savall. Mostly, however, I don't listen to music for pleasure anymore.
What is your favorite album title of all time?
Not sure who did it, but there's one called MUSIC FOR THE HARD OF THINKING. I'm pretty sure it's by someone I disliked, but it's a nice thought.
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Nobody I've read recently, that's for sure. Maybe Peter Guralnick? Elijah Wald? Michelle Mercer? Well, and me, of course.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Writers."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
Who knows? There are far too many of them.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
Yes. There are far too many of them.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
I've got two of them, and a third I'd write if I ever had the time and peace of mind to do so. Why not wait until someone publishes them?
What is the most memorable thing a musician has ever told you?
Far too many to single one out.
What is the hardest aspect of writing about music?
Getting paid.
Edward Whitelock is co-author, with David Janssen, of APOCALYPSE JUKEBOX:THE END OF THE WORLD IN AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC. A professor of English at Gordon College in Barnesville, Ga., he lives with his wife and two sons in a Victorian house surrounded by kudzu and cats of equally anarchic tendencies.
What was the best album, new or old, that you listened to in 2010?
Jackson C. Frank's lone, self-titled album from 1965 has been my favorite record for the past six months (Thanks, Pandora!). He was a huge influence upon the British folk scene. His "Blues Run the Game" was covered by everyone from Bert Jansch and John Renbourn to Simon & Garfunkel. Nick Drake fans will recognize "Here Come the Blues" from the Tanworth-in-Arden tapes. "My Name is Carnival" seems woven of the same thread as Robert Johnson's "Hellhound on My Trail" but creates an even eerier tapestry. Just haunting, beautiful stuff from a tragic and forgotten figure.
What is your favorite line from a song?
"We can live in the empty spaces of this life." —David Thomas, Pere Ubu
If you had to dance, on stage, in front of a million people, what song would you dance to?
Well, if I'm going to humiliate myself, I'd just go all out and try to recreate, via interpretive dance and, perhaps, sock puppets, the video for Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield."
Who is your favorite music writer and why?
Greil Marcus is an early inspiration and remains so. He's been at the top of the game so long that he has become a target to some, as is inevitable (and even I'll admit that he could never write another word about Bob Dylan and I won't complain). But that doesn't change the fact that he continues to surprise, entertain, and inspire in his later work. THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME got slogged on for being "more of the same" by some reviewers, but I'd like to know what world they're living in where books featuring chapter-long evocations of the inside-outsider art of David Thomas and Pere Ubu are so common as to become tedious. When I wrote the chapter on Harry Smith's ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC for APOCALYPSE JUKEBOX, I did so under the formidable shadow of Marcus's now-definitive essay "That Old, Weird America." The personal note he wrote me after the book's publication, complimenting me on what I added to that well-trodden conversation, remains a professional highlight.
If you wrote a song about your life, what would it be called?
"I Probably Don't Belong Here (But Here the Fuck I Am)."
What musician or band is grievously underrated?
I always thought that Mitch Easter and his band Let's Active were robbed by the gods of radio. Granted, power pop has never burned up the charts save for the occasional exception of a Knack or a Cheap Trick. But Easter has written some killer hooks and demonstrated himself a master of sonic tricks in the studio. If not his band, somebody should have taken "Every Word Means No" or "Make Up With Me" or "Fell" or "Mr. Fool" to the top of the charts in the ’80s. And I don't think it's belittling the talent and tightness of the young R.E.M. to note that their history might have turned out very different had they not had Easter (and Don Dixon) behind the boards of their first three records, to teach them how to use the recording studio as an instrument.
Is there a famous musician or band that you can't tolerate?
I really can't stand The Rolling Stones. I like a lot of their music, I dutifully own a copy of EXILE ON MAIN STREET (I even listen to it), and I think Charlie Watts is one of the coolest cats on the planet, but I just can't stand the monolithic beast that is The Rolling-fucking-Stones, that Frankenstein's monster that has become the bully of the beach. I'll probably read Keef's bio, though. What's the point of hating something if you can't wallow in it, right? It's a sentiment that got a lot of people elected recently.
What would be a great opening line of a short story about a musician?
"I don't know that there's a scarier thing than getting everything you ever wanted."
