If you banged a drum loudly enough, at a certain point in my career, I likely wanted to write about it.
And I’ll say this: Having folk-music’s number-one son, Arlo Guthrie, ring you up in your kitchen one evening while you’re cooking pasta, or hearing the sublime-voiced Emmylou Harris declare you “a real sweet talker,” well, it ain’t a living, folks, but it sure as hell was a hoot.
Too, having blues legend Buddy Guy get so emotional in response to a question you really had no right to even ask that he begins weeping on the phone with you … in the 20 years since, I’ve never gotten over it, and still think about it often.
For that matter, the delightful Sarah Hickman also cried during a phone interview with me, while Americana-music poet Townes Van Zandt fell all to pieces. Which is all to say that maybe I’m not quite the interviewer I think I am, bringing all those good people to tears …
Here’s a sampling of some of that, though in this set, only one person cries.
his majesty, the blues
an interview with music royalty b.b. king, one of the nicest guys ever
kings of the weird frontier
prog-rock legends king crimson return as heavy-guitar army
gentleman blues
buddy guy, and the long, hard journey back home
the revolution will be harmonized
south african musical institution ladysmith black mambazo
tainted love
a non-interview with gooey vocalist anne murray, and a pretty funny piece
good king richard
folk-rock icon talks candidly of clichés, crowds & unfunny Canadians
suspended in time
new floating men album finds best band you’ve never heard at career peak
lube job
another touring grease theater revival, & my own personal rizzo confession
retro grading
two seminal nyc bands, sonic youth & blondie, at the same Asheville club three days apart; 2004
that comeback urge
often-reviled ’80s band urge overkill, denied fame the first time, takes another shot; 2004
propheteering
don’t be insulting bob dylan, yo, just don’t; 2003