Archive for August, 2011
Brigitte DeMeyer: Rose of Jericho
Bluesy vocal stylings blend with Americana sounds on DeMeyer’s fifth and newest offering, creating a combo that’s pure and compelling.
Bill Withers
I feel really lucky, because I get offered record deals now. The funny thing is, right after I did “Just the Two of Us” with Grover [Washington Jr.], I tried to get a record deal and I couldn’t get one (laughs). So now that I don’t care, I get offers! I have a funny phrase. […]
Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis: The Musician’s Village 6 Years After Katrina
It takes more than five hours to make the 350-mile trip from New Orleans to Houston. On Sept. 7, 2005, that proved to be plenty of time for old friends Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis to start imagining a way to help get their hometown back on its feet. That journey really began a […]
Kris Kristofferson
“Tell the truth and love songwriting for the right reasons. If you love it more than anything else, then you should do it. If you never get rich or famous, it doesn’t matter. If you’re in it for the love, that’s what matters. All of us, the guys who I was close to as writers, […]
Linda Perry
I left 4 Non Blondes and went to work with Bill Bottrell on In Flight [Perry’s 1996 solo album, re-released in 2005], and right then and there I met my mentor. I kept asking questions, and finally Bill put me in front of the board and said, “Here you go. This is your pan, this […]
Sheryl Crow
“A lot of times I’d write stream-of-consciousness imagery and then go back to clarify it—but by the time I went to clarify, it would start making sense to me. It’s like a Beck song. You’re never really sure what he’s talking about, but if you listen to it enough times it starts to present meaning. […]
In Tribute to Jerry Leiber
“Mr. Disorderly Conduct.” That’s what Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler dubbed the lovably verbose lyricist who made up half of the legendary songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller. Jerry Leiber passed away on August 22 after suffering cardiopulmonary failure at the age of 78, but left us with a cache of classics penned with his […]
Jack White
“I’m careful not to do things for the sake of doing them. It has to come from the song. It has to come from a real natural spot. I don’t want to sit around with a cigar and go, ‘You know what we’re gonna have on this record?’ If you sit down and write out […]
Carole King
“To create art, there has to be an emotional connection. Making it vulnerable is part of that connection on the part of the artist. If it’s just business, then fine; you can sell a lot of records by making something that’s commercial. But if there’s no emotional connection in it, I don’t think it’s art. […]
Happy Birthday, Elvis Costello
A little Elvis Costello history: He was born Declan Patrick Aloysius McManus on August 25, 1954, in Paddington, England. He comes from a musical family: his grandfather a traveling musician, his dad a big band leader, and his mom a record store manager. At 18, Declan left school and started to write the songs that […]