Slang Editorial :: Never Underestimate The Value Of A Holla'

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sounds Of The Road

Shot from upcoming film of The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen

Continuing a bit on the Calexico tip, I discovered today this great interview between writer Howard Wolfson and Calexico singer/songwriter Joey Burns.

Burns is loose and thoughtful throughout, and the whole thing is worth a read, but I was interested (though entirely unsurprised) to see Burns reference the writing of Cormac McCarthy as a key inspiration for the Tucson-based band's music:

There’s a history [in the Southwest] which I find really exciting and it’s probably a boring thing to talk about but...it’s had this really interesting historical crossroads, which is if you’re a fan of Cormac McCarthy – it really resonates with some of his themes. Blood Meridian and "The Crossing", the Border Trilogy. When I moved here, I picked those books up and then I just loved the fact that some of his stories are more modern and so even though there are horses involved and traveling out in the desert, it still stems from or weaves through modern cities or towns. For me, when I moved here, I was just fascinated with all of this history and culture and character coming together. And it just - more so than anything, it just inspired us to dig into old vinyl records, old instruments, make sounds. Because we’ve been traveling over the years, we kind of bring that different mindsets from overseas back home here and you see there are more similarities than not.

Hearing a connection between the sparse southwestern road music of Calexico and the bleak spaces in McCarthy's writing is pretty much a "Duh!", but I still enjoy the idea of musicians verbalizing the way that books and words influence the way they create sounds.

Also, it goes a little deeper: adding to it all is a nifty column from Portland's great Powell's Books on "Calexico's Literary Influences". Make sure to read this one as well.

And of course,

LISTEN:

Calexico - "Frontera", from The Black Light

Calexico - "Waitomo", from Tool Box tour album

Calexico - "Glowing Heart of the World", from Roadmap tour EP (sorry, to come soon!)

Labels: books, calexico, mp3, music, My Love Of The Imaginary West, quickthoughts

posted by Nihilist Loves Hate, Hates Everything at 9/30/2009 11:57:00 AM 0 comments

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