RECENT ARTICLES

Language is a form of technology. The elements that make music are, too. These truths are both the precursors and underlying foundations for the latest work from poet-actor-musician Saul Williams, who, with Rwandan actress and playwright Anisia Uzeyman, has created a new film and accompanying soundtrack that juxtaposes ideas of liberation, technology, and traditional African languages and sonics, which then, in turn, offers a mind-bending window into how work gets done. The film is called Neptune Frost and the soundtrack is called Unanimous Goldmine: Original Soundtrack to Neptune Frost. The former dropped last year, and the latter was released on July 1. But the origins of the work go back to Williams’ childhood, a time when, around 1980, he first began to learn about songs, stage plays, and Shakespeare. The son of artists, Williams was supported when he expressed his interest in creativity as a possible profession. Little did he know then that his Magnum Opus would find the world some 40 years later. Now, it has.

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For Ketch Secor, the longtime frontman for the old-time music collective Old Crow Medicine Show, to write songs is to walk with the gods. While it may be physically impossible to sit down and write a song with past legends like Merle Haggard or Ray Charles or even, to work with living legends like Bob Dylan or Dolly Parton, it’s possible for songwriters to somehow musically and creatively tread in the same metaphysical waters. For Secor, it’s as close as you can get to sitting in the parlor with these giants. That was true when he wrote Old Crow’s 2004 hit, “Wagon Wheel,” which he credits Dylan with co-writing (Dylan recorded the chorus in 1973 that Secor later built the song from), and it’s true for the latest Old Crow album, Paint This Town, which the group released on April 22. For Secor, to do the work is celestial, and the only way to live.

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Songwriter, comedian, actor, and all-around creative person Tim Heidecker cares most about process. The products of his work are secondary. Yes, they are what’s consumed by the audience and how he and his like-minded colleagues support themselves. But more than those aspects, Heidecker cares about the moments when he’s elbow-deep in the work.

He says the phrase “Don’t look back” is something of a guiding light. But that mantra can’t always be the reality, given Heidecker’s most recent work, his forthcoming new LP, High School, which he’s set to release on Friday (June 24). He’s not one to examine his past body of work, he doesn’t want to get tripped up on it. Instead, he’s willing to mine his past for new work, as he looks ahead down creative roads. So, while his new album is of the past, it’s also a part of his future and may, in the end, even portend what Heidecker will do next, artistically.

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For Tarriona “Tank” Ball, frontwoman for the Grammy-nominated band Tank and the Bangas, everything began when she stole a glance at her older sister’s private diary. The two shared a bedroom growing up, so when Tank had the chance, at 11 years old, she peered through the handwritten pages. In them, she found stories, poetic lines, and general expressions that sparked her imagination. She wanted to do that, too—write. Today, Tank can still remember some of the lines. It was those diary entries that would inspire Tank to write her poetry, which then took her to the New Orleans open mics where she would meet her future bandmates. And on May 13, Tank and the Bangas unveiled their latest studio LP, Red Balloon, which showcases the group’s lush sonic chemistry and Tank’s knack for poignant lyricism.

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Lyle Lovett remembers the kindness of his early music teachers.

Songs entered his life especially early; truly, he can’t remember a day without them. He’d watch television shows growing up in Houston, Texas that hosted performers, and dancers. Lovett had his own record player and records, listening to them even before he was school-aged. He sang in church. In second grade, his mother asked if he’d like guitar lessons and he said yes without a thought. That’s when he met Charles Woods, his guitar teacher, who never made him feel bad if he didn’t practice on a given week, who let him learn the songs he liked and essentially create his own curriculum—the Beatles, the Monkeys, Buck Owens, Hank Williams. He learned the C chord and the G chord. He struggled with F and barre chords. He read music and played duets in class with Woods. It’s the kind of foundation that makes for a long love affair with the art form and can even, if one is lucky, create a career. Today, the well-accomplished, award-winning Lovett, who has been playing for decades now, is headed out on tour and is celebrating his latest LP release, 12th of June, which dropped in May.

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Left at London loves spam—the meat variety, not the junk emails.

The Pacific Northwest trans songwriter (real name Nat Puff) likes to fry it up crispy and top it over a bowl of rice and a hard-to-get-perfect over-medium egg. Then she tops it with a half-sriracha half-kewpie mayonnaise sauce she mixes in to create an ideal morning meal. Though veganaise will “do in a pinch,” she says. Puff often had the stuff once a week, though less so more recently. Another meal she enjoys, on occasion, early in the day is a “breakfast burger,” which is vegan and involves turning plain buns into a French toast-style burger bookended with cinnamon. Inside? Crunchy peanut butter layered over the patty. Though she might try strawberries and powdered sugar on her next one. Yes, Puff concocts. Whether it’s a meal or her latest mixtape, she’s often at work, tinkering, finding the perfect balance, and recipe. That is evident in Puff’s latest single, “Make You Proud (feat. TYGKO),” which American Songwriter is premiering today (June 15). The song is set to release on her next EP, Transgender Street Legend Volume 3, which itself is out June 24.

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When a band gets big—when the group earns No. 1 records, Grammy Awards, and a string of sold-out tour dates in stadiums (including a spot opening up for The Rolling Stones)—it’s easy to forget where they’ve come from. It may not even be intended. But sometimes the roots can be lost for the sake of the fruit. Thankfully, for the fans of the popular Zac Brown Band, this isn’t the case for the group and its frontman. Brown remembers the grind. Remembers the decade it took for the industry to really pay attention. He remembers inventing a business model early on: playing sports bars midweek and eventually bringing in hundreds of people. Remembers camping on porches, and staying in friends’ garages. He remembers borrowing money from one of his 11 siblings for a PA system and microphones. Now, though, Brown and his band have grown, earned accolades, and are continuing their path upward. But it’s not for any lack of keeping in mind those initial good ol’ days.

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When talking with Mike Hadreas, who is known better as the glamorous, emotive artist Perfume Genius, about his early days with music, the word “obsessed” comes up over and over. Hadreas was obsessed when he discovered songs early in his life. Obsessed with dancing and singing, obsessed with hearing songs and hearing them again and again on the radio. Obsessed with his first album purchase, the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack. Obsessed with the Madonna song, “Like a Prayer,” which was “forbidden” by his parents. He loved that song’s weird, creepy and sad vibes. He was obsessed with the haunting, melancholy sensibilities of the songs he loved, even the campiness of the movie soundtrack. Now, many music listeners are obsessed with the music Hadreas makes under his Perfume Genius moniker. And his latest project? The forthcoming LP, Ugly Season, is slated for release on June 17.

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Chris Isaak is a bachelor. As such, as he packs for his upcoming tour, he says his living room looks like a “bomb went off.” He laughs at that. Laid back, Isaak talks about the process of preparing for a tour. He has his suitcases in the middle of his room, his possessions spread out, t-shirts and underwear, socks and shoes and belts. He’s wondering what Hawaiian shirts to bring. At least, he says, this isn’t the type of tour where he’s going to a range of climates. It’s a summer tour and he’s looking forward to it, so he’s packing light. “And as I said to the guys in the band,” Isaak tells American Songwriter, “it’s not like we’re going out to the Amazon. If we forget something, there’s always a Macy’s.” Isaak isn’t worried. In fact, he’s excited. He loves his band and is titillated at the idea of hitting the road with them. It’s about the music and he’s always had a “really good response” to music.

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Art Alexakis, the frontman for the uber-successful rock band Everclear, would hear the story repeated to him often. His family would remind Alexakis about the time when he was just 18-months old and in the front seat of his parent’s car as they drove up the Pacific Coast Highway. The song, “Wipe Out,” came on, rich with the big opening drum roll. This was before car seats and seatbelts, sometime around 1963 or 1964. And at that moment Alexakis began to wild out, moving and gyrating in the front of the car, possessed by the track.

It was so overwhelming that his father turned the song off because it was hard for him to drive with his son moving so much up there. But Alexakis began to scream, wanting it back on. So, his father pulled the car over, put it back on the radio, and when it concluded, Alexakis fell into his mother’s lap as his father finally drove back onto the highway. In other words, Alexakis has always had a relationship with music. So, today, celebrating his band’s origins and its debut record, World of Noise, which came out some 30 years ago, with a new tour this summer makes complete sense.

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Xavier Amin Dphrepaulez, who is better known as the Bay Area rocker Fantastic Negrito, may never make another record. At least, that’s what the musician says now, as his latest LP and accompanying visual album, White Jesus, Black Problems, are unleashed into the world today (June 3). For Dphrepaulez, who is constantly on the hunt for new inspiration to create and create more, he thinks he may never have quite the internal push as he did for his latest work: finding out he is the descendant of a white Scottish indentured servant who fell in love and had children with a Black slave nearly 300 years ago.

Dphrepaulez learned about their story, first, through a random DM and some subsequent heavy research. Filled with the fire of discovery, he began writing his new work and the powerful project is now set for the light of day.

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As a solo artist in charge of a piece of work all your own, complete with the final say, the task can be daunting, says legendary musician John Doe. It can also be great. When you’re working with a group, there are many voices in this mix. This can lean toward consensus or compromise—or disagreement. But, as with his past two solo releases—The Westerner in 2016 and now his 2022 album, Fables in a Foreign Land—Doe has been the ultimate voice when it comes to the direction (and the singing). Thankfully for him, though, Doe found his vision and his centerpiece song to the record.

Now, as the album is set for release on Friday (May 20), the musician, who rose to fame with his punk rock band X (with musician Exene Cervenka), knows there is heft and meaning to the work he’s set to unleash into the world. And the anchor to it is the album’s first track, “Never Coming Back,” a song that’s all about fleeing and knowing that there’s no returning to the past.

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When people talk about the idea of an artist’s life’s work, what is really being considered? Yes, in one way, an artist’s life’s work is the total accumulation of all that they’ve made and released into the world. But it can also have another meaning: a life’s work can also be a singular effort that encompasses a life and a career to date. For Lady Wray (born Nicole Wray), her newest album, Piece Of Me, represents the latter.

Wray, who released the LP earlier this year in January, has since been out on the road performing songs from it in cities all over the country (and she’ll continue that tour later this year, beginning in June). In so doing, Wray has gotten a chance to meet and connect with her fans—some of whom have been following her for decades now. This has been invaluable. She has shared smiles and tears with them. And the process has shown her just what her years of working and living in music have meant.

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