Stephen Fearing on commercial songwriting, 2003

"The most interesting sorts of commercial music are the ones that find an emotion and put it out there. It might not be that subtly done; it might be kind of crude. But when a commercial writer finds an emotion and is able to articulate it in such a way that it’s really clear, then everybody gets it and everybody wants to hear it. I think in the singer-songwriter genre, sometimes the intellect takes over a little too much and everybody gets a little too clever. I’m trying to find music that is simple but not simplistic. There’s a skill, but it’s in the background—it’s not the first thing you hear. The first thing you hear is the emotion. That’s what really interests me right now."

From The Complete Singer-Songwriter. The quote comes from an interview with Fearing originally published in Acoustic Guitar July 2003. More on Fearing here.

Here's a really nice video of Fearing with Colin Linden on slide...

Levon Helm rocks "Tennessee Jed"

I'm loving Levon Helm's new version of "Tennessee Jed"... Here's a recent performance on Letterman--a weaker vocal than on the Electric Dirt record (it's a miracle Helm can sing at all post throat cancer), but it still rocks.