Elvis doing public interview, Nashville Mon. June 15 '09

[johnfoyle]

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090 ... +interview

Country Music Hall of Fame to host Elvis Costello interview

June 12, 2009


Since rock hero Elvis Costello is back in Tennessee for Bonnaroo/Ryman sets (this weekend and Tuesday, respectively), the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (222 Fifth Ave. S., 291-6749) is taking the opportunity to host the wildly eclectic singer-songwriter for a live interview on Monday, June 15 at its Ford Theater.

Costello created his latest, roots-rooted album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, here in Nashville with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant producer T-Bone Burnett at the helm and a collection of Music City's top country musicians (Emmylou Harris, Jerry Douglas) in the mix. That album's just more in a long line of Costello Nashville connections, though, and his museum discussion aims to shed some light on that country history, which includes a collaboration with George Jones in 1979 and his 1981 country-minded set, Almost Blue.
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The discussion is at 3 p.m. Monday, and admission is included with museum admission, and is free to CMHOF members. Tickets are still available for Costello's Tuesday show at the Ryman.

[johnfoyle]

Hopefully someone from here got to this!

[johnfoyle]

No account of this yet. Elvis was , it seems, happy to also get in on this.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090 ... at+CMT+gig

June 17 '09

Haggard, Costello surprise Cochran

From music writer Peter Cooper:

As legendary songwriter Hank Cochran rounded a corner in the BMI building Monday afternoon, some of music's famed and acclaimed figures roared and shouted at him.

The occasion was a surprise party honoring Cochran for 50 years of songs, including "Make The World Go Away," "I Fall to Pieces," "Ocean Front Property," "The Chair" and "She's Got You."

"Welcome to the first annual Hank Cochran Celebration," said old friend Merle Haggard, who sang seven songs in Cochran's honor Monday. Others in the room included should-be Hall of Famers Bobby Bare and Cowboy Jack Clement; Elvis Costello; Opry star Jeannie Seely (she and Hank were once married: You know you're a brilliant songwriter when your ex shows up at your celebration); songwriting luminaries Dallas Frazier, Dean Dillon, Red Lane, Jim Lauderdale and Whitey Shafer; Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns; BMI President and CEO Del Bryant; and recording artists Lee Ann Womack, Gene Watson and Jamey Johnson.

Willie Nelson wasn't there, but he called and spoke to Hank via speaker phone.

"I want everybody there to know how great you are, if you haven't already told them," Willie said.

Merle, Bobby, Red, Whitey, Lee Ann, Gene, Dean and Jamey all performed Hank's songs, while Hank, 73, sat with friends and family members on a couch, singing along to his own words and melodies. There were tears during Jamey's somber "Is It Raining at Your House," smiles during Merle's splendid set and plenty of laughter, as well.

"You know, Hank drove me and (bride) Jeannie up to Springfield to get married," Bobby said. "He said it was quicker to get married up there. He said, 'Why, you can get married in 20 minutes in Springfield. I've done it three times.' "

[The Deliveryman]

I was lucky enough to catch the interview at the Country Hall of Fame. Lasted about an hour and 15 minutes and then Elvis adjourned to the Museum Shop for an autograph session. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the questions were about how Elvis got into listening to country music and how it influenced his writing. The "Good Year For The Roses" video was screened at the beginning and Elvis commented on the circumstances leading to such a peculiar video for that song. Much time was spent discussing making the Almost Blue album in Nashville. They talked about working with George Jones, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris. Much of the discussion of the new album was focused on Elvis explaining the story behind the 'Secret Songs'. All of it interesting, but not too much that we haven't heard before.

For me, the most interesting tidbit was his answer to a question about working with Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson. He mentioned writing 'April 5' and said something to the effect of 'it's not available, but it will be in the coming weeks'. Unfortunately there was no follow-up on that. He also mentioned that the three of them have now written a second song. He joked about it being a while until the "CCK" album would be out since they're writing one song per year.

Charlie Louvin and Joe Stampley were in the audience as Elvis's guests.

[johnfoyle]

Thanks 'man !

[johnfoyle]

http://www.musicrow.com/2009/06/cmhf-ho ... o-program/


Pictured (L-R): Costello, Country Music Hall of Fame member Charlie Louvin, and Museum Vice President of Public Programs Jay Orr. Photo: Donn Jones

Sarah Skates writes -

Elvis Costello treated patrons at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum to a special interview on Monday (6/15). Costello discussed his ties to Music City, from his 1979 pairing with George Jones to his current album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, which was recorded in Nashville with an all-star cast of musicians. During the 70-minute program, Costello shared his feelings for country music and artists such as Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons and Hank Williams, among others. Immediately following the program, Costello signed autographs in the Museum Store.

[FAVEHOUR]

A detailed account of this is now on the Hall of Fame site..

http://countrymusichalloffame.com.site/ ... x?cid=4135

[johnfoyle]

Thanks but that link seems to be faulty ; this one works.


http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/s ... x?cid=4135


Here, in case of further problems, is the text


Elvis Country: Interview with Elvis Costello

June 15, 2009

Michael McCall

Before Elvis Costello sat down for an extended interview at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, he attended a surprise party honoring legendary Nashville songwriter Hank Cochran. The British singer savored this twist of fate: just before addressing his career-long interest in country music history, he stood amid several of the genre’s towering figures—including Bobby Bare, Cowboy Jack Clement, Dallas Frazier, and Merle Haggard.

“I couldn’t believe I was suddenly in a room with all these people whose songs are a lot of the reasons why I first wanted to come to Nashville,” said Costello, who agreed to do a museum program in light of his new album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, recorded in Nashville with producer T Bone Burnett and several highly regarded Music City musicians. “We’d still be there now, listening to Merle sing, so you know how much I want to be here with you.”

Interviewed by museum staffer Jay Orr, Costello recalled his long-running association with Nashville country music, going back more than three decades to the beginning of his career. Dressed stylishly in a dark suit and wide-brimmed purple hat, Costello spoke passionately and articulately about his love of American roots music, especially country and R&B. His knowledge proved encyclopedic, as he repeatedly drew on examples from across decades and genres, making insightful connections that revealed both his active scholarship and love of music and its historical relevance.

Costello noted that he first came to country music through American rock groups. “When the Byrds made Sweetheart of the Rodeo, it was a complete revelation,” Costello said. “This group that made ‘Eight Miles High’ and ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ should be singing ‘I Am a Pilgrim’ and ‘I Still Miss Someone,’ and such songs as this.”

He cited Gram Parsons’s role in taking the Byrds in such a country direction, and after listening to Parson’s solo albums, Costello said, “A door opened up.” That door led him to older artists such as the Louvin Brothers, and to other country rockers, including Emmylou Harris, whose first records Costello eagerly bought upon their release in the mid-1970s.

“If you don’t grow up in a tradition, the beauty of the music has to be introduced to you by somebody who does it with real passion,” Costello said in front of a full audience of fans in the museum’s Ford Theater. “It doesn’t always have to be somebody who has been in the tradition. It can be somebody who is equally a bit of an outsider, but an outsider of a different kind.”

Eventually, though, Costello went to the primary country sources for Parsons and Harris and discovered the soulful side of country music that hadn’t made it to the radio when he was growing up in England. “Once I heard Merle Haggard songs, George Jones songs, and I’d known about Hank Williams, but once I really started listening, you find that these are the same things we sing about in every culture, in every type of folk music,” he said. “Country music is close to a folk-music form. We sing about I miss someone, I lost someone, I believe in something, something is gone—my livelihood, my home, my way of life. Those are the same things you’ll find in African music, the same things you’ll find in Irish music, the same things you’ll find in any culture’s folk music. It just appeals to me.”

Costello talked about how an early country-influenced song of his, “Stranger in the House,” was left off his debut album, My Aim Is True, and how he later traveled to Nashville twice with the intent of recording the song as a duet with George Jones. He also talked about the nine-day recording sessions in Nashville’s Columbia Studio B with producer Billy Sherrill for the 1981 album Almost Blue.

“In my mind, ‘Stranger in the House’ was the sort of song George Jones might sing,” Costello said. “The song was put aside because it was believed that if the rather snobbish punk press of the day got wind of the fact that I liked country music, it would be the end of me.”

Columbia A&R executive Gregg Geller sent the song to producer Billy Sherrill, who was putting together an album of duets with George Jones, where he’d sing with Dr. Hook, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, the Staple Singers, James Taylor, Tammy Wynette—“and me,” Costello said, enunciating the phrase to emphasize his position as the odd man out.

The first time Costello flew to town, in 1978, Jones didn’t make it to the studio. The second time, a year later, Jones showed. “The backing track was put on two little speakers, and we stood side by side,” Costello recalled. “I sounded like a little girl on the record.”

Later, in April 1981, Costello joined Jones for an HBO special built around the record and titled, George Jones: With a Little Help from His Friends. “That’s one of the more bizarre experiences of my life,” Costello said. He came down with the mumps the day of the concert taping, “but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from singing with George Jones.” Costello can be seen on the concert with a big scarf tied around his neck to hide the swelling.

Shortly afterward, Costello and his band, the Attractions, set up in Nashville to record Almost Blue, an album of country and blues covers. He had recorded five albums in quick succession, Costello said, and “I honestly didn’t feel capable of writing the way I felt. I found more sympathy in songs written by other people, and my original intention with the title was that it was going to be almost a blues album. It would all be blue ballads.”

The album included a cover of a Hank Cochran song, which Costello called “He’s Got You,” but became famous by Patsy Cline as “She’s Got You.” Costello heard the song by Loretta Lynn, from her album I Remember Patsy, and heard an R&B undercurrent in it that he emphasized in his version. On Sherrill’s involvement, Costello noted, “I’ve said a few things over the years that I regret saying that I felt Sherrill didn’t get what we were up to. But I was really flattered to make the album with him.”

Costello spoke about a long-running relationship with Johnny Cash, June Carter and their children. He met Cash first through Nick Lowe, who produced Costello’s first five albums and who had married Carlene Carter, the daughter of June Carter and country star Carl Smith. Lowe hosted Cash and Carter at his London home one Christmas, and when Costello knocked on the door, Cash answered. Cash was there to record a duet with Costello on a George Jones song, “We Ought to be Ashamed.” “If I said I sounded like a little girl next to George Jones in the studio, you can imagine … ,” he paused as the crowd laughed, anticipating his comments, “I sounded like Topo Gigio next to Cash.”

The song stayed in the vault for nearly thirty years, until it was included on an expanded reissue of Almost Blue. When Costello suggested its inclusion, Columbia Records could find no record of the track anywhere. It was found by Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, and Sony Legacy executive Steve Berkowitz in the Cash archives. “It was a really wonderful thing to hear it again,” he said. “My performance isn’t any better with hindsight, but it’s a wonderful memento to have.”

Cash later covered “The Big Light” and “Hidden Shame,” the latter included on Costello’s new album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. The current album also includes “Complicated Shadows,” which Costello wrote for Cash but he had never recorded. When Costello wrote with Loretta Lynn—their co-write “I Felt the Chill” is included on Sugarcane as well—they met at a log cabin on Cash’s Hendersonville property. John Carter Cash now operates a recording studio out of a back portion of the cabin, and Costello met Lynn there to write songs.

“She has so much energy, and so many ideas,” Costello said of Lynn. “I swear we would’ve wrote twenty songs that afternoon had we not been laughing so much.”

Lynn brought a box file with “Songs” written on the label—“Just in case you think you’re there to do anything else,” Costello wisecracked. In addition to the song they wrote, he found a title, “Pardon Me Madam, My Name Is Eve,” and asked her what the song was about. “I don’t know,” Lynn replied. Costello wrote it as Eve’s song to Adam’s second wife.

Costello ended by talking about a song he had recently written with Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson. Appropriately enough, one of the great English songwriters of his time started by talking about old-school songwriters he respected, then ended with two other strong American writers who blend country music traditions with contemporary influences. After signing autographs for an hour, Costello took his second tour in a year of the museum’s exhibition Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy, then asked if he could return the next day to look at more exhibits and artifacts. Costello was told he would be welcome at the museum anytime.

[johnfoyle]

http://reeltime2108.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... cuses.html