American Songwriter | Archive for Long Features

Long Features

Legends: Richard Thompson(2)

February 5, 2010

It’s a crystal blue morning in Santa Monica, a few blocks from the Pacific, and Richard Thompson is waiting at a table in a little coffee shop. Around him, there’s a tranquility and a warmth, and although this legendary British songwriter lives in this vast city during much of the year, he seems untouched by [...]

Legends: Richard Thompson

Legends: Rickie Lee Jones

She speaks softly, not unlike the way she sings—soft, soulful passages, almost like secrets to the closest of friends—punctuated by bursts of exultation. It’s much like the span of emotion in her work, and in her new record, Balm in Gilead, which veers from the pure, naked heartbreak of “Bonfires” to the elation of “Old [...]

Legends: John Prine

Straight from the streets of Maywood he came, a mailman with a chain of masterpieces. It’s Chicago, 1970, and word starts circulating around this close-knit folk music scene that there’s a new guy who must be heard to be believed. A songwriter who seems to have emerged fully formed with a voice like Hank Williams [...]

Legends: Townes Van Zandt

I used to wake and run with the moon
I lived like a rake and a young man
I covered my lovers with flowers and wounds
My laughter the devil would frighten
The sun, she would come and beat me back down
But every cruel day had its nightfall
I’d welcome the stars with wine and guitars
Full of fire and forgetful
- [...]