Lowe Common Denominator
For four decades--as a songwriter, musician and producer (and New Wave flag-bearer)--Nick Lowe has exerted an influence that cuts across generations and genres. His embrace of various strains of roots music, humor, inimitable production style and ability to not be confined to a single sound are a few of the many ways he continues to energize and inspire fellow musicians. Join this freewheeling exploration and discussion of Nick Lowe's pervasive musical impact.
Presenters
While his prior work has established Stamey as an incisive songwriter, compelling performer and innovative sonic architect, Lovesick Blues finds the artist staking out some new songwriting territory, with inspired results. Such vividly forthright new tunes as "Skin," "London," "Wintertime" and "I Wrote This Song for You" deliver bittersweet, personal lyrics and inventive acoustic arrangements that employ strings, woodwinds and vocal harmonies to evoke the songs' emotional landscapes. Lovesick Blues was birthed at Modern Recording, the small yet technologically advanced Chapel Hill studio that Stamey has operated for the past two decades, where he's produced recordings by the likes of Whiskeytown, Alejandro Escovedo, Flat Duo Jets, Le Tigre and Tift Merritt. The Lovesick Blues sessions found him handing the production reins to fellow North Carolina musician/producer Jeff Crawford, who's also a solo artist and a member of the band the Old Ceremony. The album also draws upon the talents of the Fellow Travellers, a core group of musically literate young players from the Chapel Hill area who participated in the Big Star concerts, as well as members of the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.
Scott McCaughey has marginally fronted The Young Fresh Fellows (1983 - present), The Minus 5 (1995 - present) , and the Baseball Project (2008 - present), as well as performed and recorded with R.E.M., Robyn Hitchcock, Tired Pony, Tuatara, Roy Loney & The Longshots, and many others. He has produced, journalized, booked and tour managed. More importantly, Scott has played "All The Young Dudes" with Ian Hunter, "Mindtrain" with Yoko Ono, "Ambulance Blues" with Neil Young, "Get Back In Line" with Ray Davies, and "Dancing Barefoot" with Patti Smith.