Rain, church bells, cicadas, peepers, a dog’s sigh, and children’s laughter are favorite sounds. Singing and songwriting are central, with early ambitions to play saxophone, later piano lessons, self-taught guitar, and dating musicians. After years away from music, new melodies emerged while driving, leading to work on an album about Dante’s Inferno. Cool Hand Luke is a favorite film, first seen in childhood and still moving after revisiting it. The film evokes injustice, heroism, friendship, and scrappy American resilience. A standout moment is Luke playing “Plastic Jesus” on his banjo after learning of his mother’s death, portraying a Jamesian hero who is tough and tender, poetic and raw.
"Rain, church bells, cicadas in the heat and peepers in early spring evenings, my dog's sigh, my girls laughing or singing."
"I love singing and songwriting. When I was a child, I desperately wanted to play the saxophone, but it was too expensive to rent. I took piano lessons and taught myself to play a little guitar. I dated musicians and wanted to be in a band. In college, I wrote a bunch of songs and then gave it up for years until recently when I started thinking about new melodies while driving."
"I was worried that maybe it wouldn't hold up after years of not seeing it. But I watched it with a notepad in hand and found it as moving, intense, bizarre, and beautiful as ever. I think when I was a kid (too young probably to be watching it), it was a movie that made me think about injustice, heroism, friendship, and one variety of scrappy, American resilience."
"One of my favorite scenes is when Luke plays Lalo Schifrin's Plastic Jesus on his banjo after he finds out that his mother has died. Newman plays Luke as a classic Jamesian hero figure: tough and tender, poetic and raw."
Read at Apaonline
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