SPIN – By Jon Schwartz

An Open Door From A Closed-Down World

(This story originally appeared in SPIN in February 2021.)

The first story that I ever wrote for SPIN was about The Hold Steady, and specifically, about my trip to see them in London in March of 2020. It was right before the pandemic (which is a clever way of saying that it was totally during the pandemic, but we were simply still convincing ourselves that it wasn’t happening). I always laugh at the memory of those three shows, these sweaty, packed rooms of people from all over the world, an event that somehow didn’t include a devastating body count. About the only concession we made to the real world was that the meet-and-greets with the band didn’t feature the usual handshakes, just us all standing shoulder to shoulder without intentional skin-to-skin contact.

In London, the guys played some new songs and made clear that there was a new album on the way, but months later, as we all sat in a live-music-less world, the album never dropped. Understandably, the band was waiting until they could take the songs out on the road, but once it became clear that live shows weren’t on the horizon, the band decided to release Open Door Policy, their second album as a six-piece band (and their second with producer Josh Kaufman.)

The album is a real departure from most of the band’s previous work. There’s a lot more sonic composition, more complex layering that is common to Kaufman’s work. There are parts that feel like a Craig Finn solo album, and other guitar riffs that are clearly from the heart of THS. But there’s maturity and consequence in the lyrics, an evolution from the days when the kids were making the ER look kind of like an afterbar.

I liked doing this as a Q&A. Especially when I’m writing about a specific album in this way, I prefer to let the artists do most of the talking. I thought that Craig and guitarist Steve Selvidge both made me really think about what they were trying to do, where they succeeded, and what it means for the future of the band and the future of music if we can ever reach a post-pandemic world (fingers crossed).

https://www.spin.com/2021/02/the-hold-steady-craig-finn-steve-selvidge-interview/

S.G. Goodman Vs. The South

(This article appeared on SPIN.com)

One of the fun parts of writing some more music features has been getting to check out artists I wouldn’t otherwise find. Admittedly, I spend most of my listening time either on podcasts (hey, why not throw in a pitch for the shows that I produce for the Yankees Magazine Podcast Network!) or on groups that I already love, whether The Hold Steady, or Bruce Springsteen, or Jason Isbell, or anything else like that.

Obviously, though, just by virtue of having published a few pieces at SPIN, I’ve gotten on some publicists’ lists, and when I skimmed through an email blast about S.G. Goodman, something about it screamed out at me. I’m fascinated by Southern music — not from a point of great insight or intelligence (as I told my brother recently, when he asked how I became an expert in this, “I’m obviously faking it well enough!), but rather just looking at how different acts can emerge from a position that, at least to my mind, hasn’t been the primary focus of the genre. Goodman has a church choir background and sings a lot to the farmers and coal miners in her native Kentucky. She’s also an out member of the LGBTQ+ community, vocal in her opposition to Mitch McConnell. With the 2020 election on the horizon, and the world falling apart, I wanted to see how she handles the contradictions I saw in her life, and how she uses them to create art.

Admittedly, it helped that her album was produced by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, which helped draw the attention of my editor at SPIN (and mine, as well). So even though it was a debut album from an unknown artist, there was a major figure in the industry involved, which helped me sell the piece.

Speaking with S.G. over FaceTime, as she sat under a giant hat, preparing for an afternoon at the lake, I was taken in by the same combination of earnestness and don’t-give-a-fuck-ness that also drew in James when they first met. We chatted for about an hour about what she wants from Kentucky, why she believes in the state, and why she stays (a topic that she addresses clearly on the album’s title track). But we also went deep on some of the pains that she sings about, the way she put out what is essentially a suicide note as the lead track on her debut album, and the way she refuses to pretend to be someone she’s not, even if it costs her record downloads/streams/sales. One of the most interesting points she made to me, which I wasn’t able to fit into the article, was that she actually enjoys the fact that the album was coming out at this moment, when people are stuck at home. She didn’t want her lyrics to be background noise on a commute. She wants people to wrestle with them. I really liked that about her.

I’m fascinated to see what she does next. The response so far has been really strong, and I adore the album. I hope that you’ll read the article, and also check out the music for yourself.

https://www.spin.com/2020/07/sg-goodman-jim-james-that-old-time-feeling-interview-debut-lp/

‘We Were a Disaster’

(This story originally appeared in SPIN.)

I’ve been blown away by Jason Isbell’s work for a long time now, in a way that has made me reconsider how I feel about music, in general. I used to say that I was a fan of classic rock, or of British rock, or of jam bands, or whatever. Then it was indie and alt-rock bands, whatever. Either way, I always thought that there were genres that I liked and genres that I didn’t like, and I thought that the music world worked that way.

I spent enough time with Isbell’s music, though — and later, with Brandi Carlile and others, to say nothing, in retrospect of how much Ryan Adams I played back in the day — to realize that genre is fluid, and interests are, too. This probably should have been obvious. Am I a country music fan? I don’t know that I’d say that. What I would say for sure, though, is that Jason Isbell isn’t a country music artist. That’s too limiting.

So when SPIN asked me to interview Isbell for a piece coming out around the release of his new album, Reunions, I obviously jumped at the chance. I had so much I wanted to talk to him about, so much that I wanted to learn from him. When I heard the first single, “Be Afraid” — ironically, while in London for some Hold Steady shows, just a few days before the whole world shut down — I was excited by a good, driving rock song that had something to say. A few weeks later, when I really sat down with the whole album to prepare for the interview, I realized what I had missed the first time around. Somehow, Jason Isbell had written the perfect album for this precise moment in time, only he did it long before the moment started. Which makes you understand that this all started long before we might realize.

I don’t imagine I’ll have too many interviews over my career that I’ll enjoy more than this one. Isbell was awesome — open, challenging, engaging. He really helped me understand how his brain works, how he sees the world around him, how he draws inspiration, and how he turns it into beautiful but brutal and admonishing songs.

I hope you’ll read and enjoy.

https://www.spin.com/2020/05/jason-isbell-reunions-interview/

Going Steady: A Weekend With The Hold Steady

(This article appeared in SPIN)

For years now, few live events have given me as much joy as Hold Steady shows. It’s a total niche band, the type that only has die-hard fans. No one casually likes them, thinks they’re fine. What makes that fun, though, is the community that takes gets together for each of the concerts.

There’s a fun line from an early song of theirs, “Hornets! Hornets!”: “I like the crowds at the really big shows / people touching people that they don’t even know, yo.” Maybe not the best advice for a series of concerts taking place in the midst of a global pandemic, but your mileage may vary. Anyhow, it’s a mostly perfect assessment of a Hold Steady concert. It’s physical, it’s sweaty, it’s touchy. The only slight untruth: it always feels like most people there know each other.

A few years back, it looked for a bit like the band had kind of broken up. The pianist left, they brought in a second guitarist, and they were putting out music that was just OK, but not as fun as it had been (of course, everyone says that every band’s new stuff just isn’t the same; whatever.). The guys were getting into their mid-40s, they had families, they had solo gigs. And after getting invited to do four straight nights at a Toronto club, the guys realized how much better that was for them than getting on a bus and doing a standard tour. What if, instead of playing a mid-week show in Des Moines, they limited themselves to major cities on weekends, doing multi-night runs that would allow fans to turn the trips into vacations? Instead of being on the road all year, they’d get to perform a bunch of times with less mess and craziness.

When SPIN agreed to buy this story, I was really excited, then surprised and disappointed when the band said they’d rather not do a full interview about it because “It doesn’t feel very rock and roll to talk about this stuff.” But I’m actually happy with how it turned out, just talking to fans and getting their take. I spend a lot of time with Panama Phil, because he’s incredible (and I love his son!), but I really enjoyed the chance to talk with so many different people, including this awesome guy from Denmark. In the end, I feel like I got enough of Craig Finn’s thoughts from the stage; the fans really made the story work.

Hope you’ll read and enjoy!

https://www.spin.com/2020/03/going-steady-a-weekend-in-london-with-the-hold-steady/