Michael Feinstein joins Hunter Kelly for an interview to talk about inviting Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, and Liza Minnelli as collaborators on his latest album, ‘Gershwin Country.’ Listen to the episode in-full anytime on-demand here.
Michael Feinstein on inviting Dolly Parton to sing on Gershwin Country
When I got the idea to do a recording of Gershwin songs re-imaged in the country idiom, of course Dolly came to mind. I’m lucky enough to have met Dolly many years ago at the home of a mutual friend, named Roddy McDowall, who had a ‘9 to 5’ reunion many years ago, where he had a dinner party inviting Dolly, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. That’s when I met Dolly. So that would’ve been 1995. I had kept in touch with her through mutual friends and occasionally had direct contact with her. I just reached out and asked her and she almost immediately said yes. I suggested the song, “Love is Here to Stay,” because I could imagine her singing it. And again, she said yes. We went on from there. It was that simple.
Michael Feinstein on changing pronouns in standards
The other night, I sang “Someone to Watch Over Me” as he, and it felt so liberating and it got such a wonderful response from the audience. When I recorded the song, “All the Way,” I got permission from the widow of the lyricist of Sammy Cahn to change it from, “When somebody loves you, it’s no good unless she loves you.” I changed it to, “When somebody loves you, it’s no good unless they love you all the way.” And she said, “With Sammy’s love, please change it,” so I did.
Michael Feinstein chats about his respect for Alison Krauss
Hunter Kelly: There’s a process to getting Alison to do something. Is that correct?
Michael Feinstein: Yes, because she is first and foremost an artist who thinks in terms of her music. She doesn’t, and I don’t mean this in the wrong way, she’s not concerned about a deadline or the process is just like, it takes whatever time it takes until it’s right. That’s the bottom line with her. And she was one of the first people I approached and she took the longest time in making a decision about it, choosing a song. It was a process. And man, do I respect that because that’s why she is who she is.
