On the new episode of I Miss…90s Country Radio with Nick Hoffman on Apple Music Country, Nick dives into the neotraditional country movement of the 90’s, featuring commentary from Rodney Crowell. Tune in and listen to the interview on-demand on Apple Music Country at apple.co/_IMissRadio.
Rodney Crowell on his first “record deal”
We made a record in Crowley, Louisiana, and we wound up… The producer called and said, “Get up here to Nashville. I got you a 10-year recording contract, and you’re going to go on the road with Kenny Rogers and The First Edition for a year.” So off we go. We sped on up to Nashville, and slid in sideways, and there was nobody there to meet us. Nobody had ever heard of Rodney and Donovan. Turns out, the producer had sold the tapes to a little publishing company for a bus ticket home.
Rodney Crowell on being influenced by songwriters like Guy Clark, etc.
I started paying attention to what those guys were up to. And I said, “Hmm, this is what I want to do. I’m going to write like this. I don’t yet know how.” I knew enough old folk songs and old Appalachian tunes that they were letting me hang around.
Rodney Crowell on Emmylou Harris
You know, when Emmy started recording my songs on her first two albums, people were reading liner notes back then and started looking to what else I had and people started recording my songs. You know, I was off to the races by then and thanks to Emmy, I’ve never looked back.
Rodney Crowell on when he decided to break out as a solo artist
With Emmylou, we’d been opening for Elton John at Dodger Stadium and all kind of heavy stuff. And so I thought, “Well, I’m in this strata now. I’ll drop out of the band and start my own thing.” Well, there wasn’t any Dodger Stadium gigs for me. I’m a quick study. I said, “Okay, I’m going to have to dig my way out,” you know?
Rodney Crowell on his early albums and “getting serious” about his music
The mid to early ’80s were… MTV was affecting everybody to where we were posing, or I certainly found myself posing. Insecure and posing as someone insecure would do. I think that part of the ’80s was… I don’t think that’s the best collectively, that we have to show for music. As the ’80s progressed and I got around to ‘Diamonds & Dirt,’ I sort of come back to my senses in a way. I was like, “I need to get real about this stuff.”
Rodney Crowell on the influences behind his ‘Diamonds & Dirt’ album
Seems like, to me, ‘Diamonds & Dirt’ was the fusion of my growing up on Hank Williams and Buck Owens with the influence that came to me through the Beatles and Roy Orbison in that mid ’60s period. So that seemed to be what really came into focus for me is those strains of music, the way I was writing songs at the time.
Rodney Crowell on the importance of songwriting
You know what, even if you’re Ray Charles, you got to have a song first. So we don’t know what comes first, the chicken or the egg, but we certainly know that the song comes first. Yeah, on my headstone, which who knows where that would be because I’m going to be scattered to the wind, it would say “songwriter” because that’s what I do. That’s what I’m in pursuit of and it’s how I breathe, and it’s what I’m looking for.
