Monday, August 6, 2007

I'm In Love

Over the past couple months, two friends separately have been trying to introduce me to Richard Hawley. Upon first listen, I thought to myself, "Uh, Okay. Whatever." But I kept finding myself coming back and listening to the few tracks that they sent me. And last week, something happened. I fell in love. I feel hard for Richard Hawley's music. I am 100% obsessed.

Over the weekend, I've kept my listening to myself. I was scared to share my new obsession with anyone except with Tim and Robert, the two who kept insisting that I give Hawley a try. I mean, Richard Hawley's music isn't cool. You won't ever find it in rotation at WXYC or WXDU. But it is absolutely beautiful music. I am no musician, but the guitar sounds ethereal... what kind of guitar makes sounds that sweet? Oh, and his voice is deep and dreamy. For the past half hour, I've been playing "Hotel Room" over and over so loud that it rattles the windows in my house and makes my green chair vibrate. [Thank you, Rossi, for my super-duper stereo speakers.]

To me, Richard Hawley sounds like a combination of the best of Morrissey and the best of Lambchop with a dash of Roy Orbison. It is just perfect. And there's so much yearning in his music that I just cannot help but be obsessed. I haven't fallen in love like this since that Vetiver show back in February. I really want to listen to other music, but I can't right now. I've got mix tapes to make. I've gotten music in the mail that I haven't opened. I just cannot get Richard Hawley out of my mind.

I haven't been able to sleep at night lately... not because of Richard Hawley, but just because I having difficulty sleeping. So I find myself staying up late listening to the few tracks of his that I have on my computer. I just got his album Coles Corner in the mail on Friday, which I quickly devoured. I'm waiting for two more of his CDs to arrive later this week. He has a new album coming out at the end of August, that I am dying to hear. I've also been watching his videos on YouTube here and this one from his new album. That second one I play over and over just so that I can listen to the song. You can listen to some of his tracks on his MySpace page.

I accidentally fell asleep in front of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer tonight and my poison ivy is driving me nuts, so it looks like it might be another late night with Richard Hawley... but I am not complaining.

He is so dreamy. Sigh.

2 comments:

Gye Greene said...

> what kind of guitar makes sounds
> that sweet?

Honey Guitar (TM).


--GG

Anonymous said...

Since you mentioned Morrissey, this is from an interview with Richard Hawley:

I once auditioned for Morrissey as guitartist around the time of "Everyday is Like Sunday". I was very young and had only been in a local indie bands up to that point. I remember sitting in the flat with fuck-all money and getting a call from Morrissey. I don't think I made a great first impression because I smoked. But I started playing with his band. Then I made the fatal mistake of singing "One Night" by Elvis. He said, "What are you singing for?" I said "I thought you might need backing vocals."

That was the last of that!