Join us as Nick Lowe and Will Birch as they talk about Birch’s new book covering Nick's career, along with with Alison Stewart, host of WNYC's hit show All of It! Purchase a copy of the book here:
www.strandbooks.com/index.cfm...
Described as "Britain's greatest living songwriter," Nick Lowe has made his mark as a pioneer of pub rock, power-pop, and punk rock and as a producer of Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, the Damned, and the Pretenders. He has been a pop star with his bands Brinsley Schwarz and Rockpile, a son-in-law to Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, and is the writer behind hits including "Cruel to Be Kind" and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding." In the past decades, however, he has distinguished himself as an artist who is equally acclaimed for the second act of his career as a tender yet sharp-tongued acoustic balladeer.
Biographer Will Birch has known Lowe for over forty years and melds Lowe's gift as a witty raconteur with his own authoritative analysis of Lowe's background and the cultural scenes he exemplifies. Lowe's parallel fame as one of the best interviews in the business will contribute to this first look into his life and work--and likely the closest thing fans will get to an autobiography by this notoriously charming cult figure.
This is not an authorized biography, but Lowe has given it his spiritual blessing and his management and label are fully on board. Cruel to Be Kind will be the colorful yet serious account of one of the world's most talented and admired musicians.
Will Birch is a former drummer and songwriter with the Kursaal Flyers ("Little Does She Know") and The Records ("Starry Eyes"). During the 1980s he moved into record production, working with such acts as Any Trouble, Dr Feelgood, Hollies, Billy Bremner (Rockpile) and the Long Ryders. Throughout the 1990s Will wrote many articles for MOJO and other music magazines. He is the author of No Sleep Till Canvey Island: The Great Pub Rock Revolution, and Ian Dury: The Definitive Biography. He lives near London.
Nick Lowe has made his mark as a producer (Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Pretenders, The Damned), songwriter of at least three songs you know by heart, short-lived career as a pop star, and a lengthy term as a musicians’ musician. But in his current ‘second act’ as a silver-haired, tender-hearted but sharp-tongued singer-songwriter, he has no equal.
Starting with 1994′s The Impossible Bird, Nick has turned out a fantastic string of albums, each one devised in his West London home, and recorded with a core of musicians who possess the same veteran savvy. Lowe brings wit and understated excellence to every performance, leading Ben Ratliff of the New York Times to describe his live show as “elegant and nearly devastating.”
Alison Stewart is an award-winning journalist whose twenty-year career includes anchoring and reporting for NPR, NBC News, ABC News, and CBS News. She got her start covering politics for MTV News, and is currently a PBS correspondent and host. Stewart is a graduate of Brown University. She is the author of Junk: Digging Through America's Love Affair with Stuff.
Recorded September 10, 2019