20 QUESTIONS
r.d. roth
ARTIST FACTS

http://www.rdroth.com

blue is just a word 2003
from the ears down
2002

1. WHERE WERE YOU BORN, WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?

I was born in San Francisco, California in 1964. We moved to Phoenix, Arizona and then Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before settling in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. I was 6 when we got there.

2. WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST MUSICAL MEMORY?

Try to sing like Louis Armstrong when I was 7 or so. I fell over backwards and hit my head while performing for my extended family. I hope it's not foreshadowing.

3. WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU OWNED?


I don't know for sure, but I'd say it was either "The Partridge Family Album" or "Magical Mystery Tour." There was always music playing - my parents were pretty hip, so I had access to a wide range of music at a youngish age. Here's the short list of things that I still remember my parents spinning: Burt Bacharach, Beatles, Carol King, Cat Stevens, Bernstein. I have two older sisters, so I got exposed to folk like Parliament Funkadelic, AWB, Barry White and all those Motown cats, Alice Cooper...

4. WHEN AND WHERE WAS YOUR FIRST PERFORMANCE?

I did a lot of acting as a kid, so if you count that I guess it would have been around 10 or 11. I played Tommy Albright in Brigadoon my senior year of high school, and that involved a fair amount of solo performing.

If the question is specific to song writing then I guess it would have been around '96 or '97 at an open mic held at on old coffee house called "No Exit."

5. WHO IS THE SINGLE BIGGEST MUSICAL INFLUENCE ON YOUR WORK?

Marcel Duchamp


6. WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE CONCERT YOU'VE ATTENDED?

No way I could hold one out against so many others, so here's a short list, in no particular order:
Paul K - Elbow Room, Chicago 94 or 95
Afghan Whigs - Lounge Ax, Chicago 93
Roger Waters Pro and Cons of Hitchhiking tour: 1984
Patti Smith - Riviera, Chicago 1999
David Olney - Abbey Pub, Chicago 1999
Chris Whitley - Lounge Ax, Chicago 1998
Morris Day and the Time - Park West , Chicago (i forget when)
I'll think of more and hate myself for missing them.


7. WHAT IS THE WORST JOB YOU'VE EVER HAD?

I've had so many jobs that this is tough. I worked one day as a mover. We drove to downtown Detroit to a burned out house right next to the burned out Packard plant. The garage was full of 50 gallon drums, and the drums were full of thick lubricating oil. It was about 20 below zero on December 22nd or so, just before Christmas, and while we were loading the truck some neighborhood kids started throwing snowballs at the side of the truck, which made like a big drum. I could see dents forming in the aluminum sides, and I found out why when I looked outside - the kids were throwing rocks. Detroit is a tough town.

After six hours of getting all these drums loaded and lashed down in the truck, we were instructed to go down to the basement for the hot water heater. The boss man had a hack saw, a pipe wrench and an unwillingness to say yes. There were three of us doing the work: the stoner dude who worked at a factory for the boss man, a 50 ish, rail thin Native American who sipped from small bottle of Mohawk Vodka, and me. The inside of the house, where the Dining and Living Rooms should have been, was filled with lab tables. Glass tubes and stop valves were arranged in complicated involvements, and I wonder if the work at hand might have been responsible for the blaze.

The basement stairs creeked and actually sagged. Rats took off in every direction. The boss man was said that he was sure the gas had been turned off, but I wasn't sure he was sure. I cut at the pipes for 2 hours until the heater was disconnected. The Indian tried to move it. It was filled with water and frozen solid. Boss man thought we could haul it up the stairs, but me and stoner boy were already climbing said stairs. I returned the truck and got paid $ 50.


8. WHAT IS THE BEST JOB YOU'VE EVER HAD?

Washing dishes at a boys camp in northern Michigan. I was 15, and worked hard about 5 hours a day. The rest of the time was devoted to water skiing, sailing, horse back riding, and camping. The food was great.

Other jobs of note: Carpenter, Volkswagen durability test driver, commercial real estate sales man, art gallery manager, graphic artist, ice cream scooper, writer, photographer, screen printer...


9. WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE ARTIST (ALL MEDIA)?

My son.


10. WHAT IS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVOURITE BOOK

Either Nelson Algren's "Walk on the Wild Side," or Huck Finn.


11. WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE INSTRUMENT?

Female voice.


12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG YOU'VE WRITTEN?

I haven't written it yet.


13. WHAT IS THE FAVOURITE SONG SOMEONE ELSE HAS WRITTEN?

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, by whoever wrote that.


14. HAVE YOU EVER COLLABORATED IN SONGWRITING?

Yes - with my guitar. I promise not to play it like I've got a ham for a fist, and it gives me songs.


15. CAN SONGWRITING BE TAUGHT OR IS IT A GOD-GIVEN TALENT?

It depends on what you mean, because anyone can write at least one song, and they probably have without knowing it. Having said that, it does seem like some people take it to another level, and it's like all the skills are just -- THERE --. Picasso, for example, seemed to have everything he needed right out of the womb.

16. WHAT SINGLE THING HAS HELPED YOU MOST IN YOUR CAREER?

Being married.

17. WHAT SINGLE THING HAS HINDERED YOUR CAREER?

Shortcomings of talent.

18. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK?

Water.


19. WHO'S YOUR FAVOURITE POLITICIAN?


Ben Franklin


20. ( THE ADVERT) IN LESS THAN 100 WORDS DESCRIBE YOUR LATEST DISC.

Well, this record is quite a bit different from our first offering. We tracked a good deal of it live as a four piece, so there's a core foundation. The first record was an ensemble of session players, but on this record there are only a few folk from outside the band: Janet Beveridge Bean, David Olney, Fareed Haque, Ellis Clark, Deanna Varagona, Nicky English, Laura Caragher, Ric Salazar.

For the most part all the arrangements were done before we started tracking, and this record is much more akin to our live sound. It's much more rhythmic, and there's quite a bit more space in there. Even though I produced this one, I handed over the controls to Brian Deck who mixed the record. In the end I think fans of "...Ears Down" will see it as a progression, and there's a lot there which is similar - narrative lyrics, etc., but it really is a departure in many ways

 

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The guitar came late in the evolution of country music. Early on the sound of fiddles and dulcimers with their drone strings more nearly approximated the wail of highland pipes in the Celtic world--the seminal influence on mountain music. The banjo, which came by way of black slaves was also a better fit (especially after a Virginian named Joe McSweeney added a fifth drone string).The guitar made its way into country music from three directions: well to-do women who saw it as a genteel way to entertain; blacks who began to use the guitar in the late 1800's and introduced it to coal miners and mountain folk; and from Spanish settlers whose north-of-the-border neighbors quickly adopted the versatile and easy to carry instrument.