Sunday, June 27, 1999 | 4:24 a.m.
First published on September 30, 1998.
There's a good chance that it wasn't Will Oldham who responded to my e-mail questions. Once that thought occurred to me, I couldn't shake it. It would fit the whole aura around Oldham, a man who adds dimension to the word "enigmatic." When I contacted his very helpful label Drag City with the request for an interview, it seemed an e-mail interview was the obvious way to circumvent logistical and time considerations.
In interviews of Oldham I've read in magazines over the past four years, his reluctance is palpable. This provocative songwriter invites scrutiny. Oldham writes the lyrics; he sings them; it's possible that they reveal something about him.
Or maybe not. A point that repeatedly comes up in any reference to Oldham is his experience as an actor. Therefore there's the suggestion that he takes on roles in his songs--more diverse roles than most singer-songwriters. Oldham was a successful young actor with several films to his credit when he walked away from that career. The question is always, where's the real Will Oldham?
Wherever he is, it's not on the surface of the words he writes, and it's especially not in any interview. Still, we all want to know what the hell is going on in the mind of a man who sings, "See them in the theatre, they're very, very real. Scold them when they come home, dirty, crying. Well, love, is forbidden outwardly, but inside there is no denying," from "Cat's Blues."
Will Oldham's responses to my questions were polite and succinct, but suspect on many levels. A song for Jerry Lee Lewis?
Q I have to ask the obvious and get it out of the way. Have you been to Las Vegas before? If not, what are you expecting?
A Oldham: Never been. I expect, I hope to have my fantasies made real.
Q You grew up in Louisville, are you a racing fan?
A Oldham: I respect the races; spectator sports on the whole aren't my bag.
Q You're playing only small venues on this tour (Benway Records isn't even the only record store). Is there a reason for that?
A Oldham: I wanted to do only radio shows; the shops were an addition. There are reasons, but they are my own reasons.
Q Are you touring alone? What instruments will you be playing? Will you be playing the organ?
A Oldham: I haven't got the organ with me where I am, so unless I find one in Las Vegas, where I land, there will be no keys.
Q What instrument would you most like to learn to play?
A Oldham: The violin.
Q You wrote one of my favorite lines ever: "If you can forget how to ride a bike you have had a good teacher." Do you scribble lines in notebooks all the time?
A Oldham: All the time? I bought a little notebook yesterday afternoon. The checkout lady was singing "For the Good Times." She was black. I asked her if that was Al Green she was singing. She said, "That's not Al Green. That's country and western."
Q Do you think of yourself as a writer first? Or a musician first? A Oldham: Of those two, a writer first.
Q And do you ever act any more?
A Oldham: Act like a what?
Q Do you hear an evolution in your sound? Do you have any sense of moving in a particular direction?
A Oldham: Towards death; it becomes more pleasant and laughable every day. Cross fingers. I hear more of an evolution in the writing than in the sound. Some melodies I could not have done years ago.
Q New York or LA?
A Oldham: Well, New York.
Q You've played with your brothers Ned and Paul on many of your albums. Is your entire family musical? I'm picturing mom and dad and kids around the piano singing gospel songs. Am I close on that one?
A Oldham: My folks were violent atheists. We sang weird distorted hymns in which religious references were mutated into somehow secular ones, custom cut by my mother. We did do a lot of singing. My mother played the accordion and my father the trumpet. My sister played a guitar usually.
Q Much as I love your music, there are times when I just can't listen to it because it makes me feel so sad. Do you think of yourself as a downer? Do you ever just not want to listen to your own music? Is there any kind of music that just makes you feel happy?
A Oldham: I don't think of myself as a downer. I like myself; I enjoy myself. There is no pity in my music, for myself or any other fuckhead. Most of the music I love makes me feel happy. But even unhappiness makes me happy. Q After recording and performing under the Palace moniker (and variations: Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Records, Palace Music), why are you recording and performing under your own name now?
A Oldham: Ah, but I am not.
Q Some of the song titles seem completely unrelated to the songs--is there a reason for that? Are they named by strangers in a bar? Or do you think up titles and match them randomly to songs?
A Oldham: Which songs? (I was thinking of "You Have Cum in Your Hair and Your Dick is Hanging Out" and "Viva Ultra" in particular.)
Q On the Western Music EP, Western Song for J.L.L., who is J.L.L.?
A Oldham: Jerry Lee Lewis.
Q Who does the female voice belong to on "Come In, Come In, Jump In, Jump In"? She's great.
A Oldham: A beautiful woman from Memphis, Tennessee named Tiffany White-Pounders.
Superfluities, only because we're doing this via e-mail:
Q Are you on a Mac or PC?
A Oldham: A little hand-held PC.
Q Do you play computer games? If so, do you have a current favorite?
A Oldham: I played Doom and Doom 2. I liked them, that I could complete the game, and that there was little repetition.
Actually, the responses probably did come from Will Oldham himself. I like to imagine him playing Doom.
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