Caropop

Louie Pérez has written many great songs for Los Lobos, but “Saint Behind the Glass” is especially close to his heart. It was inspired by a saint statue from his family’s home and now is part of the exhibit American Prophets: Writers, Religion and Culture at the American Writers Museum in Chicago. Perez offers that song’s origin story, digs into his songwriting dynamic with singer-guitarist David Hidalgo, discusses their trippy side project the Latin Playboys, reflects on the impact of Los Lobos’ smash cover of Richie Valens’ “La Bamba” and says whether, 10 years after their last album of original material, Los Lobos is preparing new music. He also reveals a recent health issue and whether it affected his return to the stage, he addresses how artists can respond to the current administration’s toxicity toward immigrants, and he offers inspiring words for anyone involved in the act of creation.

Bob Merlis ran the Warner Bros. publicity department for much of his 29 years at the label, and he has tales to tell. He recalls his adventures as a Columbia University student presenting concerts by the Byrds and others, as well as his rock journalist stint, his encounter with “supernova” Little Richard and a classic misunderstanding with the Carpenters. Soon he was working with Dion DiMucci, ZZ Top, Debbie Gibson, Talking Heads, Devo, the B-52’s, the BoDeans, Madonna, R.E.M. and many others. Which act was the beneficiary of “the cheapest promo in the history of Warner Bros”? Who reacted hostilely to his publicity ideas? Who was especially cool? How did the label vibe change? After Merlis left Warner Brothers, what was Chris Isaak’s valuable advice? And what role did late Rolling Stones/Beatles manager Allen Klein play in Merlis’s next act?

Paul Kelly has been one of Australia’s—and the world’s—premier singer-songwriters for decades, having been introduced to American audiences with the mid-‘80s albums Gossip and Under the Sun and songs such as “Before Too Long,” “Darling It Hurts,” “Dumb Things” and “To Her Door.” His new album, Seventy, finds his voice and songwriting powers undiminished as he continues delivering deep reflections, vivid storytelling and ear worms, including “Rita Wrote a Letter,” a sequel to his 1996 song “How To Make Gravy.” Here he reflects on his life as a musician in Australia, his travels to the U.S., his evolution as a songwriter, his enjoyment of setting poetry to music, his years of being “a recreational heroin user” and what he has learned. Is songwriting his way to make sense out of being human? (Photo by Dean Podmore)

Paul Myers is one of those do-it-all guys: author of the new John Candy: A Life in Comedy, host of the Record Store Day Podcast (which he also writes, produces, engineers and composes the music for), radio and TV host, musician, and author of books about Kids in the Hall, Long John Baldry, Barenaked Ladies and the one that hooked me on his work, A Wizard, a True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio. We dig into Candy’s life, an inspirational story and cautionary tale that makes you laugh and breaks your heart. We also flash back on Paul Myers’ years growing up in Toronto with his Beatles/Monty Python-loving parents from Liverpool and his brothers, including writer/performer Mike Myers. How did he wind up becoming a musician, writer and radio/TV/podcast host? What have been his biggest podcasting thrills? And what are his picks for the upcoming Record Store Day Black Friday? (Photo by Liza Algar)

After Camper Van Beethoven performed the final show of its recent tour in Washington, D.C.—and perhaps its last show ever—violinist/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Segel returned to Stockholm, Sweden, where he has lived for the past 13 years. Segel is well traveled as a musician and otherwise, having been born in Marseille, France, grown up in Davis, Calif., and played with Sparklehorse as well as the Øresund Space Collective and on solo projects. He was a key element, if not the sparkplug, in the classic Camper Van Beethoven lineup until, he says, frontman David Lowery dismissed him before the band recorded Key Lime Pie and then broke up altogether. Segel recalls how he found his place in a band that would shift from ska to klezmer music to crunching rock within a few measures. He describes the band's rise, his departure, how he and Lowery patched things up and whether the far-flung bandmates might record or perform together again. (Photo by Bengt Alm)

This conversation with Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist-songwriter Tom Morello took place immediately after the final preview of the new punk-metal-hip-hop musical, Revolution(s) at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Little did Morello, whose music propels the show, and playwright Zayd Ayers Dohrn know when they began work on Revolution(s) that it would be opening in a freshly militarized Chicago. With characteristic passion and insight, Morello reflects on his history of writing politically charged music and weighs the impact it still might have. He also digs into how he got such mind-bending sounds from a guitar and became an artist in the process; what he learned from touring and recording with Bruce Springsteen; how he spearheaded Black Sabbath’s final all-star “Back to the Beginning” show just 17 days before Ozzy Osborne died; and what happened when Morello told off Cubs ownership from a benefit concert stage in 2014.

Peter Guralnick, an author I've long admired, wrote the definitive Elvis Presley biographies Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love and has returned with The Colonel and the King. Drawing on fresh research and volumes of previously unseen letters, the author casts new light on Colonel Tom Parker, an identity-changing Dutch immigrant who became Presley’s manager for life. Guranick’s complex portrait of Colonel (not “the Colonel”) will surprise anyone who thinks of him as an all-controlling ripoff artist. Here, Guralnick discusses his own relationship with Parker and bats around questions such as how Colonel’s constant deal-making affected Elvis’s artistry. Was Colonel exploiting his client or doing what he had to do to keep the free-spending singer afloat? What roles did each of their addictions play in their professional relationship? Guralnick’s expertise and enthusiasm on these topics is unrivaled. (Photo by Mike Leahy)

I’ve been a Peter Orner fan for a long time, appreciating how—whether he’s writing short stories, novels or essays—he makes every word count. Stories and chapters are short, sentences lean, zero fat. His justly acclaimed new novel, The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter, springs from the apparent 1963 murder of Karyn “Cookie” Kupcinet, the real-life daughter of Chicago Sun-Times columnist and TV personality Irv “Kup” Kupcinet and his wife, Essie. The narrator is an author whose grandparents had been close to the Kupicinets, as Orner’s grandparents were. The Chicago Tribune’s Christopher Borelli calls The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter “the most Chicago novel I’ve ever read.” What drove Orner to blur fiction with fact in this particular past? How much is he messing with us? Has anyone reacted about the real-life figures portrayed, not always complimentarily? In this lively conversation, Orner still makes every word count. (Photo by Ricardo Siri)

Emma Swift is a sublime singer of her own songs as well as those of Bob Dylan, as she demonstrates on her new album, The Resurrection Game, and the previous Blonde on the Tracks. She says The Resurrection Game is about “how art can get us through quite brutal experiences by making them beautiful”—i.e. what a lot of us need right now. Swift tells of her Australian upbringing and influences, how she wound up in Nashville and what her musical and personal life is like there with her husband, singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock. She describes him as surreal and nihilistic, herself as languid and romantic. Do their sensibilities rub off on one another? Do they sing and write together at home? How did she wind up running their record label, Tiny Ghost Records? And which new song was inspired by a Wilco title?

Scott McCaughey returns to Caropop as busy as ever. He’s currently on the Baseball Project/Minus 5 September Doubleheader tour, with each band consisting of Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Linda Pitmon and McCaughey. This comes after a three-week jaunt in England with Luke Haines and Buck and another Minus 5 variant. He also has recorded an upcoming Young Fresh Fellows album on the heels of the Minus 5’s Oar On, Penelope, which delivers jubilant power pop in contrast to the disorientation of 2019’s Stroke Manor. McCaughey tells of how he writes differently since his 2017 stroke, what it’s like to tour two bands with the same personnel at the same time and whether they all take turns choosing the music in the van. He also shares a couple of illuminating anecdotes about what it’s like to travel this country at this very moment.