Norman Blake
Norman Blake
Known for being one of the leading figures in the bluegrass revival of the 1970s.
ProfessionFolk Singer
Date of Birth10 March 1938
five four people pressure songs worth
On the other hand, there's never pressure on one person to come up with an album's worth of songs every year, ... We only have to concentrate on four or five songs each. It's something we're all comfortable with; some other people wouldn't be. We're not very confrontational people; we like things to go smoothly.
arranging embellish liberating sort
It was sort of liberating in a way. We had to concentrate on arranging the tracks, we couldn't embellish them needlessly.
melody pressure
There's more pressure on the melody when you don't have all the embellishments,
achieved album london played previous record songs start strip three tracks vocal
With some of our previous records, we had songs with 14 vocal tracks and three pianos. We just wanted to strip some of that back and make a record we could (easily reproduce) live. And we achieved that. We were just in London and played the album from start to finish.
along came great kid listened meeting music musical orange punk sound themselves velvet
When I was a kid I listened to a lot of punk music, but then along came Orange Juice, ... They really broadened my musical perspective. They were self-deprecating and had a great sense of humor. And they sounded like Velvet Underground meeting Al Green. They called themselves 'the sound of young Scotland,' a play on Motown's 'Sound of Young America.'
album aspect dealing happier labels position
We're so much happier now. We were in a position we didn't want to be in, dealing with labels that didn't know what to do with us. This album is on our own label, and we're responsible for every aspect of the release.
classic fans genuine indie liked met played records
We played with Superchunk on our first American tour. We've always liked the records they release. They're a good, classic indie label, and they're genuine fans of music. And they're really just as enthusiastic about it as they were when we first met them.