New WOrds

By now, it’s probably pretty clear that I have a big soft spot for 70s AOR (Album-Oriented Rock) records. I’m not entirely sure why—being born at the tail end of the decade, I wasn’t exactly exposed to it as a kid, and my parents didn’t really listen to that genre. But with my first BMG Music Subscription (which I definitely signed up for under at least one fake name), James Taylor and Cat Stevens were among the 10 CDs I got for a penny.

My sister Holly and I would listen to Joni Mitchell’s Blue on the way to school, and when I discovered albums by Judee Sill and Graham Nash in my 20s, I wore them out. For a long time, that was the kind of music I wrote, too. But I’d often try to deconstruct it, make it spikier or more challenging, because I felt a little embarrassed about that corner of my musical taste.

In a way, this song is about accepting that side of me—it’s about realizing that I’m going to make music regardless of whether anyone else shares my taste in it. To quote Gillian Welch, another of my favorites, “I’m gonna do it anyway, even if it doesn’t pay.” And it definitely doesn't, in fact it costs a fortune. But this is not a plea to buy my record on Bandcamp or donate on Patreon (I think I still have one of those) - I have the luxury to make what I want because I do something else for rent, and I'm lucky that I find that work interesting too.