James Taylor And Carol King Interview: Joy And Love

And, on a much much much happier note, today NPR broadcast a delightful interview with James Taylor and Carole King. Much too much to tell, and it would spoil the joy of listening to the conversation. Take the time to listen. You'll thank OldSouth for it later.

If you've been patient enough to put up with OS, you'll have read reference to his mis-spent youthful days in the record industry. It was the worst of times most of the time, with just enough absolutely wonderful stuff included to extend the torture.

OS's beef with it all was that he was working in a business that seemed hell-bent on kicking the legs out from under the culture, forever looking for some non-existent lowest common denominator of vulgarity where the real money could be made. He kept protesting that this was a prescription for industrial suicide, but found that talk like that only pissed people off. So he shut up, moved on, and stood by (well out of the path of the falling bricks) as the industry imploded. No great loss, probably a good thing on balance. He just wishes he had never spent a dime on his years of NARAS membership--the most useless organization on the planet, hands down.

Pop music does not have to corrode the culture. For many years, it contributed greatly to it. James Taylor and Carole King are living proof of that, and should be celebrated while they are still with us. Taylor is 62, King is 68, closing in on the final few years of their careers. OS hopes that the twenty-somethings who make up a goodly portion of their show audiences will catch the vision, and both demand and create pop music that doesn't rot the soul.

Again, OS hopes his readers will take the time to listen to this interview. If enough folks listen and take it to heart, maybe the culture will move an inch or two in the right direction.