From 2011: Rodney Crowell on His Memoir CHINABERRY SIDEWALKS

Note: Much of my work for the Northwest Florida Beachcomber Magazine (R.I.P.) is still online, with some glaring exceptions...one being this interview with the great singer-songwriter-author Rodney Crowell, whom I had the pleasure of meeting (stalking?) at the first 30A Songwriters Festival back in 2009. In this 2011 piece, Mr. Crowell talks about his memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks, among other things. - Chris

Author Rodney Crowell reads from his memoir CHINABERRY SIDEWALKS during January’s 30A Songwriters Festival at Central Square Records in Seaside. Photo by Shelly Swanger.

Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter-producer and two-time 30A Songwriters Festival performer Rodney Crowell’s outstanding new memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks is available in stores now and at www.rodneycrowell.com. The Beachcomber caught up with Crowell by phone as he was packing for a three-week solo tour.

 

First, I want to thank you on behalf of everyone who attended the 30A Songwriters Festival for making your book available the weekend prior to its official release date. The live readings were an unexpected treat for the festival goers.

That’s the show I’m doing on the tour I’m starting. It’s designed to showcase the book, and I guess you got a little bit of it while I was down in Florida. It’s a storytelling evening, basically just trying to understand the culture I sprang from.

Rodney Crowell reads from Chinaberry Sidewalks at the 2011 30A Songwriters Festival.

 

Chinaberry Sidewalks is amazing—vivid, moving and funny. What led you to write the book, and what took so long?

It took so long because I had to learn how to do it. It’s a different canvas than songwriting. I had to learn new brush strokes. To get prose to “sing,” the mechanics are different. More reason to write the book was that it was in me and wanted to get out in book form. So I taught myself how to write.

 

How crucial a role did Mary Karr, whose memoir Lit you championed on your website, play in the writing process for you?

She’s my friend, and Mary and I had an ongoing conversation about writing. I shared what I knew about writing songs, and she shared how to get a book into the world. There were some key moments when she said to me just the right thing at the right time.

 

What would you say to longtime fans that pick up the book expecting sordid stories of your life in the music business?

If that’s the case, they’re not longtime fans. I think anyone who’s a longtime fan of mine…I had no feeling there was any entertainment value for me or respecting readers to come up with a stock “here’s the story of my career.”

 

Some of the events described in Chinaberry Sidewalks have been covered in your songs, notably the first time you saw Johnny Cash perform (“I Walk the Line Revisited” from 2001’s The Houston Kid). And several of the songs on 1989’s Keys to the Highway dealt with the pain of losing your father.

As a songwriter, I’ve been a memoirist all along to some degree, especially with The Houston Kid. The first song I wrote, “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight,” is sort of a fictional memoir.

 

What are some of the key differences between the music and book publishing industries?

I’m so new in publishing, I’m an innocent. I didn’t know who some of the key reviewers were, like Jonathan Yardley at the Washington Post. It’s kind of fun. I’m learning things as I go. I had my first major book signing in Jackson, Mississippi, and they opened the book for me to sign, and I was signing the wrong page! I’m fresh meat.

 

I listened to the unabridged audiobook, and I think you did a great job bringing these stories to life. Of course, you’re no stranger to the recording studio, but what was it like narrating nearly nine hours worth of material unaccompanied?

It was work, as you can imagine. About the third day I got good at it, and after I finished on the fourth day, I went back and reread the first four chapters with a certain amount of confidence and panache. That first seven pages I read in near-flawless fashion—my tongue had loosened up. It’s enough work…the next book I write I’ll think twice before I saddle up for that.

 

So there will be another book?

I’m proud of this book, and I’m picking up the shovel to get it sold and get the readership to demand another one.

 

The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Does this surprise you at all?

Yes, it does. Somebody’s gonna get me. You can’t please everyone, I learned that a long time ago. In terms of music, my skin is thick enough I don’t care. But I want everyone to love this book. It’s a reinvention. So far it’s been really great. I expect it will be for the most part well received, but I understand some people are very dynamic in expressing what they don’t like.

 

You played a couple of songs you co-wrote with Ms. Karr at the 30A Songwriters Festival. Is a new album in the works?

Yes, we’ve been purposely writing songs to create a record or a CD or whatever they are these days. They’re not all recorded yet, but it won’t be too long.

 

What are you reading these days?

Adam Ross’ Mr. Peanut. Excellent fiction writer. We share the same editor and have gotten to be friendly. He’s really gifted. I just finished a book by David Mitchell called Cloud Atlas that I would recommend. They’re both wickedly insightful writers—I really admire that.

 

We’ve enjoyed having you here for the past two winters. What do we have to do to get you to come back again?

Not much. I really like the people down there. I wrote most of the last chapter or two of my book on 30A, looking straight out at the Gulf. I’m creatively connected down there.

- Christopher C. Manson