Not Your Average Joe: Musician Joe Henry Mixes it Up by Edward McPherson
He sings, he writes songs, he plays guitar, piano, and drums, he cooks osso buco. His music deftly straddles funk, folk, rock, hip-hop, country, and jazz. But what burrows under your scalp is Joe Henry's elliptical, noirish verse, sung in a voice so raspy it's just this side of midnight. His aptly titled 1999 album, Fuse, landed Henry on TV with David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Rosie O'Donnell, and The New York Times tapped it as a top-five pick of the year. His new album, Scar, is already causing a stir. But Henry went to high school with Madonna before she was the Material Girl, and he married her sister, so that's where most people want to start...
TALK: Your song "Don't Tell Me" is a top 10 hit for your sister-in-law, who just happens to be Madonna. What's it's like to write music for someone so iconic?
JOE HENRY: My version of it originally was a tango. I had no thoughts of anybody else doing it. She just really liked it and ran away with it.
TALK: How has your relationship with her helped or hurt you?
JOE HENRY: Only on occasion has it ever gotten me a better table in a restaurant.
TALK: So who are your musical influences?
JOE HENRY: I've been influenced by all kinds of things - osso buco being one of them. You know: comedians, movies...
TALK: I read that you don't like people who miss the humour in your work, who insist that it's all dark.
JOE HENRY: I'm just disappointed in them. [Laughs] I don't think they're trying hard enough. There's an element of humour in any work that survives. Even Ingmar Bergman's films can be really funny.
TALK: And you want your records to work the way film works?
JOE HENRY: If you take the time to listen to a record from start to finish, there's a dynamic arc to the whole thing - you feel as though you've been through something. It might not be a linear narrative, but it should leave you with a unique impression, not just "another year's gone by and here's another 10 songs on the pile."
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