A Conversation with Cindy Cashdollar (continued)

PM: My having to turn this tape over tells me that I've taken too many minutes of this busy woman's time, so I'm going to let you go in a minute.

CC: Oh, no. It's fine. My Saturday is open.

PM: So you played with so many monster acts now. Are there gigs or co-bills that you'd like to try that just haven't happened yet?

CC: Gosh, there's so much music out there.

PM: Really.

CC: I hear and see so many people and go, "Oh, I'd love to play with them." And then people ask, "Who do you want to play with?" and I blank out.

PM: Have you ever played with Ry Cooder or David Lindley?

CC: No, and would love to. I mean, they're two of my idols.

PM: Of course.

CC: I never have, but I mean, if there's Cooder or Lindley, do you really need another person on slide?

[laughter]

PM: One might well ask...

CC: I don't think so. And it's so funny, because Lindley comes through Austin almost every year.

PM: He does? Because I never see him in Nashville--well, a lot of people don't play Nashville. They go, "No, I'm not playing that town. Nobody comes." But he never comes through Nashville.

CC: Well, he comes through here, and I swear to God, without exaggeration, every time he's here I'm out on the road.

PM: Right.

CC: It's funny. But, yes, I would love to play with him. Bruce Springsteen is another artist I would love to play with.

PM: Oh, I could see that happening for you, for sure. I mean, just look at his current project.

CC: Well, I inquired about that too late. I made a phone call, and I was too late. They said, "Well, gee, it might have happened, but you're a month too late." But yeah, that would have been great.

PM: Who got your spot in that project?

CC: I think--I think, Marty Rifkin.

PM: Ah. I know the name.

CC: A great steel player that lives out in, I think, L.A. somewhere.

PM: Right. Oh, yeah, I could see you in Springsteen's band, for sure. Anybody else come to mind that's a dream gig?

CC: Tom Petty, I would love to work with him.

PM: Oh, yeah.

CC: I would love to work with Mark Knopfler.

PM: How do you like that new record with him and Emmylou?

CC: I absolutely love, love that.

PM: Is that great, or what?

CC: It's just incredible. And his voice sounds great on it. What a great pairing of people. And yeah, I just think he's a genius. That Neck and Neck CD with Chet Atkins, I just love that, too.

PM: Yeah, that's really great.

CC: So those are the people that come to mind. And I'm sure there are tons of others. I'm just blanking out right now.

PM: But, yeah, those are some good ones. And they're like the top of the page, too.

Do you consider yourself to be a spiritual person?

CC: In what way?

PM: I don't know. In any way.

CC: That's a good question. I don't know. I never thought about it. I mean, I think I have a good intuition for things. I guess that could be spiritual in a sense. I don't follow any particular religion. I don't read any books that have to do with spiritualism. So I guess, in an academic sense or following a certain path, then, no. But there are certain times where I think I'm open to situations with other people that might be construed as spiritual, maybe.

PM: Yeah, you've probably had quite a few moments on stage that felt pretty spiritual.

CC: Yeah. And if you're not a spiritual person, it will make you one.

[laughter]

CC: Well, yeah, there's been a lot of nice epiphanies and moments where you just kind of feel like you've been transported somewhere else, so that when it's over, you don't even realize--it's almost like when you're driving and you go into that zone--almost like a meditation. It's done, but you don't remember getting there. Like when you're driving, and you don't remember the trip there--

[laughter]

CC: --because you were thinking about something else. It's the same way with music, where you just get so into what you're doing that when it's over you go, "Oh, are we done?"

PM: Are you much of a reader or a lover of books? Do you make time for that in your life?

CC: I try to. When I'm on the road I tend to read while traveling. And I read all different kinds of things. I love biographies. I love photography--I just got done reading Dorothea Lange's book, a great book. She's one of my favorite photographers. I love the photographers out of the WPA, the Depression Era.

PM: Wow. That's interesting.

CC: I read a lot of those kind of books--photojournalism, I guess, it is, really.

PM: Yeah. Well, it's really nice to meet you. You're a swell person, on top of being a great musician.

CC: Well, thanks, Frank. Thanks for interviewing me. I went online and checked out Puremusic, and what a great webzine it is. How long have you been doing that?

PM: It's five years now, five and a half years. Yeah, a lot of people come to read it. It's like a million hits a month now.

CC: It's a classy online publication, and I like the variety that it covers. That's the good thing about it.

PM: Yeah, you've got to be eclectic if you're going to really cover music.

CC: Yeah. It's so hard to keep up with it all now. Really, there are just so many different ways it's going. And the whole Americana movement--it almost became underground for a while.

[laughter]

PM: Yeah, like prohibition.

CC: Yeah. You're discovering things in a cellar. And there's just so much of it out there. You live in a music town, and I live in a music town, and it just seems like every week somebody is saying, "Hey, have you heard"--"Have you checked out this person"--"Have you checked out this band?" And it's really difficult to keep up with. It's a full-time job in itself. So I love Nashville. I was just there when I did the Ryman with Van [Morrison].

PM: Oh, you're already doing Van dates.

CC: Oh, I've done two tours, and I'm about to do the next one in August.

PM: What's that been like?

CC: It's great. And playing the Ryman with him was wonderful. And they filmed it. It aired on CMT last weekend, I think.

PM: Oh, jeez. I got to get that.

CC: It was called "One Night in Nashville." It was filmed in black and white by Danny Clinch, who's a great documentary filmmaker. And I thought it was a wonderful--he really captured the whole evening there. But working with Van, it's another one of those spiritual moments, because he was one of the first people I saw at a live show. When I was twelve, my mom took me to this concert that my guitar teacher, Billy Faier, was playing. John Hammond, Jr., Odetta, and Van Morrison all appeared.

PM: Wow.

CC: So that was the first and only time I had seen Van live, was when I was twelve.

PM: Wow! [laughs]

CC: And so years later, here's this phone call, and I'm meeting this person that I saw when I was so young.

PM: Yeah. You're wonderful. It was really nice to talk to you.

CC: Well, thanks Frank. And I'm very glad meet you by phone. I hope we get to meet in person someday. And good luck with the writing.

PM: Well, I hope we cut a tune together sometime. To get you on a couple of tracks would be a real groove. [It so happened that the next week we had the legendary Robbie Turner in to cut some pedal steel tracks for us. When we were shooting the breeze afterward and I brought up Cindy's name, he just went off about what a talented and wonderful person she is.]

CC: I hope so, too.

PM: Thanks for your time, we'll see you down in Austin before long.

	print (pdf)
	listen to clips
	buy Slide Show here or here
	cindycashdollar.com
	cindy at homespuntapes.com
	dig this
	photo thanks:
	mark silver > buzzpics.com
	rob buck
	puremusic home