A Conversation with Bo Ramsey (continued)

PM: Are you a book man? Do you find time or make time to read much?

BR: Yeah.

PM: Anything interesting lately cross your path?

BR: Let me think about that one. Reading. Well, I get on jags. I got into a Paul Auster jag for a while there, which was amazing and frustrating. He's got--a very intriguing mind, there. Of course, Larry Brown.

PM: Uh-huh.

BR: I've recently read a book by this guy Daniel Woodrell. A southern writer, he's from Arkansas, I think.

PM: Like a novel, you mean?

BR: Yeah. What was that called? Some of that has escaped me right now. [check out Daniel Woodrell's books here]

PM: Are you what you'd call a spiritual person?

BR: Yes.

PM: In any special kind of way, or do you lean one way or the other?

BR: Well, that's such a big phrase. What do you mean?

PM: Well, it's kind of open to interpretation, because it means something different to everybody. People either feel--you'd be amazed how many artists tell me that, "No, I'm not a particularly spiritual person," which always blows my mind. [laughs] It's just like, "Well, how can you pursue art without being a spiritual person?" But you obviously can, but I had a hunch that you were probably more a guy that would say, "Well, yeah, I'm a spiritual person."

BR: Yeah.

PM: And do any other words of explanation come up around that, or is it too hard to describe?

BR: Well, it is hard to describe, Frank. But yes, I am. And music is very much a part of it, because music can go there. Music is an amazing thing, and it can go there. And I believe in that.

PM: Yeah. The best music lives there, comes from there.

BR: Yeah. I believe in it. And I carry that with me. And yeah, I believe. I went to this show the other night, man.

PM: Yeah?

BR: Yeah. It was Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.

PM: Really?

BR: Doing this Freedom of Speech Tour. And Neil Young, that record he did, Living With War, is the kind of the centerpiece of this tour. The reason I went is because the guy playing drums on that plays drums on the record I'm working on right now.

PM: Oh, Chad Cromwell? Is he the drummer?

BR: Yeah.

PM: Yeah, I heard Chad was on that tour.

BR: He plays on Pieta's record that I'm working on right now. And they were in Minneapolis, and Chad got us into this show. We went to the show, and there was a moment in that show where they played--they stopped--and then over the PA came Jimi Hendrix playing the "Star Spangled Banner."

PM: [laughs]

BR: And it was, I mean, spiritual--

PM: Yeah. I hear that.

BR: --and then some. But just bringing that, recalling that spirit, was very, very powerful. I was very moved by that, a very strong spirit.

PM: Yeah, it is amazing.

BR: It's around, man. Yeah, you can't deny it. It's all around us, and I personally believe in that.

PM: Yeah.   continue

print (pdf)     listen to clips      puremusic home