A Conversation with Sandy Dyas  (continued)

PM: I like Chris Offutt's essay "Iowa Waltz," the foreword to Down to the River. Was there a lot of back and forth between the two of you about it?

SD: Chris Offutt's honest and true essay was a gift. No, we didn't go back and forth on it at all. He wrote it and let me read it, asked me if I wanted anything changed or if I liked it. I loved it.

When Chris read from his essay at Prairie Lights--prior to me taking the stage, I was so nervous. Then I listened to Chris and his words. Everything he said was honest, real, and described how we all felt at the time about the music and the times, the music scene then. He and I were there together along with all of our friends and this is how we both remembered it. A few paragraphs into listening to Chris read, I just felt this calm wave take over my being. I knew I really didn't have to say much of anything--therefore I did not have to worry about forgetting to say this or forgetting to mention this person or--well, you know. Chris's essay said it all for me.

KG: Were there any surprises in assembling the book or having it published?

SD: The good surprise was that Holly told me to hand in quite a number of extra photographs that could possibly be used in the foreword of the book and at the end of the book. I was really impressed with the way the designer used those images in the space. And they used every one I included. So, a wonderful surprise! I know people who say their publishers and/or designers really changed the feel of their work and they were disappointed with not having the final say. I am extremely grateful to the University of Iowa Press. They worked closely with me and were very open to all of my ideas. The sequencing of the photographs in the main body of the book is identical to what I had chosen.

PM: Was the possibility of including a CD with the book an idea you had from the beginning, or was it added into the project somewhere along the way? How did you go about choosing the songs? And how does it work with the musicians--do they get a royalty of some kind?

SD: No royalties for the musicians from the CD. They all gave us permission to use the music--no one told me that I could not chose a certain song. Some I chose just because I loved the song, and others because they seemed to fit better than another one I had picked out. I think the songs truly add another layer to the photographs. The photographs are as much about the music, the songs, as they are about the people photographed.

I pitched the idea early on but Holly, my editor, was hesitant about the idea because of the possible costs involved. David Zollo, Holly Carver, and I had a pinnacle meeting one morning about including a CD of songs and I think Dave won her over. He also calmed her fears about high costs. I credit David with getting the CD into the book. And I know it was a very good marketing tool for the book...I mean you get an 18 track CD AND a hardcover book of photos. I get as many compliments on the CD as I do the book!

There were two Kevin Gordon songs from later in his career that I really wanted to use and we couldn't because his record company owned the songs and it was going to cost the U of I Press a thousand dollars per song. Well, that did not happen. I chose "Lucy and Andy Go to Arkansas" instead. In many ways that was a perfect choice, since Kevin and his band played that song a million times at Gabe's and we all danced and sang to it.

The songs of his that we didn't use, one is called "Pauline"--it's so sad, poignant. It's beautiful and it brings up many scenes of the Mississippi River and the life of people in this area of southern Iowa--near Moline, Illinois. The other song is "Jimmy Reed is the King of Rock and Roll." I love the line "Dark sunglasses, sharkskin suit, standing in the broken glass of East Dubuque on a Sunday morning." We used to do a lot of dancing in East Dubuque and would head across the bridge after a great night of listening to Bo Ramsey and the Sliders at Cooper Wagon Works. The picture that Kevin creates in the words of his song, for me it's a picture of Bo Ramsey standing in the streets of East Dubuque. That song brings back so many memories.

All of the songs on the CD are so well written--more like poems--and they bring images to my mind: of living in small rural towns, the Midwest, hardships, love. You know...life.