A Conversation with Chuck Brodsky  (continued)

PM: Do you consider yourself a spiritual guy, Chuck?

CB: Yeah, I do, I definitely do.

PM: I mean, I hear that in your songs, certainly.

CB: My spirituality is very simplistic, I think. And I borrow from the best--

PM: [laughs]

CB: I'm not really into dogmatic approaches to religion.

PM: Yeah.

CB: But I think essentially I believe in many of the principles common to most religions. I try as best I can to live my life according to those principles, anyway. I think that matters more than anything else.

PM: But no more a Buddhist than a Christian, for example?

CB: Exactly. I was born Jewish, and I'm still Jewish. But I'm not a traditional observant Jew by any means.

PM: Right.

CB: The best of what I've learned from so many people along the way.

PM: And it's there to be had, I agree. What are you reading lately?

CB: Well, I'm in the middle of reading a biography on the Carter family [Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?], written by Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg. I'm also reading a couple of Irish short story writers, Eamon Kelly and John D. Keane.

PM: And what are you listening to?

CB: David Francey right now. Are you familiar with him?

PM: No.

CB: A fabulous Canadian songwriter. You ought to know about him because his story is exceptional. He was a construction worker. I think he's 43 years old. And he was just writing songs a cappella in his head and singing them on the job. And people he was working said, "David, what you're doing is fabulous."

PM: Wild.

CB: Basically, it's like he had no idea how good he was, and was persuaded to make an album. He doesn't really even play an instrument. I think he's been learning guitar, and I think he's gotten to a point now where he can play a song or two while he performs, but for the most part he travels with a guitar player who's great.

PM: Isn't that the damndest thing.

CB: He was born in Scotland, and he's still got a Scottish accent. And his first album, believe it or not, the one that he was persuaded to make, it actually won a Juno Award. [the Canadian Grammy]

[laughter]

PM: And he can't play the guitar!? You got to love that.

CB: But he's an exceptional songwriter. I'm in love with his music. [He's on Laker Music, check out David's site.] And besides David, I've been listening to a lot of Irish traditional music. There is another Canadian guy I've been listening to a lot lately, his name is Ron Hynes.

PM: Yeah, I don't know him either.

CB: He's a fabulous writer. He wrote a song called "Sonny's Dream," years ago, which a lot of people think is a traditional Irish song. It was a big hit. It was recorded by a number of people.

PM: Yeah, the name is familiar. "Sonny's Dream." Okay. Well, we'll get on those two guys. I appreciate those.

CB: Sure.

PM: So the recent release on Red House is a collection of your celebrated baseball songs, is that right?

CB: Actually, it's not on Red House. That was self-released.

PM: I see, so the last Red House album is from 2000.

CB: Yep.

PM: I was grateful that they sent me all three, which I think is your total Red House collection, right, three with them?

CB: Yeah.

PM: Yeah, God, those are some great records that you made for them.

CB: Thank you.

PM: And this record you've released yourself is all baseball songs?

CB: Yeah, nine of them.

PM: Oh, nine of them, [laughs] that's good. So are you following the Series?

CB: Actually, I have to say I am not.

PM: Yeah. Are you necessarily a baseball fanatic, or just happen to like the idea of scripting the stories of legendary or probably some imagined sports figures?

CB: No, I am definitely a fanatic. And by the way, the songs are all historical, except the first baseball song I ever wrote, which is semi-historical. It was based on a player, but there are a few things in it that aren't factual.

PM: And what's that first one?

CB: "Lefty." But every other song is historical.

PM: And because they're historical, your music can be found at The Baseball Hall of Fame. That's just amazing.

CB: They've also been very instrumental in helping me research these songs. Over the years, the director of their research department has become a good friend of mine. And he has a real passion for folk music. Tim Wyles, I can't say enough about him. He's been a guy I can turn to. He actually wrote the forward for my new CD. [Be sure to check it out with all the press and photos at the artist's website, www.chuckbrodsky.com]

PM: On the subject of sports songs, I was prompted to call you and interview when I heard the amazing news that you recently caught a cinema-related break. Let's talk about that.  continue

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