A Conversation with Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
(continued)

PM: So your CD is top ten on the Americana chart now, right?

CT: Yes.

PM: I guess the bookings are getting better and--

CT: Yeah, it actually seems like all over the world the record is selling better than anything that I've had since my return to music, and it's still just really in the middle of the run of it. And people seem to love the shows. You know, the reaction after the shows--we sell a ton of records after the shows.

PM: I'm not surprised.

CT: It's a very strong reaction. Yeah, things seem to be heading in a really good direction.

PM: And I've been talking to Mark Pucci, your publicist, so I know that there's unbelievable press about to break, including mentions in Elle and Vogue, and a possible New York Times piece.

CR: We did find ourselves in Vogue this month--by accident.

PM: Oh, really?

CR: Yeah. That wasn't done by anyone from our camp. It was just there.

PM: Oh, because it was like an Austin piece or something.

CR: Yeah. I just bought the Vogue magazine because I thought Uma Thurman looked beautiful on the cover. [laughs]

PM: No kidding.

CR: And I was sitting in my hotel room flipping through the pages and found our names in there.

PM: That must have blown you away.

CR: Yeah, and I just freaked out.

PM: [laughs]

CR: I called Chip and said, "Chip! We're in Vogue! We're in Vogue!"

PM: [laughs] That's beautiful. Where would you guys like to play that you've not yet been together?

CT: I'd like to play the Grand Ol' Opry.

CR: Yeah, ditto.

CT: It's something I've been wanting to do for years. I always was a country person at heart. I had a country band in high school. So "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning" came into it after my direction as a country writer was set. I'm not like the New York boy who's trying to fit into country, I just was country to start with. So I'd like to be accepted there.

PM: Wow.

CR: We've been so many places, I hardly even think about...

CT: Yeah.

CR: Traveling all over Europe and visiting Scandinavian countries, places I never thought I would go.

PM: So it's more than the UK, you guys have been all over the continent and everything.

CR: Yeah. We've been to Holland and Belgium and then Norway, Sweden, Denmark.

PM: Oh, not Germany yet?

CR: We did do one show in Germany a year or so ago, and they've been talking about getting us over there, because I think there's pretty big country music--

PM: Yeah. They're going to love you there.

CT: I've played one or two shows in Germany before, and I started touring with Carrie just on the fringes of Holland. But we were supposed to do an extensive tour this time, then it didn't work out.

PM: Oh, yeah, that's going to open up. So I know you've got shows coming up with Maura O'Connell and with Rodney Crowell.

CT: I guess we're going to do some more with Rodney, but we don't know what that's about yet. We just finished three--Columbus, Cleveland, and Ann Arbor.

PM: I love Will Kimbrough on guitar.

CR: Oh, he's wonderful.

PM: If you could open for anybody, who would top that list?

CT: Well, I have several times opened for John Prine. And Carrie and I have done it a couple of times. I love being with John, and he's an old friend. And I just think if I--he's like my favorite guy to listen to. I mean, listening to him is kind of like--we talked about the spiritual thing--to me that's kind of like going to church. I love hanging with him.  continue

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