A Conversation with Anne McCue (continued)

PM: You've lived in L.A. a long time now. Has that been good to you? Do you like that as a place to live?

AM: I do actually. Yeah, I love it. I love the people who live here, all the musicians. They're a really wonderful group of people to be a part of. I feel really comfortable with them.

PM: You have a good community of friends down there.

AM: Yeah, definitely. It starts with Dusty and Shilah, really. And I've got all these Sin City All Stars, and the Sweethearts of the Rodeo guys. There are just so many musicians, but they're all part of the same family. And it's great, and it's good despite the music business. You know what I mean?

PM: Yeah, because that sucks.

AM: Definitely.

PM: This is your second disc for Messenger, after the really good disc, Roll in 2002, which we also reviewed. Would you tell us something about them? Who is Messenger, exactly?

AM: It's a small label. It's really only got a few other artists, mainly Dan Bern--and Chris Whitley, who, of course, died last year. He's on this label.

PM: Chris and Dan are both on Messenger, oh, right.

AM: Yeah, yeah.

PM: Did you know Chris?

AM: Yeah. I toured with him the year before last.

PM: He must have been a really unusual guy.

AM: He was a very true artist.

PM: Yeah.

AM: Almost like just too much of an artist for the music business.

PM: Right. When you see pictures of him, he never looked to be of this world, exactly.

AM: Yeah. He seems like he was a bit of a street kid, actually. He left home when he was fourteen or something, and he went to New York City. That's a pretty tough existence, for a kid to go through that.

PM: Right.

AM: But that's part of what made him the artist that he was.

PM: What about your label mate, Dan Bern? Do you know him?

AM: I just met him once, actually, so I don't really know him.

PM: So Messenger does those three artists. Of course, Chris has passed on. Where are they based?

AM: New York City.

PM: And are you close with them? Are the people close to you, or are they just your label?

AM: It's a very small team in a way: there are me, Brandon from Messenger, and my new manager, Nancy Quinn. I mean, that's the core of it. It's just sort of us three against the world, really. [laughs]

PM: Wow. So you have a new manager, Nancy Quinn, here in Nashville. She has joined David Macias at Thirty Tigers Mgt.

AM: Right.

PM: He's quite something. I'd call him a friend of mine; he's a really smart dude, and a hard worker.

AM: Yeah, I don't think I've really met him yet, except on the phone. But I'll meet him this week.

PM: So how did you meet up with Nancy Quinn? Her I don't know. We spoke on the phone one time.

AM: She goes back to Shilah Morrow and Dusty Wakeman, actually. They're all old friends. Nancy used to work at--what's that label Jim Lauderdale was on?

PM: Dualtone.

AM: Nancy used to work at Dualtone. And then I've got a new agent as well.

PM: Who's that?

AM: Third Coast Artists, Steve Hoiden.

PM: Good for you. It's serendipitously fitting, speaking of him, that you'll be sharing the cover with two guys who both play a certain part in your record, Jim Lauderdale and Tony Joe White.

AM: Oh, that's really cool.

PM: How do you know Jim?

AM: Through Dusty. Actually, I met Jim at a gig in L.A., which was the night I met Dusty as well, because Dusty was playing bass with Jim.

PM: A fateful evening.

AM: Yes, that's right. So not really through Dusty, but he and Dusty are good friends.

PM: And so you covered a Tony Joe White song on this record. Are you and he acquainted?

AM: I don't know him yet. But I'm going to meet him, hopefully, on Friday, because I'm playing with him, in Nashville.

PM: Oh, yeah, I'll be there, hopefully shooting some video in the front. [And a couple of those clips follow this interview.]

AM: Great. Send me some footage?

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