A Conversation with Michael Rhodes (continued)

PM: What are you listening to lately, and what are you reading?

MR: I've been on this Nick Tosches jag lately, man. Have you ever read any of his stuff?

PM: No.

MR: Oh, he's great. Well, what I'm reading right now is that new Muddy Waters biography, Can't Be Satisfied. But the last book I read before that was Power on Earth by Nick Tosches. There was a huge European bank that collapsed back in 1974, and it's the story behind that, the principle players behind that. And it has to do with stuff like the Pope's bank account.

PM: No kidding.

MR: Oh, yeah, man. It's fascinating. And then a couple pieces of fiction of his, Trinities and Cut Numbers. But this is the guy who wrote Dino, and he wrote The Devil and Sonny Liston.

PM: Right.

MR: And he started out as a music critic. So anything you get by Nick Tosches is going to be worth the read.

PM: And who wrote that Muddy biography?

MR: Robert Gordon. It just came out. It's really good.

PM: It's hard to find a more fascinating character in the whole history of blues.

MR: Oh, man, he ruled. It was hard to get him off the Stovall Plantation, because he had this going on so much down there. Anyway, it's a great read. And there's a lot of stuff that I didn't know about Muddy. So that's what I'm reading right now.

What I'm listening to... [laughing] I was just listening to Electric Ladyland this afternoon.

PM: [laughs] Still raining, still dreaming.

MR: Exactly, man, you know.

PM: God, we'll be listening to that to the grave, and loving it.

MR: Yeah. And I still listen to a lot of John Coltrane. And Miles Davis. I mean, at the risk of sounding corny, man, Kind of Blue is one of my favorite records. Ten years ago, fifteen years ago, I was listening to it every day. I don't listen to it that much anymore, but it's been part of my vocabulary. And John Coltrane has a record that he did, Ballads.

PM: Ballads is unbelievable.

MR: Oh, I know. It's fantastic. But contemporary stuff, I don't know. I'm kind of out of the loop. I've got to say that I get most contemporary stuff through osmosis. It's media osmosis.

PM: Yeah -- although you're cutting contemporary stuff.

MR: But not necessarily all of it is cutting edge. But I'm busy playing. I'm just busy playing. Oddly enough, I don't listen to that much new stuff. Frankly, a lot of it doesn't interest me, because I'm out of the age demographic that it's targeted at. It isn't part of my vocabulary. And that's not to say that there isn't a lot of great stuff that's coming out, but I'm just kind of in between right now.

PM: Yeah.

MR: And when I'm in between, I listen to touchstone music, stuff that connects me with what I know to be of value.

PM: And the classics, the level of mastery to which we all still aspire. Kind of Blue, I mean, come on.

MR: Yeah. And Donny Hathaway. Go back and get some early Donny Hathaway. Extensions of a Man. Oh, it's just the best.

PM: Wow, that's a hot tip.

MR: Oh, yeah. Great player, great songwriter. And the Beatles...

PM: Yeah, that's right, I saw you playing the Beatles the other night. I'll write about that in the setup, for sure.

MR: Well, I've got that Vinyl Kings record [A Little Trip]. It's not out yet, we haven't officially released it yet. It's Beatles songs you've never heard. [laughs]

PM: Oh, yeah, it's original. That's right.

MR: Yeah, it's original.

PM: We've been talking about music most of the night. What turns you on outside of music?

MR: Bamboo.

PM: Bamboo.

MR: My wife, Lindsay, she's my pal. And my new dogs, Mingus and Ella.

PM: Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

MR: They're the cutest things. I've got the best dogs in the world. [laughing] Just like everybody else that has dogs, they have the best dogs in the world.

And yeah, I've been leading a small life lately. And as I showed you, I'm building a studio next door. The technology is finally arriving -- you know, we're finally going to get in, Frank.

PM: [laughs] That's great. It's wonderful to have this conversation, and to get it into the magazine. Thanks for talking.

MR: You bet, brother.

Gig photos of Michael Rhodes by Rick Malkin.
Bamboo and feet by FG.

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