Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

11. The Everly BrothersSongs Our Daddy Taught Us

Looking at this list it’s clear how most of my influences are Southern. This is a very Southern album, and if I could choose one album to define what Southern gothic literature would sound like, this is a Southern gothic album to the T. It is incredibly dark! ‘Down In The Willow Garden’ is one of the most disturbing songs. A lot of the songs have this quiet melancholy, and a lot of the songs have this off-putting simplicity and this homely folksiness, while they’re also dealing with really disturbing topics. I just think it’s a really complicated album, and it’s probably viewed by a lot of people as – Songs Our Daddy Taught Us – this very kind of cute, novelty-type thing. I don’t see it that way, and I see it as being just as vital as anything Bob Dylan ever did. And that’s not an insult to Bob Dylan – if anything, it’s a compliment to Bob Dylan that I would mention him in the same sentence. And you could use a word that I don’t use very often to describe it: stark.

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