String Theories
My Book's Cover Revealed! Plus: I'm With Her Returns; Adam Wright's Masterpiece; Russell Moore's New Job With With Alison Krauss
Some of you are getting this Substack newsletter from me, unexpectedly, for the first time.
I’m publishing a book this fall (described below) and in the interest of reaching long-time friends and associates, I’ve taken the liberty of adding a few select email addresses to my free mailing list. I hope that’s okay! It’s a free and infrequent update on my work, with news about the book coming in the year ahead. Unsubscribe with a simple click at the bottom if you wish to. I’d be happy to hear from anyone with questions or ideas at chavighurst@gmail.com. Now on with String Theories…
One year ago, I broke cover on a book that I’ve been working on for almost a decade about active listening - a guide to pursuing a rich life of musical appreciation and discernment. And since Christmas break, when the last sentences were written and my hunt for a publisher began, I’ve been wrapping up the final edit and working out my plan. So here’s what’s up.
In the first half of October, I’ll be launching Musicality For Modern Humans: How To Listen Like An Artist (an updated title) with The Sager Group of La Jolla, CA.
The Sager Group is a good fit for me - an indie hybrid publisher that enables a curated roster of good books to reach the marketplace without the exploitation of the mainstream publishing business. I’m excited and a little wary about the self-promotion that lies ahead. This newsletter will be my main vessel for the themes of and events around the book, so I hope you’ll support me on this journey and let friends know they can join my subscriber list. This is a life’s work kind of project that brings together decades of observation, practice, research and passion. I want to give it every chance to reach an audience of people who wish they could take their musical journey to new places and deeper levels. It’s for developing fans more than practitioners, but I hope that musicians find it inspiring too.
Today, I’m excited to unveil the cover design, which Mike Sager moved to the front of the queue so that we had a jacket to submit to the Southern Festival Of Books by its June 1 deadline. I hope you like it as much as I do!
Next month, I’ll post the book’s table of contents, so y’all can see the flow and logic of the book and how it’s divided between orientation, music theory, music history, and actionable advice. But this passage from the introductory chapter orients you to how the book is structured:
The book contains six parts that organize the building blocks of a music- first outlook. Part One is a pause to refresh and rethink our habits of mind around music. Part Two celebrates sound and its most fundamental musical elements. Then we move on to the heart of harmony in Part Three, about the way notes and chords flow and work together. Part Four consists of three interlocking chapters about rhythm, perhaps my favorite aspect of music. Part Five proposes ways to integrate harmony and rhythm into a satisfying overall experience with macro lessons about music’s deeper aspects. And in the closing Part Six, something music appreciation books hardly ever address - how to practically take your curiosity about music into the world, with chapters about curating a musical diet in the streaming era, music journalism, listening environments, and the considerations in taking up and playing an instrument.
And here’s a teaser about the scope of the book and the musical worlds I hope to unify:
I’ll be describing concepts that play out across all genres of music. I’ll draw examples from funk, country, bebop, chamber music, stadium rock, big band swing, experimental rock, Broadway show tunes, soul jazz, symphonic, African, jam band, bluegrass and newgrass, hip-hop, gospel, New Orleans brass band, and I’m sure a few more. What I lean away from is the star system or star mindset. Arena-scale pop and rock and mega-festivals are cool as far as they go, but a lot of that world draws people for the spectacle and lights, as well as feeling part of a group and having a great time. The music there tends to be more like a soundtrack to a bigger experience, while my hopes are to elevate the professionals who make music that stands on its own - music that does best in clubs and mid-sized spaces, with a focus on the sonics and the vibe in the room. A musicality mindset is about pulling such elements into the foreground - melody, harmony, rhythm and more, and forming a deep and dynamic picture of what’s happening.
So, more to come!
Below, I share a few stories/interviews from my recent WMOT work that I’d love for you to see or listen to, but the one I’m working on now for the air this week is most exciting to me. In late April, I spent five days in my hometown of Durham, NC to report on the inaugural Biscuits & Banjos festival and to investigate the interesting evolution of the Bull City’s music scene in recent years. It’s become a hotspot for indie-rock-leaning Americana (Iron & Wine, Hiss Golden Messenger, Jake Xerxes Fussell, and The Mountain Goats) as well as historically informed old-time music (Tatiana Hargreaves, Joseph DeCosmio, Sonya Badigian, Viv & Riley). My hour special episode of The String weaves some of those voices together with Biscuits & Banjos guest artists who are enlarging on Durham’s African American music history, notably country singer Rissi Palmer and Carolina Chocolate Drops original fiddler Justin Robinson. It’s coming together nicely and it will be up on the WMOT web site this coming week, before I head off on summer break. -CH
NEW WORK
As always, click the image of each story to link to the full piece online.
I’m With Her is the supergroup comprised of three of the most outstanding women in Americana and modern folk music: Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, and Sara Watkins. In this report, Watkins catches us up on why the group reunited after quite a few years and about key experiences in the meantime with Nickel Creek and the Watkins Family Hour. I LOVE this new album, called Wild And Clear And Blue - certainly a year’s best candidate.
Russell Moore has one of bluegrass music’s mega-voices, plus a deep history and many many awards to his name. Now he’s joined Alison Krauss and Union Station for their new album Arcadia and their ongoing world tour. We go into his whole career, with bonus audio about getting the call from Alison and making the biggest career move he’s made in decades.
Adam Wright was the subject (along with his wonderful wife Shannon) of I think the second story I ever produced for public radio, back when I was finding new paths after leaving the Tennesseean in 2004. While I have stayed friendly with Adam as his career, this is the first interview we’ve had in 20 years. The occasion - a country/songwriter album that I believe is a masterpiece and one that’s being released in chapters through 2025, called Nature Of Necessity. I can’t recommend enough this conversation - one of the best I’ve had about the tension between art and commerce on Music Row.
Top flight country music from East Nashville from an artist you should know.
The Devil Makes Three is a quiet Americana juggernaut with one of the most robust fan bases and reliable quality over the years. Yet I hear too few people pushing them into the conversation about awards or legacy. This conversation with Pete Bernhard takes us inside a band that truly does it their own way. Badass merch too!
THIS PHOTO!
This blew me away. My wife Taylor and daughter Lu are currently on one of their research/buying trips to China as they keep growing and improving their amazing Mala Market, which sells premium Sichuan food items online. You should check it out for top tier ingredients and a world of brilliant editorial content about Chinese foodways, all created or curated by my wife. Anyway this, my friends, was the view from the window of their 81st floor room at the Grand Hyatt in the Shanghai World Financial Center, one of the tallest buildings in the world, looking at the Jin Mao Tower and the famous Pearl tower landmark. Breathtaking. I’m truly jealous of that experience. However I am getting to join Taylor for a week-plus in Singapore and Indonesia in a few days. Hold my calls! 🛫
MEME OF THE MONTH
Great cover!!