MC Taylor visits the studio to play acoustic versions of songs from Hiss Golden Messenger’s latest release, Poor Moon. He talks to Calvin about how he and Scott Hirsch got started writing music together back in their college days at University of California at Santa Barbara; describes this CD as a sort of gospel CD but that Jesus only has “a cameo or two”; talks about his roots in the Durham/Chapel Hill area; and talks about his most “William Blake-ian” song.
TPR#87 MC Taylor from Hiss Golden Messenger – Interview and Music (MP3)
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TPR#27 Paradise of Bachelors Label – Interview and Music
Recap of Interview with MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger
Hiss Golden Messenger is a duo consisting of song writer MC Taylor multi-instrumentalist Scott Hirsch. Their latest release is Poor Moon which has been put out on Vinyl by Paradise of Bachelors and on CD and electronic distribution by Tompkins Square.
MC Taylor joins Calvin in the studio for an interview and some acoustic versions of songs from Poor Moon.
MC Taylor talks about his collaboration with Scott Hirsch and how they met 20 years ago when they were freshmen at University of California at Santa Barbara. They were primarily into experimental, noise music. It gradually morphed into a melange of American traditional music under the name Hiss Golden Messenger.
MC Taylor sets up “Jesus Sot Me In The Head.” He says it’s the most narrative song on the CD.
[Calvin plays “Jesus Shot Me In The Head” off the Poor Moon CD.]
MC Taylor discusses the songwriting on “Jesus Shot Me In The Head”. Scot and he are omnivorous music listeners and so a lot of different sounds show up in the records that might not show up on a traditional Americana record.
MC Taylor ponders whether this CD could be called a gospel record. He says maybe, but not necessarily a gospel of Jesus Christ. He talks about how Jesus has “a cameo or two” on the record. He says it’s a gospel record of the spirit and that “this record as a part of my trying to understanding my spiritual life and sensibility.”
MC Taylor sets up “Call Him Daylight”. He says this song is as William Blake-ian as he gets.
[MC Taylor plays an acoustic version of “Call Him Daylight.”]
MC Taylor talks about his roots in the area and his experience living in Pittsboro south of Chapel Hill. He discusses why it’s important for him to live in the south.
MC Taylor sets up “Drum” from their previous release Bad Debt. MC Taylor describes this song as a gospel song but they might not play it in a church.
[MC Taylor plays an acoustic version of “Drum.”]
MC Taylor talks about their next release. It’s about half recorded so far. Bad Debt came out in early 2011, Poor Moon came out in late 2012, and their next CD already half done so they are prolific.
MC Taylor promotes the Hiss Golden Messenger FaceBook page as the best place to get show announcements and other information about the band.
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The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.
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