The mighty JD McPherson rocks World Cafe Live on July 12th. Don’t be stupid.
PREVIOUSLY: I have seen the future of the past, and his name is J.D. McPherson, a thirtysomething cuffed-denim Okie with lacquered hair, iron lungs and, goodness gracious, great balls of fire. McPherson and his gifted retro-rock posse recently released Signs & Signifiers, a bracing collection of tailfin rockabilly, rawboned R&B and sultry moonstruck balladeering. It is hands-down the feel-good record of the year. MORE
PREVIOUSLY: Sign & Signifiers was hands down 2012’s PARTY ALBUM OF THE YEAR. Enjoy this Q&A we did with Mr. McPherson last summer. We talked about the usual rockabilly guy stuff: pomade, semiotics, Larry Clark’s Tulsa,, early 60s ska, Greg Ginn, Esquerita vs. Little Richard, the sexiest Buzzcocks album, the majesty of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand, how a white man from 2012 can sing like a black man from 1957 and what is the greatest baby-making music ever made.
PHAWKER: Riddle me this, Batman, you sing like a black man from 1957 who’s got a maraca man named Jerome Green and a sister named The Duchess and yet you’re white, you’re alive right now, and you have a name that sounds like a chain of Irish pubs where the bartender’s dress like leprechauns and dispense green beer to steroidal date rapists and the girls who love them. Please explain.
JD MCPHERSON: I just I have a loud voice and I have Scotch-Irish ancestors and I’ve listened to so much black music that I suppose it’s rubbed off on me a little bit and my dad is a singer and he has soul. Maybe that’s where I get it. MORE