"I feel like I can spiritually stand by the list. But if I want to trouble the entire process, I don't think our task was making a list. I think our task was expanding and re-examining the notion of American songcraft. That, to me, was the root of all the arguments that we made in that room. To the extent that we disagreed with each other, or to the extent that we gave grace to each other, or to the extent that we agreed with each other, I feel like everybody in that room was willing to think expansively about what songwriting is."
"Songwriting is such a peculiar thing. It has so much baggage. It comes with attachment to certain communities, certain subgenres and engaged fans, who have an extremely fixed idea of what constitutes songcraft. And what do you think that idea is, like, to I think it's a heroic white man with a guitar, struggling through his emotions, sitting in a room, no collaborators, no contact with the outside world, perhaps alcohol, perhaps drugs, accessing some kind of pure emotional truth, and putting it in a rock, country or otherwise roots-affiliated genre."
"To me, as much as I enjoy some of that music, I do not mistake that for the totality of American song, I do not mistake that for the best examples of songcraft. And what I was grateful for in the room is that every person in their way, with their with their own personal frameworks that they came in the room with, was willing to say, It's not that, it's not not tha"
The list-making process focused on expanding and re-examining American songcraft rather than simply producing a ranking. Songwriting carries baggage tied to specific communities, subgenres, and fans with fixed ideas about what counts as songcraft. One narrow model centers on a heroic white man with a guitar, isolated in a room, struggling emotionally, possibly using alcohol or drugs, and translating “pure emotional truth” into rock, country, folk, or related roots genres. Even when that music is enjoyed, it is not treated as the totality or the best measure of American songcraft. The process emphasized willingness to think expansively and to grant grace amid disagreements.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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