A new interview with Bobby from the Courier-Journal.com…
Long moves out of ‘Twilight’ shadow
Bobby Long is a soft-spoken singer from England with a voice that’s one part earnest whisper and one part husky croon. The only record he’s made so far was done in his London bedroom and is an appropriately intimate conversation with himself and significant others, accompanied by his guitar.
The resolutely folksy songs have much in common with early troubadours such as Bob Dylan and later ones in the vein of Elliott Smith or Damien Rice. They don’t, however, seem to have much in common with the giant werewolves and hot vampires of “Twilight” nation.
But this is where Long’s unlikely career path has taken him — from open-mic nights in London clubs to sold-out shows in America filled with “Twilight” fans who discovered him through the soundtrack for the first film. The well-documented obsessiveness of “Twilight” fans has paid off for Long, who doesn’t actually appear on the soundtrack but instead co-wrote “Let Me Sign,” sung in the film by star Robert Pattinson.
It’s a major break with qualifications. While without doubt a significant shortcut, being part of a pop-culture phenomenon always comes with strings attached. A strong association with “Twilight” isn’t much different, for example, than being tied to the Disney machine.
“It’s tricky like,” said Long, 24, who was born in Wigans, England. “As the film took off and got bigger and bigger I knew that I wanted to absolutely make sure that I wouldn’t have the film title after my name on everything I do. But there are so many people out there who are desperate for a shot, a chance to establish themselves, so I’ve never thought of it as being a bad thing.
“Some of the time I’m aware that people are there just because of the film, but at the same time I’ve played a Jack Teagarden cover at shows, and a Hank Williams cover, and people knew them. I think ‘Twilight’ fans get a slightly bad reputation just because they’re passionate about the books. Some of them out there are, you know, crazy, but a lot of them are big music lovers and they’ve come around to finding me because they got into the soundtrack .
“On a personal level I feel like I have to combat it and establish myself, but aside from that I’m happy ’cause everyone needs a starting point and that was mine.”There’s some irony in Long’s situation because his style of writing couldn’t be more removed from flavor-of-the-year pop-culture trends. The music on “Dirty Pond Songs” sounds far older than his 24 years, with some elements that go all the way back to Dylan’s early 1960s albums — and those albums borrowed heavily from the previous generations of folkies.
As Long finger-picks his way though songs such as “Dead and Gone,” “Being a Mockingbird” and “So Tear Me Up,” he seems almost like a young man out of time, leaning on melodies that go back to the turn of the century. That wasn’t the case with his first band, a rock ‘n’ roll cover band in which he played lead guitar.
“We played like Rage Against the Machine covers, and Nirvana covers, stuff like that, which was cool,” he said. “I wanted to be a guitar player at first. I was kind of too shy to sing, and when I started to write my own stuff I quickly realized that I’m the only person who could sing these songs because I was too shy to give them away.”
When Long began writing, he reverted to the music that had helped form him. Much of it was American folk and rock gleaned from his parents’ record collection, with an emphasis on tight songwriting. Some of his favorites include Dylan, The Band, Smith and early Tom Waits, when he was known more as a balladeer.
“I love fully as many British bands as American bands but I’ve always had a bit of a pull toward American music,” Long said. “The Beatles to me are just the best band ever … and I love Led Zeppelin and The Who, but I do feel that pull toward America.”
Any residual shyness has been hammered into submission by endless touring post-“Twilight.” His songs have been changing on the road, Long said, growing into vehicles more suited for a band. While his Louisville performance Monday will be solo, Long is recording his official debut album with a full band and expects to release it early next summer. He’ll also retire the solo act.
“If you go see a punk band, they’ll play for an hour and a half and you can talk through it and be social,” he said, “but when there’s one guy on stage playing with a guitar he’s not particularly loud and you’re really asking the audience for a lot of attention. I’m not saying I’m confident on stage, but I am getting more comfortable talking.”
Source: Courier-Journal.com
