JD McPherson Photo: Supplied
Nick Bollinger talks to Oklahoma rock'n'roller JD McPherson about his influences - from The Ramones to Shakespeare.
If I had to explain rock ‘n’roll to some visiting extra-terrestrial, I might play them Signs & Signifiers, the 2012 debut of 38-year-old Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter JD McPherson. McPherson plays rock’n’roll, at least as it was understood when the term was first applied to a strain of popular music some time in the 1950s. Everything from the honking saxophones and rickety rhythm to his twanging guitar and delirious vocals could have come straight out of that era.
Last year McPherson put out a second album, Let The Good Times Roll, and while it still finds him steeped in 50s rock’n’roll, it also shows more clearly that within those primitive forms he has found his own voice.
JD McPherson is coming to New Zealand, for one show at Auckland’s Tuning Fork on Saturday 27 February. I caught up with him on the phone ahead of his visit and discovered he had influences well beyond 50s rock’n’roll – including The Ramones and Shakespeare.
Songs played: Little Caroline, It’s All Over But the Shouting, Head Over Heels, Let The Good Times Roll
