Music Review: Willy DeVille - Pistola

I've been fortunate enough in the past couple of years to have had the opportunity to interview a number of fascinating people involved in the creation of music or literature. In some cases it's been the very formal, "you've got twenty minutes to talk to X starting now," and I've been forced to follow a script that promotes whatever it is the person has just released or is touring. Under those circumstances I count myself as being especially lucky if I can sneak in a question or two about what makes them tick and motivates them to do what it is they do.

I usually find those types of interviews fairly unsatisfactory as they really don't tell you anything about the person behind the mask of "musician" or "author". So I try to avoid that format whenever possible by sending the subject of the interview my questions through e-mail and letting them answer at their leisure. The result is usually detailed answers for me and for the interviewee the assurance that the chances of them being misquoted are kept to a minimum. (The obvious drawback is that I have to rely on subject of the interview to answer the questions and return them, but so far I'm only waiting on two individuals for responses, and they both have pretty good excuses.)

Of course there are exceptions to every rule and in this case it's been the two times I've interviewed Willy DeVille over the phone. Both times we've talked for two hours plus in what has turned out to be free ranging discussions covering everything from how he got into music, some of the people he's played with, and his experience at the Oscars. The last time we talked it was with instructions that we make certain to talk about his forthcoming mini tour of Europe (beginning in Belgium on February 13th/08) and his latest recording Pistola.

For reasons that continue to escape me Willy DeVille has never achieved the level of success in North America that he has obtained in Europe. He's not been without his moments in North America, what with being nominated for an Academy Award for his song "Storybook Love" from the movie The Princess Bride, but it's never approached the level of acclaim he's achieved over seas. In fact, although Pistola is being released in Europe on Tuesday, February 5th/08, there are currently no plans for a North American release date at all, although you should be able to buy it through his web site at some point.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the recently published What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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