BOBBY LONG /// INTERVIEW

South West England’s Bobby Long describes his guitar-laced warbles as “drops of rain on a bull fighters back like punches breaking through a Windy Gail.”  And though he might have taken his first actual stride into the limelight by being the cohort of famed Rob Pattinson and co-penning Let Me Sign on the Twi-crack soundtrack, he stands on his own two feet, licking the wounds of a young man aged in story-telling years with the breath of whiskey-laced prose.  A raspy whirlwind borrowing from old folk tradition, Long’s forlorn twang invokes yesterdays, yesteryear, regrets and ambivalent longings.

Full name, age and nickname.
Bobby Long, 49, Bobby

(I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that Bobby isn’t really 49.)

What time is it as you fill this out and where are you?
Bobby: I’m in Memphis eating a biscuit and I can smell perfume. I don’t know the brand.

Your music sounds like…
B: Sounds and words.

What’s your upcoming EP title and tentative release date?
B: That’s tricky perhaps next summer.

And your music influences?
B: Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Band, Leonard Cohen, Elliott Smith.

Favorite read, and if you could, what question would you ask the author?
B: Alexander Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo. I would ask him what Paris was like when he was living there.

Name a hidden gem.
B: Memphis, Tennessee.

Something you hate or loathe…
B: I hate interviews, but I like this one.

Tragic hero(es)?
B: Me.  I’m a tragic hero, and also The James Brothers, Frank and Jesse.

If you could tour with any music act, who would it be?
B: I would love to tour with Leonard Cohen even if I just held his bag.

You moved to London a few years ago. What’s it like?
B: It’s a great, great city and it takes time to find your space but when you do it’s wonderful.

What fascinates you?
B: The making of jam.

Describe yourself as a person using three words.
B: Ready. Steady. Go.

Tell me something most people don’t know about you.
B: I don’t know myself sometimes and when it gets to Sunday the cloudiness starts all over again.

What makes you weak in the knees?
B: Someone being weak in the knees.

Long has taken to the open road, sitting on the porches of America with his guitar this November and December. Albeit, Bobby has yet to churn an album to comfort us through a stormy night; there’s something about the calm after the drops of rain, something hushed and clean.  And so, in the stillness, perhaps all we can do is wait.

www.myspace.com/musicbobbylong
www.bobby-long.co.uk/the-artist/

Tags: Bobby Long, Leonard Cohen, Let Me Sign, Memphis, Music Blog, music review, New Moon, Rob Pattinson, The Count of Monte Cristo, The James Brothers, Twilight