If for some miraculous reason you're a religious reader of this blog, you know we've long touted the wonders of the shamefully obscure folk-pop master Bill Fox, of Cleveland, Ohio. I've been coy about this until now, out of misguided humility, but here goes nothing: my Bruce Banner alter-ego (i.e., my actual identity when I'm not a hulking green blogger) has written a long essay about my quest to find out what happened to Fox after he dropped off the musical map a decade ago. It's in the current issue of THE BELIEVER magazine, which is published by the highly reputable McSweeney's Publishing, LLC, begun by a certain literary fellow named Dave Eggers. The article is entitled "Transit Byzantium," after Fox's 1998 album on spinArt. Here's the editor's copy in the magazine:Why is Bill Fox — one of America’s greatest contemporary songwriters — working in self-imposed exile as a telemarketer in Cleveland?
The leader of power pop act The Mice in the late 1980s, Fox recorded two solo albums in the 1990s, which happen to be two of the best recorded in that particular decade and maybe any decade. Hear for yourself:
Over and Away She Goes - Bill Fox
Song of a Drunken Nightingale - Bill Fox
Please run swiftly to your local independent bookstore and purchase the June/July issue of THE BELIEVER magazine. It comes with a CD of music which has on it a Bill Fox song called "My Baby Crying," which is beautiful.
8 comments:
Maybe try zShare? I haven't used it except to listen, but it lets you listen to a song without downloading it.
This is great! I look forward to reading the essay, and finding out more about Mr. Fox.
I read your essay today and then hopped on the internet for more sound samples. I found this blog but the songs have now expired!
Well, anyway, thanks for turning me onto an amazing artist and a future search of my own.
I really enjoyed your article in The Believer. I hadn't heard Bill Fox before, but the soft power of "My Baby Crying" made me rush out and get Transit Byzantium. Thanks for bringing him to my attention.
Thanks for the article, The Believer is a fantastic mag. 'The Mice' rule, thank you!@.
It's a really good article. It really turned me on to Fox's music, but I suppose you already know that.
This is a really great article. To put things in perspective, I immediately ordered Transit Byzantium and Shelter from the Smoke after I finished reading this article and listening to "My Baby Crying" about twenty times.
By the way, you mentioned in the article that you found some interviews with Fox somewhere online. Are any of these interviews still available? Or if you have them saved, can you send them to me ?
My email is mochiking@gmail.com
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