phones. In the 80s, they came out with
a microphone that was pink; it was
meant for female vocalists. I wrote
them a letter and I went crazy in it. I
was like, ”What the hell is wrong with
you? I don't tweak my voice for anybody, and I don't expect you to come up
with something so ridiculous." If you
remember Klaus Nomi, and how he
sang? Nobody told him to change his
voice because he was a man. That gen-
the floor. That would be awesome. I
would make a million bucks, it would
be awesome (a lot of laughter on both
sides of the telephone.)
der question is something I don't really
bother to answer anymore because the
question is not valid anymore.
actually respected technically, although
not necessarily in this country.
Although, the people that I've worked
with know that I'm very capable of
recording my own stuff. So I'm really
in the process of upgrading my own
studio. I have fallen in love with my
viola and my Silvertone, and I'm experimenting with sounds against my voice
right now. I really want to use more
voices, and I don't really like the space
taken up by electric guitar, so I'm trying
to create a soothing, beautiful music
with many vocals and viola. I wake up
every morning at 5 o'clock; I record,
feed my horse, and do what I have to
do during the day. But I'm really in
love with this sound, and the sound
inspires me to sing. So it's really all
about the sound, and I really like the
minimalist of the combination of these
instruments right now. So that's where
I'm at. We'll see what happens.
IE: After nearly 30 years of being a
songwriter and a performer, where are
you at musically?
JN:
I'm still experimenting with
sounds, which is what I always do.
Also, I'm a recording engineer, and I'm
03•2014
IE: In reverse, has anyone covered any
of your songs that you found to be
impressive?
JN: I get messages every once in a while
from young bands that do cover my
songs, and I wish them all the best, and
I hope they do. I wish that somebody
really rich and famous would cover one
of my songs (laughter.) That would be
great, yeah, come on, do it! Joey would
sound great on you (more laughter.)
Keith Urban could have a go at that. It
would be a great country anthem, it'll
be awesome.
IE: I doubt he could match your range.
JN: You know what? I'll bet he can. He
could do it as a duet with Nicole
Kidman. It will be awesome. Like she
comes home and finds him drunk on
12 illinoisentertainer.com march 2014
Napolitano, 1993