RIDING THE MUSIC WAVE No. 3: KEVIN SAMPSELL
Because serious art is where complex and difficult questions are made human and uncomfortable in a time when most people don't like to feel uncomfortable, I can only say that the music I listen to mostly makes me feel very good, especially with a drink or a good smoke. I can't listen to music when I'm writing, though, and am mostly interested in how songs are structured lyrically and musically. My list of songs would be different every week, depending on what rings my cherries, but this is what I've listened to a lot recently.
Kevin Sampsell is a former country music and top-40 radio disc jockey. He is now a bookseller (Powell's), publisher (Future Tense Books), collage artist and curator (Sharp Hands Gallery), and the author of books including I Made an Accident, This Is Between Us, and A Common Pornography. His surprise new book, Sean the Stick, is a short story illustrated by Emma Jon-Michael Frank and comes out January 2024. His next novel, Baby in the Night, will be out in early 2025.