I had the opportunity to interview Jim Lauderdale about some records that keep him going. I covered a song from his last record, Patchwork River here. Five Records is an occasional feature of artists talking about the music that inspires them. Read more of these posts here.

The Beatles With The Beatles

“I saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and I knew that music was what I wanted to do. My mom was a choir director, and my dad had a really good voice, so I grew up in a musical home. It was such an interesting time in radio. You heard great stuff like this record, as well as the other British Invasion stuff, country music, soul music, all together.”

Ralph Stanley The Very Best Of

“When I was 14, I got into bluegrass, and I wanted to be a banjo player. I heard “Rank Stranger” by Ralph Monroe, on a collection of Bill Monroe songs, and I would sing along, trying to tackle Ralph’s tenor parts. Such great music from a man whose career I respect.”

Buddy and Julie Miller Written In Chalk

“I can’t really listen to music while I am writing — I get distracted, or worry that I am going to steal something subconsciously. Lately, I have been listening to this record a whole lot. Buddy and Julie have such a distinct sound, and such distinct voices, but they blend so well that it has that magic quality. I got to sing with them on a couple of tracks on Robert Plant’s new Band of Joy record, and it was great to be a part of that.”

Otis Redding The Very Best Of

“I hear songs all the time that I wish were mine, but one that stands out is Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”. Its a simple, well written song, with great production that centers around his voice. Songs like these give me something to aspire to with my own music.”

The Black Lillies Whiskey Angel

“These guys are from Knoxville, Tennessee, and are doing the right things — writing good music and working hard. Cruz Contreras has a great voice, and I think they have a chance to see some real success if they keep this up.”

Jim Lauderdale – “Jawbone”

Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

“When I was a kid, it was Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.I was 8 when I started writing songs and that was 1973. My dad had both of those albums and I played them all the time.Later on Todd Rundgren’s Something/Anything? album and The Clash’s London Calling that sort of set my mind to how it’s done.”

Neil Young Tonight’s the Night

“I’m obviously a big Neil Young fan and really love Tonight’s The Night. He was best known for making kinda countryish mellow, kinda pleasing music and his mental state deteriorated due to some bad times and instead of pretending it was all right, he followed his muse and made a very difficult album. It sold very poorly at the time but is certainly held as a masterpiece by some of us out there.”

Willie Nelson Phases and Stages

“I can’t think of any single album that directly related to The Big To Do. A lot of it was written on the road and the stereo on the bus is usually playing some old soul album but when I’ writing I tend to try not to be listening to anything in particular. I have in recent months been listening to a lot of Iron and Wine, Spoon, Willie Nelson’s Phases and Stages album and Dylan’s last album but our new album doesn’t sound anything like any of those albums.”

Curtis Mayfield Superfly

“There’s a lot of songs I really admire but no one could ever write someone else’s song (at least not the songs I tend to love). So much of what makes a song is how the inspiration is filtered through the writers psyche and imagination. I am a really great big admirer of Curtis Mayfield and love how he did the soundtrack/score to Superfly, taking the context of that story and turning it around to suit his own point of view but still being totally true to the subject matter and in the process taking the subject to a much greater and higher artistic height. “Freddies Dead” is a masterpiece.”

Girls Album

“I’ve been really digging Album by Girls a lot. It’s a really cool album. I’d really like to see them live.”

Patterson Hood – Pollyanna