i should tell you: delaney davidson

Well hello there, and welcome to volume fourteen of I Should Tell You, the show which is actually just a segment on this blog, where I interview cool musicians who will respond to my earnest emails. Only three questions about food, always the same, just to see what happens.

Today I’m delighted to be talking to Delaney Davidson, whose record Sad But True: The Secret History of Country Music Songwriting Volume 1 with Marlon Williams I’ve listened to so many times I could…just listen to it again, really. Simple yet complex, uplifting yet misanthropically dark, brilliant yet really brilliant. If you haven’t heard anything of this yet, I recommend the bar-room jangle of How Lucky You Are, or the moody Bloodletter, which won the APRA Best Country Song of 2013.

He’s currently eating BBQ and playing music in the US, but returns to NZ later this year to tour with the Topp Twins, and will be performing Kurt Weill music at the Christchurch Arts Festival on September 19. Tim and I were fortunate enough to see him with Marlon Williams late last year at Mighty Mighty in Wellington. It was a raucously excellent evening, and had us both saying “how are those vocal sounds coming from just two men?” In a good way, I mean – the sound was amazing, as you will know if you listen to the songs I recommended. Or indeed the entire album.

Thanks Delaney Davidson! The interview starts…now.

1. Where’s somewhere you’ve eaten that you kinda like to brag about or drop into conversation?

I talk quite a lot about food, so I don’t drop it into conversations, more like the opposite.. I often talk about places I have eaten, but more of a dissection than a brag.. I like to figure out how things are made.. Once on the border of Vietnam and Thailand I went to a deserted market late one night, totally empty and completely dark all the tables were bare under the canopy, there was a little tent with a wok and a lady cooking. No one was round, then a guy appeared out of nowhere, came up and ordered something. I asked for the same.. It was fried eggs on rice.. absolutely killer. a thin sauce of soy and fish sauce with garlic and chilli…so simple.. but one of the best things I ever ate..

2 What do you fix for yourself, or where do you go to eat, when it’s just you on your own?

I often dream about cheese sandwiches. I like it when you eat one then you breath through your nose and you get the taste of fresh bread swirling round inside your nose and palate, I think the cheese sandwich is a great thing to eat as it has massive variations from country to country. Breads vary and cheeses do too.. Crusty fresh loaves from France, Rustico, Paesano..chewy crusty blackened sourdough.. soft asiago, oude gouda, appenzeller, or gruyere.. all worth a good day dream… the secret ingredient to a cheese sandwich is butter.. just a little to stick the cheese down and begin the lubrication… I know its not gluten free or dairy free, but think its in the genes and DNA of humans to chew wheat.. cultivate it, harvest it, grind it, bake it.. Its part of life…

3 What’s one of your favourite food-related memories from your childhood?

Cold roast chicken on a picnic… with grapes. behind a hedge at the zoo.

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i should tell you archives:

Janine and the Mixtape (May 18)

Coco Solid (April 19)

Michael Logie, Die!Die!Die! (April 5)