An Interview With David Rovics (1/3) By Nicholas Boldock

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

David Rovics, like many musicians, was born into a musical family. Both of his parents are classical pianists, and his father is also a composer. He has a sister who plays the flute. Little wonder then that David is also an accomplished musician, though his own expertise lies not in the classical arena but as a contemporary folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His songs recall the great protest singers of the last century - Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger et al - though his own music is firmly rooted in today's world.

I speak to David by telephone at his home in Massachusetts, on America's East Coast. I'm immediately struck by his charm and personality - he is an affable and engaging interviewee, and comes across as a genuinely nice guy. When I say that I will try not to keep him too long, he is at pains to point out that he has plenty of time and it's not a problem. We start at the beginning, as David tells me about the early years of his career as a musician.

"I started writing songs when I was quite young, but it wasn't until the 1990s that I began to take it more seriously," he says. On his official website he describes his earliest songwriting efforts as "mostly really awful, preachy shit". He also says that a pivotal moment in his life - the murder of his close friend Eric Mark (documented in All The Ghosts That Walk This Earth, from 2004's Songs For Mahmud album) - was a major catalyst in motivating him to write songs. Before our conversation, I had made a conscious decision not to ask him about Eric.

It seemed intrusive to directly ask about something so personal, and quite probably still painful. David does talk about this on his own website though, where he says - "Losing Eric like this was an experience of such grief, nothing like anything I'd ever experienced, and it opened my eyes to the kinds of things the majority-world goes through so predictably. I suddenly understood so much more viscerally the looks in the faces of the Central American refugees populating the Mission. For me, the definition of the word "us" suddenly got dramatically bigger... At that time, songwriting became a survival mechanism, my main way of dealing with life."

His first full-length album, 1998's Pay Day At Coal Creek, was self-released and consisted entirely of cover versions. Even at this early stage, his main motivation is clear, with a carefully selected track listing of folk standards and politically-charged songs, including We Shall Not Be Moved, the Phil Ochs classic Draft Dodger Rag, and two Woody Guthrie compositions (Pretty Boy Floyd and The Massacre Of 1913). Tellingly, since Pay Day At Coal Creek, David has recorded virtually no cover versions at all, concentrating on his own songs - though the political theme has remained a major part of his music.

His songs cover such topics as the Iraq war, the Israel/Palestine conflict, green issues, human rights abuses, Guantanamo Bay, the New Orleans disaster, and a whole host of issues both present and past. I ask David if his political activism ever overshadows his undoubted talents as a musician, as is frequently the case with performers of his ilk, such as Billy Bragg, so often perceived as a political loudmouth and not much else (an almost criminal generalisation).

Continued .... Next Page (2/3)

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