Wes Buckley is a singer-songwriter who recently dropped his first full-length vinyl release, The Towering Ground, through Half a Million Records, the new label that sprouted from the famed Belltower Records store. The North Adams, MA-based Buckely plays a unique style of heady and rural folk rock that conjures the vibe of artists like David Bromberg, Robert Lester Folsom and Kath Bloom. You might remember his music being covered on sites like this one.
With such a varied bouquet of different styles and inspirations making up his sound, we knew he might be a great contender for our Liner Notes series. So let’s take a more detailed look into his music taste and listening habits, shall we? Check out his answers to our questions below:
Record Crates United: What was the last song that you listened to?
Wes Buckley: “Jungle Depredation” by Ale Hop.
RCU: What was the last album you felt obsessed with?
WB: Deep Listening by Pauline Oliveros and her book Sonic Meditations. I’ve been revisiting her work in heneral and also reading Improvisation by Derek Bailey all with the intention of creating an engaging teaching artist curriculum for next school year.
RCU: Which artist do you most want to listen to on a Friday night?
WB: Pandemic life has made Friday night the night that I turn the dimmer on full blast over the dining room table and make ink drawings and watercolor with headphones plugged into the record player. My friend gave me a copy of Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt and that’s been a good transporting LP for drawing weird creatures, coincidentally not unlike the cover.
RCU: Which artist do you most want to listen to on a Sunday morning?
WB: Gandalf.
RCU: What record do you wish more people knew about?
WB: I think people should listen to more Eamonn Barry records: https://eamonnbarry.bandcamp.com/releases.
RCU: What’s your favorite album to drive to?
WB: Long heavy or melty jams. Lately it’s been Airway / Hijokaidan’s Lowest Form of Music.
RCU: If you could pull a Groundhog Day and relive one concert that you’ve previously attended over and over again, what would it be?
WB: When we were on tour in Germany my wife surprised me with tickets to Neil Young and Promise of the Real at the Waldbuhne in Berlin. I could redo that one.
RCU: Which artist, living or dead, do you wish you could have a conversation with at a bar over drinks?
WB: If we’re drinking I would choose a corner booth with Harry Partch, Billie Holiday and Hieronymus Bosch. We might need weed.
RCU: What’s the music doc/concert film that you’ve probably seen the most?
WB: I don’t watch too many though I’d love to see more so it would probably be from when I was a kid I had the Woodstock double VHS. I like the Dead Moon one.
RCU: If we blasted a follow up to the Voyager 2 gold record into space, and you could choose just one song to put on it, what would it be?
WB:
Big thanks to Wes for taking the time to answer our questions. You can find copies of his album, The Towering Ground, on Half a Million Records’ Bandcamp page. Click here to get yours now.
*The featured image is from Wes’ Instagram page.
-KH
Record Crates United 