![]() ![]() Well, we’re not like Jackson Browne, where we’re with a pointer and talking about troop movements.” It was a funny thing to say. He was asked about a song that was political, and he said, “Oh yeah, we’re kind of political. I’ve had people remark on that to me, like, “Oh, I expect you to come in with sheaths of newspapers and notes and stuff.” There was this great remark that Don Was made. Many of your reviews cite you as being a really serious person. You’re just not 25, now you’re 33, and there’s a completely different aesthetic going on and an attitude about everything that’s come before, rightfully or wrongfully dismissing you. At the same time, a bunch of other things were happening that are probably more responsible for the popularity declining, like punk music. When you sing about stuff that nobody knows anything about, the recognition for what you’re doing is gonna drop off. You hear people like, ‘Oh, he’s losing an enormous part of his audience by talking about this.’ They’re talking about sales and s- like that. I know it was considered problematic by some people in the music industry to talk about politics. ![]() When you started more politically themed music in the 1980s, were you worried about losing your audience? So for me, the challenge is to write a song that people don’t mind hearing and that helps galvanize some sort of feelings or helps them find some resolve. I don’t get to talk about this stuff very much in conversation. We’ve got these electric cars, so why don’t more people have electric cars? Why don’t we phase out fossil fuels? They won’t until they’ve sold us every last thing they have. The natural world’s ability to bounce back from what we’ve done is an existential threat. I am in a state of grief for the world that my kids are inheriting - my grandson. You sing on this album about being concerned for the future your children will inherit. Look, I’ve got a high opinion of some of my songs, but to write something new you have to forget everything you’ve ever done. Because when you wrote that song that you thought so highly of, you weren’t holding it up to some other standard you were just trying to write something new. I think I was talking about the fact that it’s not a good idea to try to write a song as good as some other song you’ve already written. You once said that your standards plague you. It’s more like there’s a residue you gather or a condensation that gathers. The way you pose the question presupposes that there’s getting ready. ![]() What made you decide to record an album after six years? policy in Central America on his 1986 album “Lives in the Balance.” He organized “No Nukes” benefit concerts against nuclear weapons and nuclear energy alongside Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt in 1979 and condemned U.S. In the late ’60s and ’70s, Browne established himself as one of Laurel Canyon’s preeminent songwriters with now-standards like “ These Days” (written when he was 16), “ Take It Easy,” co-written with the Eagles’ Glenn Frey and “ Running on Empty.” Back-to-back smash albums “The Pretender” and “Running on Empty” made him a full-fledged rock star, but gradually he would pivot his music and career away from pop philosophy and toward the political. Though he grows somber when he discusses current events, Browne also seems to have softened with age - exuding less an obstinate attitude than an equable one. ![]() On the album, the singer-songwriter takes typically forthright stands on ocean pollution, immigration rights and gay marriage. Browne’s eyes are still wide open on “Downhill From Everywhere,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s first collection of new music in six years. ![]()
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