Continued from Part Two:
Jimmy is currently working on Broadway show. "It has to be said that, other than top 40 radio -- which is an extremely exotic product to turn out (I'm not sure if anybody really knows how to do it) -- the Broadway theater is one of the only places were songwriter can still stake a claim..." he said.
He is highly respectful of America's songwriting past. "The present-day atmosphere of what we're listening to -- what the media is obsessed with and circulates with such pounding regularity -- is so unlike some of these gentle sweet songs. I would encourage all of you to go back and looked at some of those songs. Look at some of the Noel Coward lyrics. Please go back. There's a wonderful book out now called "Reading Lyrics" that is just a treasure of songwriting when it was a more subtle practice, when it was full of wit and good temper and charm and wasn't just about money."
He lamented the recent "letting go" of Linda Ronstadt and Nancy Griffith, among 21 other "heritage" artists that Atlantic recently cut loose with one blow of the hammer. "It is becoming more difficult for singer-songwriters to work," he commented. "Those people are not making as many records, and they are being treated quite shamefully by labels who, in some cases, really owe their entire existence to that person. I don't know what to do about that, do you? Except I feel that somehow or another, the public's perception of what is good and what is great and what is talent must begin to swing back in the other direction. There has to be a middle ground...surely there must be a middle ground where works of quality can be exposed.
He plans to sell his next record on his own Web site. He also mentioned Brian Wilson as a recent example of an artist who did likewise. "He did very well. He was very excited about it. He made money -- which you can’t do when you make records for labels... (laughter)... so maybe this is good. Maybe this is all good, and it's all going to work out in the end."
