Paste Magazine - 35 Years and 34 Albums Later, Jim Lauderdale Is Still Learning
There are laconic, colorful tale-spinners who just happen to have been born with the gift of gab, who can almost effortlessly entertain an audience of any size. And then there’s alt-country tunesmith Jim Lauderdale, a genial Garrison Keillor-meets-Grandpa Simpson raconteur with a surreal stream-of-consciousness style all his own. And his stories, after 35 oddly unsung years in the music business, will start deceptively simple, then zig-zag wherever they may, and yet hold your riveted interest the entire time. So when he phones to discuss Hope, his aptly optimistic new outing for YepRoc, you have to be prepared for the conversation to go just about anywhere….