It’s been a busy time lately for Marshall Crenshaw: He released his 10th studio album, Jaggedland, last month; it’s his first proper release in six years, and his first for the Santa Monica-based label 429 Records. In addition to keeping up his usual touring calendar, he contributed a slowed-down, moody rendition of “Supernatural Superserious” to the R.E.M. tribute concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall a few months back, and last month he became one of the first musicians featured in the “Drop” series of intimate performance/conversation events at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

After working primarily in home studios and with makeshift assemblages of musicians over his last several records, Crenshaw laid down most of Jaggedland at the Sage and Sound studio in L.A. His band included legendary drummer Jim Keltner and former Soul Coughing bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and the album was helmed by Jerry Boys. A prolific producer/engineer whose resume dates back to the early ’70s, Boys cut his teeth on folk-rock (Steeleye Span, Richard Thompson, 10,000 Maniacs) but came to Crenshaw’s attention via his sterling work on recordings by various members of the Buena Vista Social Club collective – particularly 2003’s Mambo Sinuendo, by Ry Cooder and Manuel Galban. That album’s dark exoticism is evident all over Jaggedland.

Stormy River (from Jaggedland)

Popdose caught up with Crenshaw last week; he was at home in Rhinebeck, NY, beginning a brief respite from the road that precedes more extensive touring later this year (starting in September in the upper Midwest). He proved ready to talk about matters both old and new – including a detailed analysis of his rise and stall as a Next Big Thing during the early ’80s.

How did the gig at the Grammy Museum go? I was sorry I missed it.
I thought it was nice. I was appearing with a guy named Bob Santelli [the museum’s executive director, and a longtime journalist and author, who hosts the “Drop” programs]. I’ve known him since day one – he was one of the first people to write an article about me. I figured it would be a cool experience where I could cover a lot of bases. I played a few songs, and half of it was Q&A. Some interesting questions, too.

Such as?
One guy asked me if I thought I’d make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! That question blew my mind, that anybody would come up with that as a possibility and ask me about it.

Well, we did a story last year about people who send around petitions to get various acts into the hall. Anyway, we all know you’re a student of pop, rockabilly, honky-tonk, and god knows what else. As such, are you a fan of the Hall of Fame, or the various music museums in general?
(thinks for a minute) Yeah, I guess so. I’ve been to the Hall of Fame a handful of times, and I tend to enjoy myself there. My favorite tour I ever got there was of the storage lockers, the stuff that’s not on public display. We were rummaging around there and we found Eddie Cochran’s guitar case! There was all this stuff in there from when he was touring, and it was fascinating — there were all these European string brands, miscellaneous little things. We also found one of Ike Turner’s Stratocasters, so I played that for a little while. There’s this ancient bootleg video of Ike and the Kings of Rhythm playing in a TV studio in St. Louis, and that’s the guitar he was playing in the video. I also played Buddy Holly’s banjo for a little while. One of my favorite things, coming from Detroit, was a document signed by all five members of the MC5 acknowledging they’d been dismissed by Elektra Records.

Sounds like the makings of a great History Channel documentary.
Yeah, somebody definitely could do that. You know, it’s easy to be cynical about that whole thing, of memorializing the music of the past, but whenever I’ve been there I’m always moved. The people there are really smart, and care about what they’re doing and about preserving these artifacts. One part of me thinks it’s a crock of shit … but, like I said, I’m always moved, so there must be something to it. (more…)