Micah P. Hinson’s life has always been very intense. As intense as his land, Texas, his past (between drugs, prison, depression, near-fatal accidents) and his discography, where in just under twenty years he has released no less than twelve albums since his 2004 debut by Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress until the very end I Lie to Youreleased in December, the result of five days and five nights of recording in a bare room in Irpinia.
In support of I Lie to Youthe American singer-songwriter will cross Italy in March for eight dates, starting on March 4 from Genoa, to then touch Milan, Rome, Perugia, Turin, Cagliari, Ravenna and Pesaro. We took the opportunity to ask Micah to prepare us a playlist of songs related to him and that have inspired, in some way, this latest record.
Thank Heaven I’m an Indian BoyNorthern Cree
I am Chickasaw. We came from South America thousands of years ago and settled in Mississippi. Our land has been taken away from us, or rather, we have been taken away from our land. The “US government” moved us to our reservation in what they called Oklahoma. My ancestors were part of the first Chickasaw group that had to leave – many of us died. Even today it is a constant battle with the “US government”. People say it’s history, but this horrific reality is the native past, present, and future: We’ll never get our land back, we’ll never get our dead back.
Yours Truly, 2095Electric Light Orchestra
In this modern world, which sees the rise of cassette tapes to CDs to digital devices and… well, you know how things are. Even with more limited options, as a kid in Texas I found it somehow easier to discover new bands – Bedhead, Built To Spill, Skinny Puppy, Ministry and so on – but as times got more “advanced,” more “accessible” , I had more and more difficulty finding new music. Then, recently, I came across ELOs. I wasn’t sure where they’d been all my life – hidden away, I suppose. And here I am, in the midst of a fast-moving world, and me finding old bands that have such a brilliance that can’t be described. I seem to relive the feeling when I first started listening to music.
You’ll see you’ll seeI’m a dog
This man saved my life. I could go into extravagant explanations, but I don’t think you would have the time. Quite simply, and honestly, this man and the music he creates healed me at a time when I thought – I was convinced – that I would never feel good again. He looks mystical, because he is. He is the genius of our time. I can never praise this man enough and the magic he possesses and wields. Again, he is the genius of our time.
From the sky comes a BachillerJulian Mayorga
I think this man has a different view of things than anyone else I know. He is mesmerizing and chaotic, brash and extraordinarily brilliant. Listening to him and thinking about him, I can’t help but philosophize on the concept of “voice of a generation”.
Priest and ParamedicsPedro The Lion
Growing up in central Texas, “God” was everywhere. People spoke of “God” in the same ways. People used the same words to talk about “God.” David Bazan, the songwriter and lead singer of Pedro The Lion, sang about “God” using a jumble of words that really spoke to me. He had his doubts, and while it has taken me years to try to undo the shackles of such religious thoughts, practices and falsehoods, it was nice – more than nice – to hear someone who, at such a young age, did not utter the same words that everyone else used to talk about “God” and to talk about the human being.
Return of the Frog QueenJeremy Enigk
This has never been a name on people’s lips: Jeremy Enigk. Well, it should have been. The amazing things he did with orchestration, reproducing wild, beautiful and ‘folk’ exercises in an almost ‘foreign’ or unfamiliar way. I come back to Jeremy Enigk again and again. I forget about him. Then I remember him and am amazed again.
El PescadorToto La Momposina
This performance and recording is borderline unbelievable. The dance between drums and vocal melodies – because that’s what it is – is pure alchemy. I listen to it and there is a world inside: things that my ears may not hear, but that something, somewhere inside me, hears and marvels in wonder. There’s a complexity to even the simplest of arrangements: you can feel all the intentions, the sadness and the joy, and through electricity it all comes to us. Beautiful.
I was a teenager in Texas. I had a band. We were doing something very similar to what I still do today. I used to work at a record store in a mall. A man came in wanting to post flyers. At the bottom of the flyer it said that the Starflyer 59s would be arriving in the city. I asked him who would open the concert. He replied that he didn’t open anyone. I convinced him to follow me in the car. I gave him my CD, probably a disc full of songs that I’ve never put on another CD, now lost in time. He heard it and my band opened for Starflyer 59, our first real show. It is an indelible memory. I remember smoking an unfiltered Lucky Strike with the singer outside the back door of the church we played at.
Make Your Own Kind of MusicMama Cass
I was at the cinema with my lovely girlfriend. They played a more Broadway version of this song in the movie. The lyrics and the melody impressed me a lot. They looked beautiful. Everything they say incites a sense of freedom, and in this life, we need as much freedom as possible.
Breakfasts in Americasuper ramp
My kids like music, but they are picky when it comes to choosing the songs they like. There’s no logic to what they like, there’s no certain style of music they can always agree with. Every now and then, however, I happen to “make the center”. One day I heard one of them sing: “Do you want my autograph?”. At that moment I realized that I had really hit the mark. I keep my ears open to understand what they like. The gift of music is unlike any other. My dad always made me listen to John Denver.
John Denver is the author I love the most: I listened to him even before I was born, in my mother’s belly and hearing my father sing me all his songs. I went on like this for the rest of my days, and still today. It’s something my father and I, and the rest of my family, could count on: we could bond through his music. I once went to Dallas, Texas with my family. Our seats were unfortunately very far away. I saw a person holding up a ticket and saying, “Does anyone want a front row ticket?” I immediately said I wanted it. I sat in the center, front row, and watched John Denver perform and had an incredible night. Not long after that concert, he died in that plane crash. That moment will always be dear to me. There are few things in life that are priceless.
Baby As You Turn AwayBee Gees
This group of siblings, as I learned growing up, are capable of reaching a level of emotion that is hard to match. I grew up hearing about the Beatles all the time. The Bee Gees were “a disco group” and, no, no, no, that’s not true. They are attentive and precise musicians, as well as excellent songwriters.
Qiuéreme siempreOrchestra of Aragon
There are songs that can somehow carry both a heavy sadness and a wild sense of hope, and this is one of those songs. It contains a nostalgia that is supernatural. I am fortunate to have a girlfriend whose knowledge of music is vast and intricate. She is Colombian. I learn and have learned a lot from her. The history of musical styles – the people involved in making the music – is a subject I never knew, or heard of, growing up. In the United States, I heard everything that was thrown at me, but at the same time, before my eyes, there was a history deeply rooted in a multitude of styles and rhythms, rhythms and styles. I have actively opened my mind and ears to everything history shows me. It is an education that I need and want.