Former Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn speaks -- and spins -- on KCSN-FM show

 
Former L.A. Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn will launch his new weekly radio show on KCSN-FM (88.5) on Sunday at 6 p.m. with a program of musical discovery.

The initial "Rock n Roll Times with Robert Hilburn" show will highlight artists who either sparked Hilburn’s passion for music early on or for whom, during nearly four decades covering pop music for The Times, he became an early advocate.

“The first song I'm going to play is ‘Baby, Let's Play House’ by Elvis,” Hilburn told me this week. “It's the record that made me fall in love with rock enough to write about it for 35 years at The Times.... I was getting ready to go to school at high school one morning when I heard it and wham: the youthful voice, the independence, the sense of freedom, the great guitar licks by Scotty Moore.”

From there he plans to take listeners along to revisit what he describes as “favorite moments of discovery: the first night on the job (as a full-time pop critic) ... seeing Kris Kristofferson and thinking he was a modern, young Hank Williams. Then two months later seeing Elton John and thinking he could be the biggest pop star in the world, then a year later John Prine and thinking he was going to be the next Dylan (smile). Well, he did become a great, great writer.”

Other artists he’ll cover include Emmylou Harris, Al Green, Public Enemy, Kanye West, White Stripes and — to the surprise of no one who encountered his many references to the two acts he probably championed more than any others over the years — Bruce Springsteen and U2.

Since retiring from The Times in 2006, Hilburn has been focusing on writing books. His first, “Corn Flakes With John Lennon (And Other Tales from a Rock ‘N’ Roll Life),” was published in 2009, and now he’s researching a cultural biography of Johnny Cash. The first batch of shows will be prerecorded to accommodate his research, but eventually he said he hopes to do some live and take listener requests.

On the appeal of taking on the radio show, he said, “One of my great frustrations for 35 years at the paper was the fact I couldn't play a record for the reader when I was writing about an artist.

“How can you describe the beauty of Emmylou Harris' voice without hearing it, the sensual lilt of a Duane Allman guitar solo without actually hearing it or the growl of Johnny Rotten without hearing it?" he said. "With the Internet today, it is possible to do some mixed media things where you can write about an artist and link to a song or video by that artist. But that was unheard of in the  years I was at the paper. So I secretly yearned to have a radio show.”

In future shows, Hilburn said he plans to highlight artists who he thinks have been underappreciated, such as David Bowie ("Lady Gaga with real songs and an original persona"), to spotlight albums shelved or long delayed by record companies, great songs from the disco era and "the 10 songs that established rap as an art form."

Hilburn's show is part of an expansion of the Cal State Northridge-based station's adult album alternative (AAA) format under new program director Sky Daniels, who also has brought in former KCRW-FM deejay and music director Nic Harcourt, whose new show launches Saturday at 3 p.m., and another former Times staffer, Kevin Bronson, who brings his Buzz Bands column-turned-blog highlighting local music to KCSN on Sundays from midnight to 1 a.m. Monday.

“The idea is to have fun, but celebrate musical excellence,” Hilburn said, “in all styles of music, all generations. I want to reach listeners who went through the last 40 years of music with me and those who are curious about the music that changed the culture.”

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-- Randy Lewis

Photos, from top: Robert Hilburn interviewing Rolling Stones guitarist and songwriter Keith Richards. (credit: RobertHilburnonline.com); Hilburn in later years (Los Angeles Times).

New Johnny Cash biography coming from former Times music critic Robert Hilburn

 

 

Former Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn’s new  biography on Johnny Cash, “In Search of Johnny Cash,” will be published by Little, Brown and Co., the publisher of Peter Guralnick’s massive two-volume Elvis Presley biography, “Last Train to Memphis” and “Careless Love,” and Keith Richards’ recent autobiography, “Life.”

Hilburn’s book will cover Cash’s artistic career and his turbulent life, from his days growing up in Arkansas to becoming one of the true icons of 20th century popular music.

“Of the many great rock pioneers in the 1950s,” Hilburn says, “Cash was the only one who approached his music as more than hits for the jukebox. He wanted his music to inspire and uplift people. In that goal, he was the crucial link between Woody Guthrie’s music of social idealism and commentary in the 1930s and 1940s and Bob Dylan’s music of revolution in the 1960s and beyond.

“Foreshadowing the stance of such landmark bands as the Beatles and U2, Cash recognized that he could use his music and fame to impact social attitudes, whether it was decrying the treatment of Native Americans or offering hope to others downtrodden by society,” Hilburn said by e-mail  Monday in describing his second book since leaving The Times five years ago after serving as pop music critic for 36 years.

His first, “Corn Flakes With John Lennon and Other Tales From a Rock 'n' Roll Life,” contained personal reflections on his experiences interviewing several key figures of the rock era, including Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Janis Joplin and U2 -- and Cash, whom he interviewed numerous times over four decades.  Hilburn also was the only reporter to accompany Cash at his historic 1968 performance at Folsom Prison.

“I want to treat Cash with the critical eye and historical scholarship that he deserves as one of the major socio-cultural figures in America during the 20th century,” Hilburn told Pop & Hiss. “Despite his enormous popularity, I think he was a more important and influential artist and a more complex, often troubled person than even his biggest fans realized.

“His life was often a struggle between his artistry and his addiction -- and ultimately ... each contributed to the other,” Hilburn said. “But through Cash I want to also tell the story of the challenges and demands of artistry; how someone has to keep fighting for his vision -- against record company and/or public disinterest at times -- if he or she is to achieve something truly lasting."

Hilburn just signed the deal with Little, Brown and Co., following bidding by a number of other publishers, and is still researching and writing the book, so no publication date has been set. But he added, “It's absolutely the best place for me to be because the company is so respected in the publishing world -- and they do an especially good job with music books.”

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Johnny Cash and Robert Hilburn (on Cash's left) at Folsom Prison in 1968. Credit: Jim Marshall.