AUSTIN — One of the most anticipated sessions at South by Southwest was Thursday morning's keynote address by the highly respected New York music producer Tony Visconti, a man who's worked with an impressive swath of artists including (SXSW performer) Iggy Pop, the Moody Blues, T. Rex, Alejandro Escovedo (who now calls Dallas home) and more.
Oh, and he made more than a dozen albums with David Bowie, including this year's Blackstar.
Visconti could have easily used his entire hour to tell stories about his work with Bowie, who died earlier this year just days after releasing the hauntingly purposeful farewell album.
Yet the 71-year-old producer took only a short section of his talk to remember his former friend and collaborator. The story he chose to tell was that of his first meeting with Bowie in 1966, and how their fast friendship turned into a lasting musical collaboration. Listen to Visconti's remarks on Bowie, starting with their first meeting in England when the artist was only 19:
If you listened until the end, you heard Visconti mention an appearance coming up in Dallas: The producer's Bowie tribute band, Holy Holy, will play 1970's The Man Who Sold the World in its entirety at Gas Monkey Live on April 19. The group also features drummer Woody Woodmansey, who played on that original Bowie album and a few more.
Visconti used the rest of his keynote time for topics and themes that were just as inspiring and enlightening as the Bowie story. While growing up in a musically inclined Italian family, he found early heroes in the likes of Chet Atkins, Les Paul and Mary Ford before getting bitten by the rock 'n' roll bug. After that he was taken with Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Little Richard and, of course, the Beatles.
All the while, Visconti was becoming a skilled, versatile player, learning to sight-read and write music. He said Thursday that while he admires other musicians' ability to play by ear without reading notes, he thinks that his own ability to read it made the 50-plus-year career possible.
We got the biographical stuff, we got the Bowie moments, but the last section of the keynote speech found Visconti imagining the future of music.
Visconti read aloud a fictional story he'd written imagining what could become of the music industry if cookie-cutter pop formulas and a lack of emphasis on talent and creativity persist. Without giving too much away, the end of the story packed a disturbing punch. I hope he publishes it for all eyes.
Another Bowie moment from Wednesday
The packed Iggy Pop show on Wednesday at ACL Live at Moody Theater was nothing less than a knockout. He took the stage with his powerful new backing band led by Josh Homme, snarling and sassing through timeless classics including "Lust for Life." As the 68-year-old punk hero stage-dove, crowd-surfed and engaged in obscene banter, he also paid subtle tribute to Bowie, his friend and collaborator. Included in the set were "Nightclubbing" and "Sister Midnight," songs co-written and produced by Bowie for Pop's 1977 debut solo album, The Idiot. Bowie's spirit could be felt in the entire performance. I'm excited to hear Iggy's upcoming record, Post Pop Depression, out this week.
