Fiddle me this

By BARRY THOMPSON | July 14, 2010

"Whenever Billboard creates a chart for something, it's going to become bullshit," says Hall. "It happened to country rock in the '60s, which turned into the bloated Eagles thing. Then it happened to jazz fusion, which turned into this awful, overly dexterous steaming pile. We expect Americana to go the same way, but we're fighting the good fight."

Let us commend Kingsley Flood for rejecting retro-faddism, because retro-fads are fucking stupid. Old is not necessarily better. Age doesn't always beget wisdom. Even if, in this instance, it's inspired Hall to rawk out a good deal harder. (Although he's not actually that old.)

"When you're younger, you tolerate a certain amount of shit, because everything you go through is supposed to get you some place," Hall extrapolates. "If I go on stage, that's the sum total of my life experience. And it could totally suck. Imagine what a bummer that is. But I'm not thinking, 'I'm doing this because tomorrow's going to be so much better.' This is what I do."

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