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Rhett Miller’s Superfriends: Nick Hornby

rhettmillerlogo100cc2We asked Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller to guest edit magnetmagazine.com this week, and he pawned it off on a bunch of his famous friends: other musicians, actors, writers and comedians. Well played, Rhett. But you can’t hide behind a self-titled solo album. Rhett Miller (Shout! Factory), a Beatlesque beauty featuring Jon Brion, is out this week.

national_vincent400Nick Hornby probably needs no introduction. But I’ll go ahead and tell you that he has a knack for finding truth at the heart of complex issues and bringing that truth to light in a way that makes you laugh. That is truly god’s work. His novels and essays are numerous and fantastic. Read them if you haven’t. Nick Hornby recommends:

“Sleep All Summer” by St. Vincent And The National
My favourite song of the year so far is a cover. The original is by Crooked Fingers, and I have never in my life heard of this band, which makes me wonder, and not for the first time, how many other beautiful, brilliant songs are out there hiding away from us. (I’m sure there are thousands—and it’s a good thing, knowing that surprises like this are waiting for us the rest of our listening lives.) The version I’ve been listening to is by the National and St. Vincent, which is a lovely combination of voices anyway, but the song itself is perfect, a real heartbreaker: wistful, wry, precise in its articulation of a mood that doesn’t get explored very often. I got to hear it through I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, an mp3 blog that introduces me to a song I adore probably once a week; I know I’m supposed to miss independent record stores, but people like Heather Browne make it hard to do so.

5 replies on “Rhett Miller’s Superfriends: Nick Hornby”

I don’t get the feeling that Archers Of Loaf were a known quantity in England. Nick, do check out Crooked Fingers’ albums. “Sleep All Summer” is on Dignity And Shame; I’m partial to the acoustic fingerpicking style on Bring On The Snakes and To The Races (the latter a solo album by CF frontman Eric Bachmann).

I recently downloaded “Tired of Being Along” by Al Green after reading in Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity” that it was Rob’s all time favorite song. That song was added to my summer playlist this last week. I just downloaded “Sleep All Summer”, which will also be added to the summer playlist. Thanks, as always, for the suggestions.

(Two of my faves: Rhett Miller AND Nick Hornby! THANKS!)

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