Nick Lowe at Country Music Hall of Fame

Nick Lowe is no longer the “Jesus of Cool” his first album touted, but he still strives to be all things to all people.
In an interview with Michael McCall at the Country Music Hall of Fame this morning, Lowe said his goal as a performer is to be cool enough to attract both young and old.
“You get different generations coming to see you, none of whom are under duress,” Lowe said, noting that the older attendees at Justin Bieber shows aren’t there voluntarily.
Lowe said he’s pleased when people cover his songs (“Nice work if you can get it”), but is disappointed when artists play his songs too faithfully.
He said he was told that George Gershwin hated it when others recast his songs. “He wasn’t really a rock ‘n’ roll guy,” Lowe said.
“I like it when people take liberties,” he told the audience.
Lowe also reminisced about his relationship with Johnny Cash, his father-in-law while married to Carlene Carter. He said he spent an entire drunken eveing writing a song to pitch to Cash.
“At about 4 that morning, I thought I was the great man,” he said.
Carlene was inspired enough by the song to call Johnny to come and hear the song the next morning. Cash did show up, with full entourage in tow.
Lowe recalls that he performed “The Beast in Me” with an awful hangover and a performance to match.
At the end of the song, there was silence. Johnny Cash then said “Play it again.”
“It was even worse the second time,” Lowe recalls.
But something in the song resonated with Cash, who later recorded it to critical acclaim.
Now Lowe performs the song with Cash in mind.
I do it like him,” Lowe said. “I don’t do it like me anymore.”
At the close of his interview, Lowe performed a seven-song set:
1. Stoplight Roses (from the forthcoming “The Old Magic”)
2.Ragin’ Eyes
3.Sensitive Man (also from “The Old Magic”
4.Raining, Raining
5.When I Write the Book
6.What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?
7. The Beast in Me