A Conversation with Wesley Stace / John Wesley Harding
Series: Art Works Podcast
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Length: 00:29:27
As John Wesley Harding, he's released some 15 albums, but when he turned to literature some years ago, he did so under his real name, Welsey Stace. Wesley Stace wrote the novels Misfortune and By George to the kind of reviews any writer would be overjoyed to receive. Wesley has recently struck gold again with his third novel: Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer. In Charles Jessold, Stace weaves together his two artistic fields: music and writing. It's set in England in a turbulent moment in musical history, just before the First World War. The novel tells the story of a talented young composer, Charles Jessold, who murders his wife, her lover and then kills himself on the eve of his new opera's debut.The story is narrated by his friend and colleague, music critic Leslie Shepherd.
Also in the Art Works Podcast series
A Conversation with Maxine Hong Kingston
(00:22:55)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Maxine Hong Kingston discusses her path-breaking books. [22:55]
A Conversation with Jonah Lehrer
(00:34:07)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Jonah Lehrer, author of Imagine: How Creativity Works, discusses the new science of creativity. [34:06]
A Conversation with Delfeayo Marsalis
(00:34:33)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
The NEA Jazz Master discusses his work as both trombonist and producer. At the end of the day, it's all in the family. [34:32]
A Conversation with Claudia Rankine
(00:26:04)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Claudia Rankine discusses her play The Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue. [26:03]
A Conversation with Jazz Master, Benny Golson
(00:40:39)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Benny Golson's life is a who's who in jazz! [40:38]
A Conversation with NEA Jazz Master, Ahmad Jamal
(00:30:51)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Ahmad Jamal discusses his long and celebrated career. [30:51]
A Conversation with Sarah Greenough about O'Keeffe and Stieglitz
(00:29:33)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
The editor of My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, Vol 1 discusses the relationship of the two artists. [29:32]
A Conversation with Irish Fiddler, Liz Carroll
(00:38:14)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
NEA Heritage Fellow and world-renowned fiddler, Liz Carroll talks about and demonstrates the multiplicity of Irish music. [38:15]
A Conversation with Crime Writer, Laura Lippman
(00:30:12)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Laura Lippman talks about crime fiction, journalism and the social novel. [30:30]
A Conversation with Aditi Brennan Kapil
(00:29:33)
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Aditi Brennan Kapil discusses the ways her mixed cultural background informed her play, Agnes Under the Big Top: A Tall Story. [29:32]
Related Pieces
Piece Description
As John Wesley Harding, he's released some 15 albums, but when he turned to literature some years ago, he did so under his real name, Welsey Stace. Wesley Stace wrote the novels Misfortune and By George to the kind of reviews any writer would be overjoyed to receive. Wesley has recently struck gold again with his third novel: Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer. In Charles Jessold, Stace weaves together his two artistic fields: music and writing. It's set in England in a turbulent moment in musical history, just before the First World War. The novel tells the story of a talented young composer, Charles Jessold, who murders his wife, her lover and then kills himself on the eve of his new opera's debut.The story is narrated by his friend and colleague, music critic Leslie Shepherd.
Transcript
Transcript of conversation with Wesley Stace
Little Musgrave, up and under
"As it fell out upon a day
As many in the year
Musgrave to the church did go
To see fair ladies there
And some came down in red velvet
And some came down in Pall
And the last to come down was the Lady Barnard
The fairest of them all..."
Wesley Stace: I think music and writing complements each other well because you have that thing where music is a kind of sociable and it's done with people or in front of people generally, apart from a rehearsal, whereas writing is very solitary and so I think those two things suit me. And yeah, I definitely see the two as more linked than not, they complement each other quite nice, and like there's a lot of musicians who are also woodworkers on the side and stuff like that, and that seems insane to me, because you're just likely to lose your fingers or something and that'd be...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Musgrave | John Wesley Harding | Trad Arr Jones. | Appleseed Recordings | 00:00 |
Related Website
