Rusty Reid delivers a profoundly poetic musical declaration in “The United States of Selfishness (Remix)”. The song combines the emotive quality of music with impactful songwriting rooted in reality, to create a socially charged and sonically rich ballad. In this song, Rusty Reid explores the socio-political state of the U.S.A., laying bare the economic, civil, spiritual, and philosophical crises that plague the nation with unadulterated honesty and lyrical prowess.
With various musical influences such as country, folk, and rock sounds glistening throughout the song, Rusty Reid brings back the timeless sonic and thematic aesthetics of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Roy Orbison, and the like.
Find out more about the song “The United States of Selfishness (Remix)” and Reid’s musical evolution in this interview with Rusty Reid.
Your musical style oozes influences from a variety of genres— country, folk, rock, pop, and more, showcasing an abundant, non-confirming sonic creativity. What are some of the major musical influences at play in your track “The United States of Selfishness (Remix)”?
Thanks for the opportunity for this conversation. Yes, I grew up listening to a wide range of music, and it is this amalgamation that swirls through my own melodies, lyrics and instrumentation. I can but barely separate them out in my own mind, but certainly the Beatles, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Buddy Holly, and the Everly Brothers are among those artists that are a big part of my musical DNA. Alas, this blend, with no particular "genre" or "sound" consistent, can make it difficult for people to categorize and find.
Lines in the song like “Don’t hide behind tradition, We’re long past due for something new, Too much of the good world beaten down, Too much believed that is not true…” possess a poetic yet direct quality that is grounded in reality and relevance. Tell us about the creative process behind penning such lyrics.
Thank you. That's a huge compliment. I've always been drawn to lyrics that are poetic, unusual, and actually mean something. If that something is more of a universal theme, rather than some kind of mundane or self-centered throughout, all the better. Many of the 1960s acts featured this kind of approach: John Lennon, Paul Simon, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young all spring to mind there. I began writing more philosophical/political songs a few decades ago as I studied and learned more about these issues and witnessed some very ominous developments in culture at large, principally the conservative backlash against the social justice movements and the ever-deteriorating environment. In the mold of those old "protest songs" that go way back, certainly to the 1920s and beyond, I wanted to step into that arena of singer-songwriters. I do really, really care about this world. It's a bit strange to me that more artists are not going in this direction, given how dire our situation is becoming. Modern music is totally dominated by self-centered sex/love/ego/aren't I great/woe is me songs. That's not really new... but it is seemingly blind, deaf, and dumb to what is really going on in the world.
The song’s arrangement of instruments, vocals, percussion and more has a faultless coherence and homespun quality. Walk us through the process of your musical production.
Ha-ha. I like that word "homespun." It definitely is. It's just four of us playing. I'm on the electric rhythm guitar you can hear in the left channel. The great Nashville guitarist Jason Roller is handling acoustic guitars and the soaring slide electric guitar, mostly in the right channel. Multi-instrumentalist Jed Demlow is playing bass and the ethereal keyboard background. We are each recording in our own home studios, and then I put the parts together in the mix. I usually have harmony vocals on my tracks and had planned to do likewise with this one. But the stand-alone vocal seemed to do everything I thought needed. To add harmony would be to take away from the emotion. So it's pretty bare bones... but still achieves sort of an anthemic quality. The lyrical content is intense, so the instrumentation and arrangement had to match.
With a musical career spanning over decades, how would you describe the evolution in your songwriting?
Ironically, I started off writing philosophical/political songs. But they were abstract. I had no real idea what I was talking about. I hardly knew anything about the world. Not the best grounding for thinking you can write a universal song. For about three or four years I wrote one crappy song after another. I didn't like any of them. I don't know why in the world I kept going. I have no recollection of what evidence suggested to me that it was just a matter of time before I wrote my first good song. You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I probably was a bit insane to keep beating my head against the wall. But eventually, a few came... "Corner of My Mind," "Home One More Time," "Look Out Louisiana," "Rio Frio," (those are all on my latest album, "Bayou Line: Songs from Houston"). I wrote a lot of love songs during this era, but most of my decent early songs were about imagined people, feeling imagined things in unusual places. I went through a phase of being in rock bands where the beat and the drive and soundscape were the important components, so the themes and lyrics need not be very interesting or good. When I moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s, I commenced in earnest a wide-ranging exploration of the world of ideas, history, philosophy, and spiritual traditions. My song themes began to move toward the self- and society-reflective. How was I believing and behaving in ways that were counter to higher ways of being, and how was culture at large doing the same? Songs like "Earthquake City," "Too Many Poor," "We Are the Barbarians," and "Who Do You Think You Are?" sprang from that period. That direction continued and expanded as I moved to the Pacific Northwest and developed my own philosophical-spiritual system. My album "Head to Heart" is essentially my "manifesto in song."
Some of your songs are known for their conceptual exploration of politics, philosophy, worldviews, liberalism, and more. What are your inspirations for composing music with socially impactful messages?
As we get older, supposedly we get wiser. That's definitely not always the case. There are people who get more and more stuck in their ways, more and more disdainful of the world, more and more selfish, and actually dumber as they age. But I think I've gained some wisdom... partly because I was so clueless as a young person. Now it is my opportunity, and I think responsibility, to share those nuggets of perception, and my best method of sharing is through music. If you choose to avail yourself of the "wisdom of the world," you note a lot of overlap in much of it. The highest "wisdom" is virtue-centered... i.e. ever seeking the good, the true, the beautiful, the honorable, the compassionate. "Love" becomes the nexus of all of these different types of virtue. So it can rightly be considered the highest value and virtue. In the Eastern philosophies - not so much the fragmented West - there is the concept of Oneness. This idea prompts us to consider ourselves related to everyone else, and not just that, but everything else. And what do you know? Science proves this very thing. We are directly related to all other life forms and to every other thing in the universe. To me, spirituality is the way of connection to this great truth... and the highest way of being. The currency of spirituality is love. So the equation is simple: the more things in the world that you love, the deeper your spirituality. The Beatles said as much with "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." It's true. So I was excited to bring this concept into certain songs, and in others point out the ways that we, and society, work to thwart this kind of universal peace, harmony, and love. I was late, but eventually, I found my calling.
What are some of the obstacles that you have overcome in your musical journey?
I think the biggest obstacle many of us will ever encounter in our life quest is ourselves. It's true for me. The music biz is for young people. So you'd better get your act together pretty quickly if you want to "make it." When I was younger, I was unfocused, easily distracted, undisciplined, forever procrastinating, rarely studying or practicing, believing myself better than I actually was. That all added up to me not making the contacts I needed, not being "at the right place at the right time" (which essentially means being at the right place ALL the time), and not getting around to actually crafting the art (or "product" as they call it in the biz) to succeed. I don't know that I've actually "overcome" any of these challenges, I've just outlived them. They don't matter anymore. Having seen how so many of my music idols were chewed up and spit out by the biz, in the long run, I may have dodged a bullet.
What plans do you have for the future course of your music?
At this stage, I just want to get my catalog of songs "out there," on the inter-webs. Hopefully, some folks will find it, and find it interesting and relevant. I'm currently working on a remix of my "Head to Heart" album, and have about three more albums mostly recorded, just ready for mixing and release. All told I have a catalog of about one hundred songs to share. Maybe a batch of brand-new songs will come along down the line which might prompt more releases. But at some point, I need to carve out time for a couple of books to write. These will more concisely introduce and explain my overall philosophical-spiritual system... a way of being in the world that would work for everyone... and everything.
Discovered via https://app.musosoup.com #sustainablecurator