NEW Book about Psych-Rock Pioneer Roky Erickson Coming Out!

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Brian T. Atkinson is an author, producer, and record label owner, and has a new book coming out on November 15th, ‘True Love Cast Out All Evil: The Songwriting Legacy of Roky Erickson’.  

I managed to get my hands on an early copy, and it is an awesome look at Texas music history and the crazy life of Roky Erickson.  

In this interview, we didn’t only talk about the book, but Brian T. Atkinson also asked me a few questions about interviewing and the podcast, and shared some great Austin food recommendations...  

“The best interviews are ones where you ask your first question and then you don’t ask anything else you’ve prepared.” - Brian T. Atkinson    

Time Stamps:

00:00 - Introducing our guest Brian T. Atkinson.
06:40 - Why Brian decided to write a book about Roky Erickson.
11:54 - The challenges of writing about something that’s never been documented before.
15:05 - How Brian conducts the interviews for his books.
19:50 - The emergence of long-form interview podcasts.
24:04 - My interviews with James McMurtry and how I got him to open up so much.
26:27 - What Brian is trying to achieve with his new book.
31:03 - The most impactful parts of Brian’s book.
35:39 - The prevalence of drugs among music geniuses.
44:22 - The difficulties of making money as a musician or author.
47:49 - The hardships of working in the restaurant industry and why I left.
53:39 - Brian’s love of cooking and our special food trivia quiz.

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