Matt Nathanson says heโd like to spend time in Tucson.
Matt Nathanson can see himself hanging out at the Hotel Congress downtown, holing up in one of the historic hotelโs sparse rooms and writing ร la Sam Shepard.
โEvery time Iโm at the Hotel Congress or around that area, I feel like a Sam Shepard situation in the โ70s or โ60s,โ he said during phone call last week from home in San Francisco. โIโd get a room. In the distance I would hear the train rumbling through and I would be in this spartan (room) at my desk with this bare lamp, writing these songs.โ
โI love Tucson and I swear to God Iโm not just saying that,โ he is quick to note. โIt is the gem of Arizona. It is such an unbelievably cool place. Itโs like artsy. I have this sort of โ and this is not bull that Iโm telling you โ I have this sort of bookmark in my brain of wanting to go to Tucson and wanting to stay there for two or three weeks and just write. It just has that vibe.โ
He would pen a few songs then walk over to WaveLab Recording Studio and lay down tracks.
โEvery day I walk to WaveLab and we sort of create this crazy, incredible desert masterpiece,โ he said, continuing the fantasy.
But that dream is one of many bookmarked in his brain, left for another day.
โLife kinda rolls on. All these things get bookmarked in your brain and you hope that you can one day check them off,โ he said.
He sounds genuinely disappointed that his trip here for the My 92.9 Oro Valley Music Festival on Sunday, Sept. 13, wonโt give him any time in Tucson. He flies in Sunday and back out that night.
We get him as he embarks on an ambitious tour with his soon-to-be released 10th album, โShow Me Your Fangs,โ due out Oct. 2. His shows mix his folk-rock music โ โCome on Get Higher,โ โAll We Are,โ โRunโ and his new single โGold In the Summertimeโ โ with off-the-cuff humor that creates what he calls a โhuman collisionโ between the guy on stage and the guy in the audience.
