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Bill DeMain

Bill DeMain

As a music journalist, Bill DeMain has written for publications including MOJO, Classic Rock, Musician, Entertainment Weekly, Mental Floss and Performing Songwriter. He’s also contributed essays to several books, including The Beatles: Ten Years That Shook The World, The History Of Rock, The MOJO Collection and The Lexicon of Lounge, as well as liner notes for the Grammy-nominated box set The Look Of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection.

DeMain is also one half of the pop duo Swan Dive, and a well-known songwriter who has collaborated with Marshall Crenshaw, David Mead, Boo Hewerdine, Celso Fonseca, Gary Clark and Jill Sobule.

 

He lives in Nashville, TN.

37 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Burt Bacharach: "Do you know the Way to Monterey? Santa Fe? Whitley Bay?"

Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, March 1996

Thankfully, Messrs. Bacharach and David got there in the end, polishing yet another pop gem and putting an unremarkable California city on the map forever. ...

Burt Bacharach: What's It All About, Bacharach?

Special Feature by Bill DeMain, Switch, June 1997

"WHERE IS that whistling coming from?" ...

Dr. John: Funky Business

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, September 1997

FUNK IS one of those words, like cool or hip, that is difficult to define. In music, it's an amorphous thing, an attitude, a looseness, ...

Fountains Of Wayne: A Tossed Off Masterpiece

Interview by Bill DeMain, In Natural, September 1997

JAMES THURBER once said that what he strived for most in his humor pieces was a "tossed off quality." ...

Todd Rundgren (1997)

Interview by Bill DeMain, Rock's Backpages audio, 11 December 1997

America's foremost Utopian on the songwriter's job: on originality and plagiarism; the process of writing and realisation; on revisiting his old songs on With a Twist; on the emerging Internet and how it will change the way artists and songwriters work... and the tyranny of the long-form CD.

File format: mp3; file size: 34.2mb, interview length: 35' 39" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Aretha Franklin: Arif Mardin: A Man For All Musical Seasons

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, July 1998

READING THROUGH the list of artists that producer/arranger Arif Mardin has worked with is like looking at a chapter of history from American pop music. ...

XTC: Andy Partridge: Lemons And Lemonade

Interview by Bill DeMain, unpublished, 1999

"I'M A LUDICROUS optimist," says Andy Partridge. "I'm in front of the firing squad and I've got the clown's makeup on and I'm telling gags ...

James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt: Peter Asher: A World Of Sound

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, April 1999

"I ALWAYS found the studio a fascinating place," says producer Peter Asher, "and the process of assembling a track and figuring out what each musician ...

João Gilberto: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Bill DeMain, MOJO, August 2000

Set List: 'Doralice'/'Vivo Sohondo'/'Ecliose'/'Samba De Una Nota So'/'Samba Da Minha Terra'/'Voce Vai Ver'/'Bonita'/'Morena Boca De Ouro'/'A Felicidade'/'O Pato'/'Estate'/'Chega De Saudade'/'Um Abraco No Bonfa'/'Sem Compromisso'/'S'Wonderful'/'Wave'/'Triste'/'Eu Vim ...

Cheap Trick: Roxy Theatre, Atlanta

Review and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, March 2001

THE GUY next to me is in his late thirties. He has a mullet and he's about one beer away from being legless. When he ...

Smokey Robinson: 10 Questions for Smokey Robinson

Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, April 2002

Bill DeMain speaks to Motown's legendary songwriter and singer about Billy Eckstine, Marvin Gaye, school plays and positive rap. ...

Elvis Presley: Enter The Dragon

Retrospective by Bill DeMain, MOJO, April 2002

In the early '70s, Elvis took on the beast of Las Vegas with a mean-assed backing group and a neat line in ludicrous stage-wear. But ...

Ray Charles (2002)

Interview by Bill DeMain, Rock's Backpages audio, 26 September 2002

Brother Ray on how he's matured as a singer; on keeping interested in old songs by improvising; finding his own voice at the end of the '40s, and meeting his hero Nat King Cole; writing because he had to, and stopping when he didn't; mixing gospel and blues; on dressing sharp, and singing about love.

File format: mp3; file size: 14.3mb, interview length: 14' 52" sound quality: *** (phoner)

Ken Nordine: Speak Memory

Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, November 2002

Ken Nordine is the laird of language, the maestro of the monologue, the wizard of word jazz. Bill DeMain lends an ear. ...

Ray Charles: 10 Questions for Ray Charles

Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, January 2003

Meeting Nat Cole, crafting genius songs on the spot and tips on sartorial cool. Bill DeMain gets the word from the emperor of soul. ...

Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks: Stevie Nicks (2003)

Interview by Bill DeMain, Rock's Backpages audio, 3 March 2003

The Mac frontwoman talks about writing songs for their latest album, Say You Will; how 'Illume (9-11)' was the result of the twin towers attack; on her songwriting process and how she uses her journals; the volatility of the band and her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham; her friendships with Sheryl Crow and the Dixie Chicks, and she ends by going back to her first musical experiences.

File format: mp3; file size: 70.1mb, interview length: 1h 12' 58" sound quality: ***

David Bowie: The Sound and Vision of David Bowie

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, September 2003

PLANET EARTH is blue and David Bowie's beige. Dressed down in khakis, a light tan T-shirt and a matching ball cap, he looks more like ...

Bread, David Gates: Legends of Songwriting: David Gates of Bread

Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, December 2003

REMEMBER "soft rock?" You don't hear the term much anymore, but in the early 1970s, this musical genre floated onto the AM airwaves in the ...

Harlan Howard: Legends of Songwriting: Harlan Howard

Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, January 2004

THE TYPICAL songwriter who rolls into Nashville is an unknown hopeful with an acoustic guitar and a notebook full of half-finished songs and titles. When ...

Isaac Hayes: 10 Questions for Isaac Hayes

Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, February 2004

DO YOU remember your first week at Stax? ...

Bill Withers (2004)

Interview by Bill DeMain, Rock's Backpages audio, 29 March 2004

The great soul singer-songwriter talks about his classic band, the Watts 103rd Street rhythm section; about his childhood and the music around him; his late start, and his scepticism of the record industry; the magical, mystifying process of songwriting; and of growing old and the lure of daytime TV...

File format: mp3; file size: 33.3mb, interview length: 34' 42" sound quality: ** (phoner)

The Chi-Lites: Hello Goodbye: Eugene Record and the Chi-Lites

Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, April 2004

MARCH I960 ...

The Chi-Lites: Legends of Songwriting: Eugene Record of The Chi-Lites

Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, May 2004

IN 1969, WHEN The Chi-Lites scored their first hit with 'Give It Away', it was a well-earned triumph. ...

Bill Withers: Legends of Songwriting: Bill Withers

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, July 2004

A BLACK MAN wearing faded jeans and an orange turtleneck sweater sits on a stool. He's hunched over his acoustic guitar. Eyes closed, sweat glistening ...

Elvis Costello: A Man with a Mission (In Two or Three Editions)

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, Fall 2004

ELVIS COSTELLO is about to take over the world. No, he's not going to reveal himself as a nefarious arch-villain in league with Doctor Octopus ...

Sergio Mendes: Legends of Songwriting: Sergio Mendes

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, October 2005

ON TIMELESS, the latest album by Sergio Mendes, there's a line in the title track that goes, "Kindness is timeless/Love is so easy." ...

Eurythmics: The Power Of Two

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, January 2006

WHEN DAVE Stewart and Annie Lennox formed Eurythmics in 1980, they drew up what they called "a manifesto." A list of their intentions, along with ...

Jeff Barry: Bubblegum Hero

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, July 2006

When Don Kirshner hired Jeff Barry as a producer and writer for the Monkees, then the Archies, he knew he was getting a guaranteed hitmaker. ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Surprise Surprise: Paul Simon

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, September 2006

"THE TRUTH is flexible and complex," says Paul Simon. On the eleven songs that make up his latest album Surprise, the legendary songwriter sizes up ...

Jimmy Webb: Legends of Songwriting: Jimmy Webb

Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, March 2007

"SOMEONE LEFT the cake out in the rain." No single lyric is more infamous in pop music than the one Jimmy Webb wrote forty years ...

Herb Alpert: Legends Of Songwriting: Herb Alpert...

Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, July 2007

...plus an interview with Dolores Erickson, the lady beneath the Whipped Cream ...

Legends of Songwriting: Diane Warren

Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, September 2007

ASKED WHETHER she could ever love a person as much as she loves songwriting, Diane Warren doesn't miss a beat in answering an emphatic "No." ...

Wings Over Nashville!

Retrospective by Bill DeMain, Nashville Lifestyles, March 2008

For six weeks during the summer of 1974, Music City was home to a former Beatle. ...

Les Paul: Guitar Man

Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, November 2009

Master musician, recording pioneer, inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, Les Paul changed the face of popular music. Bill DeMain pays tribute to a great ...

David Bowie: Turn and Face The Strange: David Bowie and the Making Of Hunky Dory

Retrospective by Bill DeMain, Uncut, April 2011

JANUARY, 1971. There was trouble in outer space. Major Tom's signal was growing fainter by the day. And Ziggy Stardust was still an undefined blip ...

Prince: The Making of Purple Rain

Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeMain, Classic Rock, 8 October 2014

How the self-contained, reclusive genius learned to play nice with others, how to rock and in the process found his world-conquering groove. ...

Denny Laine, Wings: "I'm actually surprised we're that well-remembered": Denny Laine on Wings

Interview by Bill DeMain, Guitar World, January 2023

1973 was the year Paul McCartney's ragtag group, Wings, first scored Beatles-sized success. As late guitarist Denny Laine recalled, they were no overnight success. ...

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