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AUTHOR/MUSICIAN WESLEY STACE IS FINALLY PUTTING HIS NAME ABOVE L PELUSI THE TITLE. WORDS BY MNICTHOASE
Costello. And then there was that pseudonym, taken from the 1967 Bob Dylan album and song. On one early song, he knowingly sang “Bob Dylan was my father/ Joan Baez was my mother/ And I’m their bastard son.” Born in Hastings, East Sussex, England, he’s lived in America since 1991. In 2010, he moved to Mt. Airy, with his wife, Abbey, a Philadelphia native, and their two children, Tilda and Wyn. After those early albums, he began exploring different ideas and sounds on his albums. Trad Arr Jones (1999) was a tribute to British folk musician Nic Jones. The Sound of His Own Voice (2011) was a bright, jangly affair, recorded in Portland with Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, members of The Decemberists and others. And Stace co-wrote every song on Personal Record, the June solo album from Eleanor Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces. But his latest album, Self-Titled (Yep Roc), recorded in town at MilkBoy’s studio on North Seventh Street and released on Sept. 17, is a departure in more than one aspect. It’s a muted affair, filled with autumnal strings and occasional R&B rhythms. He sings in a soft, conversational tone. Nearly every song is autobiographical, something of a first for him. And, appropriately, Self-Titled is a debut of sorts; it’s the first album credited to Wesley Stace. John Wesley Harding — for now, anyway — is no more.
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veryone calls him Wes. Since 1988, he has recorded under the name John Wesley Harding. On early albums like Here Comes the Groom (1989) and The Name Above the Title (1991), and singles like “The Devil in Me” and “The Person You Are,” he weathered almost constant comparisons to Elvis
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usically, Stace says he drew inspiration for Self-Titled from some of his favorite singer-songwriters from the ’70s, particularly those with “soft voices”: Colin Blunstone, Duncan Browne, Cat Stevens. “Mostly blokes,” he admits, “but definitely Joni Mitchell” as well. Additionally, a strong soul influence emerges on songs like “A Canterbury Kiss” and “When I Knew” (one of two songs on Self-Titled that also appear on Eleanor Friedberger’s album). Stace cites favorites like Donny Hathaway and Curtis Mayfield. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
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On any given day, Wesley Stace might be biking along Kelly Drive. Or he might be taking his family to the Franklin Institute. Or he might be inaugurating the reopening of the Boot and Saddle on South Broad with a short set opening for Ted Leo and Aimee Mann. You might hear him on NPR, emceeing a crowded New York stage of musicians, comedians and writers. Or giving a reading of his latest novel somewhere. Or teaching a class at Princeton University. Or curating the Words and Music Festival (WAMFEST) at Fairleigh Dickinson, where he might arrange an appearance from some guy from Jersey named Bruce. “Writing novels, making music, teaching and emceeing a show — they’re all very different skills done at different times in different ways,” he says. “But they’re all the same project. And they all reflect me. And they all come somehow quite naturally to me, otherwise I wouldn’t do them.”
hai tea in hand, Stace, 47, is sitting in Old City Coffee on a blazingly beautiful fall day. He explains how he wrote the album, and why he decided to release it under his real name. It all started on the book tour for his third novel, Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer (2011). “I was kind of at a bit of a low ebb when I was on this book tour. I wasn’t feeling great. And I couldn’t go out and do what I normally do, stay up late and have a good time,” he says. “And so I just started writing songs to comfort myself and cheer myself up.” The songs that came out were autobiographical in ways he’d never really attempted before. “And it just got to the point where in two of the songs I referred to myself as ‘Mr. Stace’,” he continues. “It just seemed ludicrous to put it out under John Wesley Harding.” And anyway, it seems the whole John Wesley Harding thing was a little inadvertent. “I took a fake name in the first place probably as the element of disguise,” he says. “And suddenly I had a record deal with [British label] Demon, and [they said], ‘You’ve got 50 fans in London, why would you want to alienate them?’ And that’s always the decision. I remember one time I was vaguely considering it, and my agent at the time said ‘Wes, every time I book a date for you, I’m going to have to say “Yes, Wesley Stace. Yes, it’s John Wesley Harding. No, you can’t use the name. You can say he’s formerly known … ’ So for people that you know, you’re just making their life more difficult. Back in the day, it used to be, ‘Oh, you won’t have a rack in Tower [Records]. They’ll have to make a whole new rack.’ “What happened in the last 10 years is I started writing novels, and for that I used my real name. So now, it doesn’t feel weird using my real name.”