Conor Oberst on "Undo the Right"

About this episode

Conor Oberst discusses the craft of songwriting and reflects on Willie's early work.

Brilliant indie rock-pop-and-folk singer-songwriter Conor Oberst, of Bright Eyes and Monsters of Folk fame, talks about another of Willie’s famous Pamper Demos, “Undo the Right.” It was one of Willie’s earliest efforts for the Pamper Publishing Company, a co-write with Hank Cochran, the legendary songwriter who first championed him when he moved to Nashville. That gets Conor thinking about the craft of songwriting, about how sneaking contradictory or counterintuitive ideas into songs helps them to better reflect what he calls the "big mess” of real life, and how nobody writes a bridge like Willie does…before we listen to another old Willie song, “The Storm Has Just Begun,” which was the B-side to his first single in 1959—and that Willie wrote when he was just twelve years old.

People in this episode

Host: John Spong

Guest: Conor Oberst

Topics covered

• songwriting
• indie rock
• folk music
• creative process
• Nashville

Keywords

• Conor Oberst
• Willie
• songwriting
• Pamper Demos
• Hank Cochran
• indie rock
• folk music

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Pamper Publishing Company, Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk

Books & works: Undo the Right, The Storm Has Just Begun

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