By Adrienne West
Taking a break from the New York City leg of his The Man Upstairs album tour and before joining his peers at Carnegie Hall’s tribute to the late David Bowie, Robyn Hitchcock took a few minutes for a phone interview. Hitchcock’s British accent is thick as pleasantries are exchanged: How should his music be described? Labels in other publications run the gamut: “eccentric alt-rock” on Wolf Trap’s site, “pop” in Rolling Stone, and “folk artist” in a Billboard interview. With a chuckle, he muses that his music doesn’t fit a category and settles on being “an uncensored mind set in music.”
It’s clear that one of his biggest influences is Bob Dylan. Like Dylan, Hitchcock sings about life, death and everything in between. He talks about not being in competition with other artists; instead he just “aims to keep going.” Calling himself a “typical self-deprecating Brit,” he hopes that his music continues to find an audience and to inspire young artists like his idols did him. His next album won’t feature any cover songs, though he has many that he would like to do. He explains that all artists take from one another and recreate it in their own style, which he thinks he has done. “My music is the kind you can dance to internally,” he says.
Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift
April 6, 8 p.m.
The Barns at Wolf Trap: 1635 Trap Road, Vienna
$25-$28
Robyn Hitchcock and Eugene Mirman
April 22, 9 p.m.
Black Cat: 1811 14th St. NW, Washington, DC
$22
