Plateprat med Smilin’ Jay McDowell

If someone offers to buy you a drink, what do you order?
Jack and Coke.

Describe yourself using at least five words.
sensitive, handsome, brilliant, genius, modest.

Do you have any daily rituals?
I typically wear the same thing every day. I wear black jeans, a black dress shirt, and a black blazer. I don’t have to worry about what colors go with what.

If you were to choose a pseudonym or artist name, what would it be?
Smilin’ Jay McDowell

If you ever wrote an autobiography, what would the title be?
One Long Saturday Night (will be published in the Spring of 2027)

Which song do you put on to get people dancing?
Anything by Wilson Pickett

What’s your relationship with libraries?
It’s healthy. Libraries are a vital part of our society.

What are your five favorite albums?
1. Stray Cats - Stray Cats

2. Supergrass - I Should Coco

3. Nick Curran - Reform School Girl

4. Duane Eddy - Have Twangy Guitar, Will Travel

5. Marty Stuart - The Pilgrim

What are your five favorite songs?
1. The Red Devils - Tearin’ My Hair Out

2. Sanford Clark - Run Boy Run

3. The Clash - Deny

4. The Outsiders - Time Won’t Let Me

5. The Alarm - Deeside

What have you been listening to lately?
Slade - Slade in Flame

Is there an album you think is underrated?
Slade - Slade in Flame

Is there a classic album you've never quite connected with?
Too many to list.

What are your three favorite album covers?
Duane Eddy - Especially for You

Stray Cats - Stray Cats

The Beatles - With the Beatles

Do you collect records, and if so, why?
Yes. It’s my biggest vice. I love hearing different pressings of records and comparing them. It’s fun to find records from different countries and listen to the different levels, and sometimes. even different mixes.

What’s the biggest difference between when you started collecting and how it is today?
It’s fun to see the format cycles ebb and flow. Vinyl was dead, but it came back to life. CDs now seem to be dying, but who knows? I love it all.

Favorite physical record store?
Von’s Records in 1988.

What was the last record you bought?
The Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand single at a garage sale.

What’s the best record purchase you’ve ever made?
It depends on what you judge it on. I took a blind leap on an EP by the Crazy Cats. It’s 1980s rockabilly. I kind of knew what to expect by the cover, but it turned out to be a record that is very nostalgic for me.

It isn’t worth a large amount of money, but it makes me happy every time I put it on the turntable. That’s what it’s all about.

Which three records are currently at the top of your wantlist?
I don’t really think in those terms. I never go into a record store looking for anything specific. I see what I come across, and go from there.

In your opinion, what’s the greatest guitar solo ever recorded?
“Rock Around the Clock,” but ask me again in ten minutes.

What’s your favorite song in a language or dialect other than your own?
“La Bamba”

Who’s your favorite lyricist of all time?
Roger Miller

What’s your favorite movie or TV series?
Freaks and Geeks

Vinyl, CD, cassette, or streaming, what’s your preferred format? Yes.

Would you describe yourself as an audiophile? No

What kind of setup do you use to play music at home?
I have many turntables around the house and in my office.

If you were to create a mixtape or Spotify playlist to celebrate love, which three songs would you include?
“Love Will Keep Us Together”

“All You Need is Love”

“Til There Was You”

Are there any music books you’d recommend, and what makes them stand out to you?
“The Nearest Far Away Place” by Timothy White. This book is about the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, and his family. I read it as a young man, and then Timothy White went on to play a pivotal role in my career, helping us get a record deal, championing us, and being our biggest fan.

I had MANY discussions about the book with him through the years. When he died, Billboard magazine asked me to write a short tribute to him to include with other artists.
There were many pages of artists he had a part in helping. I was humbled to see that the page on which my tribute appeared only had one other artist. It was Brian Wilson.

Which novel has left a lasting impression on you, and why?
Jaws

What non-fiction book would you suggest, and what makes it worth reading?
Tune In. Mark Lewisohn’s exhaustive dive into the early Beatles. It’s way deep, but I really enjoyed it. It’s fun to revisit it and just jump in to random sections.

What’s a memorable music moment that stands out to you?
Melvin Taylor. In 1988, a friend and I took the train to go to the Chicago Blues Fest.

We saw Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Hank Ballard, Etta James, Albert King, Magic Slim, Fontella Bass, and Bobby “Blue” Bland.

My favorite thing about the entire weekend happened on a stage set up on a side street outside Grant Park.
Melvin Taylor’s band was performing Saturday night after Albert King finished, and I was moved to tears. I was standing in a crowd of people on a hot Chicago summer night, and this relatively unknown was laying it down. I was crying tears of joy as he brought the crowd to a masterful crescendo.

I’ve seen a lot of blues bands through the years. I’ve seen Melvin Taylor again multiple times, but it never touched me as much as that one night in 1988.

Which concert will you never forget?
Supergrass at Glastonbury

What’s your favorite festival?
The Rockabilly Rave in the UK

If you could travel anywhere to experience music, where would it be?
Nashville

What’s your dream job now, and how did it compare to your dream job when you were 13?
I have my dream job now. School Programs at the Country Music Hall of Fame. When I was 13, I thought I would be an architect. That never happened.

Besides music, do you have any other hobbies or interests?
Record collecting is my main hobby. I enjoy video editing as well.

How do you think your friends perceive your taste in music?
People think I know a lot about music. The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. I’m just very passionate about it.

Is there a music genre you wish you had explored more or gotten to know better?
Many. As I get older, I have learned I just need context to enjoy a song or artist. It’s rare to hear a song and absolutely love it the first time. It can happen, but more often than not, the first time you hear a song, it just kind of goes by.

After repetition, you may grow to like the song more. But the most effective thing is when someone tells me an interesting fact about the song. It was recorded entirely in a 1965 Rambler automobile.

Wow, now I want to hear that song with that in mind. Then, I tell my buddy about it, and he wants to hear it. His enjoyment makes me like the song even more.

What I have come to realize is that between the first time I heard the song and the fourth time, the song didn’t change. I did. The recording is exactly the same as it was the first time, but my perspective was altered, and it has made me appreciate the song in a new way.

How old were you when you "discovered" music, and what made you fall in love with it?
My earliest memories are of my parents listening to and enjoying music on the turntable. I constantly asked my father to put on “Hands Across the Water.” That was what I called “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” by Paul McCartney.

What kind of music did you listen to during your teenage years?
I began collecting music early. It was rock n roll and rock. 50s and 60s. Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Everly Brothers, Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Beau Brummels, Stray Cats, Sex Pistols, The Clash, GoGos, Devo, and on and on…

Has your taste in music evolved over time?
Of course. I’m suspicious of anyone who’s hasn’t.

Which album can you still listen to when you're tired of music?
I constantly have music playing in my head. It’s fun, lighthearted, almost cartoon music constantly running through my brain. I’ve always had it, so it’s never been a problem. When I put music on, it coexists with it. It’s hard to put into words, but I’m sure some others can understand what I’m trying to say.

If you had a time machine, which musical decade would you travel to?
Of course, seeing Elvis, Scotty, and Bill in a high school auditorium in 1954, or The Beatles in Hamburg in 1962, or the Clash in London in 1977 would be mind-blowing, but I would go to Nashville, Tennessee, in the early nineties just as I did in real life. I would absolutely live it all over again.

Do you consider yourself nostalgic?
Yes, very.

Is there something you'd like to learn?
I’ve still got a lot to learn.

Who do you think is the best-dressed musician?
Bob Cotton of The Jets.

Do you consider yourself vain?
Sure, but I think it’s rarely a problem.

Would you be willing to show us a tattoo?
Yes. Any of them. I have a Gretsch logo, a Stray Cat, a cowgirl, a cat, and a Robert’s Western World logo.

Are you a maximalist or a minimalist?
I’m a middlist.

Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?
Extrovert. I’ll talk to everyone.

Are you more of a Type A or Type B personality?
Overall, Type B, but certain things from Type A show up, as I am very ambitious and high achieving.

How old do you feel mentally?
It’s 72 degrees and sunny in my brain. My body doesn’t always agree with my mind.

What excites you? rock n roll

What are you afraid of?
Have you had any interesting dreams lately? What were they about?

What’s your favorite sport?
Baseball

What’s your life philosophy?
Enjoy yourself.

What is your relationship with music journalism? How do you keep yourself updated on music?
I write regularly, and it’s always about music. I love music journalism.

Are there people who have influenced your taste in music?
Everyone influences my taste in music. If you are excited about a song, I can listen to it with you and enjoy it.

Who is your role model, or a mentor from whom you’ve learned something special?
My father taught me most of what I consider important about music.

What’s your favorite instrument?
A big, fat Gretsch guitar.