Poetry News

“Poets and Music” at KEXP

By Harriet Staff

KEXP is rolling out a 10-part documentary series covering the relationship between “Poets and Music,” particularly when they enter into the recording process together. The first three are up already, each focusing on a different writer and their approaches to collaboration. Starting out with William S. Burroughs and Jim Carroll, the series takes a sudden turn into the present with Ursula Rucker who “has recorded her intense, personal poems with musicians like Jazzanova, King Britt and The Roots, along with fronting her own band.”

From the looks of the remaining poets on the list—Jack Kerouac, Tom Waits, Ken Nordine, Patti Smith, Saul Williams and Gil Scott-Herron— the documentaries will continue skipping around through various eras and dropping in on a handful of different genres along the way. There aren’t too many surprises among them, but right now KEXP has only announced nine of the ten. Perhaps there’s still room for Kenneth Goldsmith?

Tags: Gil Scott-Herron, Jack Kerouac, Jim Carroll, Ken Nordine, KEXP, Patti Smith, Saul Williams, Tom Waits, Ursula Rucker, William S. Burroughs
Posted in Poetry News on Monday, January 31st, 2011 by Harriet Staff.