JD MCPHERSON: Let The Good Times Roll

JD McPherson’s music video for “Let The Good Times Roll” premiered today at Rolling Stone. “Let The Good Times Roll” is the title track from McPherson’s highly acclaimed new album, which recently debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart (Rounder Records). In celebration of the release, McPherson returned to the “Late Show with David Letterman” to perform “Let The Good Times Roll.” The performance can be viewed HERE. Additionally, NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” featured McPherson on the program. Listen to the full interview HERE. On the heels of their sold-out European tour, McPherson and his longtime band—Jimmy Sutton (upright bass), Jason Smay (drums), Ray Jacildo (keys) and Doug Corcoran (saxophone, guitar, keys)—are currently in the midst of an extensive North American tour, including a series of dates supporting both Eric Church and Robert Plant on their respective tours. A complete listing of tour dates after the jump…

PREVIOUSLY: I have seen the future of the past, and his name is J.D. McPherson, a thirtysomething cuffed-denim Okie with lacquered hair, iron lungs and, goodness gracious, great balls of fire. Back in 2012, McPherson and his gifted retro-rock posse released Signs & Signifiers, a bracing collection of tailfin rockabilly, rawboned R&B and sultry moonstruck balladeering. It was hands-down the feel-good record of the year. He plays WXPN’s Sundown Music Series tonight at Haddon Lake Park in Camden with Deb Callahan, which is why we’re re-running this fun and informative Q&A we did with Mr. McPherson back in the day. We talked about the usual rockabilly guy stuff: pomade, semiotics, Larry Clark’s Tulsa, early 60s ska, Greg Ginn, Esquerita vs. Little Richard, the sexiest Buzzcocks album, the majesty of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand, how a white man from 2012 can sing like a black man from 1957 and what is the greatest baby-making music ever made.

PHAWKER: Riddle me this, Batman, you sing like a black man from 1957 who’s got a maraca man named Jerome Green and a sister named The Duchess and yet you’re white, you’re alive right now, and you have a name that sounds like a chain of Irish pubs where the bartender’s dress like leprechauns and dispense green beer to steroidal date rapists and the girls who love them. Please explain.

JD MCPHERSON: I just I have a loud voice and I have Scotch-Irish ancestors and I’ve listened to so much black music that I suppose it’s rubbed off on me a little bit and my dad is a singer and he has soul. Maybe that’s where I get it. MORE