Laughing Out Loud to No One: An Interview With Marshall Crenshaw (Part I)

The power-pop legend talks perfectionism, nostalgia, and the 40th anniversary of Field Day

Marshall Crenshaw’s Field Day 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition out now on Yep Roc

A consummate Next Big Thing upon his early ‘80s arrival, Marshall Crenshaw made two flawless albums back-to-back in 1982 and 1983, straddled both a Top 40 hit and critical adoration, then promptly rode T-Bone Burnett-ward into songwriter’s songwriterdom with all the usual pit stops. Label underpromotion. Surprise TV and movie appearances (Walk Hard!). A great album every few years that didn’t sell squat. Exceedingly minor indie resurfacing. It’s a living; his trajectory is in good company with Nick Lowe and the late, great Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne. Those guys also enjoyed a hit or two before settling into a highlight-happy oeuvre for a small cult of melody nerds.

Marshall Crenshaw and Field Day, Crenshaw’s two early masterpieces, turned 40 last year and this year, respectively, with anniversary tours and reissues on Yep Roc to mark the occasions; the Field Day one is out this week and rules. You’ll have to scour Discogs for the rootsier Downtown, the covers-laden Good Evening (probably the only album ever to include tunes by both Richard Thompson and Diane Warren), and the fearsome live My Truck Is My Home, just to name a few lesser-known gems worth your time. RIOTRIOT spoke to Crenshaw, 69, via phone about his newly reissued magnum opus, how to cover a Prince song, and what albums he’d delete from his catalog the second he had the chance.

How are you doing? I’m excited about the reissue and tour for Field Day’s 40th anniversary.

So am I. I’m really looking forward to it. [Laughs.] What’s not to love? 

The first thing I wanted to ask was about your relationship to perfectionism. Your debut album has this quality where it feels both timeless and effortless. Did you feel the songs “writing themselves” so to speak? Or is it very hard to make something sound so easy?