The conclusion of the wonderful conversation between noted journalist Jenna Wortham (of The New York Times and the NYT podcast Still Processing) and superb music supervisor Morgan Rhodes (Middle of Nowhere, Selma, Dear White People). Jenna Wortham: Morgan, not only do you have an incredible radio voice, you really do, it’s really easy to listen to you! But the things you’re speaking about are just so interesting that we sometimes forget how important a soundtrack is. And I don’t mean a collection of songs that accompany a film, but just that audio landscapes define and accompany and inform us. It matters when you’re walking down the street and you hear that summer song or you’re in church and you hear a particular hymn— Morgan Rhodes: Right, right! JW: The way we experience… I think we’re so used to taking in information visually that we forget how important sound is— MR: Right, right! JW: And how that is shaping us at the same time. So, it’s really incredible to hear you speak on it, basically. MR: Thank you! JW: Of course. Do you feel like a music historian? Because as much as you are a curator and a supervisor and a selector and all of these things, you really are an archive. You have all of this knowledge, it’s very contained, but it is a very rich repository. Do you feel that way? Do you feel like a keeper of sound, so to speak? MR: Um…that’s nice! I’d like to be. I’d like to be a keeper of sounds. I hope to be a historian. I think there’s ethnomusicologists out there that are doing great work as music historians. I think I’m on a music reconnaissance mission. I’m just digging and searching and finding and I’m looking for you. If you’re a brand new indie artist and you’re hanging out on SoundCloud, I’m listening and I’m looking for you. If you’re an old blues artist and you’re recording is real scratchy and the quality is poor and you don’t think there’s anyone… this person had a great hit and no one remembers that, I’m looking for you. And so I do feel like, I don’t know, some sort of person on a music expedition. And it’s so much for me. I know it’s really geeky but it’s so much fun. [laughs] JW: Of course! MR: So that’s how I feel about that.…
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