DG: I think music is timeless. The big problem that I have with the entertainment business is that they're trying to make it a disposable commodity. They want you to think there's something great and new that just came out this week, and that you can toss it two weeks from now and buy the next new great thing. And that's just not the way it works. John Coltrane sounds just as new at any time, and so does J. S. Bach, so does Paul McCartney, and anything that's good. It's timeless. It shouldn't be relegated to "Oh, this isn't today's sound." I just go back to it's either good or it's not. I've always just stuck with what I thought was good and trying to improve myself. I couldn't tell you what people are listening to now. I don't watch TV other than when I'm on the road. I don't have TV.
AK: Do you feel like you're a step away from the modern American landscape?
DG: What do you mean? The strip mall?
AK: Yes, the strip mall, but I mean it all. Are you ever like, "Oh man, George Bush is driving me crazy. I'm going to write a song that's…."
DG: Oh sure. It's very depressing, but music is an escape from the dumbing down of America. It's just hard to believe that things have gotten this bad. The political landscape, the cultural landscape. I'm a big fan of Michael Moore, and actually got to meet him last year. It's a sad situation, but music is kind of an escape to me. I can't really take the world that seriously. If I did, it would be too scary. I have a great wife and we have grandkids, and we're concerned about the future, but I kind of work on the microcosm as opposed to the macrocosm.
AK: You've got to make your own corner of the world good first, I guess.
DG: Yeah, I'm trying to do my own little thing, but at least George Bush is definitely on his way out. It's just how much damage he could do before he leaves. It's pretty scary, but who have you got to thank? John Q. Public, unfortunately.
AK: So at this stage in your life is music still the fuel that's keeping you going? Or now that you have family and grandkids, are there plenty of other good blessings?
DG: Well, music has got a special place, but I also like to enjoy my family life, and I try to put some energy into that.
AK: But this isn't something you're going to retire from, right?
DG: Music is something that's always around, and actually most of my family plays music. My wife plays pretty good swing guitar, and she's a painter, an artist-we try to have fun. If it's not fun, you're missing a lot.
I think John Sebastian is doing the same thing. We're in our early 60s and we've been running around for 40-some-odd years. I don't feel like I'm slowing down, but I don't feel like I have to do everything. I can pick and choose things that I'd rather be doing. And right now, I'm just assessing a big project that I'm working on-transferring all my archives to the digital domain.
AK: That's a lot of work, I would bet.
DG: Technology has arrived at a pretty cool place to do that. I've got a lot of stuff that, because it's good music, to me it can apply as easily today as it did when it was recorded. It's well recorded. I don't think high fidelity recording has really gotten anywhere since the 1950s. They don't make microphones any better than they did then, and actually, digital recording doesn't sound any better than the best analog recording. So, like my friend Hal Blaine always says, "If you haven't heard it, it's new."
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