Music
Lou Reed. Dr. John. Bruce Springsteen. John Cale. Levon Helm. Garland Jeffreys has collaborated with all of them, and his gravelly voice, roots-rock DNA, and trenchant writing has always channeled the best bits of each of them. A recording artist since the 1960s, Brooklyn native Jeffreys has had more career ups (and downs) than most artists can dream of today, but he's riding yet another wave of creativity and energy. His loose and rollicking 2013 album Truth Serum was lauded by critics and fans. He was a 2015 inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame, recognizing just one facet of his kaleidoscopic musical persona. All the late-period vigor and recognition has him revisiting one of his earliest successes, 1977's Ghost Writer. A frothing cauldron of, yes, blues, but also soul, funk, Exile-era Stones rock—and an inspired dose of reggae—Ghost Writer revealed a burgeoning, observant poet of the streets as well as a sharp-eared pop chameleon. Garland Jeffreys visits the studio to talk to host John Schaefer about the NYC that inspired Ghost Writer, and to play a handful of the album's standout tracks.