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Aaron Lee Tasjan On World Cafe

Aaron Lee Tasjan performs in the <em>World Cafe</em> studio.
Tiana Timmerberg
/
WXPN
Aaron Lee Tasjan performs in the World Cafe studio.

On the cover of Aaron Lee Tasjan's new record Silver Tears, he almost looks the perfect picture of an Americana star. He's wearing a cowboy hat, he's got a brooding expression and he's walking thoughtfully under a cloudy sky. And then there's the Bonanza-meets-disco-ball suit. Bejeweled with hand-glued pieces of mirror, it's a fitting outfit for an artist whose avant-garde and often irreverent approach reflects Americana back at itself.

Before he called Nashville home, Tasjan glitzed it up in Brooklyn with the glam bands Semi Precious Weapons and New York Dolls. He visits World Cafe to talk about bringing a little sparkle to the South, and about how he combines humor and pizzazz with a melancholy heart and monster guitar chops on Silver Tears.

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Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.