ADRIAN MA, HOST:
Have you ever had a crush on someone, and to show it, you gave them a mix CD, or, you know, depending on your age, maybe it was a mixtape or a playlist. If the answer is yes, then you know how important it is for your crush mix to include at least one song that perfectly captures the depth of your longing. And if you're like me, you may have, on more than one occasion, chosen this man, Jeff Buckley, as your emotional avatar.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HALLELUJAH")
JEFF BUCKLEY: (Singing) Well, it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift, the baffled king composing "Hallelujah." Hallelujah, hallelujah...
MA: This version of "Hallelujah" comes off the only studio album Buckley ever put out called "Grace." "Grace" was released 30 years ago this week. And that number 30 has a kind of somber symmetry to it because that is how old Jeff Buckley was in 1997 when he tragically died in a swimming accident. And yet, our next guests argue that long after his passing, Buckley's influence lives on. And to explain how, we have Brittany Spanos, a writer from Rolling Stone, and Tony Bernardo, a working musician who occasionally sings in a Jeff Buckley tribute band. Brittany, Tony, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
BRITTANY SPANOS: Thanks so much.
TONY BERNARDO: Thank you so much, Adrian.
MA: First question for the both of you, can you tell me about how you first encountered the album, "Grace"? Brittany, let's start with you.
SPANOS: Yeah, I - well, I guess I heard Jeff Buckley many years before I actually listened to the album. And the first time I heard any of the songs was "Hallelujah." And it was the first song I'd ever heard that made me cry. And then I got into "Grace" when I was in high school. I was a Tumblr teen. And the album and Jeff Buckley himself was such a Tumblr boy. And so, you know, it was constantly on repeat for me once I listened to the full album.
MA: Tony, what about you? How did you first come across "Grace"?
BERNARDO: So a good friend of mine, who was my best man at my wedding - we're still great buddies - just handed me the CD. I had no knowledge of Jeff, and he was like, dude, you got to hear this. And when I heard it, it just blew me away. I was already in bands at that time. I was a teenager - 16 or something. And I still had my Discman. And I just remember putting it in my Discman, just listening to it over and over and over. And basically, I learned how to sing listening to the album.
MA: I'm curious, for the both of you, what was it about the music or the man, Jeff Buckley, that spoke to you? And is there a particular song on that album that just really hooked you?
SPANOS: I mean, I just really loved the sort of melodrama in his voice. And that's something that I seek out in music that I listen to. And there was an emotional hurricane kind of going on in every Jeff Buckley song. But the song that really still gets me and is a No. 1 for me and kind of really hooked me into the album itself was "Lover, You Should've Come Over."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVER, YOU SHOULD'VE COME OVER")
BUCKLEY: (Singing) So I'll wait for you, and I'll burn. Will I ever see your sweet return? Oh, will I ever learn? Oh, oh, oh, lover, you should've come over.
SPANOS: And that is just, like, a really kind of, like, perfect capture of great longing and yearning and romance, and it's just like a - it's like a movie in a song.
BERNARDO: For me, it was the distinct quality of his voice. I just had never experienced such a fluid passage between his low register and upper register. And for me, the song that got me was the first song on the album, "Mojo Pin." He just did this vocal - I don't know how to even describe it. He did this thing vocally that I just never heard before. And I would share it with friends and be like, have you ever heard something like this? What is this?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOJO PIN")
BUCKLEY: (Singing) Black beauty, I love you so. (Vocalizing).
MA: I mean, what I think is interesting about this album also is that it came out in 1994. And at the time, it was kind of a commercial flop, right? It only sold 175,000 copies. It didn't crack the Billboard 100. Why do you think that was?
BERNARDO: I think Jeff made it pretty clear even with Columbia when he signed with them that he was going to be the kind of artist that pushed the artistic envelope rather than the commercial envelope. He didn't really adhere to a pop format. You know, like, for example, his first song is 6 1/2 minutes long or something like that. Also, this happens with artists who are breaking new ground sometimes because people just don't get it.
MA: Brittany, you recently wrote for Rolling Stone that it seems like in the decades since he passed, Buckley has become more popular than ever. But you also say that Buckley's influence has also lived on in other musicians. One song specifically that you had mentioned to us that you hear that Jeff Buckley influence, it's called "Work Song" by Hozier.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORK SONG")
HOZIER: (Singing) I woke with her walls around me, nothing in her room but an empty crib. And I was burning up a fever.
MA: Brittany, where do you hear Buckley's influence in Hozier's sound?
SPANOS: Yeah, I mean, I feel like the lingering influence of Jeff is heard all across what Hozier has been doing for the last decade - I mean, in his vocal performance, in sort of that - you know, that mix of the kind of high and low range in his voice, that R&B and soul influence. And again, the thing that's obviously kept Jeff Buckley so relevant and popular with younger audiences is that yearning and that romance that you can really hear in Hozier's music and performance.
MA: I mean, Tony, you're a musician, and occasionally, you front a Jeff Buckley tribute band. How do the audiences respond?
BERNARDO: The audience has been so generous and sweet. We all know that there's no more opportunities to see Jeff live. And so this is - you know, they have to settle for it, but this is the best we can do. And the thing is because I'm a fan, it's really an experience shared by all of us. It's like a church for Jeff's music.
MA: My last question for the both of you is - why do you think Buckley's music has continued to endure over the years?
SPANOS: You know, I think that there was a lot of great promise in that album and in what he was working on that sounded excellent and amazing and would have really continued his legacy. So I think there's this just sadness that kind of carries through on the album itself and also in just the story of Jeff Buckley that I think people are sort of trying to carry that torch continuously and celebrate him as much as possible.
MA: Tony, same question.
BERNARDO: I think there's a few different reasons, but one key one would be that, you know, I think we're seeing an increasing commercialization of music, and Jeff Buckley was sort of, like, the antithesis of that. And I think his - because he encapsulated that in this one precious album, when people hear it, they just - it's a break from the commercial stuff. It's not that it's - anything's better or worse. It's just a break. It's something different for them to experience.
MA: Rolling Stone writer Brittany Spanos and musician Tony Bernardo - by the way, his tribute band, Grace, will be marking the album's 30th anniversary with some shows this week. Thank you both. This was a lot of fun.
SPANOS: Thank you.
BERNARDO: Thank you, Adrian.
MA: And your mix CDs are in the mail.
(LAUGHTER)
BERNARDO: Appreciate it.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
