Deeper Digs in Rock: Robert Hilburn on Paul Simon

For more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most beloved artists in American pop music history. Songs like “The Sound of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” and “Graceland” have moved beyond the sales charts and into our cultural consciousness. But Simon is a deeply private person who has resisted speaking outside of his music. He has said he will not write an autobiography or memoir, and he has refused to talk to previous biographers.

Finally, Simon has opened up—for more than one hundred hours of interviews—to Robert Hilburn, whose biography of Johnny Cash was named by Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times as one of her ten favorite books of 2013. The result is a landmark book that will take its place as the defining biography of one of America’s greatest artists.

Author Robert Hilburn was the chief pop music critic for the Los Angeles Times for more than three decades. Hilburn has reported extensively on most of pop music’s giants, including Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and U2, just to name a very few. He lives in Los Angeles.

Rock N roll Archaeologist Christian Swain sits down with Mr. Hilburn at Aftermaster Studios in Hollywood for a deep dig into his latest book, ‘Paul Simon: The Life’, as well as a few digressions into rock n roll music in general. It’s a roaring good time where Christian gets to meet one of his journalistic heroes and throws the tough questions to the grizzled reporter.

More on Robert Hilburn here: www.roberthilburnonline.com  TW:@roberthilburn