The Song Rules: Guitar God John Platania
by Peter Aaron
The issue is close to my heart, like it is to everyone these days,
it seems. I don’t like to get political, but when I perform “In
Memory Of Zapata” I preface the song with some history of Zapata
and how he still resonates with the downtrodden of Mexico, i.e., the
Zapatista movement in Central Mexico. I knew and have read about Zapata,
as did Chip [Taylor]. We did some research about various aspects of
Tex–Mex history like the Mexican Revolution and its impact on
border culture. But the initial concept and inspiration for the record
is Texas in general, because Chip and I were spending so much time
there. Also, Mexican and Spanish music informs my playing because of
my background: My mother is from Costa Rica and my parents had that
stuff on the record player all the time.
You guys both came up as musicians at roughly the same time, but has
Ry Cooder been an influence on your music? Parts of Blues, Waltzes
and Badland Borders are reminiscent of Cooder’s soundtrack to
Paris, Texas.
No, but I’m a fan. I guess you’re referring to my slide
playing, which, like my guitar playing, is an amalgam of a lot of things.
Perhaps much of it is drawn from the same well as Ry might’ve
drawn from, I don’t know. The songs you’re probably thinking
of kind of wrote themselves—much of them were improvised, initially.
They’re standard open tunings but approached with my sensibility,
if you will.
You were born in and grew up in the Hudson Valley. Why do you choose
to still live here and not in L.A. or New York, where all of the lucrative
studio and soundtrack work is?
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