Song Of The Day 12/7/2016: Y Kant Tori Read – “The Big Picture”

Song Of The Day Outtakes 2016 -- Today's outtake was snipped from Before They Were Famous. It's from the one album put out by Y Kant Tori Read, the synthy new wave band Tori Amos was in before she went to acclaim as a solo artist.

All right, so you know I've interviewed Tori twice, including here. They are two of my favorite conversations I've ever had with a music artist. She's incredibly well-read, an encouraging conversationalist, very gracious and unexpectedly enthused when she's complimented. There were some subjects we went deep on that, frankly, I've never had the confidence to delve into with my private conversations.

I'm fairly sure she's lackadaisical about Y Kant Tori Read, because everyone has creation stories about the music business and how to keep afloat. Life's a journey. It's one long journey. You start off in Newton, North Carolina, hitchhike across the Appalachians, make money on the road by hustling drunks with three-card monte, get a truck-stop Caesar salad, then wind up in Los Angeles where record executives know what eyeliner is in your best interests. And there are lots of grease-stained receipts littering the highway from origin to terminus. Y Kant Tori Read is one of those smudged receipts. You have them, too. Check your desk drawer.

I feel it necessary to restate however that Tori Amos is a wonderful person. Thank you.