Accustomed to being on both sides of the record-store counter since the tender age of 15, Peter Holsapple has an intimate knowledge of the sort of vinyl obsessive who inspired “That Kind Of Guy.”
“He can name all the lineups of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band without breaking a sweat, and he always points out the pocket trumpet on the single version of ‘Penny Lane,’” says Holsapple. “He owns 78s on Sun and Chess, a live Thompson Twins Betamax tape and the one-sided single of ‘Sexual Healing’—and he has a ballpark idea of what it’s all worth. But sometimes he does open a collector’s item and plays it on his mid-fi turntable just to enjoy the emotional experience. The tunes stay alive that way.”
When Holsapple wasn’t working at the shop back in the day, he was making a beautiful noise in the dB’s, one of the great Southern-bred power-pop bands of the ’80s. In the decades since, he’s released precious few solo albums, which makes The Face Of 68 (out April 18 via Label 51) a bit of a treat.
“That Kind Of Guy” is a fitting leadoff single, primarily because Holsapple is that kind of guy. “I bet you know one, too,” he says. “It’s noisy up there inside his head because the internal jukebox doesn’t shut off. And it might be you.”
We’re proud to premiere Peter Holsapple’s “That Kind Of Guy.”
—Hobart Rowland
