Wayne Krantz: Guitar Player interview

What about the title track? Is there a direct connection to Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”?

There actually is. It’s an example of starting with a title—in this case a play on words that I thought was funny. Instead of saying “Highway 61,” which has the historical weight of both the Americana and Dylan things, switching it to “Howie 61” made it ridiculous. The wordiness of the song is also kind of a reference to Dylan, and the song’s form—which is basically a weird, expanded blues—is based on the structure of a Dylan tune. As far as the album title, I was going to call it something else, but Howie 61 was kind of funny and easy to remember, so I decided to use it. And I had no idea that that song was going to open the album when I wrote it, but I like that it provides a soft opening and just kind of eases the listener in.

Full interview: http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/wayne-krantz/148967

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