I'm writing a critical history of prog rock with Jethro Tull in a starring role
Hi! I’m a writer from Canada, and I’ve been a devoted Tull listener for twenty years. I have fond memories of obsessing over Ian Anderson’s lyrics as a kid. I daresay the annotations on the wonderful old fansite Cup of Wonder played a role in my becoming a writer at all. (My day job is in public radio, where I write about classical music for broadcast.) I’ve just started a newsletter that offers an album-by-album history of prog rock through the lens of nine key bands. It’s sitting at number 39 on Substack’s list of “rising” music newsletters, whatever that means.
Jethro Tull is obviously one of the key bands, and probably the one I relish writing about most. To me, Ian Anderson has absolutely no competition for the title of Best Prog Rock Songwriter of the 70s. Every time I relisten to a Tull album, I discover new parts of my brain. Writing about them presents an opportunity to write about everything. Every fresh listen to Thick as a Brick opens new questions about elitism and received wisdom. Songs from the Wood and Heavy Horses reveal a discomfort with modernity that reminds me more of T.S. Eliot than the back-to-the-landers. Minstrel in the Gallery seems like the most unsparing self-portrait ever set to music, and at the same time it is difficult to say what kind of person it is actually about. It is one of the richest bodies of work I’m aware of in any musical genre.
I truly detest self-promotion, but if any of this sounds interesting to you, I’d love for you to subscribe. (It’s free. There’s bonus content coming for paid subscribers, but the posts about Tull and the other eight core bands will be always be public.) The post on This Was is already live, and Stand Up is coming in November.