Back in 2003, when I was working exclusively as a freelance journalist, I received a call from the editor of the alternative weekly newspaper Nashville Scene, which is basically Nashville, Tennessee’s version of NYC’s Village Voice. The editor was looking for a writer to cover NYC-based auditions taking place for an in-development Reality TV program: a talent search not unlike American Idol, which would focus on the discovery of America’s first openly gay country singing star.

The brains behind American Pride, as the show was to be called, was a veteran record producer, songwriter, and musician named Larry Dvoskin, who at the time had just received a Gold Record award for producing Meredith Brooks‘ latest album. While I was doing research for the Nashville Scene article (which became one of that publication’s most controversial cover stories of the year) I interviewed Dvoskin multiple times and found him to be a charming and complex individual with a deep cache of behind-the-music style stories juicier than those told by the most seasoned rock stars I’d interviewed. Larry was a gas, and although American Pride was never successfully sold to television (a shame, really), he’s continued to seek out new creative endeavors while producing and writing songs for other artists.

This year, Larry Dvoskin finally gathered up a selection of his own songs, accumulated over the course of his career, and, with the help of friends, recorded his first solo CD project, entitled Life is Strange. In an exclusive interview conducted with me for Ink 19.com, Larry Dvoskin talked about what lead to the creation of Life is Strange, reminisced about his colorful career in various facets of the music industry, dished out advice for the up-and-coming artist and, of course, shared some good road stories as well.

Read My Fun Interview with Larry Dvoskin now at This Link.