I’ve been a fan of Kristin Hersh since I was a teenager, which seems like an impossibly long time ago. Throwing Muses were one of my favorite “alternative” bands in late high school, and they stayed with me into college and beyond. Hersh’s music was always exciting and mysterious to me, and expressed a deep but fractured intelligence and soul. The strange time signatures, obtuse non-linear lyrics and Hersh’s great, deep, smoke-and-gravel voice would scream, mummer or trill, sometimes in the same song or even verse.

The music was full of furious storm energy, but wasn’t afraid to explore the tension of silence, and the angular stop-start pulse of the music was well before the prevalence of the soft/loud mode made popular by people like the Pixies. Plus they were an American band on 4AD, which gave them alternative hipster cache for those of us who were into alternative music from across the pond.

A lot of music from that era no longer appeals to me, but Hersh’s music stands up. I saw the Muses play in Tempe in 1991 touring behind their great record The Real Ramona. I remember it being an amazing show – Hersh leading the band through the dynamic offerings, her head swimming back and forth like a snake while playing and singing, her guitar slung high above a very pregnant stomach. After the show we briefly chatted with Hersh and Tonya Donnelly. A friend of mine shot some video and the band was interested in maybe taking a look at some of the footage.

Obviously Donnelly went on to spend time with the Breeders and her own band Belly, and I imagine her more pop sensibilities provided a nice contrast for Hersh’s sometimes wild musical ideas, but I always like the Muses far better than Belly.

I kind of lost track of Throwing Muses for a while but when Hersh released her first solo album Hips and Makers in 1994 I was back onboard. The album is just as good, if not better, than my favorite Throwing Muses material in a totally different way. I love it when an artist seems to grow with your tastes, as she did with Makers. It is a quietly intense, intimate acoustic album that showcases her voice and words.

She’s released a few solo albums to date, as well as a new Throwing Muses album and has also formed a more heavy, punk influenced band called 50FootWave. My awareness of her newer music is limited only because she fell off of my radar but what I’ve heard of her new material is still quality. I found out about 50FootWave via one of the mp3 blogs, which posted a link to a free EP that is still available on her Web site, www.throwingmusic.com.

I was psyched when I saw her name on the bill for the Congress 21st Birthday show, playing on Sunday, Sept. 3 – Howe Gelb’s BBQ night.

This inspired me to bust out my various Hersh offerings, from scratchy vinyl to CDs and mp3s. I had a mini Hersh-fest, and was reminded just how good she is. I was also excited to find out that she’s worked with Vic Chesnutt, Howe Gelb and John Doe, who are all playing during the three-day show. I can’t wait to see what happens onstage with these artists, as well as all the cross-pollinating that will happen with the various performers.

Dave Slutes from Congress (and the Sidewinders, Sands Rubies, Zsa Zsa’s, etc.) put me in touch with Kristin Hersh’s manager/husband Billy and I sent her some questions. Here’s what she “typed out loud,” to use her phrase.

AZNightBuzz: Right off the bat, how did you get involved in the Congress 21st Birthday party show?

Kristin Hersh: Hmmm…Howe maybe? Probably Howe making me do stuff again. I’d do anything for that man. Factor in Vic Chesnutt and John Doe and I’m already there. Plus, Hotel Congress is such a cool place and an intriguing enterprise. I’m honored to be asked.

AZNB: This is a one-off show, but you have toured some recently. What were those shows like?

KH: Two weeks ago, I went to Iceland to play a festival with Throwing Muses. Then my new band, 50FootWave, opened for the Muses in Boston, New York and LA. Two pretty intense sets a night, a real marathon for a little wimp like me but people came so we rose to the occasion. Now I have to lie down.

AZNB: When is the last time you played Arizona, and Tucson specifically?

KH: I played Tucson (solo acoustic) Memorial Day weekend.

AZNB: You’re playing on Sunday, the night of Howe Gelb’s BBQ. You and Howe have worked together in the past. Can you please tell us something about what you guys have done musically?

KH: Howe and I have toured together. He also played on my last solo record, The Grotto. He has a tendency to call me up onstage when I’m in the room, too. (Me, ”Pssst…what song is this?” Howe, ”I don’t know yet!” Me. “What key is it in?” Howe, “It doesn’t matter!”) But mostly, we’re pals. Howe makes a great pal. He drinks the same tequila my husband and I do. That’s important.

AZNB: I read that you’ve also worked with Vic Chesnutt, who is playing the same night. He was very complimentary about you when I interviewed him. What have you and he done together, and are you psyched to be on the same bill as Howe and Vic?

KH: Vic and I did a double bill where we sat on stage together and traded songs back and forth. He is amazing to watch. He becomes a child, then an old man when he plays. I can’t think of a more important American songwriter than Vic. He has this magic, dangerous element that allows his songs to talk louder than he does.

Vic also puts me up when I’m in town. Me and my whole family, which isn’t easy – I have 4 kids…AND he grows okra in his garden which is wicked cool. I miss okra. I was born in Georgia, where he lives, and I swear okra just isn’t as good anywhere else.

AZNB: Anyone else on the bill you are friendly with or have worked with in the past?

KH: John Doe, who is a king. We’ve toured together in the past and he let me sing on his last record, probably because he felt sorry for me. I can’t think of any other reason for him to have done that, ‘cause I can’t really sing.

But X, of course, the legendary X…so very important to American independent music. And they’re still going! And they’re still great! 50FootWave played with them this year and they blew us off the stage.

AZNB: Other people on the bill you are excited about – are you going to be there for just for the day of your show?

KH: No, we got to hang longer than that. We dearly love Tucson (one of our favorite places) though it looks like my sons have signed me up for numerous gecko and snake hunting expeditions. Music is way below reptiles for them, priority-wise.

AZNB: You are very prolific and have three distinct creating and performing modes – Throwing Muses, your solo work and 50FootWave. Which of the three will we see onstage at the show?

KH: There was some talk of 50 Foot playing, but I didn’t want to stick out too bad, so I’ll be me – solo, Kristin Hersh, quiet and sensitive and lonely.

AZNB: Do you think you’ll sit in with anyone or anyone from the show will sit in with you? It seems like Vic is looking forward to playing with other folks.

KH: I will do anything for these people, even battle my own shyness. And there’s nothing like good music to make somebody do something.

AZNB: When you play solo acoustically do you usually stick to material from the solo records? Are you bringing any musicians with you? Family?

KH: I bring my family pretty much everywhere I go (even the dog tags along), but I figure with Howe, John and Vic around, I won’t need any other musicians.

AZNB: Which of the three styles is the most natural for you, from a music writing perspective? Which gets the most attention from you?

KH: My hands reach for different guitars at different times. If I write a song on an acoustic guitar, I play it on an acoustic guitar, making it a solo dealie. If I write on the Strat I play when I’m with the Muses, it becomes a Muses song. The 50FootWave SG’s and Les Paul’s are thicker, heavier so I write 50 Foot appropriate songs on them.

AZNB: This might sound a little new-agey but I am trying to get to something I read about your creative process, which at times almost sounds like you are channeling energy or feel that you are a good receiver of the creative force. Do you feel like you are simply translating things that exist – for example Bob Dylan has said that if he didn’t write his songs someone else would have.

KH: Joe Henry says songs are on a conveyor belt – they’re going by all the time. When you’re ready to write one, you just reach up and grab it. I can only assume that if you paint, then that conveyor belt would carry visuals; if you dance, it’d carry movement; if you’re a mathematician, it would carry elegant solutions to math problems.

I guess what that means is that if you do good work, you aren’t really responsible for it. If you do lousy work, then, well…you didn’t quite reach the conveyor belt.

AZNB: Do you write fiction or other non-music related things? The few examples in your blog were very well written. If not is that something you aspire to do?

KH: I’m not particularly creative as a person, I don’t think. Songs just happened to me once and I can’t make them stop. My husband Billy made me “the-verb-to-blog” because he thought it would be good for our Web site which is very important to us. Thanks for saying it’s well written, though.

AZNB: Your husband Billy, who doubles as your manager among other things, mentioned a new finished album. Can you tantalize us with some info about the project? Do you have any idea when it might see the light of day?

KH: I really like this new solo album. I never leave the studio without wanting more time to. I don’t know…replay everything, but this is a nice record. David Narcizo, the drummer from Throwing Muses, played and some friends from London (The McCarricks) flew in to play strings on it. Strings always make things sound important.

From what I hear, it’ll be released in January.

AZNB: What’s the status of Throwing Muses?

KH: Throwing Muses tends to be. We just don’t have enough money as an entity to be recording or touring regularly.

AZNB: Anything you’d like to add about the big Congress show, or anything at all really.

KH: Ummmmm….nah, I’m good. Looking forward to it, though. Tucson, Howe Gelb, Vic Chesnutt, John Doe…whew! This is gonna be fun.