Hezekiah Jones & Chris Bathgate - Folk music for the end of the world

Philadelphia - Ann Arbor: about 770 kilometers in distance. Comparable to the distance between Milan and Bari; in other words the vertical extent of a huge area of Italy. Actually, in the United States distances as well as the time needed to cover them seem to magically shorten, at least from a subjective point of view. Moreover, if together with the geographical distances the human ones seem to be reduced, that’s how dialogue, collaboration and maybe also friendship become possible.“Folk Music For The End Of The World”: this is the compilation released by Yer Bird Records where Chris Bathgate and Hezekiah Jones's artistic pathways crossed. And this title can also summarize the path of the two songwriters who, despite the geographical latitude, seem to live in a common musical land made of deep but still intimately contemporary roots. Hezekiah Jones, moniker of the Pennsylvania songwriter Raphael Cutrufello, debuted in 2006 with the album “Hezekiah Says You’re A-Ok”, recently followed by the release of the EP titled “Come To Our Pool Party”. Chris Bathgate, who just recently graduated at the University of Michigan, has an artistic background made up of a bunch of self-released albums and EPs, crowned with “Throat/Sleep”, and in 2007 he put out “A Cork Wake Tale”, his first release by a true and proper label. Both songwriters drew general attention through the web (oppure became notorious thanks to the web) and they both seem to be translating into their personal language the most traditional among music patterns. We asked Raphael and Chris to answer to the same questions, in a mirror game where each of them two reflects into the other one’s image: a double interview representing an immersion in the present-day’s American songwriting.