Love the art AND like the artist

The recent "Love the art/dislike the artist" made me ponder as to folks who make good music AND are generally likeable human beings to boot, with Jonathan Richman being the one that immediately comes to mind.

Any others you'd include on said list?

Nick Lowe
Alejandro Escovedo was one of the most genuinely nice musicians I ever met, at least the night I met him.
Ditto for Don Dixon
The Handsome Family also seem to be truly lovely people

Funny, as soon as I saw the topic line I thought of Richman too.

I wonder what he thinks about being immediately associated with goodness?

Does it help him to be a nicer person?

At one of his Sydney shows in the mid-'80s he waited at the door and shook hands with the punters as they left the venue, like a priest after a service.

I think Mike Watt is a prime example of this. One of the nicest dudes ever and luckily continues to do good stuff musically.

Jonathan, on the other hand, mostly lost my musical interest a while back, tho I love the 70s/80s stuff. I can personally attest to his niceness, as he rushed to assist me after I crashed my motorcycle in Athens GA in 1993. It was kinda bizarre to struggle to my feet and notice that the guy helping me pick up the bike was none other than Jonathan Richman. I was too dazed to do the adoring fan thing at the time, but I did call a friend of mine who I knew was going to be seeing him in DC a few days later. My buddy went up to JR after the show and said "Hey, did you help a guy after he crashed his motorcycle in Athens the other day?" Jonathan got a worried look on his face and said "Yeah, man - is he OK?"

My wife & I are big fans of Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers. We can personally attest that RC is one of the nicest guys in the business.

I know this will be a choice roundly mocked on this board, but I interviewed Rick Wakeman of Yes a few years ago and he was probably the most amiable, chatty and forthcoming interview I've ever done. I was doing this for the magazine Pop Culture Press - a great mag, but not exactly Rolling Stone in terms of public visibility. He could've blown me off or cut the interview short, but he was happy to chat.

At the end of the interview, he asked me if my wife (who was a big fan of his solo records) and I were on the guest list for the show, which I was. "Would you like backstage passes?" Sure, I said, figuring he'd forget all about it before showtime. But sure enough, the passes were there when I went to will-call, and he made a point of seeking us out when we went backstage, where he was just as affable and charming.

In fact, all the instrumental members of Yes seemed happy to be mingling with fans backstage (even Steve Howe, who looked 20 years older than he really was and as if he was about to keel over). Jon Anderson was the only one who disappeared after the show.

Watching last week's Austin City Limits with Crowded House reminded me that Neil Finn has always seemed to be one of the most decent and likeable human beings on the planet, ditto for his band.

Whoa, I missed ACL with Crowded House?

(Scampers to review TV listings...)

Yep, it was on a few weeks ago. It probably won't repeat until late this year. I was present at the taping - it was a great show.