Amy Rigby is back with The Old Guys (Southern Domestic), her first solo album since 2005’s Little Fugitive. A veteran of NYC bands Last Roundup in the ’80s and the Shams in the ’90s, Rigby recorded the 12-track The Old Guys with husband and musical partner Wreckless Eric in upstate New York, where the couple resides. Not only is Rigby currently on tour in support of her new LP, she’s also guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.
Rigby: Like Patti Smith, I drink a lot of coffee. In her book M Train, she’s always grabbing a container in a deli—quality isn’t important, it just has to be hot and black. I’ve been a fan of Ms. Smith since Horses, but learning about that accepting part of her nature made me love her in a whole new way. I wish drinking any old coffee was that easy for me. When I first started touring, you had to bring your own coffee apparatus along or risk styrofoam and non-dairy creamer. Carrying a drip cone, filters and coffee from Porto Rico or Open Pantry—the only two places I can remember back in those New York City days that sold bulk beans—was a small way to control the road experience. Now every town of any size has at least one almost-decent coffee place, but it’s still good to carry along an AeroPress. Less fussy than trying to do a pourover, it’s just esspresso ground coffee, filter, hot water, press and top up with more hot water. You don’t even have to clean it until you want to use it the next time (though the AeroPress literature frowns on this slovenly behavior).
