KORT is Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner and solo singer/songwriter Cortney Tidwell, and with covers album Invariable Heartache (City Slang), the duo has recorded a sort of love letter to its hometown of Nashville and the city’s musical past. Eleven of the LP’s dozen tracks were originally recorded in the ’60s and ’70s for the Music City-based Chart Records (a label with huge familial ties for Tidwell), and the 12th song was cut by Tidwell’s mom, Connie Eaton, in 1975 for ABC Dunhill. And while the heartfelt Invariable Heartache is certainly ensconced in Nashville’s storied musical history, it’s a thoroughly modern statement by two of the town’s brightest hopes for Music City’s future being as fertile as its past. Wagner and Tidwell will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with them.
Tidwell: Heartache never tasted so good. And it continues to do so, all because I stumbled upon this article by Bill Buford in September 2004 while waiting in an airport. The lengths described in this piece moved me to a entirely different level of food understanding, preparation and enjoyment. One that has sustained me for the course of my days and will see me through almost any adversity. I shit you not. Read it and weep. I did, and I still do. An excerpt:
When the writer returned to New York after visiting Miriam’s trattoria, he approached Mario Batali, the genius behind some of the best pasta in New York, and asked to work at the pasta station at Babbo. There, the pasta was made during the day and then the preparation (cooking and saucing) was done, to order, in the evening. The writer began at Stage One—making pasta—and his first task was to make hundreds of orecchiette. The writer learned the texture and shapes of the various pastas. Compares pasta to belly buttons: there are innies and outies. About half of the Babbo pastas were stuffed. When he was finally allowed to work at the pasta station in the evening, the writer found a cheat sheet taped to the wall. Describes the centuries-long rivalry between French-cuisine advocates and Italian- cuisine advocates. Discusses Bolognese ragu sauce-the varieties and how it’s made. Mentions Gianni and Betta Valdiserri. A filled pasta was rarely combined with a ragu. Mentions Babbo sous-chef Frankie Langello and Mark Barrett. Describes the effect of “emulsions” on pasta. Tells how to prepare a butter sauce with tortelloni. Notes how the writer was once caught in mid-reverie while making a mushroom sauce. In all these dishes was an ingredient you can’t get at home: the restaurant’s pasta water. Describes the pasta water and how to clean the extremely hot pasta cooker. Tells about an impromptu late-night family meal which featured a big platter of linguine with clams.
Video after the jump.
