Interview with Kurt Wahlner

Last week I received the new book from Douglas B. Green, Classic Country Singers. It is a small book featuring profiles of several country music artists from the late 1920s to the mid-fifties. One thing that jumped out at me was the beautiful design of the the book and the vibrant layouts that graced the pages. (I'll have a review of the book, as well as an interview with the author, later this week). Since designers rarely get the credit they deserve, I decided we should hear a little more from the designer of the book, Kurt Wahlner.

Music Tomes: Are you a fan of country music?

Kurt Wahlner: Not really. I have the luxury of listening to whatever I like while working, so I like to listen to Classical and Opera - perhaps because a 3-hour long opera seems to last longer than a 45-minute pop album. When I was working as Art Director at Gibbs Smith in Utah, one of the editors there, Madge Baird, was in charge of editing Doug Green's first book for them called Singing Cowboys. She took me to see Rider's in the Sky when they were appearing at a Cowboy Poetry Event. I like to immerse myself in the subjects of the books that I work on, so I went with a anthropologist's eye, taking in all the saddle and boot makers at the craft faire.

But what really caught my attention was the music played by Riders in the Sky - not "Country and Western," but "Western" or "Cowboy" music. "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds," "Back in the Saddle Again" and "Cool Water" - songs that reference the western viewpoint without reverting to the "She done me wrong" kind of thing. I am a sucker for pop music from between the World Wars of all nations - there is something about the musicianship and the tonalities that connect with the best tone-poems of the Classical Repertory. There is a song that Doug and the Riders do that is in Spanish that I just adore called "La Maleguena." It is so moving, but it is actually two different songs that Doug arranged into one, so I guess I am impressed that the musicians of today are trying to keep it alive and fresh. I have seen a number of Cowboy Music Figures perform - I am always impressed with their shows. So I am a fan of the Cowboy Songs, yeah.

MT: When you approach a project like this, one that has over 50 years of design history and memorabilia, how do you balance the nostalgia with a current design aesthetic?

KW: Well, the current design aesthetic is pretty fractured just now. So there is a great deal of latitude there. But the basic question always seems to boil down to: Do you design a book like Classic Country Singers as a book for the people who already know this material and design it for them, or do you do the book for the people who don't know anything about it, but what to know, and design a nice, simple, "Hey, this subject's easy!" sort of vibe.

Usually, you let the words of the author be your guide. The tone of the writing is where you find your answer. When you talk to an author, very often they will say they want to bring the new people into their subject - whatever it is. But their private predilections usually direct toward, "No man, the FANS gotta DIG IT." So you can see the choice that has to be made. We have all opened up books about something that sounds interesting, and the boring presentation of the material just makes your eyes cloud over - I try to avoid that without resorting to graphic clichés.

MT: You used a lot of old songbooks and sheet music from the various artists included. Where did you get those? How did those designs and color choices affect your design decisions?

KW: All the photos and songbook covers were provided by the author, Doug "Ranger Doug" Green. He has been collecting this type of material for years. I collect things, too, so I understand. Much of the time the only picture one could find of someone like Spade Cooley would be a lobby card from a film he was in or a sheet music cover. R. Crumb would know what I'm talking about. There is a certain poignancy to these shards of history that I really enjoy working with. The trick with the presentation is to choose colors and elements that support all of it and don't fight with any of it. Less is more in these cases. I can go heavier if need be, but it doesn't usually work out that way.

MT: How did you get started in book design?

KW: Ah - how did it all start. Like most things, I didn't mean to! I started out as the fellow who pasted up the newspaper Daily Variety, then I got to co-found a monthly computer magazine called SOFTALK (not done on a computer - that came later), then to books. I knew a man who was trying to publish the first picture history of Playboy magazine, but all the sample layouts that even Hef's guys in Chicago were doing were all getting shot down - Hef wouldn't approve of any of them. I said to myself, "That's because they don't LOOK like the magazine." So I did some layouts in three-column format with Baskerville with all the headlines in lower-case italic, and guess what? Hef approved them, and I was the designer of The Playboy Book: 40 Years as well as a whole lot more. I have a list of every book that I have worked on at: http://www.kurtwahlner.com/