I had become a Jim O’Rourke fan in 1997 when a CD of his album Bad Timing became a constant traveling companion. It’s such a beautiful album; four songs, no words, just Jim playing acoustic guitar, and then out of nowhere herds of interloping horns or strings charge through. It made a bigger impact on me than anything I’d heard in years. The songs were so simple and unhurried. I was mesmerized by the patience and discipline it took to arrange long meditative songs into performances with the immediacy of a pop song.
