Recently, I had the good fortune of landing same-day, back-to-back interviews with Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. I took the opportunity to ask them each about their contributions as songwriting partners in The Posies, and to chat with them about some of their solo recordings. We also discussed their 17-year collaboration as one half of the reformed Big Star, along with founding members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens. To get the full picture on Auer and Stringfellow, you should definitely check out both interviews.  Each Artist Sampler features different songs.

Songwriter Jon Auer describes a popular subsection of The Posies music as "harmonious dissonance." His lyrics sometimes broach a parallel dichotomy -- one that's just as likely to divulge something personal as to dance around it. One of my favorite parts of our talk culminated in a good-natured debate about whether music created from anger and angst can evoke a happy response.  As Jon explains (and writes), there are at least two sides to everything.

Photo: Nathan Breskin-Auer