Self-isolated at her Nashville home, Alison Mosshart is happy she still has her landline phone. She’s not getting rid of it any time soon. During a pandemic, you never know what kind of archaic resources might come in handy. It’s not so much a backup tool for communication, but more a piece of nostalgia as everyone reverts back to their roots. It’s actually pretty resourceful as well.
“I’m never letting this go,” she says. “It’s wonderful. It’s really a joy to talk to anybody right now. I love it when my phone rings now. We’re all reverting back to our junior high, teenage selves when we used to sit in our bedrooms on the landline and talk to our girlfriends and love every minute of it.”
Following the Covid-19 lockdown, Mosshart finally has some down time—to talk, think, drink wine (lots of wine), and write. “Normally, I don’t have a minute,” Mosshart tells American Songwriter. “The day is full of things, and it’s running back and forth or hopping on a plane, which I love and I miss, but there’s a great beauty, and a lot of positive things about this [lockdown], especially when you’re trying to be creative.”
Alone in isolation, Mosshart has had time to dig into an archive of songs she’s been writing throughout the past decade. Always laser focused on The Kills, her work with Jack White and The Dead Weather, and other collaborations, all along her 20-year career, Mosshart has been filing away songs that she’s never recorded as a solo artist.
Then, Facebook called.
Tina Eves 