PBS高端访谈:PJ·莫尔顿的音乐人生（在线收听）

John Yang: PJ Morton is the keyboardist for the band Maroon 5. He released the solo album "Gumbo" last year. And his album "Christmas with PJ Morton" is streaming now. In tonight's Brief But Spectacular episode, he talks about growing up the son of a preacher in New Orleans and the effect of a message in music.

PJ Morton: Somebody gave me a cassette tape of Stevie Wonder when I was a kid, probably about 12. A light switch clicked on, and I knew that I wanted to say things the way he was saying them. I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. My father's a preacher, so I grew up a preacher's kid. There was a battle between me not necessarily wanting to be a gospel singer or be a preacher. Black Christian churches is, I still think, one of the most amazing experiences. It was my first introduction into performing, in a way, because you have an audience that is there, the congregation. And I would watch my dad stand up there and command the audience. I'm not a preacher, but I like to think that I carry a message with the music. Stevie Wonder, to me, even before I met him or anything, indirectly taught me how to write songs. Getting to work with him, carrying that song, and then that song being nominated for a Grammy, it still is today, to me, the top thing. The song I wanted to Stevie to be on was a song called "Only One." That year I was nominated for "Only One," my dad was nominated for gospel song of the year. I think it was the first father and son nomination since like Bob Dylan and Jakob like 15 years before that. It was cool for us because we got to spend father and son time at the Grammys. My mom was taking five million pictures. I try to write selfishly. I try to have as little mental processing as possible, if I can, because you start thinking about the fans, and the fans change. Or you start thinking about some person you're writing for, and your relationship changes. I think the only thing you can truly do is come from an honest place, and just expect that people are going to be able to connect to the honesty. "Gumbo" is my favorite album that I have done. And it's the first album that I was able to make at home in New Orleans. And New Orleans, you know, is laissez le bon temps rouler, which is, let the good times roll. It's the Big Easy. So nobody was on my back as if I was in L.A., like, hey, man, you got to meet this. You got to, no, it was just like, oh, man, that sounds good, P. It's just whatever feels good in New Orleans. I owe a lot to the city too for giving me that spirit of freedom. My name is PJ Morton, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on making music for me.

John Yang: You can watch additional Brief But Spectacular episodes on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

约翰·杨：PJ·莫尔顿是魔力红乐队的键盘手。去年，他发布了个人专辑Gumbo。现在，他的《跟PJ·莫尔顿一起过圣诞节》也即将发售。在今晚的《简短而精彩》中，他将谈谈出身于新奥尔良牧师家庭的他是如何受音乐熏陶的。

PJ·莫尔顿：有人给了我一盒史提夫汪达的磁带，当时我还小，大概12岁。打开照明开关后，我就知道我跟他感同身受。我出生于路易斯安那州的新奥尔良。我父亲是牧师，我在父亲的耳濡目染下长大。我曾经挣扎于是做福音歌手还是牧师。我一直都认为，去黑人的基督教会是我最为难忘的一次经历。这是我第一次接触表演，就是有很多观众聚集在一起的那种。我看到父亲站在那里，指挥着观众。虽然我不是牧师，但我乐于认为自己是用音乐来传播信息的人。史提夫汪达对我来说，在没见到他之前，就已经以间接的方式来教我如何写歌了。有幸跟他合作做了一首歌，提名了格莱美奖。这段经历对我来说至今依然是最刻骨铭心的。我希望跟史提夫汪达合唱的一首歌叫《唯一》。那一年，我因这首歌而获得提名，而我父亲则因为福音歌而获得提名。我认为这是鲍勃·迪伦和雅各布父子获奖之后首次有父子一起获得提名。这对我们来说很酷，因为我们父子可以在格莱美共享一段美好的时光。我母亲照了无数张照片留念。我写歌的方式总是很自私——我会尽量减少精神上的处理，因为一旦开始考虑粉丝的想法，就会发现粉丝已经不是当初的模样。又或者是，当你开始为别人写歌后，却发现你们的关系已经发生改变。我认为我真正能做的事情就是保持一颗坦诚的心，并希望他人能因你的坦诚而产生共鸣。Gumbo是我做的所有专辑中最喜欢的一个。这张专辑也是我首次在新奥尔良做的专辑。新奥尔良是一个奉行人生得意须尽欢的地方，这是里欢乐天堂。所以，我完全没有负担，就像在洛杉矶一样，可以随心地去体验想看的东西。新奥尔良的一切都让人如此愉快，我亏欠这个城市太多，它让我感到无比的自由。我是PJ·莫尔顿，这就是我本期关于音乐分享的《简短而精彩》。

约翰·杨：观众朋友们可以登录PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief来了解其他期的节目。