The personal and professional life of Tom Waits has been kept so mysterious over the years that any bit of leaked information about the legendary singer immediately takes on a more mythological air. It wasn’t easy for Waits to guard his backstage secrets and he isn’t going let some loose-lipped Rolling Stone go and ruin it.
Contact Music reports that Richards granted an interview with Barney Hoskyns, the author of the forthcoming Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits, but the interview was canceled after Waits intervened. “Tom and his wife asked Keith not to speak to me,” Hoskyns said. “I just don’t think they want anyone to know too much about Tom Waits. They don’t want any major revelations creeping out.”
Even Keith Richards would probably admit he isn’t very good at talking without “major revelations creeping out.” Remember when he said he snorted his father’s ashes? Yeah, that kind of thing.
Waits likes to keep things private, sure, but Keith must have some pretty good stories about the wild past of the enigmatic troubadour. Perhaps I’ll just have to take the Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits’ Los Angeles bus tour to find out.