Matthew Sweet was Tom’s guest for ‘Back to Mine’ on Tuesday. Best known for his hugely successful 1991 album ‘Girlfriend’, Sweet has enjoyed an enviable collaboration with Susanna Hoffs in recent years.
Following the usual ‘Back to Mine’ format, in which Tom imagines that they are enjoying a few drinks in the guest’s favourite watering hole, the two ‘headed’ for The Interlude Lounge on Pacific St, Omaha, in the US state of Nebraska. This is in fact one of the most interesting of the ‘Back to Mine’ bars as filmmaker and director of ‘Nebraska’, Alexander Payne, is known to frequent this joint.
During the interview Sweet recalled his participation in the renowned music scene of Athens, Georgia, in the early ‘90s. It was there that he came in contact with Michael Stipe of REM, who became a proponent of Sweet’s work and helped connect him with the industry.
Sweet chose three songs for Tom to play, songs which have been an important influence on his own work. The first track which he chose was ‘Nowhere Man’, by the Beatles. He fondly recalled purchasing a 45 of the record back in the mid-seventies.
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The Dreamer’ by Nicky Hopkins made up Sweet’s second choice. Hopkins, whom Sweet described as ‘a genius’, had played on his album ‘Altered Beast’.
His final track was ‘The Dolphins’ by Fred Neil . He cites the influence of Neil largely deriving from his use of the twelve string acoustic, which he himself also loves to play.
