So, who is Rob Lopresti?
I’m a librarian, a mystery writer, an autoharp player, and a singer-songwriter.  I was raised in New Jersey and I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest since 1987.

What’s on this album?
Eighteen songs I wrote.  File it under Folk.  About half of the songs are funny.

Which half?
If you can’t tell I’m in trouble.

What are your most popular songs?
“Reference Librarian” is a bragging blues about my day job.  A number of people have bought a copy for their friends who share my profession.  Hint, hint.

“Fifteen Iguana” is a true story – except I don’t think the lizards actually spoke.  A bunch of iguanas were pulled off a Caribbean island in a hurricane and survived a 200 mile trip on an old tree trunk.  I think the song is so popular because people like to sing the iguana part in the chorus.  Hearing a crowd squeak “We don’t wanna!” is one of my favorite concert  experiences.

“Robert Carter III” is also a true story.  Carter was a vain, ignorant snob.  He had no redeeming characteristics, except one:  he personally freed more slaves than anyone else in American history.

“Nachshon” is based on an old Jewish legend about the Exodus.  I am proud to say it is being performed at Passover celebrations by people who have never heard of me.

“Take a Box” is my best known song.  Don’t ask me what it’s about; it came straight from the muse.  But a lot of people enjoy singing it.

What about the title cut?  You say “Can I Blame You?” is a love song?
Absolutely!   The narrator just feels it is important to lay a proper groundwork for a relationship by deciding in advance whose fault the break-up will be.

That’s bizarre.
Hey, I don’t explain my characters.  I just report them.

This album is from “Live Music Recordings.”
Essentially  Richard Scholtz.  He recorded the album and it wouldn’t exist without him.  And  “Live Music Recordings” means what it says.  Everything on the album is as it happened.  No multiple takes spliced together.  Richard has produced albums for Eric Schoenberg and John Knowles, among others.  It was a great honor to work with him.  Oh, and he plays fretted dulcimer on the CD as well.

Who else performs on the album?
Flip Breskin plays guitar; she is one of the centers of the northwest folkscene.  She co-founded  the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, for instance.  Zeke Hoskin plays the harp.  He is a great songwriter and we sometimes perform with songwriter Scott Katz as The Three Wise Guys.  My daughter Susie Weiner plays the fiddle.  My wife Terri Weiner is a confirmed living room musician but I coaxed her out to perform in my iguana chorus.  And Nina Naberhaus, Brad Reynolds, and Laura Smith contribute too.  All friends of mine and wonderful musicians.

You say you’re a mystery writer as well?
About thirty short  stories published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and other places  None of my songs are mysteries – unless you count the love songs, I suppose.

What are your songs like?
People who like them compare them to John Prine and Steve Goodman.  People who don’t  like them contrast them with John Prine, and so on.

Any themes on this album?
Family.  Having the courage to do what’s right, or what’s necessary.   Relationships that go wrong.

Speaking of which, you write a lot of songs about guilt.
And whose fault is that?

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8/04