When art begets art,  projects like Sad Young Cardinals emerge. SYC is simple – a collection of essays on the work and art of the Mountain Goats, written by fans of the band’s music, most of whom met each other over a growing period of time  on a Mountain Goats  message board & have published written works in other places. Don’t write it off as a fangasm, this is a natural response to art when art touches artists. Coming in strong with three essays in the first week, what has emerged is not only an eager talent pool of writers but the quiet evidence that once art is published, the interpretation is open to those who choose to imbibe & digest, with no one truth remaining in tact, not even that of the creator him/herself.

Interpretation of  art is the muse within another artist, yearning to inspire another creation. Even this very blogpost is a published work based on the publication of a blog; as artists, we inspire each other.

Prior to his 1000+ word essay On We Shall All Be Healed, Jeff Whitelaw explains how it came to be that he was affected, proving that regardless of the intention of the Songwriter himself, music speaks to he who hears it:

“[We Shall All Be Healed] is largely the story of people consuming methamphetamines in Southern California. The album was instantly attractive to me, because I spent most of 2001 doing exactly that.”

It is Whitelaw’s words which transformed the way I hear at least 3 songs, that Whitelaw did not write. From art, art is born and so the world spins. The Canon, of all genres, is the basic workbook for a creative future, but the process of canonization refers to the ingestion of that which could be considered meaningful to the observer, and the creative output which emerges as a result of such consideration. How is it that Emily Dickinson is part of the Western Canon when she hid all her poems in her floorboards without publishing them? I posit it is because that which can be considered great art or a canonical candidate is the art which inspires recreational interpretation.

Anyone can submit an essay to Sad Young Cardinals, which was founded by and is edited by P William Grimm. The rules are posted on the site:

Please feel free to submit an essay about the work and art of the Mountain Goats.
Send all submissions to submissions@sadyoungcardinals.com.
(1) 500+ words is the general rule; (2) Essays will be reviewed and posted as soon as possible