I’m performing in Stratford soon, the town where Richard Manuel first learned how to turn feeling into music. It’s strange and moving to bring my songs into the place that shaped him, especially now that the new biography gives a clearer picture of who he was, the pianist’s brain hiding in a blues singer’s voice. The curator and I discussed a blend. Like a musical conversation across some decades. The biography shows how much contradiction he carried, comic timing wrapped around spiritual ache. The show might be like a letter. A musical exchange with someone who isn’t here but still sings loudly in the landscape.