WQSV Profile:
John Yarbrough
How did you come to be involved with WQSV? And how long have you been involved?
I moved to Staunton a couple of years ago. Walking my little dog, Missy, I met DJ Steve the Painter working on Church Street. Within minutes we were talking music and he told me about his show and WQSV. After listening, I became a member basically instantly.
When did you start DJing? Are there any DJs who influenced you? Or something/someone else who influenced you?
I’ve always been deeply attached to music and don’t remember a time I wasn’t DJing mentally or creating mixes. Growing up I watched Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati, then Chris in the Morning on Northern Exposure, but my biggest influence is Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly, easy. It’s been my favorite album since it came out and still is.
Talk about your connection to music/the role music plays in your life?
I think music connects us to “the whole universe inside us.” Like how the word “hallelujah” means so much, but it’s beyond reason. It’s ecstatic, musical, evoking the “laughter of angels.” It’s nice to think of the stars twinkling because they’re laughing or shimmying, and in a way it’s true. Joni let us know, “we are stardust.” Literally. The rhythm of the universe is in our veins – animals and plants, too, of course, and the earth itself – like grace. Music gets us “back to the garden.” (Just not auto-tune. That’s hell.)
Describe your show.
Groove inclusive. Soul, rock, jazz, blues, folk, swing… there’s so much connecting the genres, I can’t imagine not following their lead – it’s reflexive. It would be like having all these tendons but not bending your arm, even to scratch an itch.
Who are some of your favorite musicians and why?
Donald Fagen – like a member of Salinger’s Glass family on organ. Prince – made of music, but his work ethic made him the greatest. Lou Reed – you can’t be that uncompromising without caring a lot. Al Green – vocal Taoism, heaven and earth as dialectic, not diametric. The Beatles – peerless geniuses, fearless students. Booker T. & the MGs, James Brown, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Sly Stone, Aretha, Sam Cooke, The Police, the Staple Singers, Donny Hathaway, The Cars, Nat King Cole… there are so many, but those are formative.
What is your first memory involving music?
The first song I consciously remember hearing is Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s, “What the World Needs Now is Love,” which I feel very lucky about. “Love, sweet love, no not just for some, but for everyone.” No wonder music has meant so much to my life. That got me off on the right foot.
What was the first concert you attended?
ZZ Top at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, their early 80s Eliminator tour. I was expecting them to come out in shades and duster coats, all cool. Instead they came out in powder-blue jumpsuits with fuzzy white Muppet guitars. That was good for me to see at that age. Anything crumbling a hyper-masculine facade deserves an encore.
How do you go about building your show?
It’s fun to pick a song at random and let it message what’s next somehow so the arc spans itself. Or I have an endpoint and think, “what would be a cool way there?” But usually it’s a mood or an idea, and a lyric, riff, motif, or (very often) a bass line drops the next stepping stone instinctively. It’s nice getting older – your mine’s deeper, so more resonates.
Do you have any particular criteria when selecting music for your show?
Absolutely. Music on my show will be multiples of Stax, or divisible by Wire.