John Kilzer Gives It the Old College Try

John Kilzer is one helluva over-educated rock ‘n’ roller.

Equipped with a master’s in English literature from Memphis State Univerity, Kilzer taught poetry and English composition for four years and was about to pursue a Ph.D, working with W.B. Yeats scholar Richard Ellman, when his life took an unusual turn.

He landed a record contract.

Having just released “Busman’s Holiday,” his second album for Geffen Records, Kilzer has earned some good reviews and a few bursts of college-radio play for his John Hiatt-style moody ballads and soulful rockers. But his career is still in low gear. So as he was driving through Mississippi, taking Geffen marketing exec Robert Smith to see William Faulkner’s house, Kilzer was delighted to hear Smith’s novel idea for promoting his new album.

Go out on a college lecture tour.

The topic: “Orpheus Revisited: An Oral History of the Singer-Songwriter.”

“I realized that my new album is so left-of-center that it’s going to take a little extra ingenuity to get people out to hear me,” Kilzer explains in a soft Tennessee drawl. “So this is an important way for me to reach people, because you’re certainly not going to hear me on the radio. We figured if I went out and lectured and played a bunch of songs that illustrate the troubadour tradition, it might have an impact on some kids. Maybe it would inflame their imaginations a little.”

Once schools are back in session next month, Kilzer plans to hit the road, starting with visits to Ivy League and North Carolina-area universities. Thanks to some modest tour support from Geffen, his band would always be nearby. Students who enjoyed his lectures would be able to see him play a raucous, no-lecture show with his band at a local club or college hangout that night.

Kilzer says he’d like to give a different lecture at each school. But according to his rough outline, he envisions beginning with Orpheus (“the first, archetypal troubadour”), moving through the Romantic poets (“you know, all the scarfs-flying-in-the-wind types”) and concluding with modern-day pop icons like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Peter Gabriel.

Kilzer would spice up his lectures with acoustic guitar performances, playing his favorite Celtic ballads and songs from modern-day artists. “Obviously, the idea is to show the connections between the different traditions,” he says. “Whether you’re talking about Orpheus or Van Morrison, these are all troubadours who are one step ahead of the rest of civilization.

He laughs. “I know it sounds a little obtuse and pedantic. But I’m hoping we’ll get a good response from the kids. Hey, I remember when I was a student. I was willing to go see anything that got me out of class.”