Photographer and music video director David McCLister sits down for a career-spanning interview with Museum writer-editor Michael McCall. This program was presented in partnership with the Americana Music Association and recorded on September 18, 2024.

Following a brief introduction from his partner, Gina Binkley, McClister shares an expansive collection of archival photographs from past Americana Honors & Awards ceremonies and the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, as well as his work for “Garden & Gun” and “Rolling Stone” magazines. Throughout the program, McClister speaks to his adaptable creative approach when collaborating with artists of all kinds and discusses several behind-the-scenes anecdotes, including working with Johnny Cash, John Prine, and an up-and-coming Taylor Swift. The interview concludes with McClister’s intimate portraits of iconic musicians, including Country Music Hall of Famers Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton.

McClister started his photography career just as Americana was establishing itself as a genre, working with such legendary artists as Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson, and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. In 2012 he was invited to be a “fly on the wall” during the Americana Honors & Awards show rehearsals, a gig in which he has now become a fixture for more than a decade, capturing enduring legends and emerging icons such as Brandi Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens, Jason Isbell, Lyle Lovett, and Mavis Staples. In 2024, “The Bitter Southerner” published McClister’s book of photography, “All Together Now: 25 Years of Photographing American Music.”

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