Biography
William Eggleston ranks among the most acclaimed photographers on the planet. From the early 1960s onward he has generated casual, snapshot-style renderings of ordinary subjects and settings throughout the Deep South, initially in black-and-white and subsequently in color. The widespread acceptance of those color images positioned him as a leading force in securing color film’s acceptance as a serious artistic medium.
His exceptional skill at the piano remains far less recognized. Music has occupied him across his entire life, though public performances have stayed extremely rare; the sole documented instance occurred when he recorded a version of the classic “Nature Boy” amid the sessions for Big Star’s concluding album, Third. His link to the band ran deeper still: he supplied the celebrated cover photograph for their second release, Radio City.
Eggleston’s first album, Musik, appeared in 2017 and contains slowly accumulated instrumental pieces performed on an 88-key Korg synthesizer inside his Memphis residence. He began capturing material in the 1990s, initially storing the pieces in the instrument’s onboard memory; the resulting collection was compiled by producer Tom Lunt, who first encountered the photographer’s musical talents while viewing the 2005 documentary William Eggleston in the Real World. Two years afterward a mutual acquaintance connected Lunt with Eggleston’s son Winston, who directs the Eggleston Artistic Trust. Armed with consent and cooperation from Eggleston and his family, Lunt examined the Korg recordings preserved across ten digital audiotapes, digital compact cassettes, and roughly fifty floppy disks. Musik contains solely Eggleston’s own compositions and improvisations.
His second album arrived in November 2023. Bearing the title 512 after his house number, the record departed sharply from its predecessor. Once again tracked in his Memphis home with Lunt, Eggleston performed on a Bösendorfer grand piano and incorporated pop, folk, and gospel-style standards together with his originals “Improvisation” and “That’s Some Robert Burns.” This time the piano appears alongside remote contributions from additional musicians, among them Brian Eno, Matana Roberts, Leo Abrahams, Sam Amidon, and Seb Rochford.
His exceptional skill at the piano remains far less recognized. Music has occupied him across his entire life, though public performances have stayed extremely rare; the sole documented instance occurred when he recorded a version of the classic “Nature Boy” amid the sessions for Big Star’s concluding album, Third. His link to the band ran deeper still: he supplied the celebrated cover photograph for their second release, Radio City.
Eggleston’s first album, Musik, appeared in 2017 and contains slowly accumulated instrumental pieces performed on an 88-key Korg synthesizer inside his Memphis residence. He began capturing material in the 1990s, initially storing the pieces in the instrument’s onboard memory; the resulting collection was compiled by producer Tom Lunt, who first encountered the photographer’s musical talents while viewing the 2005 documentary William Eggleston in the Real World. Two years afterward a mutual acquaintance connected Lunt with Eggleston’s son Winston, who directs the Eggleston Artistic Trust. Armed with consent and cooperation from Eggleston and his family, Lunt examined the Korg recordings preserved across ten digital audiotapes, digital compact cassettes, and roughly fifty floppy disks. Musik contains solely Eggleston’s own compositions and improvisations.
His second album arrived in November 2023. Bearing the title 512 after his house number, the record departed sharply from its predecessor. Once again tracked in his Memphis home with Lunt, Eggleston performed on a Bösendorfer grand piano and incorporated pop, folk, and gospel-style standards together with his originals “Improvisation” and “That’s Some Robert Burns.” This time the piano appears alongside remote contributions from additional musicians, among them Brian Eno, Matana Roberts, Leo Abrahams, Sam Amidon, and Seb Rochford.
Albums
Singles
