John Wesley Harding, or Wesley Stace, or... well, can we really trust him at all?

With 13 albums under his belt and years of inflicting his witty and often wry sense of humor on captive live audiences, the UK native is ready to make the transition from being the once self-described "love child" of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez to full fledged author. Stace's book, entitled Misfortune, will hit the shelves in April. Book tours and readings will follow.

Graced with the ability to craft a song in only a few hours, Stace surprisingly took six years to complete the story that spans several generations of an English family living in a country house. He didn't even tell those close to him that he was involved with the project until it was completed because he "didn't want to be the guy who was endlessly writing a novel."

"With the book I kind of assumed it was shit the whole time I was writing it. I kind of assumed it was hackneyed and not very good, because I'm just hugely less secure about the book than I am about a song," Stace said. "Now people like it and I'm putting it out...and I'm getting to comprehend that it might be alright. But it was a big surprise for a long time and I think that kind of doubt doesn't make you work very fast."

The inspiration for the book comes from one of Stace's songs by the same name; it features the rather "gruesome" line, "I was born with a coat hanger in my mouth" which caused Stace to ponder the fate of his song's character. In doing so, a whole world emerged, and also a slew of songs. A balladeer plays a large role in the novel and according to Stace, the songs "demand to be sung." Old friends Kelly Hogan and Nora O'Connor will join him for an album of the novel's ballads due out in July. Ideas are being tossed back and forth, and currently the one most appealing is an a cappella project.

"Dealing with Kelly and Nora, dealing with singers of astonishing high caliber and two of my favorite voices... I think that it could be a fantastic, unique moment of just getting all these people to sing together without instruments," Stace said.

Stace's shows billed under John Wesley Harding at Chicago music venue Schubas on January 29th are scheduled to coincide with rehearsals for the record with Hogan and O'Connor, among others. Stace is already determined to release the album under a band name, The Love Hall Tryst. Needless to say, Stace will transform his book tour into impromptu musical excursions.

Working with publishers Little, Brown is a completely opposite experience from the major record labels Stace has had to endure for much of his career. Tired of dealing with record executives only interested in replicating the sound and style of previously successful artists, Stace found meeting with his publishers refreshing. Whether it's your first record deal or your tenth, according to Stace, you're lucky if the label has even listened to your demo by the time you step into the office, if they aren't listening to it while the meeting takes place -- whereas in the book world, they've read the book by the time you walk in the door and their money is already on the table.

"Another interesting difference between books and music, since I'm warming to the subject is that... except when I was on Mammoth records... every record label I've ever been on has made it very clear to me that my music is a bit of an imposition on the listening public and if I tried a bit harder and had my music sounding a little more [like] what's playing on the radio, then I'd be making their lives a lot easier, and it's kind of a stubbornness in me that makes me write the kind of songs that I want to write," Stace said. "Where in the book world... apparently I've written the kind of novel that might actually possibly be well received or indeed read at all, which is a very nice idea..."

In between his touring schedule, Stace is already hard at work on his second novel, now that he's an old pro. Although writing the first was like nothing he's ever experienced. "It's like juggling a car, a feather and a concept," Stace joked.

"It's impossible to imagine how you could possibly do it and the only way I could really do it, can really do it is just to sit down and lose myself in it."

-- Janine Schaults