Carter Sampson Interview

Sometimes you can only scratch your head and wonder what certain artists have to do to get the recognition they richly deserve. Carter Sampson is certainly in that category. Her 2011 album Mockingbird Song was surely one of the Americana albums of that year with a sound that landed somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Kathleen Edwards. Her recent album Wilder Side has deservedly been receiving glowing reviews in Europe and hopefully will introduce the Queen of Oklahoma to a wide audience in Europe.  Lonesome Highway caught up with Carter on her whistle stop tour of Europe and the UK which included two shows at The Maverick Music Festival. 

We are really loving your new album Wilder Side at Lonesome Highway. Are we likely to see you perform material from it in Ireland in the near future?

Yes! I am working with Continental Record Services in The Netherlands and our original plan was for me to do my first European tour in February 2017. The record (Wilder Side) was released in Europe last month and has taken off thanks to great reviews. My first shows in Holland and England have been really great and it looks like I will be performing in Italy, Ireland and Holland several times over the next six months 

How would you describe your progression as a singer songwriter from your 2009 debut album Fly Over The Moon to Wilder Side?

Well I hope I’ve grown a little. I’ve certainly grown up since then and written many songs in that time. I’m more comfortable as a songwriter now and it has been nice to receive recognition for my songs. I won first place in the Chris Austin Song Contest at Merlefest in North Carolina last summer and was a top 10 finalist in both the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s song contests (both in Colorado). Singing has always come naturally to me but I’ve worked very hard on songwriting and I love having that as a release for me. I’ve written plenty of songs that no one will ever hear, sometimes I just have to get thoughts out of my head!

How influential was Travis Linville in achieving the beautiful yet understated feel to the album?

I worked with Linville on Good For The Meantime and he was so easy to work with. He released two EP’s in the last few years and when I heard them I knew I wanted to work with him again. He really listens and has such a great tone and feel to every instrument he plays, which is all of them! We recorded Wilder Side in his little house in Norman Oklahoma. No fancy studio with vocal booths just the two of us in his living room and I think that helped with the ease and the overall sound of the record.

Your hectic schedule appears to suggest that you are constantly travelling and much of the album references this. Is this necessary evil an inspiration to you in terms of your song writing?

I have been travelling a ton the last few years. I tour the US in a twenty three foot caravan or RV as we call them. Music is my first love and travelling is right behind it so I’m lucky that both go hand in hand. I think one thing that has changed about my songwriting to be honest is that I’m more honest in what I write so it makes sense that a lot of the songs on the new album are on that topic. 

Some heartbreaks along the way also?

Of course! It’s tricky to have a relationship at all when you are never home. A musician’s life is not a ‘normal ‘ life and it’s hard to find a partner that understands what it’s like, although I’ve found one now so maybe more love songs in the future!

You also had your fellow Oklahoma singer-songwriter John Moreland contribute. He has also been recording some excellent music in the past few years?

John is an incredible songwriter and one of the writers that taught me to be more honest in my writing. When we started working on the album he agreed to help co-produce it with Linville and myself and after a few months later he started getting a lot of attention and was on the road all the time. If anyone deserves that kind of attention it’s John Moreland and I’m so proud that he is from Oklahoma and a friend. 

Americana is certainly well represented at present in Oklahoma with artists like yourself, the aforementioned John Moreland, Parker Millsap and Wink Burcham. How do you explain the emergence of so many talented acts around the same time?

I don’t know how to explain it. For years I feel like Oklahoma music has been passed over for music coming out of Texas and it’s really cool how many ‘Okies’ are in the charts in Europe right now. There’s a fantastic music scene in Tulsa now where all the musicians are seriously touring but when they are home they all play together and support each other. I think anytime any of us gets attention it helps us all.

Tell me about the family connection to the legend Roy Orbison?

He was my great grandfather’s cousin. I never met him but I hope that maybe I have the same musical genes that he did. I think he was one of the best American singers ever.

Are there other musical legacies in your immediate family?

My mother has sang in the choir at her church for years, my grandfather was a pianist and my dad taught me how to play guitar and he was in rock and roll bands most of his life.

You appear to be an artist that puts her heart and soul passionately into any project you take on board. I’m intrigued with your work with Oklahoma City’s Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls. How did this come about and what does it involve?

I had the opportunity to volunteer at both the Portland Oregon and Los Angeles Rock and Roll Camp for Girls and couldn’t stop thinking how my musical life might have been different if I was shown at a young age that girls and women can play any instrument and play it well, can run sound and set up gear. So in 2015 I teamed up with local female musicians and non-musicians to start a camp in Oklahoma. The response has been overwhelming! This July we will hold our second summer camp for 50 girls in the Oklahoma area. Most of the girls (aged 8-17) have never played an instrument until the first day of camp, they learn guitar, bass, drums, keys or vocals. Monday afternoon they form bands, we will have 10 brand new bands this year. The girls have band practice in the afternoon and collaborate with their tutors on writing a song that they will showcase on the Saturday after the camp is over. Last year we sold out two shows with about 800 people, not bad for your first gig! We also teach workshops that include self-defence, songwriting, positive self-image and screen printing your own band t-shirts. We aim to empower the girls showing that building each other up is so much more powerful than tearing each other down. 

You wear your heart on your sleeve in proclaiming how proud you are of your home state. What makes Oklahoma so special for you?

I am at least a sixth generation Oklahoman and a Native American, Oklahoma is in my blood. I’m fortunate to travel the world but Oklahoma will always be my home.

How important is exposure in Europe and the UK to an artist like yourself?

I think it’s really important. I’ve noticed that fans at home are far more impressed when I play in London than when I play Kansas, I’m more impressed too! I’ve also loved how Europeans love Americana music and music from Oklahoma. At every show I’ve played in Europe so far the audience is silently listening and really enjoying the music. I can’t wait to come back!

Interview by Declan Culliton

Interview with Lera Lynn

 

Lera Lynn has a radiant smile that would light up any room and the Nashville based resident has plenty to smile about at these days. The past eighteen months has seen her career going into overdrive with an appearance on the David Letterman Show, writings songs for and appearing alongside Colin Farrell in the American anthology crime drama True Detective and a tour of the UK and Europe which also included two songs on Later..with Jools Holland.  In between all this activity Lynn also managed to record her forth studio album Resister to extremely enthusiastic reviews. The album, which was reviewed by Lonesome Highway last month, was a shift in direction from her previous work revealing a much darker, edgier and somewhat mysterious side to the talented singer-songwriter.

Lonesome Highway met with Lera Lynn prior to her first appearance in Dublin to discuss the album and her career to date.

It’s 2011 and you’ve recorded you debut album Have You Met Lera Lynn. Where did you see yourself in 2016 at that stage?

Oh God. I don’t think I even thought of 2016 back then. Its one thing that I’ve started to grasp as I get older is the permanence of music making , that is  not something I ever  thought about when I was younger. Back then it was, let’s make a record, it will be fun, lets record it and see what happens. It wasn’t necessarily as much of an organised diligent pursuit as it is now. I’ve always wanted to make play but did not understand when I was younger how much work is involved and all the background stuff. The music often is secondary to everything else. Making the record is the easy part (laughs) then you bust your ass trying to get people to listen to it. 

Your new album Resister got a great review in Uncut magazine, you have appeared recently on  Later … with Jools Holland giving you access to a wide audience in Europe. Commercially how important is Europe for you?

I really don’t know what commercial means to be honest. Radio with the way people consume music these days seems like a free for all. We’re lucky just to show up in a city in Europe and play that speaks volumes to me that our music is reaching new people. Actually last night in Berlin people were singing along to my old music which blew my mind, I have no idea how they came about it.

Resister is without doubt one of my favourite albums of this year. Would you have made that album had you not met and worked with T Bone Burnett?

Wow, thank you and the answer is yes! The challenge that I faced with this record was, having established fans through True Detective and that darker music, which is a part of me and why people invited me to do the show in the first place. It was a great opportunity and something I love doing, it’s so rare that you come across someone that says Yes but make it  darker and darker still and I’m thinking even darker Ok  I’d love to! To have gotten that opportunity with this type of music was extraordinary. That said there are other sides to my musical  personality as well, Shape Shifter and Drive (from the album) are a little more fun and flirtatious, it’s not all doom and gloom in my head and I wanted to make a record that will obviously appeal to the new fans, the darker stuff, but was true to me as well.

Sturgill Simpson, Daniel Romano, more recently Robert Ellis and yourself, artists that are mostly Nashville based, have all recorded albums this year that are particularly experimental. Very little ‘country’ on the albums. Is that a trend or a coincidence? 

I feel that in the past five years there has been a massive resurgence in Americana. Often an artist that is on the fringe and trying to do the same thing as others are trying to do, if you want to make art, if you want to be unique, you turn in a different direction, you try to avoid making the kind of music everyone else is making, that seems only natural to me. I actually haven’t heard Daniel Romano’s record yet by the way

It’s a super album, anything but country, often closer to Calexico than Hank Williams.

Oh great. I love Calexico!

With the success of True Detective is there now a temptation to sign for a record label or do you intend staying independent

I purposely avoid record labels, we had offers but you know these days the pickings are slim so to have a label involved, no thanks. It may help to build your profile but I have struggled for so long and continue to struggle but I feel I’ve done the hardest part of the struggling now and have turned the corner so why give that all up to a record label. I’ll continue to scrape by (laughs).   

On that subject, I’m impressed how professionally your profile is managed.  Your website, Facebook page, individual tour posters for each show. Have you a good manager or do you do it all yourself?

(Laughs) All done by me, I’m crazy but it’s not actually that hard 

I believe your training and studies were not music related

No, I have a degree in anthropology which I actually think has a lot to do with song writing. One of the most important lessons I learned in all of my studies in anthropology is to recognise a bias, which is also very helpful in personal and professional relationships, writing songs, writing anything in fact, to open your perspective you.

Tell me about your love of 70’s music? I know you did a complete set of Paul McCartney’s Ram album and references to Pink Floyd while recording Resister. Music from a completely different generation.

Maybe so but that music still holds true. For me music from the 50’s, 60’s and 0’s is the best music there is. I love music from most era’s but my heart and soul sails when I listen to old R’nB’, old Jazz, old pop music. It could be the production, it could be that it was music that was written before being completely commercialised. There’s so much disposable music these days with the internet

Had your parents a musical background?

Very much so, my mother was a part time singer she would do covers, full on 80’s rock though she’d do a little Patsy Cline and things like that too. They both had a great appreciation for music

After appearances on David Letterman and Jools Holland as well as writing with T Bone Burnett and Roseanne Cash plus the role in True Detective. What’s next on the horizon? Another series of True Detective?

I have no idea. You know I wasn’t an original artist in the script, only working on a few songs for it before I got the opportunity to act, so I am not in the loop. I’m sure they’re not too keen on me coming back (laughs) after the reviews for the second series.

You personally got some great reviews though. 

That’s kind of the bittersweet and probably why they won’t be saying ‘let’s get Lera back in here!’

Does the actual acting hold much appeal to you going forward 

I would love to do more of it, I’ve had a couple of enquiries but right now the record is the focus but I do hope to do more acting, it was really fun and challenging, I was completely confused most of the time! There’s no one there to say ‘this is how you do it’ or ‘this is what that means’. They would just shout ‘singer’ (that was my name on the show) then they mention a phrase like ‘eye line’ and I’m thinking "eye line/eye liner?,ok!."  Beside me is Colin Farrell dressed up as a junkie with oil in his hair and they’re looking at me and I’m thinking ‘do I make eye contact, smile or wave!’

How was he to work with?

Oh my God, so charming and I can see how the guy has had the success he has had, so kind to everyone, oozing charm and talent

Recording wise is there anything else in the pipeline or it is a case of totally promoting Resister?

We have recorded some other things, started dabbling but it’s difficult for me when I’m pushing this record, if I start working on another one right now, I just need to be fully committed spiritually to the album right now.

You’re living in Nashville but not originally from there?

No, I was born in Houston, Texas then we moved to Louisiana when I was a baby, I think we lived there for five years or so and then we moved to Atlanta where I spent most of my life.

Does that explain the neutral accent?

(Laughs) No, I can explain the accent!  I went to an intercity school in Atlanta which was ethnically diverse and coming from Louisiana I sounded like a hick! It was very clear to me that I would not fare well if I continued to speak like that so I dropped the accent very quickly.

East Nashville seems to have particularly vibrant musical scene at present, a hotbed for creative musicians. Are you part of that scene? 

I am yes, very much so, though I actually live right on Music Row which is an odd place for an independent artist. They have those big posters there ‘whoever sold 20 million copies of a record in one week and it’s called … I Love Bacon … or something like that. The East Nashville music community is great, we actually have Andrew Combs, who lives there, open for us on our upcoming tour, and I’m a big fan of his. Annie Clements has played bass with us but she’s really busy touring with Jennifer Nettles at the moment. I’m happy to have my long-time friend from Atlanta Robbie Handley play bass, we’ve known each other for fourteen years. I feel fortunate to have so many of the best musicians play with us, Jeremy Fetzers another. Josh Grange, who is playing with me tonight and co-produced Resister, he is a monster guitar player, I have never come across anyone who even matches his ability, beyond what his hands can do. He can see a song from a far perspective, in a linear fashion. I really love working with him and on stage with him, he’s soulful and also never overplays yet he’s confident and always there.

You’ve made it to Ireland at last.

Yes. We landed at 2.30pm. Straight to the hotel for a brief nap and drove here so this is all I’ve experienced of Ireland so far. The Guinness is delicious by the way, much better than at home. It’s like Heineken in Amsterdam, I think they send America the dregs! 

Interview by Declan Culliton   Photograph by Ronnie Norton

Interview with Daniel Meade

Daniel Meade released his self-recorded debut solo album in 2013 to critical acclaim. Since then he has travelled far and wide, working with and opening for acts such as Old Crow Medicine Show, The Proclaimers, Pokey Lafarge, Willie Watson, Diana Jones, Vikesh Kapoor and Sturgill Simpson. 

In February 2014 he was invited to Nashville by Morgan Jahnig of Old Crow Medicine Show who offered to engineer and produce a new album with a band comprising some of Meade’s favourite musicians, including Cory Younts, Chance Mccoy, Joshua Hedley, Chris Scruggs and Morgan himself. Guest spots were filled by Diana Jones, Shelly Colvin and Critter From Old Crow. The result was Keep Right Away, an exciting, diverse and self assured album that draws on the ghosts of all of his influences, from Hank Williams, Big Bill Broonzy, Kris Kristofferson and Jerry Lee Lewis through to the more contemporary throes of Old Crow Medicine Show and Justin Townes Earle. 

Meade’s new album Let Me Off At The Bottom features 11 new meade originals. It is the first record he has made with The Flying Mules (Lloyd Reid - guitar, Mark Ferrie - double bass, Thomas Sutherland - drums). It was recorded live (for the most part) at the legendary Cava Studios in Glasgow and mixed by Morgan Jahnig in Tennessee.

Can you give me some idea of how music became such a big part of your life growing up in Glasgow?

I'd say there were a few factors involved. My big brother Raymond has always been music mad, he started playing guitar around the age of 7 so growing up I'd say he was the main influence on me. He got me into the likes of Guns 'n' Roses and what have you at an early age and although I didn't show an interest in playing until I was about 12, his enthusiasm rubbed off on me. I also have a couple of uncles who fed my earliest interests. Ian is a great guitarist who was right into his blues and would always indulge our young ears when we visited. He actually took me to my first gig, which was to see BB King in Edinburgh and at 11 years old that blew my mind. My other uncle Vincent was mad on The Beatles and used to make me tapes of all their albums and I'd listen to them until they wore out. So I'd probably have to blame them! It really wasn't until my early teens that it became a big part of my life but when it did that was it, and thankfully it's never left.

What music originally made you decide to pursue making it as a full time artist? 

That would have to be the old rock 'n' roll stuff, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard. I was lucky enough to see the three of them on the same bill in London when I was around 14 or 15 and after that I wasn't interested in doing or being anything else. I loved the Blues and The Beatles before then but it was those guys that made me want to pursue it.

At what point did the music that inspires you now become a part of your conscious listening?

I'm not entirely certain. One thing always just bleeds into another and I'm never really aware of shifts in my own taste, or indeed inspiration. I think any writer should be influenced and inspired by everything and anything they hear, whether it's their cup of tea or not. Take the parts that are useful to you and throw the rest away.

Your new album was recorded locally in Glasgow as opposed to the previous album being tracked in Nashville. What were the differences in the two experiences?

To be honest, for me the only difference was the location. Both times I had the songs I wanted ready and the musicians that I wanted in place to perform them, and that's all you need. Both were cut for the most part live in great studios, both were a lot of work and fun, and both came out sounding better than I'd imagined going in. Obviously it was a dream come true going over to Nashville and having that experience with Morgan and all those guys who's records I love, but finally getting to make this album in Glasgow, with the band who I've played with for years was just as exciting for me. I'm equally proud of both. 

How much do the economics of the situation effect the way you produce your music?

Money is always going to be a problem at any level but you can't let it get in the way of what you ultimately want to produce. We initially tried to cut a couple of corners financially with this record and just weren't happy so ended up digging deeper and doing it right, and it's a much better record for it. I'll always look into cost beforehand so I can try to plan accordingly. If I need to take on some extra shifts a week that I don't particularly enjoy then so be it, or if I need to sell some stuff to get the money then I will, and I have done many times. If you really believe in what you're making there is always a way. It might not be your first choice or even your second, but if it needs done you'll do it.

How long have you and Lloyd worked together? He seems a perfect foil for what you do?

Around 7 or 8 years now. He's my favourite person to play with by a long way and anyone who's heard him won't need telling why. He is without doubt the most natural guitarist I've ever met and still constantly surprises me with what he hits out with on stage. He has a wonderful ear and always plays for the song, never to show off, and that for me is the difference between the good and the great, and he's definitely great. His harmony singing is spot on as well which appeals to me no end. We both have the same love for the music we play and approach it with the same mentality, which is why I think we go so well together, it's never in all these years felt like work. I think there's definitely a mutual respect between us, we've been through a lot together and, where other relationships have suffered and fallen apart, we're still tight. Plus his beard is lovely

Are you a prolific writer or is the process a slower one?

I've been called prolific but I don't really see it that way, it's just what I do and the way I work. If you call yourself a writer then boy you'd better write! I always write something down every day, be it a song, a line or even just an unusual word, anything at all. You can never have enough words or ideas and, even if they come to nothing, it had you thinking for a while so that can't be a bad thing.

Live you cover some classic and some obscure songs. How do you choose these? 

No rhyme or reason to be honest, if we hear something we like enough to learn then we will and throw it in the set from time to time, keeps us on our toes.

Another thing about your live show that sometimes doesn’t come across on record his how good a piano player you are. Do you have a preference for the piano over guitar or vice versa?

Why thank you. I would have to say piano is my first love. I can sit playing nothing in particular and be lost for hours. The guitar I also love but in a different way. I mainly write on the guitar, I play it more, certainly live, but it doesn't come as naturally to me. I have to really work at guitar whereas piano is always play. I'm definitely more at home in front of a piano. 

There has long been a predjuice against “country” music from these Isles even though a large part of there music originated here. Have you found that? 

I wouldn't call it a prejudice against country music, I just don't think people over here have ever been particularly arsed with it. It never seems to have properly taken off here for one reason or the other, maybe that's why it left in the first place! I do think there's a level of ignorance involved, a willingness to believe that it's all rhinestones, line dancing and Garth Brooks or whatever, which couldn't be further from the truth. But these kind of attitudes are slowly shifting but I think it'll always be a bit of a niche market over here.

In that light how does location effect perception?

I don't really know in all honesty, I think that changes from person to person. I've come across people that are more willing to appreciate homegrown talent and others who would rather their country singers to be American, some find that to be more genuine or something. It's never been an issue with me ... a good song, singer or band is always going to be a good song, singer or band, wherever it originates. It shouldn't matter.

You will be doubtless touring Let Me Off At The Bottom for awhile. What are your plans in that respect?

We have several shows and festivals lined up for the next few months already, you can see them at the website www.danielmeademusic.com. And then we're working on a more substantial tour in support of the album come September, more news on that soon.

How difficult is it for an independent musician to sustain a career these days?

As difficult as any other profession it seems, it's a hard time for a lot of people now. I'm fortunate enough to be doing what I love, a lot of people aren't. I don't make a lot of money and what I do make goes back into the next record or tour but I wouldn't change it for anything. I think to make it work you have to be flexible with what you will and won't do, I never turn anything down out of hand. Everyone has to make ends meet somehow and if you think your above doing certain things then you'll not last long.

The subject matter of many of the songs deals with the downside of relationships and a drift toward anaesthetising the pain. Have you done a lot of research in that area?

Ha ha, 'research', that's exactly how I like to look at it now. I have yes, a little too much truth be told but I can't grumble, everyone goes through their own shit, it's all part of growing up and becoming who you are. I didn't so much drift toward it as jump head first into it so I do know I'm lucky to be out the other end relatively unscathed, some people aren't so lucky. It's certainly given me a lot to consider, ponder and write about the last few years so I guess it wasn't all bad. The quiet life suits me now though.

What are your aspirations for the future? 

To keep breathing, moving and playing, keep it simple.

Interview by Stephen Rapid

Interview with Dave Insley

Dave Insley grew up in Chapman, Kansas until the age of 12 when his family relocated to Arizona. There he spent most of his spare time playing guitar and writing songs as well as hiking and climbing. During his high school and college years he played in country and rock bands, and in 1983 his cowpunk group, Chaingang, debuted in Tempe. Chaingang played country music for punks. Insley’s next project was the Nitpickers, a Tempe-based bluegrass band. Another Insley group, Trophy Husbands, released two country records and, for a few years, toured nationally. In 2005 his solo debut, Call Me Lonesome was released. Relocating to Austin, Texas in 2006 he released Here With You Tonight. Then in 2008, Insley released his next album, West Texas Wine. Just The Way That I Am, his latest album showcases the most mature writing and nuanced performance to date. Dave Insley’s Careless Smokers. began a weekly residency at a new Austin club, the White Horse Saloon in 2013 and unless on tour, play to a packed house every Saturday. 

You and your brother both released a series of country/roots albums individually. In that light was that music you grew up with at home or where did the inspiration come from?

Our parents were into country music and big band music, so Mark and I grew up with long players by Buck, Merle, George Jones, Johnny Cash on the turntable daily, along with stuff like Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. Of course we learned about rock music (for us Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly) from our school chums, so those LPs made it into the pile too.

When did that inspiration turn into the motivation that made you want to write and sing and how did you go about doing that?

Our folks used to trot us out to sing for their friends when they were entertaining, and Mark and I both had some songs worked up for these occasions.  I was 11 when I got my first guitar, but I'd been messing with Mark's before that. Ever since those days I've never felt anything else called to me in the way that music did.  Simply put, I've always wanted to do this, it's been my dream for as long as I can remember. I had a lot to learn to become a writer, but it came fairly naturally and once I found my voice, and learned to trust my instincts, then I learned how to catch songs, when inspirations or ideas came knocking. Sometimes overhearing a snippet of a conversation or accidentally coining some minor phrase would be enough to get into the flow of songwriting.

How much was the Austin country scene an influence on the direction your music took?

It's an ongoing inspiration to live in a town where, not only can I see some of the greatest musicians in the world, but I can work with them, and be friends with them. When I was growing up in Arizona, and before I became a touring artist, Austin was always a fantasy to me. But now, it's come true!

Did you ever have the ambition to go to Nashville to see how that might help or hinder your career?

I have spent a fair amount of time in Nashville, been there for music conferences, and to perform numerous times. I like Nashville, as a place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there; Austin appeals to me more because the lifestyle, the liberal culture and the music scene all fit my style better.  

At this point do you feel that you are largely making music for yourself and those people who have discovered your music rather that it being a good career move?

Ha, music is NEVER a good career move! haha. I've always made the music first for myself, and secondarily with an audience in mind (sometimes the audience a song is intended for is single person, sometimes the audience intended is more of a general audience). Ultimately, I don't feel like my work is complete if I don't perform the music for someone, nonetheless, I write for myself; the process is cathartic and therapeutic, lord knows what would have become of me without my music

How important, in terms of continuing your music, has been the opportunity to play at the White Horse on a regular basis?

It's the greatest gig I've ever had, frankly. We've been playing there every Saturday night for 3 years. We've built a great audience, the club loves us, and for me it is nice to have a reliable, hip place to play every week, without having to worry about booking, promoting, traveling, etc. My guys always have fun and the dance floor always stays full, the White Horse has been a godsend to me!

You have always created interesting visual packages, with Beth Middleworth, for your CD. Is the visual part of being an music artist an important factor for you?

I grew up in an era when artists put out albums, and everything about the album was significant: the sequence, the pacing (time between tracks), the packaging, all working together to create an effect. I have always felt that the visual aspect plays a role in how people hear the music, the packaging and music combine to create the overall effect. One of the greatest blessings in my life was finding Beth!  She is a genius, and she gets me, and what I do. We've been friends now for nearly 15 years, and she is one of my very best friends indeed.  Collaborating with her to create the packages is one of the funnest and most joyful parts of the production 

How has the country music scene changed in Austin (and indeed throughout the industry) over the last decade and has that affected your own world view?

Well, for one thing, who was it that thought "bro country" was a good idea? Seriously! I've always been a traditionalist (even when I was young and playing in punk rock bands). Scenes come and go, and music always strays this way and that, but without fail it always returns to its traditional form eventually, and that's where I come in. In terms of my world view, hmm, I would say that it is particularly easy for a performing artist or a songwriter to become cynical, but that's a trap worth avoiding. I've met the kindest and sweetest people through my music, and my "world view" when I'm playing my gigs and meeting people is profound gratitude that people are listening and are interested in what I'm doing, and sheer joy at being in front of an audience.

Where do you think roots music in general is heading these days. There seems to be a lot of bands and artist on the fringes making traditionally styled music?

It's just careening down the road like always! In my view there have always been a lot of bands and artists on the fringe, making traditional music. But what we have a lot more of now is electronic media for getting the word out about these artists, that accounts for the seemingly endless supply bands, etc.

Does the care you put into your releases act as something of an antidote to the rather faceless option provided by the download?

The download has its place, and in fact is vitally important when you put out a record, however the physical copy is always going to be much more impressive.  I've always liked being able to hold the music with my hand. Looking at the artwork the artist has chosen on a CD package, while listening to a new album is more visceral than holding a download card. Of course, holding a vinyl LP is the best of all! 

Has the recording process been made easier now with technology. There seems to be a lot of small studios out there?

Oh yeah, there are tons of studios, and quality can be done more easily and less expensively than in the old days. Still, there are various points during the production when you have to pony up real money because the old fashioned way of doing something might sound better, but cost more money. There are a lot of little steps where a producer can drop the ball, but its not wise to try to skip some steps to save money. 

You are a family man now, does that change the nature of the music you make or can you put yourself in to the role required to tell the story in song?

Well, I write more "family love" type songs now than I used to, but I try not to overdo that sort of thing when picking a setlist for a live show. I'm perfectly at ease taking whatever role I need to, in order for my story songs to make sense, and let's face it they are generally written from either my point of view, or at least a point of view that resonates with me.

Your band Careless Smokers has been with you for some time. Is it hard to keep committed, like-minded players onside or they as committed to the music as you?

My guys are great, great people, and we've all been together so long that we all love each other, and are "family." And they can really play, oh my!  They're every bit as committed to what I'm doing, and to this style of music as I am.  They work hard to always be available to do my records and shows, and I'm fortunate to have developed deep and lasting friendships with all of them. 

What is the future likely to hold for you and what would you like the future to be in the best of possible worlds?

I don't sit around thinking up lofty goals for myself, I just hope to continue to get satisfaction from doing it, and satisfaction from bringing joy to my friends, family and fans with it. I know that I'm totally blessed to have the opportunities that come with making music, and I'm super grateful.

Interview by Stephen Rapid  Photography by Valerie Fremin

Interview with Eric Church

Eric Church was born in the year that punk exploded. Church has largely ploughed his own furrow with his edgy take on songwriting and performance. By his own admission he is not a traditional country artist, though he is marketed in the contemporary country genre.

Signed toCapitol Records since 2005, he has released five studio album and one live album. Church is a very successful artist and several of his albums and singles have reached number 1 on the Billboard Country charts. His most recent album, Mr Misunderstood, saw him confirm his ‘outside” status when it was initially released to  fans without even his label’s knowledge.

Eric Church has the status now to do things his way and that is a positive direction for the artist. Lonesome Highway interviewed him prior to his performance at the 3 Arena, the Dublin leg of the 2016 Country 2 Country festival.

Mr Misunderstood was released with no titles and no credits on the artwork, Was there a specific reason for that?

That was because of inspiration actually, as I didn’t expect to have an album out. I’d sat down one day and wrote for the first time in a long time and wrote Mr Misunderstood. That was the first song and the next day I wrote Mistress Named Music (with Casey Beathard) and on the third day I wrote by myself. So all of a sudden this window opened for me, with creativity and inspiration. I’d never had that happen, as normally I have to write about 100 songs to find what it is I’m searching for, but not this time. I knew they were all exactly on the same album. The interesting thing was what to do with that, as we just came of from the Outsiders album and we weren’t supposed to schedule another album until this coming summer. But to me it’s a crime against the in aspiration of the writer to have to put it on a shelf and get back to it. It’s the worst thing you could ever do as an artist,  so we looked for ways to put it out and, it was my idea, I said ‘let’s put it out’, and as I’m a vinyl guy I wanted to send it to the fans first. The label did not know about it and we ended up having to purchase a record plant in Germany to get it done without the label knowing. When we went to Walmart and the big distributors, we said that it was a Christmas album. So we kept it secret at every level and it arrived the morning of the CMAs and it was there for our fans. All of a sudden they became the mouthpiece. The interesting thing there is, usually the label gets it first, then radio followed by the critics and the media. That’s all to tell the fans about it and that’s backwards. You’re always trying to get it in their (the fan’s) hands. So you should go to them first and let them tell people about it. So that’s the one thing we tried to flip. 

I love vinyl, to me it’s the closest thing to what I hear in the studio. It’s not exactly there but it’s the closest thing. When you get into CDs and MP3 and that stuff it’s just so different. I think that’s what the resurgence is, as people are getting back in to that escapism of what music is. 

How important is the role of your producer Jay Joyce in shaping the sound for recording?

I think he’s critical and the one thing about Jay is that we understand each other. There’s many times in the studio where you can have a bunch of musicians that you may have to explain thins to, but with Jay I never have to do that because we understand what were thinking. That’s special when you find that. I can say “hey man, this is this or that” and everyone is looking at me in the studio confused but Jay gets it. So when you speak ‘music’ fluently with someone like that, that is rare. Jay and I have always had that connection, even early on. We have the two most different backgrounds that you could ever have, as we are two totally different people, but we really agree on what should happen musically.

On the album you mention a number of musical names such as Ray Wylie Hubbard and Jeff Tweedy. Where they big musical influences for you?

Everybody finds muses, and when it came to Mr Misunderstood they were artists that I love that I don’t know that everybody knows. They are people that I look to,  to get inspiration; people like Elvis Costello and Ray Wylie, Jeff Tweedy and Wilco. I think it was important to put that in there to show that this record had a little more depth. I wanted the country fan who knew me as a quote ‘Superstar Artist’ that they hear all the time, may dig deeper than just what they hear on the radio. It is what makes us up, just look at the DNA and those guys are an integral part of my DNA. 

There are elements of soul, blues, reggae …

Yes, there is.

Your duet partner Susan Tedeschi on Mixed Drinks about Feelings is not a usual choice to sing with.

She amazing. Her and Derek Trucks, and he’s one of the greatest guitar players on the planet. Again, they are people that I’m a fan of and I try to expose some different voices to country music. 

Does what you’re doing now and the success you have had take away from your songwriting time?

No, the songwriting for me has always been about being committed to the craft. I can say when it’s all said and done, as it was in the beginning, that I’ll be a songwriter. All the other stuff I can’t control, but I would still write songs. That would be the most important thing for people to know about me; that I’m A, B and C a songwriter. Everything else, I  hope, takes care of itself. If it all ended tomorrow as a recording artist I’d still be writing songs. It wouldn’t matter if I made money at it as it’s what I do.

In that light do you keep notebooks of lines or ideas as they might arrive?

I do, a lot I put on my iPhone. There are windows that open inspiration wise and when they happen, you have to pay attention. There’s no rhyme or reason and I wish I knew what it was. Some people write to a deadline, which is an interesting thing, as when you have one some people write better that way. But I don’t think I’m that way. I’m more into when it starts to happen I know to pay attention to that. I can go a long time without a song then I can write 30 in two weeks. 

When that happens to you, do you feel an overall theme is emerging?

That’s interesting; sometimes and sometimes not. This time I realised about three songs in that I had the beginnings of an album and what surprised me was that every day after that I started to second guess myself. I was thinking ‘they can’t all be good’ and that I was losing my edge; because, as I said, I normally write a lot to get good ones. But this time four or five songs in I thought they could be on the same record. I started to go to people saying ‘Am I nuts, or is this good?’ That’s when it started to formulate and something was happening that had never happened to me. For this album I probably wrote 18 songs and there’s 10 on the record. That has never happen before from a quality standpoint. Normally I’d be a one-in-five guy. I think that this was a different thing. 

You have been using your own band on this album. Is that something that you prefer?

As we were trying to keep it from anybody knowing, it was just us. The difference is that The Outsiders was more bombastic. It was restless creativity. I had had a hard time with the Chief album, as that was where we want from nobody knowing us to everybody knowing us. I had felt a little bit constrained as were in a format, and it had won (both CMA & ACM) album of the year, and we were the focal point of what was happening then and that bothered me. I’ve always been good on the fringe and not in the middle. I’ve never liked being that guy. The Outsiders was a little bit of rebellion against that. It was us going ‘let’s go nuts’. With Mr Misunderstood there was a lot of space. It was just the songs and a lot of them are just one-takes.

Do you feel misunderstood?

Well, I felt that as a younger person. So that song is less about me now. The younger person, male or female, who marches to the beat of their own drummer; as music lovers we’ve all felt that we may like something that not everybody else does - but that’s ok. Equally you may do something different and that’s ok too. For me it’s more about that.

The Mistress Named Music?  

Well, that’s my favourite song. 

What do you think of traditional country music?

I love it personally, but I’ve never done it better than other people. Really early on I realised that that is not my strength. I’d rather hear Alan Jackson or one of those guys rather than me trying to do them. They’re better at it. I’m a fan of it and it’s great to see it coming back. I love the singer/songwriter troubadour element of it. For me the harder country beat is in Americana. That’s where the true spirit of country is. What’s happening at radio is because of commercialism. It’s pop music. The biggest problem that all formats have is that when something begins to work then everybody then does that. Especially in Nashville where one thing worked, then everything begins to sound like that. That’s because it’s basically pop music. It becomes popular culture and becomes commercialized, then it loses the heart. It will work for a little bit but then it’s going to recycle. But now some of that realness is coming back. It’ll make the music better. 

You toured on The Outsiders Tour with Dwight Yoakum as an opening act. How did your fans take to that?

It worked good. If you look at the kind of career that we’ve tried to carve out, that’s the career that he carved out 20 years ago. Some people wonder how it would go when it started, but I thought it worked great. I watched almost every night and he’s so good. He can still do it to the nines.

On the album you play both acoustic and also electric guitar. Do you like letting go with the latter?

I’m an insecure guitar player. I ended up playing a lot of parts on the record and that’s where Jay’s great as he tells me just to play and that “we’ll never use this.” So I’ll take a pass and it ends up being the one on the record. Because I think he is going to replace it I don’t feel that pressure. It’s the best when you’re not thinking too hard about what you’re playing. You’re playing from your heart and not from your head. One of my favourite things right now is playing the Mr Misunderstood album, as we haven’t had the chance to play it anywhere and we don’t know it that well yet. We recorded it and it’s been three months, so now playing it every night’s a little different. It’s at that stage where we don’t know it well enough to know what we should be playing. That’s fun. In the studio I know the feeling that if you chase a song too long and something starts to buck on you and it’s not happening. I believe that if it starts to get difficult to get a track then there’s something wrong. It’s time to move on. I do like to play acoustic and we are going to be doing two acoustic shows in Red Rocks. It’s not something I’d want to do all the time but I do love it. It is something that shows a different element of the songs.

Is Europe a place where you want to succeed?

A lot of artists come over and play Country 2 Country and then think that they’re big, but that’s not Europe. You have to commit to all of Europe. For us it’s been great. I happen to believe, and it could be naive, but I don’t think so, that music translates culture, it translates language. It’s a universal language. If you commit to it and play it, it works. This is a little bit of an exception as it is a kind of “soft ticket” as if I came to Dublin without this event, I wouldn’t be playing the 3 Arena. I’d be playing a theatre, which is what I’d rather do. The thing I can say is that I love the day that we’re on (with Chris Stapleton and Kacey Musgraves) as I had turned this down a couple of times. I said I would if it was cohesive with who we are. You have people who are songwriters and troubadours who would go anywhere in Europe and road-dog it. For me it was important to get that right or I’d rather come and do my own show.

Interview by Stephen Rapid, assisted by Ronnie Norton. 

Interview with Sid Griffin - Long Ryders

The Long Ryders were originally formed in Los Angeles in the early 1980 and disbanded in I987. During that time they blended a mix of punk attitude with a strong roots sensibility and released several albums. A comprehensive box set of their work Final Wild Songs has just been released with the first pressing quickly selling out.The band are doing some dates to support this release before finishing the tour in Dublin at Whelans on Sunday 8th of May. Lonesome Highway took the opportunity to ask founding member Sid Griffin some questions.

The band has reformed for selected gigs and tours since parting company originally in the late 80s. How difficult is it for the four of you to schedule the time to rehearse and to tour?

Extremely difficult. I live in London as you know, our brilliant guitarist Stephen McCarthy lives in his native Richmond, Virginia, our bass player Tom Stevens lives in northern Indiana, and our drummer Greg Sowders lives in Los Angeles. No one lives anywhere near the other guy! And everyone has families but to be fair two of the band have grown children. Two of us have kids at home. So it is very difficult to organise any touring or the like.  

You’re touring in support of the release of the Final Wild Songs 4 CD box set. In compiling that have you ever been inspired to consider doing an new album or are the circumstances of releasing new music now too complicated and costly unless backed by a label?

The Final Wild Songs box set was compiled primarily by Tom Stevens, our bassist. He is a master archivist, what Bill Wyman is to the Rolling Stones. He knew where everything was and is! 

There is some minor discussion about doing a new album but it is soooooooo difficult to get us all in one room. And doing it via the computer and not seeing the other person…man, that is just not, not, not the Long Ryders way! This is something we will discuss on the European leg of our shows in April and May of this year. When we get to the USA in July I am sure we will either have a plan settled on or we will skip the idea entirely. 

You emerged alongside a number of other bands who were all labelled the 'Paisley Underground’ yet your leanings were more towards a roots-orientated sound. This was before Americana or alt-Country were terms to try and define a sound. Would that have made any real difference to the band’s identity or career if you had started later or where you, as front runners, better as you were?

It would have made all the difference in the world, Steve, if we had started later in our career or even started earlier. As the writer Johnny Black wrote, “The Long Ryders were the perfectly right band at the perfectly wrong time”. This is the Lord’s Truth. People say we didn’t go as far as we should have but the fact is we went as far as we were allowed to. 

Everyone who did like our sound played our music. There was no place left to go to. Every other DJ, especially in Europe and the UK, was playing this ghastly synth pop rubbish. I still hate that music today! And I notice it is completely, undeniably out of fashion. You might hear it on an Oldies station but it is very old hat. Americana, which the Long Ryders helped codify and define, is now the hip currency in the USA by some length and it is getting more and more of an audience in Europe every week. As Willie Dixon said, “this rock is the fruit but the blues are the roots”, and I agree. 

Where do you think the Long Ryders rightful place in the history of (country) rock is?

As an important, indispensable link in the chain. We brought the music of Gram Parsons to the generation of Johnny Rotten and now look what happened. It is a shame we didn’t last longer but there you are, nothing can be done about that now. 

You and Tom compiled Final Wild Songs his much of that was work and how much was fun?

It was a bit over two years work. Hard to believe but true. Getting all the songs decided upon, finding the original tapes or the best version possible to use as a source, getting all the photographs together and trying to find photos people have not seen a zillion times…man, it was very hard work and stressful at times. I cannot speak for Tom but I found myself juggling a lot of balls in the air and praying I would not drop any of them. I am a musician, not a magician, right? 

Since the band’s demise you have taken a more acoustic/bluegrass direction with your music. Did you miss the amps and the drums and the Rickenbacker?

I do not miss playing electric music whatsoever. I played with a great, if you will allow me to say so, a great electric band, the Long Ryders. And I am tired of the volume and wanted to do something different. I did not even play mandolin fifteen years ago…now I play every day and in fact consider myself a mandolinist and not a guitarist. 

It is true bluegrass music is not popular, audiences will always respond to the big, loud 4/4 beat but playing lightly and tightly and rockin’ along in 2/4 on a Bill Monroe song has a helluva lot to recommend it! Heck, Adele, of all people, she LOVES bluegrass music from her time in the USA and our Coal Porters’ fiddler Kerenza Peacock plays fiddle for Adele (you don’t think she makes a living playing with me, do you?). 

 

My Rickenbacker was in the closet for months. I just got it out to rehearse for this tour. 

What do you think of the current state of what passes for country music where bands are more influenced by big-hair metal and rap than by a real sense of rock and punk attitude brought by bands like yourselves and Jason & The Scorchers and Rank & File?

I have no affection at all for “bro country” or the C&W out of Nashville where you can tell the most country band the singer has ever dug is The Eagles. That stuff means nothing to me. I thought the first Rank & File album was one of the best albums I have ever heard in my life. How funny to think Alejandro Escovedo was, at best, the third most important guy in that band. Now he is Mr. Americana in the USA! 

Age has its own limiting factors but is playing again with the band a shot in the arm in terms of energy and attitude?

Oh, I am playing with the Long Ryders to a) support the box set, and b) to see my dear pals, Tom, Stephen and the drummer. I forget his name. Craig? There is no real money in a Long Ryders reunion, believe me. But it will be fun, they will make me laugh like they did in the old days, we will see many old friends and old faces, so what’s not to like?  

As regards it being a shot in the arm I consider it more a shot in the dark. I would love to see if we are treated like old pals, like a heritage act, like Famous Unsung People, or exactly what. I do so look forward to this European tour, yep. 

I’m sure there were ups and downs in your career like not being able to take up the offer to tour with U2 but what are the more memorable aspects of being a Long Ryder for you?

U2 asked us to open The Joshua Tree tour dates, from date one till about two months into it. Our final album, Two-Fisted Tales, was delayed so we decided not to do it and to join the U2 tour later on. As you know we never did get to open for U2 at all, not even once. So this was a major opportunity blown, no question about it, and a fairly big regret of mine. We twice turned down touring Japan and Australia, that was a dumb move too. But life goes on. 

Bono memorably said our song Harriet Tubman’s Going To Carry Me Home was a classic, that people would be singing it around campfires in 200 years. People sometimes make fun of him but what a cool thing to say. I owe him so much for that quote, it has been around the world. 

What are your own personal plans for there future in music and with your writing?

There is a new Coal Porters album out called No. 6, yes Number six, in September, and I will tour behind that. I have a broadcasting offer in the USA I am seriously considering and so, at present, I am not sure about what I am going to write next. We shall see. 

Interview by Stephen Rapid

Interview with Lindi Ortega

Living now in Nashville Canadian singer songwriter has forged her own path over four albums which have blended a mix of country, soul and blues influences together to create her own vision of contemporary roots music. She is a regular visitor to Europe and retuned this time with a three piece band to accompany her fiery and individual vocal presence. Lonesome Highway took the opportunity to talk to her before her show in Dublin 

On Faded Gloryville you used three different sets of producers. Two of who you had previously worked with. Was that expediency or the plan?

It was a suggestion from my manager when we were trying to figure out who we were going to get to produce the next record. He suggested that instead of just having how about having a couple. I never had thought of it and I was apprehensive at first because I was worried about continuity and a little nervous. But then I sat and thought about it I realised that I had heard other albums done that way that sounded great. So I though of it worked for them it might work for me. Then I got attracted to the idea as it was something I’d never done. The idea of going down to Alabama to record a few songs was really cool to me. Muscle Shoals is so filled with such a unique musical history. I’d recorded in Nashville before but never in that area. Say in the end it was “why the heck not.” It was three sessions with technically four producers because it was Ben Tanner and John Paul White in Muscle Shoals. They did the three more soul leaning songs.

Did you then pick the songs for the different sets of producers?

I did. I’ve always been a fan of not just country music, I mean I love country music obviously, I also listened to old blues, Motown and soul. I love voices - Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Solomon Burke, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Otis Redding. I love all that stuff. It has always crept into my music and especially into my live repertoire. we had done a song like the Bee Gees To Love Somebody before we recorded it. My manager was the one who said you should put that on the record. You always take a gamble when you do that however as people are often married to the original version. There give you hell if they don’t like it. Sacrilege! Foe me it was a song that meant something to me lyrically. When I first heard it it was Nina Simone’s version. I’m a huge fan of hers. She does a lot of covers but always makes them her own. I knew it was a cover and of course when I checked it was the Bee Gees. All I’d know of their music before that was the disco songs.

What criteria do you use to pick a song to cover?

Nine times out of ten, as I mentioned, it’s the lyrics. How they relate to things I’m going through and how I can emote those feeling through those songs. Sometimes I feel that the songs is reading my mind or heart in some way. It can be a way of dealing with things I’m going through. To Love Somebody was at a time when I was going through a serious unrequited love. A deep yearning for something that will never be reciprocated. I try to do them my way so if people don’t like it they don’t like it. It’s neither here or there, it’s really just me getting something out. (Laughs).

Have you considered at some point releasing a covers album?

Yeah, I’ve always really wanted to do a covers album and down the road I’m sure there will be one. I just don’t know when.

After four independent albums and with some signs of a slightly broader outlook from some labels do you think that you might get an approach from a major label?

I don’t. I actually don’t think so. I feel that, even with Chris Stapleton, those things are an anomaly. A lot of people are talking about how things would change Nashville but unfortunately I don’t see that. Last year people thought that Kacey Musgraves would change everything - but it didn’t. it really only happened for her. That’s fine, but it’s not really something that I’m still chasing myself. I love the freedom that I have to do what I want how I want. If I had someone breathing down my neck telling me what to do it would change me.

They might well put your in a pre-labelled box.

I don’t like boxes … unless I was a pigeon. (laughs).

So where to you see you music heading?

I love music and I’m inspired by so many different things and I imagine that I’ll want to experiment with different styles and sounds. I hope too that I would grow more as a songwriter, a singer, as an artist. I’ve been writing some new songs as of late which are a little different than what I’ve normally done. I’m using my voice a little differently. For the longest time I though that in order to prove myself as a singer that I really had to belt it. That was how I got people’s attention when I was playing in loud bars and no one was listening so I said ”listen to this” and I was just wailing. Then they would pay attention. But now I’ve got an appreciation for soft approach to sing in a more whispered way. I kind of love the nuances of aching, hushed, slow kind of lullaby tunes. So I started top experiment with writing songs like that. So I hope that I’m going to evolve more. Who knows if it’s the right direction or not. I just do what I do.

In your writing you have both written solo and with co-writers. How does that work out for you?

I don’t actually find it easy to co-write. It depends who it is. It’s very much like going on a date, a cliche, but true. You have to really connect with the right person and they have to understand where you would naturally come from and almost be a mind reader in a way. There’s definitely a certain style that I have that’s dark and quirky. If they don’t get it it’s hard. Nashville has that side where it can be formulaic where they’re trying and aiming to get that hit song. One that’s going to connect with radio. What I do is not at all what makes radio. I’m ok with that as I’m not particularly a big fan of all that - the stuff that makes it onto the radio in the new country scene at the present time. I’m not wanting to be that at all. 

There are songwriters in Nashville who want to make money and I can’t fault them for that but sometimes you find someone who is making good money but can still do the other which is their true passion. They are able to connect with me. They’ve gone and listen to music and understand where it’s coming from. It’s nice when that works out. There’s one songwriter that I always work with in Nashville who has been on every record I’ve put out except for the first one. Some of my quirkiest songs have been with him (Bruce Wallace). I do love writing on my own though and sometimes it’s just a timing thing. I don;t have the luxury of having six months to write, I’d love to have that luxury to sit down and be like “don’t bug me for six months”. It would be interesting to se what would happen if I could concentrate and focus like that. But in reality it’s that you have a small chunk of time when you’re not touring and being a crazy woman and you have to write a record. So sometimes it’s easier to come out with something when you get together with people as you can spark ideas more quickly. 

Are you able to write on the road or do you need a quieter location?

Well I wrote a song yesterday on the road. So, yes I can write on road. It really depends. Also I don’t have a formula.The lyrics don’t always come first. Yesterday it was before the soundcheck and we had a lot of time to kill and I was just sitting strumming the guitar and a whole song just came out. I don’t know where it came from and to me that’s magic. The closest thing to it that I can imagine. Lately I find myself writing a lot about space. I’m on a bit of a space kick. The galaxy and traveling through time.

Do you find that once you have been labelled as an Americana artist that’s no matter what you do musically that’s where you’re filed?

That’s true but again there are some serious purists who would never say I was country and then others say that’s what I am. I don’t know. Who knows what to call it? Country music is a huge thread in what I do but should and blues also have a part a you see in the live show. It’s interesting to me in that when I was reading a reviews of a record by a friend of mine that say that soul was this current trend that everyone’s following. and I thought wasn’t like I was trying to follow a trend as I actually just genuinely like the music. This review was looking at it like it was a bad thing. But I think it’s great. I’ll be trying all sorts of things for years to come.

When your up onstage how easy is it to read the mood of a audience?

Well you know when they’re enjoying themselves or they’re not. Tough sometimes I think they’re not and it turns out that they are. Some audiences are quiet and very respectful and some are rowdy and hollering. If they talk really loudly and talk through there whole set that gets to a point where no amount of wailing is going to turn them around. Usually we do alright though. 

After this European tour what are your plans?

There’s no official release date for a new album. I’ve been inspired in my writing so I’m not sure when we’ll do the next album. But I haven’t retired yet! (laughs). 

Could you live in Faded Gloryville?

Well the song was inspired by the film Crazy Heart and it worked out for him in the end. The opening scene in the bowling alley makes me think “Am I going to end up like that?”. That’s what I call ‘faded gloryville’ that questioning if I would end up like that. The truth is unless you have had a big radio hit to give you a financial cushion that at this level your future is uncertain and you do have moments when you go “maybe I should get a real job.” I think though that I will always love music but to think that i might be touring this heavily in my 60s is somethings don’t know about. As beautiful as it is to create music and to be onstage and perform  -  which is my absolute favourite thing in the world to do - and as wonderful as that is there is a huge sacrifice that I make everyday by being here and not in a place where i’m rooted. I feel that I’m missing out on some things. Like my parents are getting older and my Dad had cancer a couple years ago and he was going through chemo and I was on the road. So You feel guilt ridden and that’s something that’s not talked about a lot. Being a musician get’s glorified a lot and there is beauty and glory in it and that can’t be denied. But there’s definitely a very lonely side living out of a suitcase every night. it is so hard to maintain a relationship with one party on the road. It takes strong character and disposition to be able to handle that on both sides. In the end if I don;’t feel that what I do is not good for my soul or I stop liking being up there onstage then I’ll stop doing it. 

There are a lot artists who made great music who now seem to have vanished.

Well I might still be considered an emerging artist but when I was in Toronto and I was spinning my wheels playing little coffee houses there were little independent records out that I loved. I’d have one record that I loved and then I’d never hear from them again. I’d often wonder “what happened?”. Yet I understand that people have their reasons. Some have families. I’ve always dreamed of having a side project that just about getting up there and doing something different. 

Your now living in Nashville do you feel that’s a better career base than Toronto?

When I left Toronto the country/Americana thing wasn’t really well know or a lot of bands doing that as it was much more indie rock driven. So it seemed that there was more for me to do in Nashville. Since then with the advent of shoes like True Blood and The Walking Dead that have been using Americana type songs I think that the whole genre has been elevated and it seems that the music is now accepted and being played a lot more. It’s a bigger genre as a whole so I feel if I did go back it would be a different story than when I left. But I don’t know if I would go back, it’s not that I don’t love Toronto, but I think i’d want to go somewhere different. I don’t know that I want to stay in Nashville either. It’s a great city and it’s done a lot for me but I also love New Orleans and I’d like to spend time there. Texas is great too. Vancouver is another beautiful place. 

Interview by Stephen Rapid   Photograph by Ronnie Norton

Interview with Lori Yates

With an excellent new album Sweetheart Of The Valley just released Lonesome Highway caught up with the Canadian singer to ask her a few quick questions about her past present and future.

You were a member of some bands in Toronto such as the punk orientated Last Resorts. Was that an exciting time for you?

The Last Resorts was my first original band, more new wave than punk. I was the main songwriter. We played a famous Toronto club - Larry’s Hideaway. A career highlight with them was opening for Wayne Kramer & the MC5.

Cow Punk was a natural outgrowth, for many, of that scene what attracted you to that direction music wise?

I was always attracted to country music because of the melodies and the vocal chops of the singers. I loved the energy of punk so combining the two, into cowpunk, just made perfect sense. 

Your debut album Can’€™t Stop The Girl was released by CBS and produced by Steve Buckingham. How did you get your initial major label deal?

Sony Nashville and Sony New York  both discovered me when I was in my cowpunk band Rang Tango. I had a choice of what city to go and record. I choose Nashville as it is mecca for any country musician.

What were the good and bad sides of your career at that time? It seemed that the doors were open to a lot of different interpretations of traditional country music at that time with Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam and Lyle Lovett all making inroads at radio.

The good parts of my Sony deal was that I got introduced to vintage Nashville, the tail end of an era. I met a few of the greats; Harlan Howard, Cowboy Jack Clement, Tammy Wynette, Billy Sherrill, Roy Acuff. I had a hip young A&R guy Larry Hamby, who thought it was important that I meet them, he gave me a priceless gift.

Your next album Untogether came out 4 years later on Virgin Music Canada how different was that experience as against the Nashville one?

Untogether was my total departure from country music! I equate it with when Willie Nelson made a reggae record. I made an incredible trip-hop record that was ahead of its time in Canada. Most people hated it, I loved it. Its where I really learned to sing.

The next step was back in the band Hey Stella and an album release in 1999. Was that a broader approach to roots music and something you felt more at home with at that time?

Falling back with Hey Stella was so natural. We were all old friends and we’d all played together in one configuration or another. Always a blast with them.

The Book Of Minerva sound like an interesting project that was released in 2007, how did that come about?

The Book of Minerva was my stripped down acoustic record. It won me Songwriter of the Year and Alt-Country Recording of the Year at the 2007 Hamilton Music Awards.

Since then you have been involved with songwriting workshops and worked as a show producer/creator. What insights did they give you and were you still performing at that time?

I’ve always been playing! I think I’ve taken maybe one year off in my entire career! I put the songwriting workshops - Creative Genius Songwriting Workshops together bc I kept getting asked for songwriting/mentoring advice. They been super successful, sold out very quickly.

Sweethearts Of The Valley in some ways brings you back full circle to the CBS album as it is largely a broad spectrum of what can easily be recognised as country music. Is that the music you love most?

I’m so delighted with Sweetheart of the Valley. I feel like I completely nailed what I heard in my head - said exactly what I wanted to say but kept it sparse, moody and haunting and I had the best band in the world backing me up!

What were your influences growing up?

My influences growing up were Brenda Lee, Suzi Quattro, Tanya Tucker and Patti Smith.

How about now?

Well now it would be Emmylou, P.J. Harvey, Gillian Welch and Howling Wolf.

What are your plans for the future, and does Europe figure in them?

I’m getting lots of spins in Europe and I’d love to come over for some gigs! I’m trying to put that in place as we speak!

Interview by Stephen Rapid

Interview with Janet Aspley of Dandy & Rose and CMP.

Janet Aspley has written for County Music People for a number of years as well as running her bespoke western wear shirt company Dandy & Rose. Lonesome Highway is a fan of her work and writing and took the opportunity to ask her about her influences and history.

Which came first for you the music or the fashion aspect of country music?

It’s hard to put a timeline on something that is as core as either my love of music or my love of clothes. They have always gone side by side, and country music has always been around for me. I grew up in the Midlands. My parents loved Hollywood musicals and we all ballroom danced, so there was all that music around and I love it to this day. But a big childhood influence were my Dad’s Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins albums. He had the two Gunfighter Ballads albums and he would sit patiently with me copying out the lyrics so I could learn them by heart. I was entranced by the stories. Then I have two older brothers and one of them is a huge Everly Brothers fan, so I guess I absorbed that. And meanwhile, my Mum was sewing away, making all the wedding dresses in the family, and all my ballroom dancing dresses – with rhinestones stuck on! She had learnt to sew from her mother-in-law, who trained as a tailor in Dorchester just before the First World War. So that’s very much part of my heritage.

I came back to country music through Elvis Costello. After King of America came out in 1986, I started exploring country music and discovered George Jones and Patsy Cline, and of course Hank Williams. Then, like you, I discovered Dwight Yoakam, just by reading a review in the London Evening Standard and going out to buy Guitars, Cadillacs, etc. etc. It was quite natural to me to notice what he was wearing. I mean, who wouldn’t?! I didn’t think twice about it. I started experimenting with making western shirts and jackets for myself and wearing them to gigs. It was a great time, that New Traditionalist era – everyone came to London, Randy Travis, George Strait, The Judds, Reba. I remember an outfit with fake ponyskin and fringing that I made and wore. It’s in the loft, actually… and that’s where it will stay!

By then I had started writing for Country Music People magazine. I was always getting told off for writing about what people were wearing and for ‘dressing up’. I was the only woman writer, and I think it was considered a ‘girl’ thing. The current editor, Duncan Warwick, loves western wear so I don’t have that trouble these days!

Do you think the clothes played a part in creating the image  of the traditional country singers? 

I think that originally they were all about dressing like a star, feeling like a star. I interviewed Mel Tillis recently and that’s what he said to me – “You felt like a star and you wore ‘em proudly!” And of course they used them for branding – they had pictures embroidered that represented their name, or a hit song title. If you made it in country music, you didn’t go to some fancy New York tailor and ask him to make you look understated or cool, you asked Nudie to make you sparkle for the benefit of your audience, to show you were still one of them at heart. Then in the 1960s when The Nashville sound came in and a lot of stars like Ray Price switched to street clothes, rhinestones very quickly became associated with hard country. That’s when they started to be ‘real’ country singers’ clothes. Hence the revival in the mid 1980s – it’s about authenticity.

Where do you place the rhinestone encrusted clothing in your love of the genre?

It just fascinates me and I’m interested in understanding what it means in the history of the country music. It’s such a rich subject. I’m a historian. I read History at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and then, after a career in Human Resources, an interview that I did for Country Music People with Manuel inspired me to go back to academic study, so that I could look at the subject more closely. I did an MA in History of Design at University of Brighton and wrote my dissertation about ‘Male Dress and the Performance of Country Music’. I’ve been lucky enough to be funded to follow that up with a full time PhD focusing specifically on rhinestone tailoring. It’s hard work but my love of country music keeps me going. I discover new music all the time – well, new old music, new to me. It’s such a privilege to be able to talk to someone like Mel Tillis, who has had such a great career. And then, the first time I looked at a garment in The Country Music Hall of Fame archive, the curator took the lid off the box, and it was one of Dwight’s. I had trouble suppressing a girly scream! And Jim Lauderdale has been such a help and support – I’ve been a big fan of his since I first heard him in the early 90s, so it’s great to work with him. The PhD project just brings together all the best things about me – writing, my passionate interest in country music and my deep connection to clothes and sewing.

The names of Nudie, Nathan Turk, Rodeo Ben of old or current outfitters like Manuel and Jaime Castenada are writ large in the history of the western tailoring. Do you have a particular favorite or influence?

I love Manuel’s work. His sense of colour and his cutting skills is fabulous. And the fact that I get to talk with him about his work and sit and watch his embroiderer, Pancho, who is such an artist, at work is wonderful. And Rodeo Ben – the tailoring is so sharp. I’ve seen some beauties. One of the ones I saw in the Country Music Hall of Fame archive still smelled of smoke, even though it probably hadn’t been worn since the 1950s. And then I love Nathan Turk’s work too. It’s not quite as jokey as Nudie’s. He was inspired a lot by Eastern European folk dress, so his stuff can be quirky. The workmanship is very fine too. I get to examine garments closely. I made a point to look at his work last time I was in The CMHoF archive and I learned a lot about sewing! I have a little mantra: if a technique was good enough for Mr Turk, it’s good enough for me!

Is there any one outfit that you particularly love?

So many…. Some of Mr Turk’s outfits for The Maddox Brothers and Rose, who were marketed as ‘The Most Colorful Hillbilly Band in America’. Dwight’s ‘Hillbilly Deluxe’ jacket. And there was an outfit that I saw Jim Lauderdale wear at the AMA festival this year. It was a western tailored suit made by Manuel, no embroidery or rhinestones – I love that crisp tailoring. It was black with a red pinstripe and red arrows. I love the way Manuel makes the arrows emphasise the manly shape of the jacket. I told Jim that I am the fangirl who gets a little thrill every time he turns his back on the audience, and shows the pairs of curved arrows on the back of his jacket! He wore it with a shirt that I had made, but I would have loved it even if he hadn’t! It was a great combination, though.

How did you come to start Dandy & Rose?

Well, like I say, I had been making western shirts for many years and I had been making them from Liberty fabrics for a long time too, just for myself and friends. As a teenager, I had a great interest in William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, so I’d always loved Liberty designs, as they are so associated with that era. So again, bringing them together with western wear was quite natural. It was only later, when someone pointed it out, that I realised I had created a fusion – Liberty of London, it’s so English! And western wear is so American. Then, when I was starting the MA, I realised that there were all these western shirt patterns that you could buy over the internet, some of them from as far back as the 1940s. People’s sewing skills back then were so advanced and they included all the difficult bits, like ‘smile’ pockets and ‘shotgun’ cuffs, which I really wanted to understand, because I knew I’d be examining a lot of garments in my research.

So I bought one and made it up. I used some blue fabric I had used to make a shirt for myself and another for a friend, and made the piping from some Liberty paisley left over from a dress I had just made. It turned out pretty well! But I had no idea what size guy it would fit, so I asked the window cleaner to try it on. He just happened to be there cleaning the windows when I finished it. He still cleans my windows and we sometimes have a laugh about his important role in my business start-up. I showed that shirt to Jim Lauderdale and he loved it, so I made one for him. He was the first person to wear one onstage and other people started ordering from there. It was about a year and a half before I realised I could sell them, and came up with the name Dandy & Rose. There are people from all walks of life and some terrific Americana musicians – Danny Wilson of Danny and The Champions of The World has six D & R shirts. And I have made for Dean Owens, Rod Picott and the Swedish singer songwriter Christian Kjellvander too. Sturgill Simpson has one of my shirts. And I just made one for John Levanthal – I’ve still got my fingers crossed, waiting to hear whether it’s a good fit! All these talented and creative people – it means a lot that they like my work. And then, sometimes when I see artists wearing them onstage, I am suddenly struck by how surprising it all is. I just make them in my spare room, and there they are, on the screen in the soap Nashville, or on the stage of the Ryman, or whatever. And I think of my grandma, who used to charge sixpence to the other women in the mining village where she lived, to cut down a pair of worn out mens’ trousers and make them into boys’ clothes. She’d have been amazed. Sewing is like that. It runs deep.

Is being based in the UK an advantage or not?

I live in Lewes, East Sussex, just near Brighton. I don’t really think about whether it’s advantageous or not! It’s just where I live! It’s a very nice place, and I brought up my family here.

Currently that style of dress is way out of favour in Music Row. Do you foresee a change in that at all? Is it all related to the core value of the music?

If you mean is it related to traditionalism, then yes, it is. We have been in a pop-country phase for a long time, and it looks as if the wheel might be about to turn, but I doubt if that will bring a return to rhinestones. I think that people will always flirt with the Nudie suit style, just because it’s joyous, but I doubt if any new artists will take it on as part of their identity in the way that Dwight and Marty and Jim have. I hope I’m wrong though!

The new C2C event has artists like Dwight Yoakam and Kacey Musgraves on the bill who seem want to continue to tap into that tradition - although recently Dwight seems to have his band in the rhinestones while he wears denim - has that a knock on effect?

In fact when Dwight turns round, you will see that there is a band of rhinestones on the back of his denim jacket. Did you know that, for the Americana Music Association Awards Show, the house band all borrow jackets from Manuel? That’s a place you can always see them, and a community that appreciates the history behind them.

Much of the audience seem to be content to let the stars wear the flashy clothes onstage. Is that a natural conservatism for that particular audience unlike the way that the followers of punk or the new romantics were as out there as the performers?

I think rhinestones are performance wear. They always have been and that’s the way it is. I see a lot of western wear in the audience, though – shirts and boots. When I first listened to country music, there were always a lot of people in the audience who were in costume. I remember going to see Tammy Wynette at The Royal Festival Hall, and there were cowboys and Indians in the audience! I remember a woman dressed as what they used to call a ‘squaw’, western-movie style. Lyle Lovett has told me how funny it was for him, coming here from Texas in the late 80s to play The Wembley Festival, and seeing British guys in woolly chaps in the audience! You used to see it during the line dancing boom, too – lots of fringes and hats.

Is there a price element involved also, as a lot of the tailoring is bespoke and there for more costly than off the peg?

Probably.

Given that though there are producers like Scully and Rockmount make some good shirts. Would you agree?

Yes. I’ve got a Scully shirt with sequins on. I wore it for my MA graduation!

Do you base your patterns on those of earlier eras or do you adapt and create your own.

I used to use vintage patterns but now I don’t. I have a basic cut for the shirt. I alter it to fit and cut new yokes to vary. I try to reflect the print I am using in the yoke shape. There is a lot of detailed work in the piping, pattern matching etc, so I try to keep the designs simple. It’s all very labour intensive. There is a bit of a late 60s, 70s vibe to them… they are a bit cosmic, I think!

What does the future hold for Dandy and Rose and for the music in general?

There are a couple of exciting things coming up for Dandy & Rose but they are under wraps! Watch this space!

Interview by Stephen Rapid

You can order a bespoke shirt from Danday & Rose or view samples of their fine work at:

www.dandyandrose.com

Interview with The Mulligan Brothers

The Mulligan Brothers are a band that formed in Mobile, Alabama and who play a compelling mixture of Americana, Folk & Roots music with a lot of confidence and class. Comprising Ross Newell (lead vocals, guitar, and song-writer); Gram Rea (fiddle, mandolin, viola, harmonica and vocals); Ben Leininger (bass and vocals) and Greg DeLuca (drums and vocals), their sound is a rich blend of melody and classic Country groove that fuels their live shows and has gained them much critical acclaim in the USA. 

They will be touring Ireland in the New Year with a series of gigs lined up for late January/early February. . They come highly recommended and Lonesome Highway has tipped The Mulligan Brothers as one of the hot new bands to watch in 2016. 

So, with the opportunity to catch them on the cusp of greater exposure, we caught up with Ross Newell to ask about their past activities and what the future holds.  

You are due to play Ireland for the first time in early 2016. Have you toured much outside of America and what are your expectations of the upcoming dates?

So far, our only international travel has been two trips to the middle east to play for the troops. Both trips were amazing and exceeded all expectations. I expect this trip will do the same. I’ve always wanted to visit Ireland, however I’ve spent most of my life assuming that it would never be practical to go. I’m ecstatic to not only get to travel to Ireland, but to do so by means of music. This is the best job in the world!

The first release, self-titled, in 2013 received widespread critical acclaim. How did this change your daily reality and has it brought increased pressure with the weight of expectation?

That album certainly got the wheels turning. We’ve been fortunate enough to be working and traveling almost nonstop since it’s release. I felt a great deal of pressure when we started planning our second album, although in retrospect, I think it was self induced and unnecessary. The experience of making the second album with a constant fear of disappointing fans of the first has reminded us of the philosophy that made the first album 

What did Steve Berlin bring to the recording process for your second release that was different to your own instincts in recording the debut record?

Steve helped us to stretch to the outermost limits of our comfort zone. That really helped to add character to some of the songs. We even tried some things that landed outside of our comfort zone. Those things didn’t make it on the album, but at least we learned something about ourselves.

As the songwriter in the band, do the lyrical themes come quickly to you or do you piece them together once you have a melody in place?

The melody hardly ever comes first. Some lyrical ideas expand quickly and jump out and scream “I MUST BE A SONG”. Most of the time, the idea evolves fairly slowly and takes as long as it needs to develop.

The imagery in the songs is quite cinematic. Do you write from personal experience or in character?

Some of both. For me, all songs require some amount of personal experience. So, if the song is based in fiction, I have to be able to identify on a personal level with a character or subject. Otherwise, it doesn’t grab me and the song will likely remain unfinished.

What was the biggest influence in your career as a band so far?

I’d have to say our early meetings about starting this band influenced our career more than anything. That is where the rough draft of our “career strategy” was formed. Those meetings are also where we decided that our plans, goals and strategy would need to constantly evolve, which created a need for constant communication and teamwork. Those meetings were put together my our manager Stuart Logan. So actually, he’s likely been the biggest influence.

How do you view the state of country music at present?

Probably the same as I always will. There is some really great stuff out there! However there is some silly stuff out there as well. Everyone seems to gracefully accept the existence of both. The great debate seems to start when the silly stuff pushes its way to the forefront and pushes the great stuff deep underground where it will need to be searched for. Luckily, the world is not yet void of treasure hunters. There is room for all music. Often the great stuff doesn’t have the financial backing to make it in to the forefront of your favorite radio station and its up to the treasure hunters to tell their friends what they’re missing. My favorite quote on this is by Jason Isbell. “Hate to break it to y’all, but Nashville didn’t “ruin” country music. Lotta good burgers in this town; nobody forcing you to eat McDonald’s.”

Is it difficult to get a foothold in the industry in terms of media acceptance?

It certainly can be. That part of the industry is still miles over my head.

Does a focus on keeping it small and simple work as a philosophy?

I don’t think focusing on keeping it small helps. I think that not focusing on making it big helps. So much can be done with a small group of motivated, hardworking people who believe in the same thing. No bad can come from growing that group as long as everyone believes in the project and no one is afraid of working hard.

You come across as a very tight unit in every respect. I believe that you started playing together in bars around Mobile, Alabama?

Thank you! We did start in bars in Mobile, AL. I think we have our past bands and projects to thank for the foundation of our work ethic.

How many gigs have you played in order to fine-tune your sound to the interplay we hear on the records today?

I wish I knew. We stay on the road more than we are home. While we’re home we fit in some hometown concerts. Even between the hometown concerts, we all play shows individually. I’m sure every member of the band finishes each year with 300+ shows under their belt.

I understand that the band name comes from a perspective of getting “second chances” and that it has nothing to do with golf shots or indeed brotherly connections?

Thats right. We used the concept of a Mulligan in golf. We all felt a familiar bond over our desire to try again knowing what we know now. It really has been a brotherhood from the beginning.

In Ireland many will assume that you have some Irish roots, given the name and the band sound that is influenced by the fiddle playing of Gram Rea so you are off to a good start already.

We’ll take any advantage we can get! There have been a few Irish Pubs along the way where we’ve needed to make sure they knew we weren’t a TRUE Irish band before taking the job.

Your vocals have been highlighted as a key element in the overall Mulligan Brothers organic sound. Have you taken any vocal coaching or does the spirit simply flow through you?

Thanks again! I haven’t had any formal training. In my first band I got nudged in to singing because no one else wanted to. Later on, I read some books on proper singing. I knew I was doing something wrong because it would hurt to sing.

Via Portland, the new release, was recorded under an entirely different set of circumstances. Can you tell us a little about the process and was there a bigger budget to use in order to get you all away from the daily routine and together in a concentrated working environment?

We saved well the previous year in order to record in Portland, OR. We rented a house for the month and recorded almost every day. We certainly benefited from living, eating and working together so consistently. We were completely focused on the album at all times. When we weren’t recording we were talking about recording with no distractions. Whether we record locally or away in the future, I think we will try to create that same type of isolation.

Who were your key musical influences when you were growing up?

I’ve always love the great singer songwriters. Bob Dylan, John Prine, Towns Van Zandt,Leonard Cohen etc.

How important is radio these days?

Incredibly Important. I think there are very few genres in which the listeners have moved on to other formats exclusively . There are relatively few listeners who are willing to get their hands dirty and go dig for their next favorite band. I believe radio is still the best reasonable way to get music out to the general public.

Is You Tube and Facebook/Twitter a better distribution channel for your music and word of mouth in building your profile?

These new platforms are wonderful additions to the musicians toolkit. From an independent artists perspective, they are much more approachable and readily available for everyone. The downside (if you can even call it that) is that because they are available to everyone, it’s very difficult to stand out and not get scrolled right over.

What message do you have for your interested followers on this side of the pond as you prepare for the tour?

We can’t wait to play for and meet all of you! WARNING: We are huggers.

Interview by Paul McGee

Anna Mitchell Interview

Multi-tasking would be an understatement to describe the work load over the past year of 25 year old Cork singer songwriter Anna Mitchell. Her career as a solo artist, band member and collaborator has resulted in tours and recordings in Ireland, The UK, Europe and The States in a hectic twelve month period. She has recorded her debut solo album Down to The Bone which was released in February 2015 and as a member of John Blek and The Rats has contributed to the song writing and played keyboards on their recent album Borders which was released in September 2015.

Both these projects involved tours of Ireland, The UK and Germany with Anna playing the support slot on all dates before taking her place behind the keyboard for the main act.

Notwithstanding the studio and touring schedules of her band and solo career she also managed to find the time to tour as a duo act with renowned American songwriter and poet Simone Felice in Ireland, The UK, Europe and The States. So impressed was the celebrated American poet and songwriter Simone Felice, he invited her to join him on 5 week European tour in winter 2014 stopping off in Ireland , U.K , Belgium and Luxembourg as well as a 3 week tour throughout the states in May/June 2015.

A quick trip to Woodstock in February saw Anna at Applehead studios in Woodstock, singing, playing piano, harmonium & percussion for a live recording of Simone’s new double album From The Violent Banks Of The Kaaterskill (also featuring The Felice Brothers, Simi Stone and Gabriel Dresdale) which was released in September 2015 on Mighty Hudson Records and on Warner Australia. 

Lonesome Highway managed to steal twenty minutes from Anna Mitchell’s busy schedule before she took to the stage at Cleeres Kilkenny with Simone Felice on the final night of their sold out Irish tour. 

How can you possibly manage to sustain three projects at the one time?

It’s hard but it’s not only that. As well as balancing three touring acts, this year there was also three albums to be recorded and released on which I feature heavily, but they are all such rewarding and different from each other that it keeps me going, even though right now I'm pretty tired. It’s what I want though. I want to be able to tour six or eight months of the year and make a living from it. That’s my goal. This time last year I was only beginning to enter this busy time of my life. I’m just finishing the Simone Felice tour tonight, home for a week and then off to Germany with The Rats for three weeks and following that lots of headline solo gigs and support slots lined up for December.

January and February sees me performing my own headline gigs in Germany followed by three weeks touring again with the band in March. April and May.But I am really loving it.

Is this workload by design or as part of a learning process?

There is most definitely a goal. I’m aware that I can’t keep doing what I’m doing at the moment indefinitely, I want to get to the stage when I can tour with my band and be able to afford to pay the guys. Once I can achieve that, that’s my idea of success.  

Is Anna Mitchell more comfortable behind the keyboard or upfront as a lead vocalist?

As a band leader, I suppose you could say that I’m more comfortable as a singer than as a player. I’ve been singing all my life and whereas I’ve been playing piano for over fifteen years it’s only in the past three years that I’ve been playing publicly. What I really enjoy is playing with my band, who are effectively the musicians who also make up John Blek and The Rats 

When did you start performing as a singer?

I’ve been signing all my life really, you can't shut me up, and it must have been so annoying living with me growing up! No wonder my sisters are both quiet! I’m from a farming background and when I was a toddler my Dad used to mind me and take me with him on his daily jobs around the farm, he even had a baby seat fitted on his tractor! I used to sing my head off in the milking parlour because there was so much noise in there that I wouldn't be annoying any one really, maybe just the cows. 

After that my Dad was involved in a coursing club that used to meet every Sunday after the course and have a sing song in this little pub. Everyone had to sing a song whether they could sing or not. It was really lovely, a typical Irish country pub scene. I used to make it my business to have a new song every week, Emmylou Harris, Marvin Gaye, Helen Reddy, music that I used to hear at home. That was my stage. This went on for four or five years from the age of nine. My mother is a great singer and introduced me to all these great singers and writers from the 1960s and 70's and I still listen to that music today. 

My grandfather was Donal Ring who had a well-known ceili musician and had a band for many years. Everyone in my mother’s family, except her, played in the band. My mother was more inclined to listen to Linda Ronstadt and Abba rather than traditional music. She was musical but stayed away from the band as she didn’t like the hours they had to put it. They were playing six and seven nights a week for almost twenty years. So you could say there was always music in the family but I can’t say I was influenced by it as it’s in stark contrast to what I’m now doing. 

So even at this earlier age had you considered music as a career or was it simply a pastime?

No, I always felt I wanted a career in music but had no idea how to go about it. I’m the eldest in the family so did not have older siblings to advise me or to copy. At school I had intended to follow a science career. I did all my work experience in science and loved it until one time I was working in a lab and they had me purifying water for over two weeks which completely turned me off. I couldn’t handle the smells and decided this is not for me! I included music on my CAO as an option and ended up in UCC studying music. I really enjoyed college met some amazing musicians there.   

Did you meet the members of the band through college?

No not at all. Our drummer Cian was in college at the time but in a different year than me. When I was about twenty one I started doing these singer songwriter evenings every week. John Blek came along to one of the sessions as he was looking for a girl singer in the band. He approached me afterwards and we chatted and got along very well. He asked me would I be interested in joining the band. At the time I was living in the most awful apartment, no windows, no television and the heating was not working. John used to call up every day and we would just play music all the time and drink tea! John introduced me to the rest of the lads and I joined up. They are all such good musicians and the most conscientious and sensitive bunch you could meet. There are six of us, some quiet, some mental and you would think that me being the only girl in the band that my head would be wrecked. Not the case at al, we really get on and look after each other. If that dynamic was not there I wouldn’t be happy doing it. Good music is born out of good relationships.

Where did the relationship with Simone Felice originate?

John and I supported him in Leap Castle in Roscrea about two years ago. He stayed around for our set and afterwards said he would really love me to play on stage with him. He asked for my contact number and I genuinely didn’t expect to hear from but two days later he called and said he had a really big gig in London the next day and that he’d would fly me over to play with him. I hadn’t had a holiday for about five years and was actually going on holiday that day so it was ‘look I would love to but can’t’ and explained. He understood and said something will happen in the future. He was over to play the Galway Arts Festival last year and asked would I do it with him. I knew some of his stuff so we had a ten hour practice day and played the following day to three hundred people. It was terrifying for me but we managed to pull it off. Earlier this year he invited me over to the Catskills to record his live double album with The Felice Brothers and Simi Stone. It was amazing as I’ve been a huge Felice Brothers fan for years, Ian Felice is one of my favourite songwriters. 

Has observing how Simone Felice projects himself on stage been influential?

It’s amazing. He is unique in how he presents himself on stage. I would never perform in that way because it would not suit me, but it suits him. We played to a full house in Coughlans Cork last night and a number of people approached me afterwards to comment how more confident I have become on stage. In my earlier days I would be thinking ‘please don’t look at me on stage look at some of the other band members’. I now feel so much more comfortable on stage and remind myself that when people come to my gigs they are actually there to listen and look at me. Even up to six months ago I would be freaked out of my mind before gigs thinking why people would want to come to my shows. I recently said to my mother that I’ve done more growing up over the past six months than you could imagine. She told me she’s remind me of that in a years’ time. Touring with Simone has certainly contributed to this.

Your debut album Down to The Bone was very well received. How will the follow up album compare?

It will be a lot different in terms of the music and how it will be recorded. The material is more group based rather than my personal emotions and self-obsessions (laughs) and a lot, but not all of it, will be more upbeat. All my best songs to date are written for this album and I’m really excited about it and am going to give it a major push. I want it to have a seventies feel and record it in a way that really sounds like a band album, because that's what it will be.  I’m going to record it live in the studio to achieve the 70’s feel that I’m looking for.

Is your material aimed at a particular market or do you simply write what comes naturally to you?

No, I’m fully aware that what I’m doing is not for the mainstream but it’s what I like and reflects me as a song writer. At the same time when I write a song which I think is good obviously it goes through your mind that other people might also consider it to be good. 

What music will be playing on tour in the van driving the motorways in Germany with six of you in the band?

We’ve had this discussion alright as I have this Spotify offline account that I’ve paid for a month’s listening. Everyone has their playlist for listening in the van. The Jesus Lizard, an American punk band from the eighties will be featured. Samantha Crain and Caitlin Rose will be playing, Calexico also together with a lot of podcasts with different musicians that I have put together. When we get sick of listening to music we then spend the rest of the time talking about it!

Interview by Declan Culliton 

Interview with The Grahams

Alyssa and Doug Graham are lifelong friends as well as a husband and wife musical partnership. Their first album composed along the Mississippi’s Great River Road was their 2013 debut, Riverman’s Daughter. To follow-up they decided to ride the rails and recorded not only a studio album, but a documentary and live album on the move and in venues from Sun Studio to Amtrak’s famed City of New Orleans train. The second album Bound for Glory will be released as a deluxe edition next year. It is available now in it’s orginal form on a single CD or as a double vinyl album with the second disc being the soundtrack for the short documentary film Ratlle the Hocks. Lonesome Highway caught up with them before the final date of this European tour in the Seamus Ennis Centre in the Naul.

Tell me a little about your background and how you got together.

A: We grew up together, but we're not brother and sister. Douglas was on my older brother's baseball team and they were best buds. So I was about 7 years old when we first met. We started hanging around as kids then we started playing some music together. But it was when we started to write songs together that we really fell in love. We got married soon after finishing high school and we became The Grahams. It was a done deal once we started to write and to harmonize together.

D: We would write separately and then challenge each other to write better songs. But it wasn't until we started to write together that the songs really gelled. It was both of us refining each other’s wisdom and contributions.

Did you each bring a different set of influences to the table?

D: As we'd grown up together and had the same set of friends in high school we had a lot of the same influences.

A: Actually, it's funny as we'd know each other’s families our whole lives. We were cleaning out Douglas' parent's attic, as we'd been storing stuff there, and we both pulled out our old crates of records which we'd put there years before that and we thought "sweet, we just double our collection". We looked through them and there was only one different album between the two of us out of 50/60 albums. So our tastes were the same Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, Pure Prairie League …

D: Neil Young specifically. We were also big Grateful Dead heads. 

A: Yeah, Total Dead fans. But we feel in love over Neil Young for sure. 

Was that different from what the majority of your contemporaries were listening to?

D: Well, there's an interesting little interlude in all this in that we were in a psychedelic rock band in our college years and Alyssa got a demo deal from a major label around that time and we recorded 100 hours of studio time and we brought it to the label head at the time. He said "we love it, but we just want to get some choreography together" and Alyssa came out of the meeting crying and …

A: It was "I don't dance". 

D: Within a year she had enrolled in music school in Boston. We took a long head first dive into jazz. 

A: That record deal being dangled in front of us was contingent on fancy backing musicians and dance moves and stuff . That just wasn't us, we'd grown up on Neil Young and we didn't want anything to do with that world, so we walked away and I went to music school to study jazz. Douglas had already done some of that so we wanted to grow as musicians. But after studying jazz for a while we came back to our three chord folk songs and here we are!

You wanted to make the music more direct?

A: We had this huge toolbox from going to jazz studies, but when we sat down to play 'three chords and the truth' as they say, and sing some simple songs together, that's when our hearts were bursting.

D: When were into the jazz stuff we started to listen to a lot of Brazilian music and to João Gilberto and I was trying to work out a bunch of his songs and I realized that it was really just folk music. It just had a different sensibility and that woke something up inside us. So if we were to continue with jazz it would have to be Brazilian folk music. But we're American and the listener doesn't want to hear so much 9s and 11s and those chords are a little harder to understand and their ears just wash them out. 

The trip around the country and visiting various studios was that a chance to get back to those basics?

A: We had actually gone back to that before the trip. Our first album, Riverman's Daughter, had come out a couple of years back and doing that made us The Grahams. That was when we started getting back to our roots. You gain all this knowledge in school and study and you can let it go. When we wrote the song Riverman's Daughter it all came back to us how much we appreciated those simple structures.

D: 1, 4, 5 progressions and chords.

A: And simply singing harmonies together. So that record really established what we wanted to do.

D: On that record we decided to be Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer and to live on the Mississippi River.  So when we travelled and we met all those different musicians, it was those simple songs that drew us back to songwriting. When we started to write these new songs it was inspired by gospel and Americana music. We found that we could just flow and write songs in real time. 

Storytelling?

A: Right. That's what we wanted to get back to.

Having done that to a degree where do you feel the next step will take you?

D: That's a good question. 

A: We always want to evolve and grow as musicians. Every good artist does. But I don't think there's ever going to be a path that takes us back to being complicated. But you don't know, as we'd always said that some day we'd do a João Gilberto record (laughs). But we just want to tell some good stories as we think of ourselves as more storyteller than musician. We just put those stories to music.

D: That's why we went down the Mississippi and on the trains. We wanted to see what would hit us. I think some of the newer songs we're writing have more of a Memphis influence and because of that a bit more rock 'n' roll is coming out in some of the songs.

A: Yeah, Big Star.  

You seemed to have created something of a look for The Grahams. How conscious was that?

A: I think our managers are more conscious of it than we are. We got the hats - what else do we need (laughs)? There's the brand. As you can see when you see us play and we feel that we are in a place in our lives where we feel so lucky to be able to do this together. What you see onstage is the same people as (those) you’re talking to now.

Being together is less difficult than being apart with one person on the road I would imagine.

A: I don't know how people do it. We have lots of friends where one of them is a musician and I guess people find a way to make it work. We have a different situation because we grew up together and have been 24 hours in each others company since we left our parents. We are super co-dependent now.

When you record do you like to do it over and over, or try to catch the magic quickly?

A: It's always the second take for me.

D: Yeah, by four or five we’re done.

A: We should have another record coming out next year and we've been listen to rough mixes and it’s always the first or second take that works best. We realize at this point in our lives there's no need to be precious about everything. We invite people up onstage. We play with other musicians - this whole movie (Rattle the Hocks) is about that. Being with people who have something different to offer and just letting it happen.  Mike (Meadows - percussionist) we just met a couple of days before the tour and we had no set list and he'd barely ever heard the songs and it's sounding great.

D: Recording and playing with new people brings new life over time. It doesn't kill things at all.

A: For the Rattle the Hocks project Cody brought something; obviously him and his brother are both phenomenal musicians, they have played on both of our records and they offer something totally different to what we do. He brings in people like Duane Burnside, we've never played with those kind of guys or styles. Or the Norman sisters, major blues musicians and that's not something that's cosy in our wheelhouse but it added great flavour. 

How do you define a category like Americana? It's now such a broad palate.

D: It's really a catch all category. Country music is really is one thing, but then there's California country with Neil (Young),The Eagles and all that. Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons, they brought that undefined element. But what do you do with all the other people who want to play pedal steel?

Does any Celtic connection figure in your approach?

A: He has totally Scottish heritage. His full name is Douglas Campbell Graham.

D: Yeah. But not specifically as a musical influence, though my Mum jokes that I came out playing the bagpipes. We grew up with American Jazz and folk music.  

Any Bluegrass influences then? 

A: We don't play bluegrass, what we do is more folk oriented.

D: Going to the Folk Alliance Festival and touring, you can't help but run into bluegrass bands but we don't hang out in the bluegrass scene. One reason is that it reminds us a lot of jazz. You have to be a talented, fast musician to play it. A lot of those guys play to be competitive. That's a scene we have backed away from a little bit.

A: interestingly, one of the guests on the deluxe version is the Watkins Family and we were talking to them about bluegrass and they grew up in that world and you have to know the rules and the ins and outs of every song in order to be able to jump into that world.

D: Old Crow Medicine Show, that's who I think of when I think of as great bluegrass as they're largely original while a lot of the bands we see are all doing covers. 

You mentioned that you are going to release an expanded version of the Glory Bound album next year. Will that include the DVD?

D: We haven't worked that out yet. The film is still doing the Festival circuit right now so we can't release it. But the new edition has a lot of great guests on it from the Americana scene. They're trading verses with us on our songs. That's really exciting for us. On the current version we have people like John Fullbright playing on the album but it was just us singing. Now were going to have guest vocalists singing instead of us. 

Cody Dickinson also directed the movie. Is that that a new direction for him?

A: Cody was involved with a five year project called Take Me to the River. It's an amazing film that's basically about the blues, North Mississippi and Memphis mainly. It won all sorts of awards including the People's Choice Award at South by Southwest.

D: Cody was the co-producer on that movie. So he really wanted to branch out and we're old friends and as we'd ended our train journey in Memphis we went to hang out with him.

A: We told him about our expedition and he said "I'd love to make a short about that". But we told him that we'd actually just finished. We'd been on trains for three months. But he's a really creative person who thinks in so many different ways.

D: He asked us which train lines we hadn't travelled on. We hadn't gone from Memphis to New Orleans on the City of New Orleans train.

A: So he wanted to base it around taking the train on that route. He wanted to get all these different musicians in different places and to tie in the history of the rail with modern day folk music. It was really his brainchild. A good friend of ours who writes with us, Brian McCann - a good Irish name - is a friend form childhood and he has written with us a lot. He is also an historian and he wrote a lot of the narration. That, coupled with Cody's vision and our music, made it a really fun project. It's been nominated for the best documentary short at the Raindance Festival in London. We were there for that. It's been at a bunch of festivals in the US with more to come.

As working musicians, what to you feel the current state of Americana is right now? 

D: That's a good question. It's hard to follow because, as we said, it's so diversified. 

That someone like Chris Stapleton is having success at award shows might help swing the spotlight. 

A: That's amazing. I think it's his time. His producer Dave Cobb obviously has his finger on the button with Sturgill and Jason Isbell and many others. For Doug and me, what’s going on outside of Nashville is more exciting. There's little that surprises in Nashville these days. We had gone to Oklahoma to record Glory Bound and then to Memphis for Rattle the Hocks. But while Nashville will always record some great music there’s a lot going on in other places. It's interesting, as for a time it was about the Toby Keiths and Faith Hills and you don't think of Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline or Hank Williams, but now I think it's coming back. One thing we talked about recently is that backlash to really meaningless music. There a lot of great music out there but also a lot that is meaningless.

D: You need something that you have to pay attention to to get the meaning from. 

A: The 90s music scene gave us Nirvana and then we lost that storyteller thing but now it's coming back. People are craving it again.

Interview by Stephen Rapid.  Photography by Ronnie Norton.

Interview with Samantha Crain

Samantha Crain is a 29 year old singer/songwriter from Shawnee, Oklahoma who has released four albums on Ramseur Records since her debut in 2009. Her autobiographical album Kid Face in 2013 gained widespread critical acclaim. Earlier this year she released Under Branch& Thorn & Tree, a superbly written album containing her strongest work to date. Samantha was in Ireland recently for gigs in Dublin and Kilkenny and an appearance on The Late Late Show, which was nearly abandoned due to two cancelled and three rescheduled flights on her journey from Oklahoma to Dublin. To further complicate matters, her luggage did not arrive with her in Dublin. A dash to RTE  and some heroic work by the wardrobe staff resulted in a jet lagged and travel weary Crain barely making her slot. ‘I was so exhausted that I did not expect to be able to remember the words of the song’, she joked the next morning. ‘Muscle memory got me through it I guess’.

Lonesome Highway accompanied the charming and perceptive Crain from Dublin to Kilkenny (a part of the Full Time Hobby tour which continues in Europe) where she spoke of her musical history, influences and her love of the late Jason Molina.

I believe you were studying English Literature in college before deciding to switch to music.

Well that’s a weird bit of information, because I was only in college for about five months so I can’t really say that I was studying English Literature as such. But through college I found out about a musician’s commune, I’d say you could call it that, and they found a way of transferring it to college credits and that was why I got involved. The main reason was that I wanted to get out of Oklahoma. I hadn’t written many songs at that stage, maybe just a couple, but was more trying to find ways to write poems. It was more like a colony than a commune, a writers retreat so to speak I guess.

Was the story telling ambition there before the music?

Yes, I wrote stories for a long time when I was growing up. My mom would buy me sort of Blake books when I was young and I liked writing short stories in the Blake books. The first EP that I put out was in fact five short stories that I ended up turning into songs. Music wasn’t a huge interest to me then, I didn’t grow up playing instruments or anything like that. I didn’t start playing guitar until I decided I wanted to write songs and I taught myself guitar, I was about seventeen then.

You have incredible phrasing and discipline in your vocal, is that also self-taught?

Yes. I never took any singing lessons. When I started writing songs I would find vocalists that I liked and imitate them and eventually I stopped imitating and it became its own style. I don’t actually know how I developed my vocal style, it just ended up that way

What vocalists influenced you?

Well, when I started writing and singing, I looked for people that I thought had a cool way of singing. I actually liked Marc Bolan from T Rex a lot and Billy Holiday. There’s a singer called Lhasa de Sela, she died quite young, only about thirty five when she died. She was mainly a Spanish language singer, even though she did an American English speaking album. She (is) very much a lesser known artist but I was always into her voice, she had such a rhythmic voice and Paul Simon, I liked his phrasing and his tone.

My first introduction to you was your 2010 album You (Understood) and from there to your 2013 album Kid Face. Was Kid Face your autobiographical album?

Yes, that was the first album that I made an effort to make it completely autobiographical. As I’ve said, when I started song writing, all the songs started as short stories based on other characters, character-driven narratives, that sort of thing. I would always inject my own stories into them. On Kid Face, for the first time the whole focus of the album was completely based on my own personal experiences. I’m not sure if it was to get it out of my system, I could have gone my whole life without making an album like that. It wasn’t something that I thought I had to do or planned, it was just what I felt like doing at the time.

Your latest album Under Branch & Thorn & Tree is, for me, one of the most outstanding albums of 2015. Rightly or wrongly I feel that all the songs on the album are connected. I see characters in certain songs that seem to reappear in other songs. Was that the intention?

 Well most of the stories and songs on the album are based on my friends, family or peers that I work with, so in a lot of ways the people that are in one song are in another song because they were a real part of my life at the time. Kathleen would be an example, she shows up in Oak City and also the song Kathleen. A lot of times though, they are kind of personifications of a certain type of person so I guess Kathleen may not be an actual person, but a way of describing a certain type of woman, so in a lot of ways the name is a way of referring to a type of individual. So a lot of the characters do show up more than once as they are based on people in my life, they are interconnected, they know each other and therefore are in each other’s songs.

I wonder do they recognise themselves in the songs?

Some of them have ideas that they are in the songs, but the way that I form characters a lot are taking certain characteristics from certain people and combine them so it’s not like a friend is listening to a particular song and saying that everything Samantha is saying about that person is exactly me. Bits and pieces of them might be, but I always inject my own experiences in to characters just to have that empathetic connection in singing and writing about them.

The track You or Mystery; is that based on a true story?

When I lived in Oklahoma city there was a man that lived next door to us that I had some weird obsession about, spying on him I guess, so that is a true literal story.

There is a phrase in that song that is very Irish. The saying ‘he never asked for sugar’ suggesting he kept to himself.

That’s a very middle of the United States saying too.

One of my favourite tracks on the album is Outside the Pale. Are you aware of the significance of this in an Irish context?

The first time I heard that phrase, my grandma use to use it a lot, she said beyond the pale though. For some reason I had written it down in a notebook some time ago and when I was writing this album I was going through this old notebook to see if there was anything I could use in the album. I saw the phrase, remembered my grandma using it but did not realise the significance of it. So I looked it up and started reading about it and learned the significance of it in terms of Irish history and I thought it would fit really well with the way that the songs on the album were going, so I decided to write something revolving around that phrase because the album was taking this journey into songs of the working man and working class and the underdog. I thought it would fit really well in the context of where the writing was going.

Do you consider yourself in your writing as a champion for the underdog and under privileged?

(Laughs)  I’m not sure if champion is the right word but I’m still very much part of that world. At the end of this tour I will be at home waiting tables until the next tour so it’s just a matter of writing what I know, I guess. I also think that it’s important the way music has been going lately. The vast majority of music making it into people’s ears is kind of upper middle class white demographic, whereas all the music that we base our history on as a civilisation used to all come from the grit and the struggle of ninety percent of the population, whether it be blues music or folk music. This was music coming out of people having to struggle through life. I think we are missing that now as most of the popular music is vaguely about things that people hardly understand or don’t need to connect with anyway. So I think it’s important for artists not to shy away from writing actual folk music that is written for the people and about the people.

I’m aware from a song that you wrote that you are a lover of the music of Jason Molina. I spoke with MC Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger) a few years back, he is also a lover of Jason Molina’s work. He mentioned how he loved your song about Molina, For the Miner. 

Wow, MC Taylor mentioned me? I didn’t know he even knew who I was! For me it’s a very specific story I guess. A lot of people can relate to this feeling of being young and coming across a band that they love in that misunderstood and melancholy time of their lives and they find an artist or album that is expressing everything that they feel at that young age before your brain is fully developed and you don’t really know what’s going on. Most people, if they listened to the band now, it might not mean a lot to them but at that certain point in time it was very influential and important. I was sixteen years old, from a small town in Oklahoma called Shawnee. It’s about forty five minutes’ drive from Oklahoma City and as soon as I learned to drive and got a car and I would drive to Oklahoma City all the time just to get out of the house, it was the only place to get to see rock shows. I would go to this all ages venue called the Conservatory, which was not a very nice place despite the name, it was a rundown crappy bar. There was a record store beside it that I would go into and have a look around before the shows and I was in there this time and saw this album in the sales rack for under five dollars. It was a black album with this weird purple landscape and it was called The Lioness and it was a Songs: Ohia album. I had never heard of the band and never seen the album but it was just one of these moments, I had to go to the bathroom so had to leave but wanted to buy something so I just grabbed that album for no reason other than I liked the cover, a hurried purchase. I listened to the album in the car on the way home and it was just one of those moments, the windows were down, it was dark, I was driving and thinking this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. What he was saying seemed to be exactly what I wanted to say without knowing how to say it. I thought that I need to learn exactly how to say these things and figure out how to write songs because I felt it would be something that would be very precious for me. He became the first real musical influence for me that make me realise that I have to learn how to communicate in that language. I got obsessed with Jason Molina and bought all his albums

Did you get the chance to see him live?

I’ve seen him a couple of times but never met him. We had a lot of friends in common and I played in Bloomington a lot where he was based, but I didn’t really want to meet him. He was so important and so influential for me, yet I felt that I just hadn’t anything I wanted to say to him and that it would end up being a mess by me making it all about myself. The only time I felt that I might make myself known to him is when I wrote For The Miner; he hadn’t passed away yet and I had written the song when I heard he wasn’t doing well and was really sick. So I was recording the song and contacted his label in Bloomington who said they would send it to him but before we got the record finished he had passed away.

You have recorded all your albums over the past seven years on The Ramseur Record Label. How supportive have they been for you?

This label, which is essentially Dolphus Ramseur, who is also my manager, I couldn’t imagine putting out a record with anyone else. We’re talking about a guy who heard something I had written when I was nineteen years old and for some forsaken reason found value in that even though it was the first thing I had ever put down,  and (he) has stuck by me one hundred per cent even though as sure as hell I haven’t made him any money. He is so supportive of what I do and only wants me to make records the way I do. There is never ‘why don’t you make it sound a little more like this’ or ‘why don’t we try and make something a little more commercial’. I’ve never heard anything like that from him. Ramseur is a small label and he only works with artists that he really believes in completely and I have so much respect for him, he’s a complete music lover. I have half the material already written for my next album which will be released next summer on Ramseur.

How difficult is it to survive at your level given the difficulty getting radio play to promote your work?

I won’t say it’s easy. All the touring I have to pay for myself and the recordings are all out of my pocket. I have it down to a schedule, once I have a record out I can tour it for six or seven months and while touring I can write the next one. I also have times when I have to get job and work seventy hours a week and save money to get in the studio and make the next record. I have it down to a fine art but there is no room for the unexpected, this year I had some medical issues that put a serious wrench in the gears. There is never a spare dime but nobody is making me do any of this, I’m doing it because I want to and love making records. There may be a time down the line that I have to take a few years out and start saving up again.

Is the gap between Americana, folk and mainstream country narrowing? The recent successes of Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson might suggest that the major record labels start looking at the less obvious artists

Possibly so but the three artists you mentioned are coming more from a rock and (a) country place, talented artists no doubt, rather than where I’m coming from. There is no doubt there is room for a much wider audience for the Americana artists. I’m just not sure that our music hits that audience a lot of the time. I would and could write a little differently if I wanted to target that market but that gets into dangerous territory if I have to sit down to write a song that a lot of people are going to like. That would completely mess with my brain very quickly (laughs).

I just hope you keep writing to the quality that you have for the past eight years as every album seems to be even better than your last

Well thank you. I’ll keep trying!

Interview by Declan Culliton  Photography by Catriona Dowling

Interview with David Corley

“You gotta live a life to write about it” explained David Corley in a recent press interview when asked why he released his debut album at the age of 53. 

Available Light released in May of this year, received glowing  press reviews internationally from an artist who was virtually unknown no more than six months ago. The album reflects the a  journey of an artist, often harrowing, through a succession of career changes, desperation, relationship breakdowns, bad health and finally recovery, liberation and recognition. 

The impact of the album resulted in a European tour with dates in Italy, The Netherlands, UK and Ireland.

Lonesome Highway met up with David Corley before his sold out show in Cleeres Kilkenny.

For me the Available Light is a 70’s album regardless when it was written. Was that the intention?

Thank you. I really wanted it to be that way, that is the thing I intended. I love that time and Christopher Brown, my producer and dear friend, he records with all analog equipment before he finally throws it on to pro tools or whatever he uses. I love that old bold sound something like when you put the yellow filter on a camera and it’s 1974 again. I did want the recording to have that warm vinyl feel. We actually wanted to make vinyl but it was just too expensive. If I can sell enough records we will definitely reissue it on vinyl, just not in my budget at the moment 

Just how influential was the 9/10 review of Available Light by Allan Jones in Uncut Magazine earlier this year in terms of your profile in the UK and Europe?

Hugely, it was a real shock for us all. Bernadette Quigley, my publicist from New York, has been so great, she was sending our press kits to Uncut pretty consistently and to so many publications in Europe and the States. Uncut, like Rolling Stone have a policy of not often reviewing debut records so the exposure was mind-blowing and really gave us all a shot in the arm as far as getting the record in people’s ears and getting it out there. 

Bernadette Quigley seems to be incredibly aware as a publicist. I’ve been so impressed at how swiftly she and the rest of your team have reacted and got you on tour in Europe

Bernadette has lots of Italian in her, a hard charger. She was originally only going to help us with the album release but she’s still with us a year later and we’ve become such good friends. What has helped is that she fell in love with my music straight away. She follows every lead and is a big part of our team 

Why have we had to wait over thirty years to hear Available Light?

I have my partner Kori Auerbach and producer Hugh Christopher Brown to thank. I’d been writing songs since I was about ten years old but had no idea where to go with it. I was 18 years old, a songwriter and piano player in high school.  I knew I was going to write songs all my life but didn’t think there was a future for me in. I didn’t grow up playing in bands or anything and then I moved to Athens and the music scene was really organic and almost bubbling up out of the earth.  

I went to school in Athens Georgia in 1980, right when REM hit, The B52’s, Natalie Merchant and 10000 Maniacs, they were young acts back then in Athens. I could see REM playing Murmur live for a dollar in a club like this to maybe fifty people. Michael Stipe still had all his hair. Seeing Natalie Merchant at the  40 Watt Club when she was underage, like sixteen year old, she had to have her parents at the bar as chaperons  because she was underage. She didn’t have 10000 Maniacs at that stage but there was a glow around her, you could see she was going to be huge. This really turned m on.

I’m from a small town in Indiana, when I told my mom I was going to write songs, she’d say fine but you’re going to business school first and going to graduate. So that was that, I got the degree somehow, while still writing songs on the side.

The whole Athens scene really changed my life and I thought I’m going to write songs and go for it. I saw that these little local guys could rise up and go international. Of course it didn’t really work out that way for me (laughs) so here I am thirty five years later and it’s finally happening.

I ended up drifting from job to job, playing weekend bands and still writing songs without getting anywhere. I knew it was a dead and street and was frustrated and so Kori took me up to New York where I was going to make a demo for a publishing deal. I was thinking I have about a hundred songs and I should be able to make some money from a life time of work.

I had taken a couple of shots in big studios during my career, correction, during my life, I haven’t had a career. Producers wanted to turn me in to someone else or slot me in a genre, I had to walk away, just could not do it.

Anyway, Kori got me to throw about thirty songs to Chris Brown to get a reaction, and he really liked them. The next day the three of us went out for dinner and Chris just said, David, how about making a record, and that was that 

Had you known Chris Brown prior to that?

(Laughs) Funny story.  Kori and I had been together in our early twenties, drifted apart but always kept in touch. We are back together now for eight years.

She had known Chris for about twenty years. His original band The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir was out of Canada, a nine piece band that had a lot of success at the time. When they would come down to New York City the whole band would stay in her loft. She was an artist and a jewellery maker down there. When that band broke up, Chris and Kate Fenner, who is his musical partner, they ended up living with Kori for five years, so I had been hearing about Chris and he had been hearing about me for probably twenty years without actually meeting. Chris has had an amazing career, great song writer and producer, has recorded solo albums and was a member of Barenaked Ladies for a spell.

He was in New York and I was in Los Angeles or I was in New York and he was in Canada, but we were finally introduced. I was 53 years old with a little home town band in Lafayette called Medicine Dog, just a weekend band playing all my music. What followed was wonderful and so much fun making the record. We spent as much time laughing in the studio as recording, the whole process was very organic. He has such a large collection of musicians that he plays with so we just played mix and match and he brought in whoever he thought would work. Gregor Beresford from Toronto who has played all over the world. Tony Scherr who has played with everyone including BB King, wonderful musician. Kate Fenner on backing vocals who Chris has played with for years 

So have you been writing the album over those thirty five years or writing it recently based on your life experiences over the period.

No these songs are spread over and written throughout my career. End of my run I wrote when I was twenty nine or thirty probably and then there are two or three songs on the record that I’ve written in the last year. That’s whats kind of weird about it that the songs seem to fit together although they are very different and thats because I’m different now, I’m not thirty. 

What is the plan going forward after the European Tour? 

Well Chris and myself are already working on producing another album. We have a few bed tracks, I swear I’m going to make a more rock and roll record this time not as mellow as Available Light. I’m really taking Chris ’lead, he is such a talent, playing since high school, actually quit high school to play music. For this record I just gave him about thirty songs and he is sifting through them.

Available Light is more mellow than I had intended but Chris took the lead and said these are the songs. We have three or four tracks that did not make the album which will be on the next one. We have the acoustic and the foundations for these songs.  I’ve also written three or four new songs that will probably make the record. Going to play some of them tonight and see how they go down.

Will the album be as confessional?

Well it will certainly be more rock and roll, more epic, bigger songs. I don’t know quite how to describe it because I don’t write rock and roll songs per se, though I do write heavy hitting up-tempo stuff. One song we are going to put on is called Vision Pilgrim, which I love. I’m putting on some of my favourite songs this time but still within the context of letting Chris decide which ones will work 

What were your expectations for the album, where did you think it would go?

Funny we were just talking about this earlier. After we made the record Chris decided he would shop it around the world as he has so many different connections in so many different ports. I was just thinking, great I’ve made a record but will still probably make that publishing deal. I was ready to go back to work as a carpenter for Bob Talbot who I’ve worked with for the past ten years with the intention of taking over the business from him. I actually love carpentry and am pretty good at it. Things changed though and when Bob asked me when I’m coming back to work I had to break the news to him. That was a year and a half ago and the whole thing has been such a surprise to me, a wonderful surprise I have to say. I’m having the time of my life, I’m not really trying to get anywhere, just sell enough records to make enough money to make the next album. Not cheap even though we’re low budget, musicians have to be paid.

I’m sure it can’t be easy, what realistic opportunities are there for artists like you in New York?

It’s impossible. Have a look at my Kickstarter campaign video, it tells the story. It was a lightning strike juncture for me at this stage of my life. Just for some reason, serendipity or whatever, everything has just worked out perfectly for me. With Chris he just got me, my songs are pretty simple and structured but they are fragile and it takes someone with understanding to see where you’re at and understand you. 

We can get gigs in New York now but can’t tour the States, it’s just too vast. I describe Europe as a dolphin and the States as a whale. You just can’t get your arm around it unless you have the music machine in your corner, which of course I don’t have. But the music scene in Europe is more congealed, people seem to listen and care. I’m not knocking America, I love my country, it’s just a fact.

The track End of my Run, was that written at rock bottom for you?

Yes it was. My life was a wreck at that time. Around thirty years old, working as a bar tender in New York, girlfriend just left me. I was up to this and that, living like a vampire, up all night and sleeping during the day, not in a good place. A good friend of mine used to come in to the bar I worked in. He was a roofer and I’d worked with him for a while. 

Anyway, he used to come in to the bar and I’d give him free drinks and he’d borrow money from me at the end of the night and not pay his tab. Anyway one night he came in to the bar and put a napkin on the counter that said, it’s the end of the line, I’ve had my fun. I thought, that’s a song and it came from there.

How have the dates in Ireland been going?

The reaction in Ireland to the gigs have been crazy, you guys know your music.

Interview by Declan Culliton  Photograph from davidcorleymusic.com

The Rizdales Interview

The Rizdales are a hardcore honky tonk band from London, Ontario lead by husband and wife Tom and Tara Dunphy (got to be an Irish connection there somewhere). Their sound is influenced by the classic country greats, such as Ray Price, Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn, they sing about love, loss and reality without ever taking themselves too seriously. They have released 5 critically acclaimed albums, were handpicked by the Queen of Rockabilly Wanda Jackson to be her Canadian backing band and have played festivals, hole in the wall bars and concert halls from Ottawa to Austin, performing alongside such greats as Dale Watson, The Derailers, The Mavericks, and The Good Brothers.

The Rizdales play country music. Why?

It's what comes naturally to us, probably because it's the music we love. When we sit down to write a song, we don't intend on writing a "country" song, we just write the music and lyrics that move us and once it's all put together, it's a country song. Or rather, an Ameripolitan song!

You both do shows outside of the Rizdales. Does that give you the chance to step outside the honky-tonk direction of the band?

If anything we head even more in that honky tonk direction with our side projects! It's just an opportunity for us to dig a little deeper in to the history of the music, find those little gems that have been forgotten but are so much fun to hear and to play. We save our original material for the Rizdales so the shows we do on the side are a chance for us to play our favourite covers and also find some inspiration.

You have released several albums with original songs but it seems that the Ray Price tribute Blue Ain't The Word has hit a particular chord. Is that something that, on reflection, might seem to take away from your own material or is the album a stepping stone to wider recognition?  

Our plan with Blue Ain't The Word was always to honour Ray and we are so proud of the recording and it's success.  The songs may not be ours but we play them like they are, and I think the album fits really well alongside our originals. It's funny, so many Ray Price fans that have enjoyed Blue Ain't The Word have become Rizdales fans, picking up our older albums while so many new fans who didn't know Ray Price are now going deeper into his catalogue - it's worked out really well for everyone, I'd say! 

When you set out to record the tribute you choose song that meant something to you but you approached them as if they were Rizdales songs. Was making that choice an easy enough process?

Tom and I thought it would be a breeze but as it turns out, Ray has so many songs that we both love that deciding on the final list was really difficult! We went over and over the songs and I think the final selection is a great representation of Ray's music.

For the Rizdales how do you deal with the "Country Music" issue when what you do is far removed from what mainstream Nashville is currently disceminating. Is the Ameripolitan label the way that makes most sense now?

We're very proud to be a part of the Ameripolitan movement, it's a celebration of the true roots of country music that isn't being represented in the mainstream country scene, and more and more artists are beginning to identify as "Ameripolitan" because they don't fit into what "country" has become. The bottom line is that everything evolves, and while it's unfortunate that the name of our music has been hijacked by pop music, what matters is that the music itself is as alive and vibrant as it's ever been.

There seems to be a very healthy and varied scene in Canada with acts like Lindi Ortega and Daniel Romano getting recognition. How has it been for you?

It's been great, we have a fantastic music scene in Canada with so many true music fans that support the artists.

 

You seem to be serious about what you do but are not taking yourselves to seriously. How do you find the balance there?

We love what we do but we don't ever want anything to be too precious, if you know what I mean. Tom and I have such a great time playing and every recording we've done has been approached with the same idea - lyrically it has to be interesting to us, there's got to be a twist, or some humour to keep it from getting to heavy and musically, we have to be able to recreate it live which means no sweeping orchestras or wild instrumentation.  We just want to make honest music that is enjoyable and interesting to the listener and to us.

The Rizdales play as the backing band with Wanda Jackson on her Canadian dates. Sound likea lot of fun.

It is so much fun! We're heading into a string of shows with Wanda in October and she's a real firecracker, she's an incredible performer and a very sweet person. It's been a thrill, we've worked with her for over 10 years now and she always puts on an amazing show.

Growing up when did you realize that Country Music was something you wanted to play and what other influences were you listening to in the past. Do those formative listening experiences have a part to play in how you approach your music now?

Tom grew up listening to country music because of his parents, but the first time the light bulb really went off for him that this was something he wanted to play was when Elvis Costello released Almost Blue. Tom was (and is) a huge Elvis fan and that was a turning point for him, he started going back into his parents library of music and rediscovering all the classics. I was brought up on Irish music, so I listened to the Furey's, the Dubliners, that kind of thing and then I discovered the Beatles and it wasn't until I was about 20 that I started listening to country music. Listening to the Rizdales original material you can really recognize those influences, it just comes out naturally in our writing.

What's the best and worst thing about playing in a band with your partner?

The best thing is working together on something we love and the fact that we get to travel together for our shows and truly share in an incredible experience. The downside is writing can be contentious at times - we're both pretty stubborn when we want something! It's also difficult because we have a family and being in the band together means both of us have to spend time away from our children, something we try to limit as much as possible.

What are the pitfalls of keeping a band like the Rizdales together?

I don't know, we've been doing this for about 13 years now and it's still going strong so I guess we haven't discovered any yet!

You obviously enjoy playing music together and performing. What are the best gigs done to date? 

One show that was incredibly special to us was our Ray Price Celebration at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas that took place last July. We had the most amazing musicians take part, Johnny Bush, who was a Cherokee Cowboy, played drums, Redd Volkaert on guitar, Kevin Smith on bass, Neil Flanz on pedal steel plus a bunch of wildly talented friends got up and sang with us. When you're standing on stage with these guys and you've got James Hand singing and a dance floor packed full of folks have a ball, there's just nothing better.  We're very happy to announce that our Ray Price Celebration in Austin will be an annual event, and we're heading back next July to do it again!

From your perspective what is the future for country music in the traditional sense?

I think it's flourishing as Ameripolitan music. Dale Watson has done an amazing job of increasing the profile of our kind of music. There are fantastic musicians all around the world playing honky tonk, classic country, western swing, rockabilly, etc. and the Ameripolitan movement has given them a banner, or a name to work under. The music will always survive but for too long people were so busy walking around complaining about the state of "country music" that they weren't moving forward, it was stagnant. That's done now, let the title "country music" stay with the folks who've got it, the name doesn't matter anymore. What matters is the music and it's alive and kicking.

You have plans to tour Europe next year. For many bands it is something that has to be set up with care given the restrictive costs involved. How do you approach both setting that up and the anticipated result?

We're in the planning stages of that now, we're looking for Ameripolitan friendly venues and we're excited to bring our Ray Price show over seas. It's probably the least fun part of the job, arranging all these details and managing the costs, but it'll be worth it in the long run!

Interview by Stephen Averill

Sam Outlaw Interview

With the release of his latest album Angeleno (following a self-relased album and an EP) Sam Outlaw has received favourable reviews and great exposure. The Californian has taken his take on classic country to the next level, recording with producers Ry and Joachim Cooder. after Joachim heard a demo tape and contact was made. Ry Cooder came to some live shows and asked to sit in with the band. He decided then to us the core of Outlaw’s band, including bassist Danny Garcia and steel player Jeremy Long. “From there I also added Bo Koster from My Morning Jacket. It was my call to add Bo on Wurlitzer, and fortunately Ry really liked his playing so it all worked out great.”

The new album revisited some of Outlaw’s material from his previous releases as well as new songs. This was a mutual decision between artist and his producers. “I knew that this album would get heard by significantly more people than anything else I’d released before, so I considered all my songs fair game. The recording process is, and should be, a learning situation. “I learned that my favorite way to record music is to start with the whole band tracking together. From there I can over-dub vocals if necessary, but there’s no better way to capture the “life” of a song than to just play the song; as opposed to building each track one instrument at a time.”  

Using your own band, rather session musicians, is something that happens more often in the indie area but after the recording the next step is playing live which can be done solo, with a small group or full band. Outlaw’s preference was to use his own regular band where possible; “I prefer to record songs with my regular players. There’s a better groove and by playing the songs live you get the chance to fine-tune the songs before you’re paying money for takes in the studio.” This is something that forms part of his mind-set when he writes;  “I write and arrange my songs typically with a full band in mind. Lead instruments, harmonies, etc. So playing solo is always a challenge for me since I typically have to re-work the arrangement of the tunes. Playing with a small acoustic group is significantly less challenging and much more fun than playing solo, since I enjoy performing music with people. The chemistry of live music is what I really look forward to at each show, so playing a whole set solo is admittedly not my favourite.”

For this album he has signed with Canadian label Six Shooter and that experience has been a positive one. “Six Shooter has been awesome. Having a team of people that believes in you and helps you pursue your dreams goes a long way.  I can’t say enough how thankful I am for that team and how much it encourages me to have some help along the way.” It reinforces the fact that having a support system - manager, label, crew etc - is something that most artists can benefit from. It also allows him to concentrate on his writing and performance as well as reaching a wider audience along the way. “I don’t think about bringing my music to a wider audience beyond wanting to play bigger shows. I’m just going to do what I think sounds and looks good and if other people like it – great! And fortunately I have a manager and good team of people who can help guide the marketing. I’m going to focus on being a better songwriter.” 

Being a songwriter is the core of what Outlaw is. His songs deal with the emotions and trials of love to a large degree. This is a universal subject, especially in country music, but one that needs to be considered from different emotional angles. “Every song can’t be about the same subject matter or you’ll just bore yourself to death. I don’t know if any emotion is necessarily (more) profound than lost love, but certainly some of my songs are about other emotions.” He feels his inspiration can be hard to pinpoint, but  overall was something that “comes from God, I think. I don’t really know”. Location, he opined, was a positive factor in his writing. “Angeleno could not have been made in any other place with any other players. A big part of the sound of this album comes from the life in Los Angeles and Southern California.” 

Much of Outlaw’s live performances have been in the US to date, but he recently completed a tour of Australia with Justin Townes Earle that proved successful on a number of levels. “I got along great with Justin and his fans were incredibly generous. Justin has developed an impressive following in Australia and the shows were all sold out. What more could I ask for?”  He has also played with other upcoming singer/songwriters like Cale Tyson. Both are part of an interesting resurgence of artists who draw on traditional country music, as well as other sources, that are currently quite different to what seems to be the staple of mainstream country radio. “If I had to take a wild guess, I would say audiences who want more ‘traditional’ or ‘classic’ sounding country probably aren’t dissatisfied with mainstream country radio because they don’t listen to country radio at all.” Outlaw also hopes to play dates in Europe next year.

In some pieces his choice of stage name has been a subject of comment and perhaps even controversy. Due in some part to the preconceived notion of what Outlaw music in country might be. “I’m not sure that using my mother’s maiden name is controversial. The Outlaw family is just as part of my blood as the Morgan family and I’m fortunate to feel love and support from both sides. I love the fact that I get to talk about my mom and her family and that using her maiden name provokes those conversations. And if the nature of the word “outlaw” prompts someone to check out my music who otherwise wouldn’t give it a shot then, great.” 

In the end that is what it comes down to. The music. Right now Sam Outlaw is making some of the best country music around. Take the time to listen.

Interview by Stephen Rapid. Text editing by Sandy Harsch

Gerald W Haslam’s book Workin’ Man Blues covers the rich heritage of California country music from the singing cowboys up to Dwight Yoakam and the artists in the 90s what do you feel about that tradition and it’s legacy?

The California country music in Haslam's book is nothing short of outstanding. Miraculous in a way. California has a reputation around the country and world that is, sadly, quite disconnected from reality. What is California? An aerospace mecca? Yes. A wine mecca? Yes. An entertainment mecca? Yes. A farming mecca? Yes. A Tech mecca? Yes and on and on. I can see why people don't think of it as a folk/country/roots music mecca, but they should. It's all here.

What is the current scene in LA and California like today, is it a healthy one or does it struggle to survive?

With the very rare exception an artist's life is always a struggle. The pay is low. The indignity high. Things tend to progress in tandem. It's easier than ever to record and release music, AND there is so much music flooding the world that fans can't make heads or tails of it. Those two things are both true, and connected.  It is so hard to catch someone's attention in this world, and even harder to hold it. That makes building a fan base harder than ever, BUT you have more tools to do it than ever. 

From an artistic standpoint LA has a rich scene of roots music. Lots of artists, lots of perspectives, lots of recordings and live shows. Are there enough fans to support this scene? It waxes and wains, but as the means of selling records in order to make a living has withered away ... so has the opportunity to break out in a big way. There's a reason that Dwight Yoakam is the last LA country music star on most people's lists. There's very little business left here to break artists to the nation or internationally.

The last three albums show a development of your direction as a musician do you intend to continue to explore the possibilities with a traditional country music frame work or do you see your self moving beyond those parameters? 

The answer to this question depends on the day of the week and my mood. Buck Owens. I love Buck and he kind of invented a style of music. But there was very little variation in what he did. If you ever sit and listen to a Buck Owens LP, you find he did one or two things and that is all. It can get boring. But he knew how to build a brand, and people knew what they were going to get from Buck Owens. 

The worst thing you can do with your career when you're trying to make a name for yourself is swing from style to style. the world needs a handle for you, and you're making it hard to find the handle when one record is honky tonk and the next one is reggae and the next one is modern country. Willie Nelson can do that now. Elvis Costello can do that now. They've earned the right to play in these other genres, but lesser known people better not.  

So, you have to balance the business concerns with your artistic desires. I love many style of music. It would thrill me to make each recording very different. Texas Swing! Singer-songwriter! Bluegrass! Countrypolitan! That would be a blast. But I have to do these things with some sense of the audience and who I am to them. 

So, the answer is I have to be me AND I have to be aware of my public personae. It's that duality again. 

What are the key sounds that have influenced your musical directions?

This would be a book that I should write someday. It is a ridiculous collection of disparate sources and sounds. Van Halen guitar is one of the most moving sounds I've ever heard. Lyle Lovett's band has had a profound affect on me. Loretta Lynn's voice. Rush is how I learned how to play the guitar. Johnny Cash's ability to be deadly...DEADLY and then funny. That music makes me wanna to jump for joy. Then there's BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, who I consider the most important solo artist in rock music, and a huge influence on me.

If I had to pick one artist that I consider my north star it would be Merle Haggard. The range of songs he can write, his voice, the way he combines a simple song with a complex rhythm that makes things more interesting, but never gets in the way. He is a master. 

Do you agree with the notion that striving for authencity in country music is somewhat false in that the lifestyles of those who initially played and listened to that form of music have radically changed?

I'm not sure what "authenticity in country music" would be. For example, if The Carter Family wrote a song about a mountain stream in 1925, I could write a song about that same stream in 2015. Both could be authentic and effective. If Hank Williams wrote a song about being poor in 1950, I could write about being poor in 2015. The details should be different, if you are going to include details. But the power of the song would be unchanged. 

I wrote a song called, Not That Kind of Cowboy about an experience I had that seems to touch on your question. I was in a club and a woman got in my face because she thought my cowboy hat would not be effective out on the range. She thought I was being inauthentic. I had to tell her, "I don't ride the range. I'm not pretending to ride the range. My hat is for something else." She couldn't understand that. As long as artists don't pretend to be a farmer, or a hobo, or something else they aren't I don't see that its a problem to write about the unchanging elements of the human condition. 

How relevant is the music now and It would seem that it is with what you are writing, such as one song mentioning an enlarged prostrate?

My songwriting is driven by the stories I want to tell. Simple as that. If I want to tell the story of a man in 1960, I use that world as my reference point. Whatever I need to tell a particular story I use. If it's relevant to make use of the words "cell phone" in a song I'll do it, even though it may date the song eventually. 

In that light country music with more traditional roots seems to have found a second home in Europe which is, in truth, very removed from an link to a specifically American environment.

This is a very sad truth. Dale Watson, who is one of the true American country artists working today, posted some time ago that he was having a hard time selling tickets to a show, in a pretty small venue, in Birmingham, Alabama. This had a tremendous affect on me. Alabama, my home state and the home of Hank Williams and others is one of the cradles of country music. Yet the people there have been so captured by the Red State Rock/Pop Country coming from Nashville that he couldn't sell 200 tickets in Birmingham. 

That said, I couldn't be happier that people in Europe understand and value this music.

You look like you had fun making the video for Trouble Knows which has the band visually reflecting the changes in style in country music since the 50s. Which of these eras would you have most liked to have performed in?

That's a hard question to answer honestly. It's easy for me to say, "I'd love to be playing country music in 1950." But of course, I don't know anything about what it was like. I can imagine riding around the south in a car, selling records out of the trunk, eating road food, and being ripped off by promoters...and it sounds pretty similar to making music in 2015. I can tell you I love the country music of 1950, and 1965 and 1978. After that, things get less interesting from a mainstream stand point until the early 2000's when Americana music become an important force. 

How hard is it to keep a consistent band from tour to tour and album to album. Does it need blood to bring new opportunities?

I have not found it hard to keep a band together. That probably has something to do with the music and with how I treat the people in my band. I try to write the best, most honest music I can every time I'm at bat. I don't coast. I don't say, "Well, this one is shite and doesn't matter." I take it seriously and I think players want to work with someone who loves the music and treats it with respect. I also love musicians. I know some bandleaders that loath the people in their band. They see them like dogs or horses to whip and discard. That's bullshit to me. We're a team and you're not on my team unless I like the way you think about music, the way to talk to our fans, and the way you treat your band mates.

I'm also have a deep respect for them creatively. Yes, I write the songs. but we sit in the studio together and arrange everything. I may have veto power, but I want every drop of creative juice these people have to give me. You don't get that by ruling with an iron first. We've got to jive together.

It can be fun to bring in a new person. That's fresh and exciting. But I want deep rich relationships with the people in my band. I want to raise my eyebrow and have them know what I'm saying. That only comes with years of brotherhood. 

  

Was punk a part of your musical upbringing as it seems to be a factor in a lot of people playing country now?

I always liked the attitude of punk more than punk music. Check that. I loved original punk. British Punk. First generation American Punk. I couldn't follow where punk went in the 1980's. It stopped being about change and started being nilistic. That doesn't make any sense to me. I played in bands that were rooted in punk rhythms and sneering lyrics, but compared to the punks of their day we were light weight.

The reason so many country people embrace punk is because the sense of being an outsider with nothing to lose is common to both worlds. When I see Hank Williams III swinging between honky tonk and punk it makes sense. It's the music of the downtrodden. 

Your blog about not streaming your current album Hope Your Happy Now makes some very valid points. What has been the reaction?

Tremendous reaction. Clearly it struck a nerve with musicians and fans. I've had some people follow me in the direction of no-streaming, and some fellow musicians say they just can't take the chance. Daniel Lanois' company touched base with me and asked if I had an interest in participating with their company which streams and pay artists 50% of the revenue. It's a good opportunity to clarify my thoughts on the issue. I'm not against streaming, per se. I'm against artists not being compensated for their work. They can be cheated out of this compensation in two ways. One, a company could refuse to charge listeners a fair amount for the stream of music. Two, a company could charge a fair amount and then keep most/all of the money. Either way the creator of the music has no incentive to participate.

Then there is a third issue that complicates this streaming business. The market will bear very little cost. In other words, if a company wanted to do the right thing and charge listeners a reasonable price, there's a good chance that the business would fail because people have been conditioned to believe that music should all be free or almost free. Given all these facts, I think it's best to just walk away from the whole mess. 

Do you feel that the mainstream push for an ever expanding audience by adding pop, rap and hair metal will eventually, if it hasn’t already, make the name country music irrelevant?

It will be interesting to see how Pop Country finally explodes. In the USA, country music could hardly be more relevant. It's the dominant CD sales format. It's the dominant radio format. It's got 4 or 5 yearly "award TV shows" which are just promotional platforms for the artists. The business side of it has been a phenominal success. It is largely indistiguishable from pop or rock music. Is Taylor Swift a country artist or a pop artist? Who knows? There's no difference. Yet it has succeeded in ways that pop or rock have not. There are large and successful country music labels, for example. In the rock world labels have largely died.

Typically things only fail when they are compared to something else. Hair Metal died the day Nirvana hit the radio because in comparison Hair metal seemed fake and ridiculous. Is there a Nirvana of country music out there? Could be, but the business is now much better at shunting off threatening acts into sub channels they own. You're never going to hear me or Justin Townes Earl on mainstream country radio, whereas Nirvana was all over rock radio and MTV. They've got CMT Edge for real country and that's where they stash things that don't help them sell records but lend credibility to their effort. It's a ghetto and they own it. 

If I was forced to predict where the whole modern country thing will be in 10 years, I suspect that smart people that run that business will let enough real country in to maintain their credibility and keep enough beefcake and hot young chicks to sell to the mainstream. So, there will be a few lucky winner from the California Country and Texas Country scenes...a few.

What are your hopes for the future of your music and the genre in general?

I think Americana/Roots music has a bright future, especially here in the states. The more people become tired and jaded with fake, silly music the more their hearts will ache for something authentic. They will want a music made by real people, talking about real human issues. They will pay more for it because it will be handmade and not mass produced. It would be great if we could build a system to serve this music to people in a measured way, instead of the insane music firehouse of content we have now. There must be some gatekeeper that helps us maintain quality, but I think we'll figure that out. I know this much. If people listen to the music I make, they tend to like it. So, that makes the challenges pretty clear.

You founded California Roots Union with fellow musician David Serby what are the aims for it?

We want to make California Country Music as well known as the Nashville and Texas varieties. It's that simple. When you start from zero, which is where the awareness of this branch of the genre is at right now, it's easy to make a big impact. We want to promote the acts that live, write and perform in California. We want to make this style a brand that exports to Europe as well as to other parts of this country.

Interview by Stephen Rapid

Interview with Dar Williams

In a career that has spanned over 20 years, Dar Williams has arrived at the top of her climb towards international recognition as an artist of great empathy, insight, and literacy.

As a performer and writer she has delivered an impressive body of work that has been praised for the depth and scope in tackling many different subjects, the human condition and the manner in which we encounter matters of the heart. She can be regarded as a tuning fork for the emotional landscape that we negotiate, whether looking internally or externally, in trying to bring change to our external environment.

In recent years she has broadened her horizons to become a published novelist, lecturer, music teacher in schools and colleges, humanitarian worker and her focus on a broad literary palette has sparked these complimentary interests that also serve her song-writing muse.

Just before her recent concert at the Workman's Club in Dublin, Dar sat down with Lonesome Highway to chat about her career and her current state of mind, among other topics.

You are here to showcase Emerald, which is your 9th studio release. I should ask if the title has been inspired by previous trips that you have taken in our Emerald Isle?

Perhaps a little bit... The title track has a line that says "unbeknownst to my pride I have filled my memories with these hours of golden Emerald light." The song refers to the fact that the beauty of some places I travel to became what my memories look like. I don't remember the small detail of the days but more the sense of open spaces, fields and beautiful sea coasts and I was aware that that would lean towards an Irish experience.

It has been 3 years since the last release ‘In the Time of Gods’ which was inspired by Greek Mythology. Can you tell me a little about the songs on the new release and what has inspired them?

A lot of them are pretty loose and about different kinds of relationship. There is some taking away some of the epic curtains of the last release and there are a lot of friends on Emerald who helped me write it so there is a lot of friendship in the songs. I took off the Valkyrie costume and there is a lot of one-on-one influence.

A visit to an orphanage in Honduras inspired one song (Girl of the World) where teaching girls to write poetry was potentially dangerous. Learning to speak your mind to find out your poetic sensibility is like letting a Jeanie out of the bottle. So you are allowing yourself to understand what is really true for you in a country where you have to fit yourself into your role, both as a female and as a citizen of Central America, which has been used as a drug corridor, the supermarket of the United States; that has been used and abused. Speaking your mind can be subversive. Every person in every country and culture has that moment where you realise that expressing yourself is somewhat subversive but you still have to do it because it is what makes you feel alive. What I loved about the experience was that the girls down there were acutely aware of what the stakes were.

How do you approach the process of writing a song; is it usually a lyrical idea first or a melody that you develop?

What usually happens is that they come together. When I was in Ireland in 2003 I was walking down the road and heard a line ‘who’s afraid of the sun’? I thought what a taunting question, almost neo-conservative. So I thought, why would you be afraid of the sun and I thought of the Sun King and then the subject of Empire arose for me as the United States was involved in a lot of quasi empire building with George Bush just come to office. So I sat with this as the first line of a new song (Empire 2005) and then rolled it out slowly to try and understand the voice that was saying that line in my head.

You are also open to co-writing songs and I wondered if it is constraining having to work with the compromise of another songwriter influence or does the discipline that it brings carry a greater reward? 

The discipline is good, keeping yourself on track and focused is always good. Then there is a moment when that person says something that you don’t agree with fundamentally and you have to use your songwriter skills to come up with a language that says ‘no-way’ - so you shift your song-writing expertise to your diplomacy expertise and you work your way out of the ditch of not seeing eye to eye and you go forward. It’s always good for certain songs. Once you have revealed things about yourself, you talk about your highs and lows, to establish that you are safe in that vulnerable place, then you can go forward and establish trust.

Is the same true for working with producers on your recordings? Do they always bring what you had originally imagined in your mind’s eye before you hired them?

No, for example, on my record the Green Room I tried to micro-manage what I heard in my head but everything that I loved on that record was something that I didn’t like at the time, but it grew on me. It made me realise that musicians have their own thing and it can be funny when you get a bad review about the production; it can be because you let somebody try something.

99% of the time, letting a person do what they do is the right thing. Sometimes you may just have the wrong musician and that can be difficult. Producers that I love tend to bring in musicians that I love.

You are very inclusive with inviting famous musicians to play on your records. You do not seem to be threatened by their fame and take the approach of ‘come one, come all’.

Everybody I know is like that and they are people with established solo careers  and they bring their ingredients in. You can tweak it also to suit what you hear in your head. There is a funny little elfin voice that tells me to listen to the suggestions of other musicians or producers, be it a subtle chord change or a harmony idea.

You grew out of the folk music scene and I wanted to ask whether the media inclination to box you into that genre is frustrating? 

It’s not a real issue. What is nice is that I teach a course about music movement and I lead song-writing retreats. I weigh in with socio-political issues and am invited to art openings, so in a sense whatever I am has been placed inside the larger culture and academic musings of what is going on – I am as much what I am, as Emmylou Harris or anybody, so I feel like people don’t talk as much of my genre but more about me and my sensibility in general and that has broadened. I feel like a grown up!!

Emerald is the first release that you have crowd funded. How did you find the experience?

I loved it but there is an enthusiasm to push it as just this fan-based thing. The wider expectation that someone will end up with your signed sneakers is something that is strange. The more we deflated the celebrity then the more comfortable I felt. In reality, it is just another way to pre-order a record, another new model of commerce.

It paid for the album and you want a stand- alone product that pays for the studio, the musicians, their expertise and you want to support the eco system of music makers. Producers do what I cannot do and then you are mixing it, mastering it, packaging it and promoting it – labels did all of that. Record labels sell units whether digital or physical.

It was good for me, fun for me and profitable for me but it is not a sustainable model. A lot of people have left the industry or pared down activities. It is up to the audience, if they want to hear great music and see great bands, then the ethos has to change. Music has to be bought.

Your touring pays for your music and your lifestyle. I teach song-writing at university and it is exactly what I want to be doing right now but in a couple of years I guess that I would not have a choice. Spotify has been a real issue and why would a person ever buy an album again if they can get it immediately for free? Bjork asked that artists be put on Spotify a year after the album is out, so first people will buy the music. There is a different listening experience now and people are trying to address these issues.

The insight and compassion that you bring to your writing has endeared you to so many. What is your perspective on the essential glue that binds us together?

I am writing a book right now that has to do with how when you start with your values of love and peace and you say I am going to build the world around these values, then it just kind of falls apart in hypocrisy. But if you don’t try to build community; just open a café where a depressed teenager can sit for a couple of hours and not be kicked out, or plough a hill and invite people to bring their sleds. I think the glue is that we truly all want to meet together in the comments but there is always language that we have inside and outside ourselves that bristles at intimacy.

What I have noticed in towns and cities that succeed is that no-one talks about love and peace but they have these things as part of the environment and tolerance. We need to create all of the right conditions, for one another, to make room for each other and this is my post Aquarian philosophy. 

You still include many of the old songs in your set. How do they look from your older perspective when you look back now?

I recently did the 20^th anniversary of the Honesty Room and I was cringing a little because I thought that I would not like these songs. They were written with a lot of care at the time and I’m a different person now.  That album ended up being a letter to myself, to go ahead and radically change your life, because you have to. I see a girl in a car heading out on her breadcrumb path. It is not who I am now but I can still access that.

Do you feel the weight of expectation when you write now?

No, but every song that you write has a whole bunch of voices telling you that it’s boring, too derivative, too long, too short… The one thing I have learned is to just push them aside and keep on walking. Whether it is other people or in my head, it doesn’t matter.

Between touring schedules you keep busy with a number of other interests and projects, a number of which you have already mentioned; college and school workshops, song-writing camps, two books written for adolescent market. How fulfilling is this?

Once I opened the door to trying something different, then I never closed that door again and so I developed into these things. I wrote a Green Blog for the Huffington Post for a year and interviewed a congressman about hemp and marijuana use. Then I looked at American town building and gave a lecture about this, plus I have a book contract and teach a course in music. 

Everything that I go into, as long as I reach my hands out to the left and right and take people along with me, I have these instincts but am more than happy for guidance and input. Whether musically or on a new endeavour, it is all just looking beyond one colour and I have a different life than before which is very fulfilling and where I want to be right now.

Interview by Paul McGee.   Photograph by Ronnie Norton 

Interview with JP Harris

JP Harris was born in 1983 in Montgomery Alabama, which claims it is Hank Williams’ Snr. hometown. “You know the song (Kaw Liga) about a wooden Indian statue? Well my parents used to go to a diner where they had that wooden Indian that he wrote the song about standing outside”. But it was in punk rock where JP first made a musical mark and that experience was a formative one. “I’m still a punk rocker at heart. I think that the DIY ethos of punk music and culture is what really stuck with me in my later life. It drove all the decisions I made outside of music. I feel fortunate to have grown up in my teenage years in punk. I gained a lot of useful life skills from it”. I wondered; was he influenced by the 80’s cowpunk movement at all? “Well my whole crew listens to a lot of different stuff and there was so much of that hillbilly/outlaw stuff crossing over into what we did. There was a peripheral rockabilly scene but we were really into a more 70s and 80s stuff from England and Sweden. I’d heard country music a lot when I was growing up. But it was when I left home at 14 that I started to identify more with the Johnny Cash and Hank Williams message. It started to make sense to me a little more”.

We talked about our respective musical paths and my involvement with punk through my band The Radiators from Space. I told him of my journey to country via punk and electronic music. JP explained how for a time he moved away from loud electric guitars and listened to a lot of old time music. “There is an inter-connectedness with all times of music, but there was a time when I was disillusioned with punk. I think I grew out of some of it while other parts of it I still absolutely loved. It was more I grew out of the culture of inaction in the scene. There was a lot of rhetoric that wasn’t backed up. So when I was 16, I left cities for good”. He spent the next 13 years living in the country where he did a variety of jobs including logger and carpenter as well as working with heavy machinery such as bulldozers, and also a time sheep herding for some Navajo ladies. In the live show he spoke of an injury sustained while trying to multi-task - hauling a bulldozer balanced with logs while trying to text a girlfriend!

He listened to lot of early country music and immersed himself in old time string bands and at 18 he started to play the banjo. He also then worked with a banjo maker learning how to build them. “That became an all consuming life for me. All I wanted to do was go to fiddler’s conventions all summer long and play music till the sun came up. So, at that time, I was really opposed to plugging anything in, even people putting pickups on their guitars”. He played at a lot of square dances playing around the single condenser microphone the way it had been done in the past. “I reset my musical clock. I’d started with music from the Civil War and earlier and progressed through the Carter Family. It’s a very powerful community and I basically forged my career out of that old time music. The more I became a singer the more I began to get into the country and bluegrass stuff and that progressed into the kind of country I play now”. That sound incorporates some western swing and 70s country as well as Bakersfield, outlaw and truckin’ elements. It is an overview of classic country at its best.

JP began to notice that many of the people he played with also played with other bands. He has toured as a duo with Chance McCoy opening for Old Crow Medicine Show. “I became aware that they played old time as an inner passion but had other options to play”. He knew that he had a base of people who potentially would come and see him because of his reputation in the old time music scene. That spurred him back to the idea of playing electric music again. He misses that side of his music but will doubtless revisit it again. I mentioned how JD Wilkes had balanced his work as a solo artist with the Dirt Daubers and The Legendary Shack Shakers. “Over the years people have asked if I’m ever going to incorporate any of the old time stuff into the set. But while I love that stuff, it was more to do with the community aspect and [while] I do appreciate the people who perform it professionally, it has never called to me although I had an old time band just before I started this”. He had realized that in playing the acoustic music outside of that community, he was beginning to water it down. “We were used to playing banjo tunes for 5 to 10 minutes and now they need to be around 2 minutes. When me and Chance got together to tour that was a way to step back into that, but with his schedule with Old Crow it’s a little harder”. But it was an opportunity for both to step away from what they were doing with their main bands. “It was a way to reconnect with that music”.

Bluegrass and old-time have obvious similarities but JP reasoned that bluegrass was more of a performance format while old time was meant more for dancing to. Both, for him, are more oriented to a back porch setting that to bars and smaller venues. He sees the music growing as an important part of the music developing and noted the inclusion of drums to the Old Crow lineup as adding a new dimension to their sound. As is the bringing in of pedal steel - an instrument I have seen but not heard in the mix at recent more mainstream acts gigs. “Jimmy Martin used have a snare drum but then there was this weird new traditions thing that didn’t allow it”.

Much of the old time music was used as dance music and what he does with The Tough Choices is similar. Indeed back in the States people nearly always dance at the gigs. Not so here though, as we are often more reserved at gigs and being seated doesn’t usually help. But there is another side to what JP is doing. “For me playing country music is that it is just as important that it be a community function as it was when I played old time music”. He thought that musicians often evolve by pushing the limits of what they do, and try to reach a broader audience by branching away from traditional county which is something that, at this point, he has no intention of doing. We discussed the current crop of major label acts who add rap and soulless rock to their definition of country, while alt. country acts should also shoulder some responsibility for taking the music away from its roots. Some of those albums were really just singer/songwriter style, which may have included a banjo or steel guitar, but that didn’t make them country. Country really can’t stray too far from its roots before it becomes something else. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it belongs in another genre. JP thought that “over the last three or four years I have really softened that edge, it’s the same detriment to a style of music that to reference it by name but to water it down by bringing in a lot of other influences so it barely resembles the original thing. Adding a Telecaster doesn’t make a country band in itself, that would be like saying that the Drive by Truckers were a traditional country band which they weren’t. The same thing is true of modern pop country. It would be great if we could name what we do as hillbilly rock or something”.

“The biggest crime in the whole thing and I’m not going to feel bad for myself about it is that there are a ton of people for whom it is almost a family tradition to be country music fans. Their parents and grandparents listened to country music so they’ve just grown with it and they don’t hear it”. He knows that there are a lot of people coming to his shows who tell him they are so sick of what’s being played on country radio, that 1 in every 40 songs is a country song. But he also feels that there may be recognition of the fact that there is an audience for something truer. The success of Sturgill Simpson is an indicator of that. As is Jamey Johnson, who he feels makes music that is very commercial and modern. “There’s a message, a vocal style and a song writing capacity, that is very true to the original themes of country music in what he does even if he has a glossy Nashville production and some rock guitars in there. I think that the doors are going to have to slowly swing open”. Amen to that. JP hopes for a time like that when Dwight Yoakam got through the cracks and showed that there were alternatives to the mainstream that could still sell a lot of records.

There was a time in the 90s that he felt the older generation could hear in Alan Jackson or Randy Travis a continuation of the music they loved, but would now not recognise it at all. I know from experience when you went down to Robert’s back in the day, there were couple in their 90s dancing along side 19 years olds which is something that wouldn’t happen now outside of some small local honky tonk when the right type of band is playing. “Nobody’s grandparents particularly want to listen to Jason Aldean” he opines.

I asked JP about the sort of country he felt most at home with and he said that he’d been aware of the 40s and 50s music for a while and there were a number of bands that reference that era very closely in sound and who were perhaps a little stagnant. He never wants to be pinned down in any one sub genre of county music and he felt that in some ways he has ruined old time music for himself. He explained “Once I went on tour with this old time band in bars and clubs and I realised that while this is the environment I wanted to be in, these instruments don’t have the power to hold their own in these places”. He had been listening to a lot more of the 60s and 70s country and it had opened his mind up to that music. “I feel that the 60s are really the heyday”. We talked about Buck and Merle and that Bakersfield sound. (JP Harris has in recent time become friendly with the great Red Simpson and plays Simpson’s songs in his live set). “You had hillbilly bop and honky tonk two-step which then led, at the tail end of the 60s, to the outlaw sound”. The airwaves were open to hard Buck Owens next to the Beatles next to Otis Redding on the radio; an openness that now, sadly, for the most part has been lost. It was an era he felt that revolutionised and revitalised the music. Times were changing and that was having an effect on songwriting too “the lyricism then became a little deeper, people were better educated so writers could be a little more analogous about the stories they were telling”.

On his new album there is one song he said the band call the “arena hit” because it could be a George Strait song from 1983. Then there are songs that sound like they could be from 1962. He doesn’t feel the need to pigeonhole himself to one sound. He hopes that the recent success of the indie label which released Simpson, an act whose music he really admires, might become even more so when his next album on Atlantic Records is released. “I think Sturgill covered a wide range of topics and sounds on both his albums. County music often recycles sounds and themes and there’ve been psychedelic country records in the past, but no one has done that in so long and he did it with a cool, individual approach. He and I had several conversations about the music”.

He concluded by saying “my music is personal and is current. I’m not just trying to recycle the same ideas. The title track of my first record is about an answering machine. Back then in 1960 when the sound of that song was set, an answering machine didn’t exist”. In other words this is an evolving music, one that remains true to JP Harris, his life and the language and mores of today, yet it would be recognisable to someone who was a fan back in the 1960s. That’s the way it should be.

Interview by Stephen Rapid   Text editing by Sandy Harsch  Photography by Ronnie Norton

 

If like me you are a recent recruit to April’s Army then you’re probably familiar with Miss Verch’s career to date but a first time visitor can be prepared for an acoustic musical experience quite a bit different from their previous expeditions into the Trad/Old Timey/Roots Americana world. April Verch and her two on stage pals are here to listen, assess audience reaction and deliver an evening that sort of defies categorization. If you want a pre taster then go no further than the first track, Belle Election from her most recent CD The Newpart a 14 track tour through as many musical styles as I can count on both hands. Belle Election is an audio nutshell of the performance to be savoured from these three fine musicians. With stunning fiddle, exquisite flatpicking, solid base and an jntro to April’s intricate dancing that will have you on your feet and joining in from the first few taps,

I’ve been a fan since I searched April on the web a few years back following the release of That’s How We Run a mind-blowing album featuring the traditional music of the US rather than her usual fare from her native Canada. It featured an A-List  of players too numerous to name here but a mention of Bobby Hicks and my heroes Riley Bauguss and Dirk Powell should help to set the bar for your listening pleasure.  She followed this in 2013 with another blockbuster, Bright Like Gold a twenty track beauty and I’ll just say that having Sammy Shelor, Mac Wiseman and Bruce Molsky on board may have been responsible for me almost wearing a hole in the CD from constant replaying in my car.

Her latest release The Newpart will I’m sure form a goodly part of her concert material and is a tribute to her family history and that room back home that nurtured her love of all things musical and gave us the consummate musician that is today’s April Verch. She is without doubt one of the world’s best traditional fiddlers , a singer of such style that would have many of the “Chantoosies” of many a gin joint green with envy and a step dancer who can tap, clog and perform leaping twirls that put me and my camera to the pin of our collars just trying to keep up.

My first live encounter with April was at last years Ulster American Bluegrass Festival in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, where she and her band entertained us over three days delivering different sets each time, winning new fans with each performance and the thing that fascinated me most was to see her join in as many off stage jam sessions as she could squeeze in. I recently asked her for her thoughts on jumping into jams and her answer took me a little by surprise. She loves to jam and will always leave having learned a new tune or song but she would never presume to upstage the jammers, preferring instead to just join in at her comfort level, admitting that Bluegrass is not her strongest genre, and enjoy the learning experience.

Her dedication to improving her musical skills is summed up in this story, how years ago at a local fiddler’s monthly dance in her native Ottawa Valley, this young prodigy much loved and encouraged by the older players, noticed that when she played a waltz the dancers didn’t fill the floor even though she felt she had the correct tone and technique. Her Dad persuaded her to listen to how the older and sometimes scratchy fiddlers’ playing got the folks up dancing. That lesson lives with her today and honed her ear to the timings and traditions that move the dancing soul.

April was born, resides in and returns regularly to her family home in Pembroke Ontario in her beloved Ottawa Valley. Her Mom and Dad still live in the old family schoolhouse with the Newpart extension now celebrated in her most recent CD. This is her cocoon where she recharges her batteries after her many trips abroad, topping up on the people and culture, so much a part of her young life and which she feels compares very favourably with the culture of this green and mystic isle.

Her earliest musical experiences were listening to her Dad’s Country band playing at the local dance halls. Her parents were and still are huge music fans. So much so that she grew up thinking that every kid must have had the same love for music that she had right from the cradle. She was nurtured by the local musicians who recognizing the future that lay ahead of this cute but talented  child prodigy, schooled her in all aspects of her obvious career. They especially trained her in the business side of a touring musician’ life to avoid the pitfalls that might take the gloss off a shining stage career.

When I asked if she hated being dragged to music lessons she hesitated slightly but honestly replied that her dancing lessons came first, in group sessions which she loved. She started fiddle lessons at about 9 years old and flourished in her old timey styling but some interested observers suggested to her Dad that she was in danger of developing some bad habits and playing techniques which might be impossible to correct later. So classical lessons soon followed that although she later appreciated them, took her attention away from her preferred old time fiddle tunes. So like all youngsters she persevered and those classical lessons laid the foundation for the impeccable fiddle playing which has lifted her to the pinnacle of her profession.

I was very curious as to which came first the fiddle or the dancing shoes and with a grin she referred to some old family photos that prove she was dancing before she could even walk. So she strapped on her dancing shoes to follow in awe in the footsteps of her older sister Tawnya, picking up her fiddle along the way and the rest as they say is history..

April constantly refers to the Ottawa Valley style, a culture which like many other Canadian styles is historically driven by the settlers in any region. The Ottawa Valley drew many settlers to the lumber camps from Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany and Poland. And it is that distillation like a fine blended whiskey, of all these cultures that gives rise to those hard driving rhythms with a particular emphasis on dance music.  She proudly announced that the first music at a local wedding is when all the assembled guests gather for an Old Timey dance. How beautiful that must be to experience.

April will be travelling with two amazing musicians and since this is an equal opportunity band you can expect full participation from all involved. Cody Walters from Kansas has been with her since 2007 and lays down a solid backbone bass but with base or his clawhammer banjo he is never too shy to step out front and entertain. Hayes Griffin joined the band three years ago and his flatpicking guitar style much influenced by his hero Tony Rice, has to be up there with the best I’ve ever heard. These guys are a serious group of dedicated musicians who constantly seek to push the envelope on their many styles by searching, listening and working together while on and off the road to bring the best they possibly can to each new audience.

Every artist has musical heroes and April is no different. When quizzed on who would she most like to play with she had no hesitation in lamenting the fact that although she had met him a few times she never did get to play with the great John Hartford, a musicians musician who is close to the heart of all of us who love the sound of an old time fiddle or banjo. There is also a whole list of local musicians that she still has to tick off her must play with bucket list.  This led to an obvious question from me as to which of her recorded projects still gives her goosebumps. Modesty again took over and she admitted to seldom listening to her previous recordings but the project that her Dad recorded and the recent albums with Sam Bush, Mac Wiseman, Riley Bauguss and Dirk Powell hold a very special place in her heart.

Finally digging into her chill out time I discovered that she has stashed away a copy of Pink’s Greatest Hits that gets headphone time and an opportunity to bop away in private hoping that nobody gets to see.

As an aging folkie from the 60’s I have had the chance to enjoy many live performances through the years but this little lady and her two partners on stage  offer a visual and musical treat that I will value for many years to come.

Text and photography by Ronnie Norton