What first got you into music?
My parents, who were both musicians.
Who inspired you to make music?
The afore-mentioned parents!
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
I’d say it’s a mix of the old and the new; americana/roots music infused with indie-pop production elements.
Can you discuss a career achievement you’re aiming for?
Those achievements are actually harder to define now; when the recorded music business died, those traditional career mileposts died along with it. I’m looking inward these days regarding any goals or achievements; did I make a better record this year than I did last year? Did I do more tour dates, or play to larger audiences? Was my music used in more films and TV shows than it was last year? I guess ultimately, do more people know about my music – and BUY it, not stream it – than last year?
If you do this long enough, you eventually learn to measure yourself against only one person – that guy in the mirror.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
Just ride it out and you’ll be ready when the muse returns. And then, if you wait, you’ll write something meaningful and worthwhile. Sometimes that’s a few weeks, sometimes it can be the better part a year. The best thing you can do for your craft in that situation is to stop trying to make music, because if you keep forcing it, you’re going to make crappy music. Which is worse than making no music at all.
What album do you recommend everyone should listen to?
It’s impossible to pick just one, but I’ll go with the one I heard most recently. Last week I put on Joshua Judges Ruth by Lyle Lovett, which I hadn’t heard in years. That was the latest case of, “God DAMN I forgot what a great album this was.”
Can you share one of your favorite music-related memories?
Years ago my folks wanted to do an album of duets, so I brought them into my studio in my house in Atlanta. I backed them up on bass and mandolin and a few other instruments, and we banged the whole thing out in a weekend. I still love listening to those recordings, and, years later, I have an even greater sense now of their arranging skills, particularly their sense of vocal arrangements. That’s a document that will last for a lifetime, and I consider myself immeasurably wealthy fortunate for that experience.
What’s your go-to song or artist when you need a boost?
This is funny – there’s an old album by Jerry Jeff Walker from the early seventies called “Viva Terlingua.” It was a real loose, low-budget affair, recorded live at some roadhouse in Texas. I’m pretty sure that album went nowhere in its day, and I don’t even recall how I came across it many years after its release, but I learned recently that it has somehow, improbably, garnered its own considerable cult following. The first track on that album is called “Gettin’ By.” Any time I’ve ever been overwhelmed or stressed out, I put that tune on and it talks me right down.
Do you have a favorite venue to play at or attend concerts?
A few of my favorites in Europe have been the Norwich Guildhall (England) Die Weberei in Gutersloh (Germany), and Kulturhuset Islands Brygge in Copenhagen (Denmark). In America, it would be the Paramount Theater in Huntington (New York), and a terrific outdoor venue I just did for the first time recently; Fr8yard in Spartanburg (South Carolina). Sadly, the flipside of playing for a living is that I rarely, if ever, get to see concerts. I think the last concert I saw was the Black Crowes at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, like maybe in 2005 or something.
Who would you swap lives with for a day in the music industry?
Bob Seger. No entourage, no paparazzi, no ego or star-trip bullshit. Made his music, made his money, and just went home and lived his life privately on his own terms. No one at that level of fame and accomplishment was ever that grounded and humble.
What’s your favorite music decade and why?
I’m partial to the 70s. It was the final chapter of people making music before they started faking it. Think about it; before MTV came along, if your bass player was ugly, too bad – that’s what people saw. Suddenly, in the early 80s, it was all about spectacle and artifice. Your ugly bass player wasn’t in the video; you just got some telegenic model to stand there holding a bass. Then they went one step further; instead of spiffing up ugly musicians, they just cultivated phony acts from the ground up, casting “bands” from modeling agencies. Music was no longer meant to be heard, it was meant to be seen. And nobody cared; it was accepted. The strings were now part of the puppet show. I know that was a long time ago, but we’ve been suffering from the same strain of terminal bullshit ever since.
What’s a truly unforgettable concert you’ve attended?
Man, like I said, I wish I COULD go to concerts.
Tell me about your most recent released song
I don’t really have a latest “song” per se – I just released an entire two-volume live set. I got blindsided last year with a cancer diagnosis. When you get hit with that kind of news, your life flashes in front of you. I had released five records, and I thought, “Is this what I’ll leave behind? Is this all I’ll have to be remembered by after I’m gone?” I’d spent the last few years working my tail off doing live dates. I’d made a living at it and enjoyed so many great moments interacting with people, but all that was fleeting. It doesn’t get documented, like when you go into the studio and make a record.
Then I remembered that a tiny fraction of that work actually had been recorded. I went through all the shows we’d done recently that were captured on multi-track. There weren’t a whole lot of them, but we went with what we had.
The first volume is all stripped-down or solo stuff, and the second volume is all stuff with the band. It’s essentially a snapshot of what’s been my setlist for the past several years. It’s also kind of a retrospective for me, sort of an end of an era, because I’m going to be moving on from a lot of these songs. They’ve done their duty, and I’ve got a whole new batch of music coming. Unless you want to have like a frigging five-hour show, you’ve got to eventually roll over the setlist and retire some things to make room for new music.
So far, it looks like I’ve beaten this cancer thing for the time being. I had a tumor removed and the cancer doesn’t seem to have spread, but we’re keeping a close eye on it. The silver lining here is that, after receiving that diagnosis, I went out every night and savored every note. It’s a blessing to be able to do this for a living, and I’ll never take it for granted again. But I have no delusions about cancer; I’m OK for now, but I’ll be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.