The Cowboy Junkies Interview

It would be a mistake to underestimate the influence the Cowboy Junkies have had. Simply put, they were alt-country before that labeled even existed and they have had a huge impact on bands and musicians over the last twenty-some years. Michael, Margo, and Peter Timmins as well as Alan Anton formed the band in Toronto in 1985—releasing their first album in 1986. It was the release of the “Trinity Sessions” in 1987, however, that brought them much wider recognition. Recorded in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto, this album is hugely important, and not only for the band. The band set up in a circle around one central microphone and recorded live onto a two track recorder.

Dynamic Meter: The “Trinity Session” was released around 21 years ago. It’s been such an influential album both in terms of the music and the way it was recorded. When did you first realize the band had produced a record that would have such appeal and staying power?

Michael Timmins: We realized that we had created a very special recording almost immediately. The recoding is “live to 2-track” so we could listen back, immediately, to what was essentially the finished album. What we didn’t know was whether it would connect with other people outside of those who had been involved in the recording. Once we released it on our independent label we began to almost immediately get great reactions from all quarters . . . we had no way of knowing whether it would stand the test of time.

DM: You have released a 20th anniversary edition of “Trinity,” recorded in the same church, in the same way. Why did you decide to re-record? And also, why did you decide to add the guest artists such as Ryan Adams and Vic Chesnutt?
MT: We wanted to celebrate the anniversary of the recording in some manner. When Ryan, Vic and Natalie Merchant agreed to get involved we looked at the whole project as a fun and interesting artistic experiment. We knew that their involvement would give the recording a different intensity and perspective, but we didn’t know how it would turn out. We were very pleased.

DM: The Cowboy Junkies have always been great re-interpreters when if comes to cover songs. "Blue Moon" and "Sweet Jane" are great examples. Is there a different approach to arranging cover songs as opposed to original material?
MT: Yes, because the template for the cover song is in front of you—whether that be the structure, chords, lyrics and/or melody of the original. When you are writing and arranging your own material you start with a blank sheet. With the cover song you look for a way into the song that will make it your own, without completely losing that which made the original special in the first place.

DM: There's so much talk about the future of the music industry. What's the band's relationship with a record label now?
MT: “Trinity Revisited” was our last album released with any sort of contractual commitments outside of publishing. We are currently building a new website which will incorporate both the CJ site and the Latent Recordings (our label) site. It will become the center of all our future releases as well as other artists. We hope to launch it in early March.

DM: How does the band write?
MT: Usually I write the songs on acoustic guitar and then present them to the band as a whole. From there we work on the grooves and aesthetic as a unit.

DM: Cowboy Junkies has such a distinct sonic pallet. How has this evolved over the years?
MT: It has been a very organic and natural evolution. There hasn’t really been a master plan. We tend to have very similar likes and dislikes when it comes to our own music so we go with a group instinct and try not to do too much second guessing.

DM: For me, “Black Eyed Man” is a total time and place album. It came out when I was in college and I'm totally transported back there when I listen. From the side of you that's a music fan, are there any albums that have this affect on you?
MT: There are lots of them, here are two . . . Lou Reed “Transformer:” I broke my leg in Grade 8 and my older brother had to drive me to school every day. “Transformer” had just come out and he played it every day in the car on the way to school. I didn’t really understand it, but I was transfixed by it. Freedy Johnston “Can You Fly:” I was newly married, no kids, no mortgage, the record industry was flush with money because of the CD “revolution”, life was fun and easy and this is a great, great record that came out of the blue.

DM: Your most recent studio album, “At the End of Paths Taken,” really deals a lot with family. Can you please talk about how this came together as a theme for the album?
MT: I sat down with this theme and never digressed. I don’t think I have ever written an album where I have had the theme first. Usually the theme suggests itself as the album progresses. The reason for this theme is because of where I am in my life, the responsibilities and challenges that I, and most people my age face day to day.

DM: Lastly, what are you listening to currently?
MT: I have been in China for the past three months and had the good fortune to befriend someone who is very knowledgeable about the Chinese independent music scene. So I’ve been listening to a lot of Chinese artists. Three of my favorites are Zuo Xiao Zu Zhou, Zhang Chu and He Yong.

Also Noteworthy:
Bands who have had the staying power to still be together and to maintain their influence, often release twentieth anniversary editions of their recordings. The Cowboy Junkies took a different approach. Instead of repackaging the original recording with supplemental materials, they chose to re-record “The Trinity Sessions.” The band was joined by multi-instrumentalist Jeff bird, who played on the original recorded and has been an associate of the band ever sine. In addition, Ryan Adams, Natalie Merchant, and Vic Chesnutt—artists who were all clearly influenced by the band— joined the band. Cowboy Junkies once again recorded the record live, in a circle, at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto. This time however, filmmakers were on hand to capture the music, and a DVD is included with “Trinity Revisited.”
While it’s wonderful to hear all of the tunes again, especially in there updated versions, that’s not what truly makes “Trinity Revisited” shine. The real strength of this twentieth anniversary revisiting is the way you get to hear a band that has matured, lived with its songs, and has still maintained its vitality and importance.

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Interview: Light In Winter Founder Barbara Mink

Every January since 2004 Ithaca has been blessed with the presence of the Light in Winter Festival. Founded by Barbara Mink, the festival is a celebration of art and science—its intersections, overlaps, and sometimes separations. While the programs vary every year, there is a common thread: Light in Winter is always exciting and challenging. Also, it brings top tier performers to Ithaca in the cold of January, when we all need a bit of inspiration.

For the 2009 festival—as with every Light in Winter—there is far too much to list in a single article. Please visit www.lightinwinter.com for complete information. However, there are certainly some highlights. The highlight performance on Friday January 23 is illusionist Jeff McBride, who includes elements of Kabuki, pantomime, as well as other disciplines in his performances. In addition, PUSH, which features dancers from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology, is sure to be wonderful. There’s also a lecture on magic and the mind, a wine tasting seminar, a physicist who is also one of the leading origami practitioners in the world, and so much more. But for those who like to keep the festival going long into the night, head to Castaways at 9:30 on Saturday and check out The Future: Sounds and Images from the Next Dimension. This performance features Morgan Packard and Joshue Ott who use digital technology to create a visual and musical performance. Think of them as visual as well as musical DJs.

With all of this in mind, and the festival coming this weekend, the Tompkins Weekly was pleased to get a chance to ask Barbara Mink some questions about this years festival, the past, and more.

Dynamic Meter: Last year, Light in Winter had an overarching theme. Do you always have a theme?

Barbara Mink: Actually, last year was the only time we consciously programmed around a theme, “Identity;” but we decided not to do that again because it’s too limiting. Creating a synergy among music, art and science is a big enough challenge without complicating it further. That being said, it’s fun to look at how the weekend has shaped up and see what connections do emerge; after all, that’s what Light in Winter has always been about: finding connections. We try to have a range of art performances and science lectures, but sometimes music or dance will dominate depending on how things fall out, and people’s availability.

DM: Can you connect the elements of this year’s festival? It ranges from illusionist Jeff McBride to Wine Tasting, Origami, and PUSH Physical Theatre.

BM: Even though there is no over-arching theme, what unites everything this weekend is magic, whether it’s our delight in being tricked by illusions or the joy in figuring out how those illusions are created. For example, Alex Stone is a magician and physics grad student in NYC who is writing a book on how the brain processes magic. He and Jeff McBride will talk about how the brain is tricked by misdirection the day after our Las Vegas-style opening night. Or, when people see fantastic creations of origami shaped like birds or architectural wonders, it looks impossible; but Robert Lang will break the creation down into its mathematical formulae, and Mario Livio will reveal the mathematical underpinnings of the universe we’re not even aware of. PUSH physical theatre is exploring the way the body works, and how physical limitations can be transcended by creativity. To me, just about everything in the world around us is magical; how far we want to peek behind the curtain is what makes living so much fun.

DM: The nucleus of Light in Winter is the intersection of art and science. Had you explored this for a long time prior to launching the festival?

BM: No, I hadn’t. My original interest was in starting a summer chamber music festival here; but as we refined the idea over four years of discussion, issues of financial support, community needs, the complications of full academic calendars and so on went into the thought process. Former Cornell Concert Series Director Richard Riley suggested incorporating popular science in the mix. A feasibility study we commissioned suggested that it couldn’t be done on the shoestring budget we were looking at; but we decided to give it a try anyway by featuring local artists and scientists, and to grow from there. Now we have more than half the performers coming in from all over the country, which is thrilling, but I’d like to keep spotlighting the fantastic and generous intellectual and artistic resources in Ithaca that made Light in Winter possible in the first place, and which keeps it going.

DM: Has the way the festival is organized evolved over time? You've always been the artist director, correct?

BM: Yes, but it has evolved over time. First of all, the festival has a stellar Board of Directors, people who believe in the mission of Light in Winter and work so hard to make sure it’s realized. I’ve also had the privilege of working with some phenomenal people to bring the festival to fruition, many of whom went off the Board of Directors and then back on, keeping a sense of history and expertise. This year has been the biggest change, with Marie Sirakos, who had been the festival’s production coordinator, stepping into a new role of Executive Director, taking over the fundraising, operations, marketing, and overseeing production. She’s done a fantastic job, and it’s been wonderful working as a partner with her. I’ve been able to concentrate on what got me started on Light in Winter in the first place: bringing together performers and scientists to explore new and interesting ideas.

DM: Do you have any favorite performances from part Light in Winter Festivals?

BM: I know it’s a question you have to ask, but it’s actually very hard for me to single out performances. Whether it’s the fairly amazing headliners like Pilobolus, Laurie Anderson, Paul Winter, Kronos Quartet, or some of the smaller performances like Birdsong in Messiaen or Elegance of Motion or Who Are We or Einstein the Stage Show, or the big finales that brought music and science together like Forces of Nature, Sync, Dance of the Machines; whether we look at individual performances or the weekend as a whole, I think every year has brought something new to people who have attended that sparked their interest to learn more.

DM: Do does your work as a painter intersect with your other work, including Light in Winter?

BM: That’s an interesting question; I would have to say no, more competes than intersects. I don’t consciously try to bring together science and art in my work, though I have a lot of respect for those who do, people like Alexis Rockman. But I started painting around the same time that I first thought about Light in Winter, so there must have been some creative impulse trying to emerge. I think starting, developing, and running Light in Winter was really a cross between the creativity of painting and the skills I use in teaching Management Communication at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.

DM: What creative minds are inspiring you now?

BM: In terms of current ideas, I’m very interested in the work of Michael Pollan, author of An Omnivore’s Dilemma, about the state of industrialized food production and consumption. I already tried to get him to come to Light in Winter next year, but he’s booked up. I would like to have something, though, contrasting the pros and cons of food science with the “locovore” and Community Supported Agriculture movements, maybe link that with a fun concert of music about food. There is also some interesting work going on with how the brain processes color and visual art, maybe linking that with the science of art authentication; and definitely another science play, whether for young people or older audiences. Maybe something on how the voice works, or questions of scale by looking at nanotechnology, or how babies are programmed to respond to music and how that changes as we age. Every day there are new articles and books being written that spark new ideas; the challenge is to keep them educational, accessible, and fun.

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Emily Arin: An Interview With The Singer-Songwriter

While Ithaca has a great and vital music scene, new bands and musicians are what help keep it vital. So it was with great pleasure that I first heard recent transplant Emily Arin playing a lovely set at the Montour Falls Harvest Festival of all places. I was sitting on hay bails with my wife kids listening —pretty blown away. Her performance is definitely a nice highlight from 2008. Emily combines folk, a bit of country swing (ala Patsy Cline) with a great voice and really good tunes.

Another great thing about Emily Arin is she‘s approaching the rapidly changing music industry in a smart way, allowing her to start to build a career as an independent artist. She accomplishes this through a subscription music program. In fact, a new 6-month music subscription series is about to launch. Coming soon, subscribers will be able to purchase subscriptions on her website for $15. In return they receive one newly written and recorded song each month for six months. These are emailed as an mp3 file along with the story behind the song. Dynamic Meter recently got to ask Emily Arin some questions.

Dynamic Meter: You're pretty new to the area, how has it been going breaking into the Ithaca music scene?
Emily Arin: It's been a gradual and interesting process. I moved from Los Angeles to Montour Falls in August of 2007 to help my parents run The Harvest Cafe and to create a lifestyle for myself more conducive to reflection and songwriting. Eager to make friends and meet kindred spirits, I spent the first few months going to shows and handing my “Time and Space” CD to musicians whose work I enjoyed. I met The Common Railers in September 2007 at the Americana Jubilee held at the Rongovian Embassy. We kept in touch and performed along with the Yardvarks at The Harvest Cafe's first evening of live music in December of last year. As more people heard my music, the more I'd hear "you really should meet Jennie Stearns." I ran into her one night in the bathroom at a Keith Frank show at the Rongo and, without thinking, asked if she would like a CD. She graciously accepted. To my pleasant surprise, she got in touch with me about a month later, eventually asking if I wanted to sing backup at one of her shows. That's the beautiful quality of the Ithaca music scene—it's full of amazingly talented musicians and songwriters who are, at the same time, down to earth, welcoming and accessible. Because of this, I've had the good fortune of collaborating with Peter Glanville and Gordon Rowland—of The Common Railers—and Jennie Stearns and her band. I've grown so much as a songwriter and performer in these last several months as a result.

DM:How did you start playing and writing? Did you always write your own material?
EA: I grew up studying classical piano and attended the piano program at LA County High School for the Arts, but was never—for lack of the intense discipline required—a contender for being a serious classical musician. I knew I loved music though and, with a fantasy to join a band, I asked for a guitar in high school. A little too shy and clueless to start or join a group, I strummed away absent-mindedly from time to time in my bedroom. Around the same time my older sister played Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" for me and my mind was blown open with the possibility of what a song could communicate. I wrote a couple of song snippets before going away to school, but the urge to write songs really kicked in around sophomore year of college. I've been writing ever since.

DM: Who are your influences?
EA: In no particular order: Leonard Cohen, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Caetano Veloso, Townes Van Zandt, Os Mutantes, Asha Bhosle, John Prine, Van Morrison, Hank Williams, Joni Mitchell, West African Kora music, Glen Gould, Paul Simon, Billy Bragg, Miriam Makeba, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, The Carter Family, Frank Sinatra, Brian Eno, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Yo La Tengo, Nick Drake, Edith Piaf, Amalia Rodriguez, Yann Tiersen, Cat Power, Buena Vista Social Club, Enya, Peggy Lee, Beatles (together and apart), Coleman Hawkins, Phil Ochs, Calexico, Thelonius Monk, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ennio Morricone, Billie Holiday, Gordon Lightfoot, Josh Ritter, Will Oldham, Emmylou Harris, Nick Cave, Orchestra Baobob, Willie Nelson, Cesaria Evora, Tom Petty, Memphis Minnie, Glen Gould, Cat Stevens . . . there's so much amazing music in the world that this list could go on forever, but these are some of the people/groups who've made a big impression on me over the years.

DM: You've started playing around a lot. How's that going?
EA: It was recently suggested to me that I needed to learn to crave the stage. A light bulb went off. Instead of fostering a dread of performing—which I did have when I first started several years ago—I'm now getting excited about shows and the possibility they hold of connecting with an audience. A show with heart and soul and laughter can really transform an evening for someone. Also, I can't say enough about playing with Peter, Gordon and now Brian Dozoretz. They're passionate about music and so much fun to perform with.

DM: Who are you listening to that might be kind of under the radar?
EA: I don't know how under the radar, but I don't hear of them often: Fionn Regan, Benjamin Biolay, Nicolai Dunger, Super Mama Djombo. Little Joy's first album recently came out—and it's great.

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The Once and Future Small Kings

Ithaca has no shortage of bands to go out and see live and support. But there’s certainly room for another, especially one as great as The Small Kings. This past October, the band released their debut album, “Eating Oranges After Dark.” Since then, the band has been playing live all over town. They held their CD release party at Maxies Supper Club and have also played at the ABC Café and Felicia’s Atomic Lounge, among others. In the near future, December 10 will provide the next opportunity to catch the band live as they play the Pourhouse in Trumansburg. They’ll likely be booking additional gigs, so go to www.thesmallkings.com, to check on their upcoming shows. I recently got the chance to ask Bass and Ukulele player Mike Levy some questions about The Small Kings.


Dynamic Meter: What is your history with the Ithaca music scene?
Mike Levy: I've been on the fringe of the scene in several different capacities. I used to maintain an internet radio station (Radio Free Ithaca) that streamed music from Ithaca almost exclusively. So I spent two years immersed in the Ithaca scene. I didn't listen to much else during that time. I got the feel for what made this town's music unique. Even though I was spinning a wide variety of styles, it all fit together because of a common energy and a common devotion to keeping it real, for lack of a better term. Then I reconnected with the scene as a freelance journalist, writing a bit about bands at the same time I was writing about local food, politics and more. But all along I was performing under the radar with The Marty Withers Band, which later became the Small Kings.

DM: How did the band come together?
ML: I met Frank Raponi when I was a substitute teacher in Dryden around 1999. We connected immediately and began playing together here and there. Then Frank met Jeff McCaffrey, and the three of us began playing shows at the Moosewood when they first expanded and opened their cafe. At this point we were called the Marty Withers Band (it's a long, long story). Joel Blizzard came by around that time. This was before he'd taken up drums and long before Thousands of One was a glimmer in his eye. He brought his bongo to a show and tapped along a bit, and we put it out there that whenever he felt up to it, he was welcome to be a part of the band. Even then, our prime directive was that friendship and fun were the priority. Joel fit the bill, and so we always tried to leave room for him to be a part of it. But he was reluctant back then. I can still see him crouched out of site while he lightly plugged away at his drum.

We would mostly play covers in the Marty days, but then we started adding original songs that Jeff had in his pocket. Jeff kept writing, and we collaborated on a few here and there, and before we knew it, we were an original act with a tight, original sound. By this time, Joel had developed into quite the drummer, and we changed the band name to The Small Kings when he hopped on board. We were ready for a serious name. Or, perhaps the serious name was ready for us. Several different folks came in and out of the fold over the years—Chris DeCicco on percussion, Jenna Goodman on fiddle and Benjamin Costello, who played keys and sang on most of the CD. But the core has always been Jeff, Frank, and myself, and later Joel. We've been playing a lot of acoustic trio gigs. Joel's been pretty busy with Thousands of One, and we want to make it as easy on him as possible. So, I play my upright bass when he can't make it, and we all plug in when he's with us. Being able to do both has really expanded our musicianship, I think, and added to our flexibility on stage.

DM: You describe yourselves as playing melodic rock/pop fantasy music. Can you elaborate on this?
ML: We all come from such different places, musically speaking, and our style has taken on just as many flavors. Joel's got the hip-hop and reggae background. Jeff knows every glam rock song worth knowing and also is immersed in power pop and singer-songwriter stuff. Frank has every Dead, Neil Young and Dylan song swimming in his head. And I've got funk talking to me, and I'm a lifelong devotee of the Beatles. So the music we play tends to have all of that—Jeff writes very elaborate pop songs, but we still groove on them and expand on them live and we add harmonies wherever possible. We are also notorious for changing songs on the spot, whether it's tempo or rhythm. As a result, we've gotten very, very good at listening to each other. I like to say that we're like an excellent basketball team—we don't have to look to know where to pass the ball. We've got each others' backs all the time, devoted to pushing the boundaries of our songs and having the most ferociously fun time while we're at it.

DM: What are your influences?
ML: Individually, our influences are pretty varied. But as a unit, we tend to lead toward alt.country bands like Wilco and the Jayhawks. They speak to our collective vibe.

DM: I love the cover art (pictured) for the album. Can you tell me about it?
ML: The drawings came from my friend Dave Palmer, an IC graduate who went on to create the "Blue" character from Blue's Clues. He's now an animation director for another huge hit, The Backyardagins. All the parents out there know what I'm talking about. I sent Dave the rough mix of the recordings, and he sent us about a dozen sketches based on what he heard. We didn't give him any direction whatsoever, knowing that the music would carry him in the right direction. We liked a bunch of them, so we decided to go with the "Let it Be" look. I get to see Dave mostly on New Year's Eve, when we have a traditional 2 am poker game. Dave didn't ask for any compensation for the work he did, but I'd like to think he was paid handsomely over the years, one chip at a time.

DM: You guys have been playing around a lot. How’s that going?
ML: We're having tons of fun, and that's the primary goal. After a bit of a quiet period, we're right back where we left off. The CD release show went off without a hitch, which was amazing since we hadn't played an electric show in over a year. Now we're furiously adding songs to our repertoire. With lots of shows lined up, we're looking forward to varying the set lists and surprising ourselves, and others, when we go out there. We've scheduled a bunch of out of town shows this winter, which is unusual for us. Since the CD is out, we thought we'd test the waters and see what sort of reaction we might get.

DM: Who are you listening to that might be kind of under the radar?
ML: I've been way into the Felice Brothers lately. They've taken over where Dylan and the Band left off. Dr. Dog is another band that's keeps coming back on my stereo. The best way I can describe them is Paul McCartney tunes recorded by an awesome garage band: they have amazing harmonies, playful, fun lyrics, and their songs flow just perfectly. My kids and I have been listening to a lot of the Wiyos, which is sort of a vaudeville, Americana type act. The play songs that Leon Redbone might choose, but as a full band. I first saw their bass player, Joe Bass (aka Joe DeJarnette) at the Clifftop fiddle convention in 2007. He's just a madman on the upright bass, and he can play night and day. Over the course of five days in one campground in West Virginia, I probably saw him play with 30 different people at one time or another. He's the one old-time bass player who plugs stops and starts into his rhythm, and he somehow gets away with it. Plus, he's got an unfathomable slapping technique, so whenever I wasn't playing myself, I was nosing around to see if I could spy him at yet another camp. I haven't been very good at keeping up with the music scene outside of Ithaca. Other than the above bands, I've mostly I've been listening to a lot of old-time music: the Chicken Chokers, Highwoods Stringband, Leake County Revelers, and the Freighthoppers.

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Billy Bragg: An Interview With Mr. Love & Justice

Billy Bragg was born in Essex England in 1957, under the name Stephen William Bragg. He released his first album, Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy, in 1983 and has been performing and recording ever since. Due to his 30-year-long, 12-album career, it’s difficult to decide what to highlight. Fortunately, I got a chance to ask Billy Bragg a set of questions, so we can hear from the man himself. I’ll try and fill in some of the blanks.

As a songwriter he deftly balances the political and the personal in a really powerful way. And his politics are of the grassroots/left/labor/anti-fascist variety. Additionally, in 2004 he recorded a song for the album Rock Against Bush. He’s also a strong proponent for the right of artists to receive royalties for the music they place online, especially on sites such as MySpace. When he became a father in the early 1990s, he took time off to be with his son. In 1998, along with Wilco, he recorded the wonderful Mermaid Avenue I and II—writing music for Woody lyrics that had never been recorded. Bragg’s musical influences include punk, blues, soul, and folk.

So there is his long and great career in a very small nutshell. More importantly, Billy Bragg will be playing at the State Theatre on October 18 at 8 PM. And as he’ll be playing solo, you’ll get to see up close and personal what his moniker the “One Man Clash” is all about. The Watson Twins will be opening the show with their amazing vocal harmonies and great tunes.

DM: Early on in your career you were described as “the one man Clash.” How did this sit with you? And, was you music a response to anything?

BB: My music was a response to the New Romantic movement of the early eighties, bands like Spandau Ballet and Visage, who claimed to be radical by putting style over content. I was trying to stay true to my punk rocker ideals by doing the opposite, so “One Man Clash” was a pretty good description.

DM: You have a large catalog of material to choose from. How do you put your set together?

BB: I try to mix new songs with old and throw in a few covers to catch people out. The most important criterion, however, is dynamics. A solo performer needs to have light and dark in their set.

DM: “Waiting For The Great leap Forward” is a tune that keeps evolving with the times. This really keeps the song fresh for the listener—listening for the new lyrics. Does this keep it fresh for you, since this is obviously a song you must play a lot?

BB: My audience loves the song, but the original lyrics reflect a political era that we no longer live in. As the song was a bit tongue in cheek anyway, it seems fitting that I should update the subject matter now and again.

DM: Mr. Love & Justice is your latest album. The title seems to address two of the main elements of your writing—the personal and the political. Do you have a different writing process depending on a tune’s subject?

BB: In my experience, there is no method to writing a song. It’s rather like having a conversation with someone—you don’t enter into it with a plan, you just follow where it takes you. That’s how I write songs. Something inspires me—a phrase, an idea, a situation—and I follow it to its conclusion.

DM: One of the songs I really like off the new album is “Sing Their Souls Back Home.” It’s really soulful. Is soul music one of your influences? What are the others?

BB: Soul music has had a huge influence on my song writing. The first music I owned was a tape of Tamla Motown Chartbusters Volume 3: Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Four Tops, all that great Sound of Young America stuff. The other formative influence was Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Trouble Water. When I was twelve years old, these two albums ruled my world.

DM: Do you approach songwriting differently now than you did earlier in your career?

BB: I guess I don’t have the same urgency that I did when I first set out. I no longer feel that it might all end tomorrow. The irony is that it is more likely that it will, but now I feel confident enough to be judged by what I have done.

DM: You have a directness in your writing that really creates an emotional intimacy for the listener. “Tank Park Salute” is an excellent example. Is this an aspect of your writing that you really try and develop in your songs?

BB: “Tank Park Salute,” which concerns the death of my father in 1976, is a good example. Of all my songs, it’s probably the one that elicits the strongest response from people. I’ve sung it and watched guys in the front row sobbing their hearts out. It was a hard song for me to write, as, prior to performing it, I had never spoken to anyone outside my family about the death of my father, shying away from the subject if it should come up. The effect it has on people seems to bear out a theory of mine—that in order to write songs that touch people deeply, you must first articulate your own deepest feelings, those that are the most difficult for you to confront.

DM: The Mermaid Avenue material you did with Wilco is so wonderful. Was this a different writing process for you—writing music with partners to Woody Guthrie’s lyrics?

BB: I can remember explaining the project to Natalie Merchant and she was incredulous. ‘You don’t have to write any lyrics! That’s just brilliant’. For some who spend ages creating lyrics, like Natalie, or Jeff Tweedy or myself, Mermaid Avenue was like a holiday. We got to choose these amazing lyrics and then write tunes for them.

DM: Do you get a different reception for your material, especially the political tunes, depending on the country you’re playing in?

BB: Well, the context of a political song can change if you’re in another country. The way to counter that is to pick up on a local issue that is connected with the subject and use that to introduce the song. For instance, I was playing in Köln, Germany last week, where people recently took to the streets to oppose a racist political party. Referencing this in the introduction to my song ‘I Keep Faith’ allowed me to offer then an example of my faith in humanity. I could have spoken about the events in England that inspired the song, but by using the local example, I was better able to relate to them the meaning of the song.

DM: You’re a parent, as am I. Did becoming a dad change you politically and/or musically at all? It certainly changes us all personally.

BB: If it doesn’t change you, you’re not doing it right.

DM: Earlier this year, you wrote an op-ed in the New York Times discussing the need for creating a workable way to compensate artists for their work appearing online. You said this was especially important for up-and-coming artists. You in fact were instrumental in pushing MySpace to honor the rights of the artists posting their material on the site. Where do you things stand now?

BB: We are still struggling to establish the right of artists to be paid for the content they provide. Social networking sites like MySpace make hundreds of millions of dollars every year through advertising, yet they pay nothing for the content that attracts users to the site. My preferred solution to this would be the commercial radio model: the artists should be paid a percentage of the advertising revenue, which would leave the audience to continue enjoying their music for free.

DM: You’ve done some performances with Kate Nash? How did these come about?

BB: We were performing on the same stage at a festival in Australia and decided to do a couple of songs together.

DM: Also, the Watson Twins are opening the show. Are you planning on doing any tunes with them?

BB: There is always a possibility.

DM: Who are you digging musically? Anyone kind of off the radar?

BB: Dunno if he’s off the radar but I’ve been listening to Joe Henry’s album Citizen’s a lot lately. Wonderful heartfelt singing, marvelously understated arrangements, best of all, lyrics somewhat damaged but full of hope, just like America these days.

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Who You Are: An Interview with Band Leader Trevor MacDonald

For those of you who aren't from the Ithaca, NY area, you may not know that we have a pretty great local music scene here. That said, I have been immersing myself in the eponymous debut album from Ithaca's Who You Are over the past week. And I can tell you that Who You Are is now leading the charge as my favorite local recording of the year. Since I began listening to it, I’ve been trying to figure out how to describe it. What I came up with is this: Americana Trip Hop. Trevor MacDonald, the band’s leader and songwriter, took some time out of his busy schedule as a musician and a farmer to answer some questions about the band, Ithaca, music, and more.

Dynamic Meter: You’ve been around the Ithaca music scene for a good bit of time. How do you think its change in the last 10 years?

Trevor MacDonald: Many of the old venues are gone. The old Haunt was a small club that used to mix national acts with local music and brought fresh energy to the community. The Rongo is on life support. Now there is the State Theatre, but even they struggle to keep it together. If it weren’t for GrassRoots where would we really be? A decade of change . . . more Big-Box stores, less culture.

DM: Is Ithaca really as supportive as it seems for local musicians?

TM: On one hand, absolutely; on the other . . . I don’t know. Some people still see me as the kid from Sunny Weather . . . what I'm doing now is more honest. The town seems to be increasingly jaded. Especially compared to what we found on our first southern tour. I see a lot of people hanging out in coffee shops pretending this is Brooklyn, but doing nothing. At least there is creativity and a thriving, successful music scene in Brooklyn. I guess the grass is always greener . . .

DM: What is the genesis of Who You Are?

TM: Last weekend we were billed as Who We Are, Who Are You and Who They Are . . . I don't even know WHO I AM
ANYMORE! (The band is actually called Who You Are.)

DM: So other than confusion about the name, was the band your concept and you brought in the other guys?

TM: Yes, after finishing Porch Light I was floating a bit. So I tried to take on what I would call, grown up responsibility. I was renovating a house I bought downtown, I was bartending for this catering company, I was doing music (mostly on the side) and to be honest I was feeling kinda dead. However, like a lot of people I had a mortgage to pay, so what do you with your dreams? On a trip to NYC by chance I met Al Kooper, a musician and a bit of a legend. He played with Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival the first time Dylan went electric and also produced Lynyrd Skynyrd. We sat and talked about life and what, in his opinion, you should do with it. I came home quit my job, and began this journey, which led me to Who You Are. Now I have this band, a record label (yup nope Records) I started with my manager and a better outlook.

DM: Do you approach writing and arranging differently than you did with Sunny Weather or your solo work?

TM: Yes, I am always writing. To me music is like the ultimate jigsaw puzzle. Each piece has a different shape. I don't get musicians that stick religiously to one formula. So for me the change in the sound is a natural evolution. When you are 15 your brain does not meditate on the same things that it does when your 35 . . . but I'm not 35 yet so I'll let you know.

DM: There seems to be a political vibe to the record, especially with a track like "Your America." Is this an important part of your writing?

TM: What this country represents to me makes me proud. However, there is a dark side to our government that we, as individuals, need to deal with. Sometimes you hear things that don't add up. For instance they tell us that we all have a voice . . . our vote counts . . . but it appears to me that the lobbyists with the most money are the ones they hear the best. I am no expert on politics, but I think that they’re ultimately important . . . in the sense that we, the people, must try to make an impact however we can. So, if you’re paying attention, these realities start to creep into our lives and in turn, into our songs.

DM: In 2007 you were involved with organizing a benefit for the Ithaca Health Alliance/Ithaca Free Clinic. Are you still involved with that work?

TM: Universal health care is something I firmly believe in. The Ithaca Free Clinic is a first step in that direction . . . ironically, that benefit was a rude awakening . . . I was left with a sense of just how far we really have to go. I always like to use my experience as a musician to help my friends and neighbors. I will do it again when the time is right.

DM: You guys have started gigging around a lot. Is it nice to be back playing with a band after working solo?

TM: Definitely, I love the power of a live band. But in actuality it can be a pain. The band dynamic can often be a struggle for me. As a singer/songwriter I have to balance my creative force with the side of me that just wants to be in a band. Sometimes I think we, me included, could use a little Band Boot Camp.

DM: You’re also a farmer. Is there any synchronicity between farming and music?

TM: The hours suck for both jobs. But one actually keeps people from going hungry?! The average person may not realize how much goes into making something out of nothing . . . farming and music share this challenge. That may explain the success of Britney Spears and Burger King.

DM: Who are you digging musically right now? Anybody off the radar?

TM: I find that more and more I listen to talk radio.

TW: Wow, talk radio. Who do you listen to?

TM: As funny as it may seem, and this is not meant as sarcasm, my favorite was Jerry Springer's radio show. I can't find it anymore, but his show was the smartest one out there. Currently, I like to listen to programs as diverse as Democracy Now and Rush Limbaugh . . . because there are two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle is where you get the real scoop. People need to remember that more these days. With the upcoming election we are in one big propaganda spin cycle so you have to do some of the work yourself in order to keep focused and sane. That being said: be alert, listen with care and make only well informed decisions. . . .

You can stream the album below.

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Talkin' to the Zipcode Man: The Mike Doughty Interview

Anyone listening to “Alternative” music in the mid to late 1990s, heard Soul Coughing and the unique lyrics of its leader/singer/guitarist, M. Doughy. Well, as most of you know, the “M” stands for Mike who left Soul Coughing in 2000 amid difficult personal and band circumstances. Getting clean and renting a car and logging 9000 miles on the road, he played solo shows building a base of both former Soul Coughing and new fans. This base allowed him to sell 20,000 copies of his first solo album, Skittish. In 2003, Doughty released another album independently, the EP Rockity Roll. In 2004 he signed with Dave Matthews' ATO label for the release of Haughty Melodic and Golden Delicious (My review is here.) in 2008. Dynamic Meter got the opportunity to email Mike Doughty some questions about the new album and more.

Dynamic Meter: "Fort Hood's" words and music have an opposite feel, serious words melded with dancey music. In this song, about soldiers going to Iraq and coming home again, the way the music and the words work together seems to reflect the way our country is existing during this war. We're at war, but we all go about our jaunty existences without much thought about the price of the conflict. Did you intentionally try to contrast the feel of the music with the meaning of the words?

Mike Doughty: That's interesting, I've never thought about it. "Let the Sunshine In" is by nature a pretty uplifting chorus—but at the same time there's so much tragedy in the song. It seems like a poetic combination to me.

DM: Talk about using the "Let the sun shine in" sample from the musical Hair?

MD: I found a recording online of the Japanese cast from Hair. I thought it would be really funny, and it was—but when it got to the chorus they switched to English, and I found it incredibly moving and pertinent. I grew up on sample-based hiphop and house music, so it didn't seem outlandish to just gank the chorus and weld it to my own, new song.

DM: A lot of people have such a fondness for Soul Coughing. However, you left the band under difficult personal circumstances. Do you approach the way you make music differently now?

MD: Unfortunately, Soul Coughing was a pretty oppressive environment, and as time went by, it became very difficult to bring my songs in and get my bandmates to play them the way I needed them to. So I definitely feel freer to pursue my impulses. That's a big difference. In terms of who I am just as a creative individual, I'm more or less the same guy.

DM: What did you grow up listening to? There's always a funkiness to your music.

MD: Led Zeppelin was the first band I really loved, and then the Replacements, and then the Rolling Stones, and then A Tribe Called Quest—that's kind of my litany of favorite bands in order of appearance. It was in the early 90s when awesome hiphop was everywhere in New York that I started thinking about marrying the beat to a song-y-er type of thing.

DM: I really dig the sound of the new record. It has a real live-cut feel. Why did you choose to record Golden Delicious this way?

MD: I just had a band that I loved, and I wanted to play to their strengths, and make some space for their musical personalities. Interestingly, a lot of the reaction to Golden Delicious (and a lot of negative reaction) is that it's pretty slick and poppy. Which blows my mind, as I thought I was making this very rough, spontaneous-feeling record. So, thank you : )

DM: Compared to Soul Coughing, your solo work seems more lyrically direct. What do you think?

MD: Yeah, in the past eight years or so, my stuff has been more narrative, more about stories. I don't really know what that's about. My lyric writing process is essentially the same as it's always been.

DM: Tell me about our relationship with the poet, Sekou Sundiata and his influence on your writing.

MD: Sekou was my teacher, and he really galvanized me—made me take the music of language seriously, sort of showed me the sacredness of working with words. Also, Ani DiFranco was my classmate, and she was SO much better than I was—I really felt competitive, and learned a lot just trying to cop her tricks!

DM: How does your DJing as Mikey Dough influenced your Mike Doughty tunes and shows and vice versa?

MD: I've really gotten into making beats. I'm not sure exactly how that's going to affect my next record, but I'm very obsessive about it. At the moment it's separate from writing songs, which I still do on an acoustic guitar in the kitchen. But that might change.

DM: Are you a zipcode man, a homebody?

MD: Yeah, I kind of am. I live pretty far out there in Brooklyn, where there isn't a lot going on. I stay home and write and work on music. Out here you can get a pretty gigantic space, so not being cooped up in a Manhattan shoebox makes staying home and working much more fun.

DM: I like the downloader amnesty you have on your website, where you are absolved of your illegal downloading sins by making a donation to Doctors Without Borders. Do you do many benefits?

MD: I do some benefits once in a while. But I feel conflicted being very public about charity—I prefer to make donations privately, without being ostentatious about it.

DM: What are you listening to and digging that might not be on most people's radar screens?

MD: Well, lately, Celia Cruz, this Japanese band called Uhnellys, and some of John Cage's "prepared piano" music. But that might be a little too far off anybody's radar screen. I don't know, I oscillate between some pretty out stuff, and very poppy kind of hit-single things—DMB and Kelly Clarkson and the like. I'm kind of woefully ignorant of the current state of indie rock.

Below, please enjoy some great sounds from Mike Doughty.

The Gambler Cover


Fort Hood

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The Felice Brothers to get Rockin’ and Rowdy at Castaways

The Felice Brothers are a four-piece band the fits into the broad categories of Americana and perhaps alt-country. But with a band this great, categories don’t matter, the music does. When I got the chance to ask James Felice some questions he gave me his take on categorization. “Ray Charles said that there are two kinds of music. Good music and bad music. I'd like to think ours is the good kind.”

One of the elements integral to making the music really work is the way each band members’ part comes together to form the whole. James told me that the writing and arranging is “all about what sounds good. And what we can play, or figure out how to sort of play it for that part or song.” Well it works and man, can these guys play and rock. And they rock really hard. If you don’t think some combination of accordion, acoustic bass, banjo, acoustic guitar, piano, washboard, fiddle and drums can make you dance, I challenge you to go to The Felice Brothers Show at Castaways on April 24 and stand still. That said, they also play some seriously lovely tunes that make you want to grab your sweetie and dance slow. The show starts at 8 PM and tickets are available at the door.

Part of what makes their live shows so fun is that after they moved from the Catskills to New York City they played on the streets and subways in the city to make a living. In fact, they were discovered while busking in the Brooklyn Farmers Market. “When you busk you have to draw people's attention to make money. You have to be aggressive and a little rowdy,” James Felice said. In addition, they don’t plan out what songs they are going to play during their shows. “We don't write set lists. That’s like wearing briefs. . . .” There was an additional line from James in this quote, but as this is a family paper, I had to leave it out. Use your imagination.

I wanted to know if the fact the band’s three Felice Brothers (James, Simone, & Ian) grew up in the Catskills had any influence on their music. “I don't know, to tell you the truth. We never grew up anywhere else, so I couldn't tell you if it influenced us. It probably did. It's a great place to grow up, though. I'll tell you that.” The forth member and bass player is simply known as Christmas.

While I don’t generally like to use comparisons with other bands, I am going to go against my general rule here. If you like the Horseflies, The Sim Redmond Band, or Old Crow Medicine Show, you’re sure to dig The Felice Brothers. This is also an incredible opportunity to see these guys in an intimate venue, as they will be heading to Europe in May and then playing large festivals in the US all summer. And at $10.00, it is a bargain. I, for one, am looking for a baby sitter.

Also Noteworthy:

There are some bands you remember exactly where you were the first time you heard them. For me Soul Coughing is one of those bands. I was living in Chicago and a friend of mine hipped me to them. The first song I heard was, “Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago.” I was hooked and I have been listening to Mike Doughty’s work ever since. That said, it was with great anticipation that I opened Doughty’s latest solo CD, Golden Delicious, (released February 19 of ATO Records) and popped into the CD player. I was brought back to the hooks and turns of phrase that initially grabbed me back in, gulp, 1995. The album’s most powerful track is the sublime anti-war track, “Fort Hood,” a song about soldiers going to Iraq and returning home. The power of this song is increased by the melding of serious lyrics with very danceable music and contains a “sample” of “The Flesh Failures (Let the Sun Shine In),” from Hair. One of the major strengths of Mike Doughty is he brings a super eclectic blend of music to the mix. You never know where he is going to take you on his journey—but it’s always going to be a good and funky and rockin’ place.

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