Tag: jerry reed

BGS 5+5: Emily Nenni

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Emily Nenni
Hometown: Orinda, California; born & half-raised in San Jose; has called Nashville home for 10 years
Latest Album: On the Ranch (November 4, 2022)
Nicknames: Emmylou, Louie, Lou

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

It was a Honky Tonk Tuesday when I was about 23 years old and my 82-year-old Grammy was visiting for her birthday. Midway through my set, I got everyone at American Legion Post 82 to sing her happy birthday and she felt so special. She talked about it for years!

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

I like to have a Miller Lite or two and sing three-part harmony bluegrass tunes with my guitarist (Jack Quiggins) and bass player (Ryan Jennings.) It warms up the pipes and keeps it light.

What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?

Drummer John Radford always said to me when I was 21 and hangin’ in certain circles of musicians, “don’t trust boys” — and he’s been right a time or two!

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

I’d like to make sauce and meatballs for Jerry Reed, RIP.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

Never. All songs aside from “Canyon” on my first record are autobiographical and I sing ‘em as such!

WATCH: The HawtThorns, “On the Way” (Live)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: The HawtThorns
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “On the Way”
Album: Tarot Cards & Shooting Stars
Release Date: February 25, 2022

In Their Words: “We wrote this song at home in Nashville while we were waiting on the world to open up; thinking about everything we had planned when we started our band and how it didn’t quite go as we thought. Even though we had a detour, the stuff that we went through on that alternate route made us look at things in life a little differently. It is about being able to enjoy the journey and to let go of exactly where you are headed. The track was super fun to make. When we had drummer Matt Lucich come in for the session we asked him to take the groove away from a traditional ‘train beat’ or a country ‘2/4 feel’ and try something different with the tom-toms. The result is this feel that the song could go off the rails at any time, just like the lyrics suggest. Johnny Hawthorn did his best Jerry Reed impression and took the opportunity to play every country lick in the book as fast as he could on his Telecaster. We doubled the vocals and layered harmonies for a real big-sounding chorus on this one.” — KP Hawthorn

Photo Credit: Michael Becker

BGS 5+5: The Kernal

Posted on by Editor

Artist: The Kernal
Hometown: Jackson, Tennessee
Latest album: Listen to the Blood
Rejected band name: Andrew Combs’ manager (Davis Inman) talked me out of calling my band “The Kernal & His Handsome Privates”

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

John Hartford probably hasn’t influenced my music as much as he has inspired it (because I’m nowhere near the musician that he was), but Hartford had a way of doing things like retaining his inner 7-year-old while writing a very poignant song about society or something seemingly little but important, and doing it all at a world-class musical level. He was excellent in every aspect of the process and I just never can get enough of him. David Bowie taught me that creating music can be more multi-dimensional than the just binary relationship between singer and audience (which turned out to be really important to me) but it’s Hartford for my money.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

I really love any form of creative output and the paths you can be led down through experiencing them. For example, I was very into a Polish filmmaker named Krzysztof Kieślowski a few years back. He did a project called The Decalogue (which I encourage everyone to watch) and he also did a color trilogy (Blue, White, Red) and I was immediately drawn in by the Red film because I had already begun this project by the time I saw it and was wearing the red suit as a theme of the project. During the movie you find out that the main character is named Joseph Kern. This freaked me out because my name is Joseph and then the whole Kern thing. I immediately felt a deeper connection with him. I love those connections you can find through dance, music, writing, any of that — they aren’t algorithmic. There’s something more real about those kinds of connections and a lot of times it seems like they find you if you’re able to see them.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

The first time I was ever mesmerized by music was when I was around 5 years old after my sister put a 45 on the record player by The Cascades and the song was “Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain.” Maybe that’s not the first time I wanted to be a musician but that song put me on the map for being enraptured by it. I saw Jose Gonzalez + Cass McCombs once in Louisville before I was doing much music and I was blown away at how incredible it was — that was around the time I started trying to write on my own. I remember doing it a lot more after that — there was something magical in the room. Bonnie “Prince” Billy was in the crowd too and I shook his hand, maybe I got the bug from him.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

On Listen to the Blood there’s a silly tune called “Super (Marijuana) Wal-Mart” about a fictitious Wal-Mart where everything is made out of cannabis and all the old folks in this small town are up in arms about it. At the very end of the song the manager of the store comes out on a loudspeaker and tries to convince these people of all the amazing products they could purchase if they just come on inside. This part took me about a year to write because I wanted him spouting off all kinds of weird products and the cadence of it had to be just right. It may not sound like something that would take a person a year to finish, but there it is.

What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?

The best advice I received was actually just a story that I was told by Norbert Putnam (legendary Muscle Shoals musician) about Roy Orbison. He told me that Roy had just gotten a new motorcycle and decided to take it down on Broadway in downtown Nashville. As he pulled up to a stoplight he noticed some teenage boys on the corner making fun and pointing at the old man on the motorcycle, not realizing it was Orbison of course. As you might expect, Orbison was incensed and began revving up the engine to show those boys that he wasn’t a chump. When the light turned green he took off but shifted wrong and the bike fell over on top of him. He had to motion to the same kids to come pull the bike off of him. Sometimes I imagine Orbison saying, “Don’t rev the engine if you can’t shift the gears.”

Photo Credit: December Rain Hansen

BGS 5+5: Jesse Dayton

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Artist: Jesse Dayton
Hometown: Beaumont Texas, but been in Austin forever.
Latest Album: Gulf Coast Sessions, out July 24
Personal nicknames: AKA the Beaumonster, AKA Country Soul Brother

What other art forms, like literature, film, dance, painting, etc. inform your music?

Books and film have been the biggest inspiration outside of listening to other folks’ music. I remember seeing Ralph Steadman’s subversive art in Rolling Stone magazine when I was a kid and then reading the words under it, which were Hunter S. Thompson’s words. I had read some of the classics at this point, but that was my first introduction to outsider, almost punk rock-like, literature. Then I got into the Beat writers and after that it was the Russian writers, then then Irish writers, up until Latino surrealist like Márquez.

I always gotta a book going. Right now it’s On Tyranny by Timothy Snider. The biggest thing I learned from the writers I love is sometimes the narrative of your story/lyrics don’t have to be perfectly defined. When people digest art, the only thing they usually remember about it is how it made them feel. Same with films. Truffaut, Scorsese, and PT Anderson have all made me think, “Wow, that’d make a great lyric.” I directed a horror B-film that starred Malcolm McDowell called Zombex on Amazon. I’m writing a book for Hachette Book Group/DaCapo Press which will be out 2021.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I bought a house in South Austin about 18 years ago and we have access to a beautiful greenbelt forest that runs outside of town next to a flowing creek and that’s where I trail run. Besides the mental health benefits I get from defeating the shitty committee in my head that’s always trying to talk me out of exercising, I get lots of song ideas out in the woods that I wouldn’t get running on concrete. Besides, country music is not just a genre, it’s an actual place and sometimes ya gotta get out in the woods away from folks to receive clear messages about your work. I’m buzzing at a different frequency when my feet are in the dirt.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Well, as long as we’re “dreaming,” I can’t think of anything better than having a big plate of Cajun seafood, oysters on the half shell, Fried red fish stuffed with crab meat, and a shrimp cocktail, circa 1955 at Antoine’s in the Quarter in New Orleans with the father of American music, Louis Armstrong. What’s not to love? By the way, I rarely eat seafood anymore and eat mostly a plant-based diet so I don’t keel over like all my other relatives did in their 50s from clogged arteries. But I will go fishing and eat my catch from time to time.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song are use “you“ when it’s actually “me”?

I’m guilty of doing this sometimes when I write personal and vulnerable lyrics that couldn’t be about anyone else but me, but I write it as “you.” I do like the idea of creating characters vocally though. All my favorite singers have created them throughout their careers, whether it was Mick Jagger’s country voice on “Wild Horses” or his blues voice on “Midnight Rambler.” Everyone from Jerry Reed to Bob Dylan to Howlin’ Wolf all create characters in their lyrics and in the vocal booth.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Try to give back more than I receive and keep my expectations lower than my gratitude. The more I do this, the better I feel.

Photo credit: Ray Redding

BGS 5+5: Joshua Ray Walker

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Artist: Joshua Ray Walker
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Latest album: Glad You Made It (July 10, 2020)
Personal nickname: High Wide and Handsome

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I started playing tenor banjo when I was three years old, and guitar when I was five. My grandfather brought a large record collection with him to Texas from Union County, Tennessee, decades before I was born. Every day after school I used to listen to those records in his workshop and try to play along on yard sale instruments he’d find. The first time it really clicked and I could keep up with one of those bluegrass records, I was obviously too young to know then, but I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

Often. I build characters based on people I know, have met, or parts of my own personality and experiences. It took me a long time to realize that last part, but now that I know, I use it as a way to explore parts of myself I otherwise wouldn’t be brave enough to write about.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

I would say film has the largest impact on my music. I think of my songs kind of like short stories and they play out in my head like movie scenes. Certain directors have informed the way some of these scenes play out, and the filters and angles by which I view them. Martin Scorsese, The Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson to name a few.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

One of my favorite parts of touring is trying the local dishes in all the places I visit. Nashville is a great food town and I have a whole itinerary of favorite spots I try to hit up every time I’m there. Fourteen-year-old me would be disappointed if I didn’t pick Jack White. He lives in Nashville, I hear we agree on where to get hot chicken in the town that invented it, and I’ve had countless near-miss encounters with him. So I pick the hot chicken basket with fries and coleslaw, extra pickles and a lukewarm Sprite with Jack White at Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish!


What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

It was December 2018 and I had just released “Working Girl” and “Canyon” in anticipation of my debut record, Wish You Were Here. I had played to fairly large crowds as a lead guitarist for other bands, but I had never played my songs live to more than about 150 people at a time and I definitely had never experienced the type of “buzz” surrounding my career prior to that point. I had a string of four preternatural shows booked that, in short, made me believe all the hard work of the previous decade was going to pay off, and instilled a confidence in me that I hadn’t had previously.

The first show was my first time playing a theater at the Kessler Theater in my hometown of Dallas, Texas. The second show was my first time opening for Colter Wall, and my first time playing solo at the Granada Theater. The third show was my first time playing the Tower Theater in OKC, opening for Colter. The last show was my first time opening for American Aquarium, and my first time at Cain’s Ballroom. Each show escalated rapidly in magnitude and capacity, and I’ll never forget how amazing and surreal it all felt.

I’m going to focus on the second show briefly. At that time, I had seen close to 100 shows at the Granada Theater, and it had been a staple in my East Dallas community for years. Spotify had just reminded me that Colter Wall and Paul Cauthen were my most listened to artists of 2018, and when I looked out into the crowd that night it seemed like I saw the face of every person who ever cared about me all in one place, singing along to my songs.

My favorite memory of being on stage actually happened right after I walked off it. I pushed my way through the heavy curtain, and what was in the tunnel waiting for me was truly unbelievable: Colter Wall, Paul Cauthen, Vincent Neil Emerson, Matt Hillyer (Eleven Hundred Springs), Summer Dean, Simon Flory, Jacob Metcalf, and others filled the hallway. They had all been watching me close the set through the curtain, and were there to congratulate me when I was done. That was one of the most heartwarming, and reassuring moments of my career and life.

Photo credit: Chad Windham

BGS 5+5: Corb Lund

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Artist: Corb Lund
Hometown: Taber, Alberta, Canada
Latest Album: Agricultural Tragic (June 26, 2020)
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): My full name is Corby. My outfit sometimes calls me ‘El Presidente’. Ian Tyson calls me ‘Corbo.’

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

I read a lot and that seeps in for sure. At a pretty granular level, but it definitely has a big impact. I’m a history nut also. When I was younger I used to draw and paint quite a lot, but there’s no time for that stuff anymore, too busy touring. I’d also like to try live theatre. Some other lifetime, probably.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

It took me about five years to write “Bible on the Dash.” I had to recruit my old buddy Hayes [Carll] to help me finish it. I had a verse and chorus FOREVER and I was stuck. When Hayes got hold of it we wrapped up the rest in a couple hours.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

The few hours between soundcheck and the show are pretty important to me. The venue and the green room are empty because everyone is out eating, so that’s my only real time on the road to work on my voice or new songs or guitar playing. I jealously guard it. And I don’t really eat food anyway and dislike restaurants.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Two things. First, I’ve always been very committed to doing my own thing musically. I’ve always wanted to be able to look back at a solid body of unique work and be proud of it. It’s important to me to get my voice and perspective and culture into my music at all levels. Secondly, to just roll up my sleeves and do things myself. I have plenty of excellent help now, but in the earlier, leaner part of my career I swore that I’d never wait around on the music industry. I just made my own records and booked my own tours and printed my own T-shirts and fixed up my own van. Unless you win the record deal lottery at 22, no one’s going to do that stuff for you. There’s a grand tradition of that, from SNFU to Chris LeDoux.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I spend as much time as I can on our family ranch in foothills of the Alberta Rockies. My great grandfather homesteaded there in 1898 and it’s a huge part of my psyche and my art. That area comes up pretty often in my songs. It’s pretty country.

Photo credit: Scott Slusher

3X3: Chris Staples on Paul Newman, Deion Sanders, and Jerry Reed

Posted on by Amy Reitnouer

Artist: Chris Staples
Hometown: Pensacola, FL
Latest Album: Golden Age
Personal Nicknames: Stapes, Bunzoli, Staple Back, Alphonso Bunzoli, Buns

 

Picked up a few straglers for our drive to albuquerque. Playing at low sprits tonight with @rockyvotolato

A photo posted by Chris Staples (@chrisstaplesyo) on

What song do you wish you had written?
"Guitar Man" by Jerry Reed

If money were no object, where would you live and what would you do?
I would have a ranch somewhere, maybe in Oregon or Washington. Have a bunch of guest houses, a fishing pond, and a studio.

If the After-Life exists, what song will be playing when you arrive? 
"Don’t Take Away My Heaven" by Aaron Neville

How often do you do laundry?
My girlfriend does my laundry every day. I tell her not to, but she just likes doing laundry, I guess.

What was the last movie that you really loved?
I’m not sure that I loved it, but that new movie Green Room is pretty rattling.  I absolutely love the classic movie The Hustler with Paul Newman.

What's your favorite culinary spice? 
Basil

 

Man Seeking Palo Santo.

A photo posted by Chris Staples (@chrisstaplesyo) on

Morning person or night owl?
Night owl, of course.

Who is your favorite Sanders — Bernie or Colonel?
Deion

Coffee or tea?
Coffee by a long shot.

Photo credit: Jenny Jimenez