Tag: johnnyswim

PHOTOS: Dream Date with JOHNNYSWIM

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Last week, JOHNNYSWIM – husband-and-wife indie-folk duo of Amanda Sudano Ramirez and Abner Ramirez – released their highly-anticipated new album, When the War Is Over. A stand out track, “Los Feliz,” can be found second-to-last in the sequence.

“Los Feliz” was written by Ramirezes and songwriter-producer Britten Newbill. It kicks in with grooving, pocketed drums and warm electric guitar, loping as if up and down the southern California hills.

“Somethin’ ‘bout LA/ Golden hour getaway/ Oh… I want you close,” Amanda sings the opening lines. Abner picks up where she leaves off, creating another musical dialogue – a common facet of the pair’s music across their twenty-year-plus catalog. Their songs feel like intimate vignettes, a window into their lives, their relationship, their family, and their creative processes.

“Los Feliz” is a love song– to each other, to Los Angeles, and to their favorite neighborhood, of course. The lyrics and message feel especially apropos since the devastating LA wildfires, as we all feel heartbroken seeing these neighborhoods we hold dear forever altered. But, like in the track, there’s plenty of redemption to be found in this beautiful city and this sweet corner of the City of Angels.

To celebrate When The War Is Over, JOHNNYSWIM brought Good Country along on an adorable Los Feliz date, taking us and our readers to a few of their favorite spots, captured by their longtime friend and photographer Amy Waters.

Below, Amanda describes their date for each of us as we all get the unlikely treat of third wheeling with JOHNNYSWIM.

Little Dom’s

One of our favorite date activities is to go to Little Dom’s in Los Feliz. It’s an old school Italian restaurant with delicious food, a cozy vibe, and it just makes you feel like you’re in a movie.

Reckless Unicorn

After that, we walk right across the street to an adorable toy shop called The Reckless Unicorn. Because we’re parents (and every parent knows that you can’t go on a date night without talking about your kids), we end up buying our kids presents so they get excited when we go on date nights knowing they’ll usually get a treat when we come home.

Vermont Ave. x Melbourne Ave.

From there, we’ll take a stroll around the neighborhood. There’s a beautiful florist on the corner of Vermont and Melbourne where we’ll pick up some flowers or a plant, or even just smell some roses.

Maru

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All photos by Amy Waters.

WATCH: JOHNNYSWIM, “Heaven Is Everywhere”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: JOHNNYSWIM
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Single: “Heaven Is Everywhere”
Album: JOHNNYSWIM
Release Date: April 8, 2022

In Their Words: “When I started singing this chorus in the shower, I felt like what was inside of me was bigger than the whole world and I wanted to share it. I find, whether it’s in church or in politics, that people get so obsessed with right and wrong and their certainty of it. If we experience the beauty of this life, even though the drudgery and the misery, there’s glimpses of heaven around us at all times. My hope with this song is that people can feel that when they hear it and sing it.” — Abner Ramirez, JOHNNYSWIM

Photo Credit: Chloe Eno

Drew Holcomb, Bandleader and Bourbon Collector, Taps Into a New Golden Age

Posted on by Editor

Drew Holcomb writes and sings often about the comforts of home and family life, but don’t assume he’s setting his family and himself as role models.

The leader of roots-rockers Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, Drew (who is the BGS Artist of the Month for January along with wife Ellie Holcomb) is quick to point out that the couple is “not trying to portray any sort of ideal.”

“We just write about our life,” says the singer-songwriter, whose most recent projects are a tour and compilation album with Ellie. “That’s sort of the season that we’re in. It would be disingenuous for me to try to write anything different than what I see and experience, the lens that I have.” Drew says he does have some narrative songs in his catalogue that are less personal, “but it’s not tended to be where I’m drawn to as a songwriter.”

Of nine songs on the new collection Coming Home: A Collection of Songs, the couple harmonize twice about the comforts of home, four times about their love for each other, once about their love for their “wild man” 3-year-old son Rivers and once about the need to “Love Anyway.” The collection concludes with a cover of Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” which is appropriate given their You and Me Tour, which launches February 4 in Jacksonville, Florida.

BGS called the couple for companion interviews; enjoy Ellie’s Q&A here.

BGS: Your band, Ellie’s solo work, and the duo each have a separate, unique sound. Do you purposely work to give each a different style?

Drew Holcomb: Part of that’s personality. When I’m recording with the Neighbors, it’s always the same players, who I’ve been playing together with for years. And then Ellie has worked with different producers and different musicians than me, and she has her own stylistic creative impulses and decisions. So those two roles are clearly differentiated, and then we get together. We decided to let each song sort of dictate itself. There’s some good variety in there, but it lends itself toward more of a singer-songwriter vibe with a little more atmospheric, sonic landscape kind of creativity.

After Ellie left the band (Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors), she eventually started a successful career in Christian music. Where did the idea of also working as a duet come from?

She was in the band and took seven years off from that, and is still not in the band, but we do this (You and Me) tour together every year. We thought we should write some new music. We had not written together in almost a decade. We just put them up on Spotify and stuff like that, and they actually performed really well. The music sort of became its own sort of separate entity from my work with the Neighbors and her solo work.

Your take on Sting’s “Fields of Gold” pares back the production for a comparatively sparse interpretation. You and Ellie also do that on your Kitchen Covers series. Why that approach?

I primarily see myself as a songwriter, maybe secondarily as a singer. And thirdly, as a performer, entertainer. The genius of a song can get lost in some of the ornate production and people just think about it as a pop song, right? They don’t hear the great songwriting at the bare bones of it. I’m not a theatrical, big singer. So I kind of quiet things down, take the dynamic down on an “Islands In the Stream.” It’s just an interesting approach.

You’ve mentioned Van Morrison and Bob Seger as influences in the past. Who else are your musical heroes?

I love Tom Petty for a lot of reasons. I love how he played with the same guys for the majority of his career, working with different producers, made different styles of records but always with the same sort of North Star. Springsteen. There’s so many. Carole King, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson. There’s like 100 persons.

Americana is increasingly the category of singer-songwriters in popular music, where in the past comparable artists like Jim Croce and James Taylor had big hits on the mainstream pop charts. Is that frustrating for you?

Yes, certainly it is, to some degree. But if I was starting out in 1971, I don’t think I was good enough to have gotten a label deal, the only way to get records released in that era. The era I was born in gave me that long runway to hone my craft. Yes, there’s not as much opportunity commercially for what artists like myself do. But if it ever is frustrating, it’s something I move on from pretty quickly, just because you can’t change when you were born. I do think it’s actually a really wonderful time to put out music because there’s a lot of space for a lot of artists. While there may be less of us on a large commercially successful level, there’s probably more of us doing it in general, at the “pay your bills and keep moving forward” level. There’s so many good artists making great records that it’s a different type of a golden age.

Can you be immodest for a moment and tell me which of your songs might have staying power and be covered years from now?

I don’t know. I’ll let posterity decide if that happens. We get videos all the time where people are out and they’re hearing some person in a restaurant playing our songs. It’s really cool to see other artists and songwriters giving it a go. I definitely have been surprised by “What Would I Do Without You,” from the Good Light album. It seems to have that sort of staying power. I hear from people that their grandparents love the song, and then their kids love the song. If I could get kids who grew up on my music that came out before they were born and they still like it, that would be a good barometer of the staying power of the songs themselves. I’m starting to see that a little bit, and I hope that continues.

Are you still in the whiskey business?

I am. Just a very small partner on a thing called Sweetens Cove Tennessee Bourbon. It’s been a fun endeavor for sure. My manager and I both are collectors of bourbons and various whiskeys. When I was living in Scotland in college, I started drinking scotch. I was a history major, so I always fall in love with the backstory of whatever thing I’m consuming. Whiskey is great for that because every brand’s got a good mythology story, a good origin story or creation story. It’s a fun thing to be a part of.

You’ve done some scattered dates since the coronavirus hit, but the February–March You and Me tour with Ellie is your first full-fledged tour since then. How do you feel about it?

It’s great. You don’t realize how much you love something until it’s taken away from you. We’re definitely going to play some new songs on the tour. We’ve been writing. I like to test new stuff out, tease it out a little bit.

Did you write a lot of songs while you couldn’t do many shows?

Maybe 40 and growing. I’m not proud of all of them. Half of them are worth taking into the studio to see what happens.

So you’ll throw out 20 songs?

Usually, I cannibalize them. I take the stuff I like out of them and start something new.

Do you have any particular ambitions for your music going forward? Is there somewhere you want to go that’s different than what you’re doing now?

I’m writing more than I’ve written in a long time. COVID’s been good for my writing in the last eight months at least. I’d like to probably increase the pace at which I release music, but maybe decrease the pace at which I tour. I’d love to get to that point where instead of every tour having to be connected to a new record, you just tour on and off all the time and put out music whenever it’s ready.

You’ve done collaborations with The Lone Bellow, Lori McKenna and Natalie Hemby. Do you see more of this cross-pollination in the future?

I did this thing with Johnnyswim. We did a collaborative EP (Goodbye Road). I have aspirations of doing more and more of that with other artists. I’ve been doing lots of co-writing. The older I get, the more freedom I feel to collaborate and hold my own creative rudder less tightly and see what happens. I think there’s some of that on the horizon as well. That’s also what’s been fun about working with Ellie, to do things differently, try to stretch different muscles creatively and challenge yourself in different ways and share the spotlight. That’s been a big thing for me.

Photo Credit: Ashtin Paige

WATCH: Johnnyswim, “Devastating”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Johnnyswim
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Single: “Devastating”
Release Date: August 25, 2021

In Their Words: “As a married duo it’s easy to write songs about the pleasures of love and romance, but in ‘Devastating’ we explore the depth of love that at its best, isn’t just sweet, but, if all goes right, will be touched by some level of tragedy and hardship. This ‘ring on my finger and a tag on my toe’ kind of love is the soul of the song. Love can be pretty, but if you’re lucky, it’s devastating too.” — Abner Ramirez, Johnnyswim

Photo credit: Chloe Eno

16 Summer Reads: New Books by Brandi Carlile, Mary Gauthier, and More

Posted on by Editor

My summer essentials list is pretty simple: A ball cap and sunscreen for a hike, driving directions and a trail map for a day trip, and more than a few reading options for the couch that’s inevitably waiting for me at the end of a long hot summer day. Gathering together all the new memoirs and taking some tips from my BGS colleagues, here are 16 top tomes to get us all — even the kids — through this sweltering season of 2021.

Rob Bowman, The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story

Generous in its photography and its scope, this overview of Malaco Records explains how a pioneering independent label founded in 1962 brought a wealth of African American music to the world via artists like Mississippi Fred McDowell, Bobby Blue Bland, Z.Z. Hill, Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton, and James Cleveland.

Brandi Carlile, Broken Horses

This memoir satisfies the longtime fans who will learn what inspired the songs from her early albums, yet it’s also a candid and conversational statement about what it’s like to be a queer woman in roots music today. The cast of characters is charming, too, particularly her exchanges with Elton John and Joni Mitchell.

Brent Cobb, Little Stuff

Country tunesmith Brent Cobb has said he writes every album with his kids in mind, so transforming the song “Little Stuff” into a children’s book came naturally. But how many children’s books get their own music video? Whether you read it or watch it, the Georgia musician’s homespun wisdom shines through.

Robert Owen Gardner, The Portable Community: Place and Displacement in Bluegrass Festival Life

This scholarly look at bluegrass festival culture in the American West comes from sociology professor Robert Owen Gardner. It’s also an examination of how arts and music grapple with social and environmental change. A digital version of the academic textbook allows more room in the backpack for sunscreen and guitar strings.

Mary Gauthier, Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting

More of a memoir than an instruction manual, Mary Gauthier tells the stories behind original songs like “Mercy Now” while leaving the mystical and magical aura of writing them intact. By sharing her intimate conversations and co-writing experiences, she offers both a creative and compassionate point of view.

Howard Grimes with Preston Lauterbach, Timekeeper

Known as Bulldog, Memphis drummer Howard Grimes has propelled R&B classics like Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” and Ann Peebles’ “I Can’t Stand the Rain.” In this autobiography, he also explains how he wound up homeless for a time and how he’s been guided by the Bible. Fans of Stax and Hi Records won’t want to miss this one.

Chris Hillman, Time Between: My Life as a Byrd, Burrito Brother, and Beyond

You can’t tell the story of country rock without Chris Hillman. Time Between entered its second printing earlier this year, proving there’s still a curiosity about near-mythical bands like The Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Start at page one and turn, turn, turn to the get the whole story from this prolific Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.

Johnnyswim, Home Sweet Road: Finding Love, Making Music & Building a Life One City at a Time.

The ever-endearing Johnnyswim found an even larger following when Chip and Joanna Gaines chose the duo’s anthem “Home” as the theme to Fixer Upper. Now, Amanda Sudano-Ramirez and Abner Ramirez give fans a deep dive into their own family life with Home Sweet Road, their debut book brimming with photos, recipes, stories, and poetry.

Kimberly Mack, Fictional Blues: Narrative Self-Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White

The story of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil isn’t the only larger-than-life narrative in blues music. A scholar of African American literature and American popular music at The University of Toledo, Mack writes about how similar self-made personas resist racial, social, economic and gendered oppression.

Richard Marx, Stories to Tell: A Memoir

A late ’80s pop star whose catalog still holds up, Marx writes about his life and career, including a few interactions with era-defining figures like Olivia Newton-John and Kenny Rogers. He also gives his candid perspective of what the music industry is really like. By the way, can’t you totally hear Alison Krauss covering “Right Here Waiting“?

Willie Nelson with Turk Pipkin, Willie Nelson’s Letters to America

At 88 years old, Willie Nelson is a living legend with a modern point of view. Yet, rather than ranting on social media, he’s channeled his thoughts into a series of letters, even writing one to Texas and another to marijuana. With his classic lyrics reprinted alongside these letters, the book captures his conversational charisma.

Sinéad O’Connor, Rememberings

This Irish artist made an iconic music video by tearfully emoting into the lens, but there is much more to her story than “Nothing Compares 2U” and her infamous appearance on SNL. As The Guardian notes, “O’Connor also doesn’t need a ghost writer because she has, throughout all of it, rarely been at a loss for what to say.”

Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovlich, Honey & Co: Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant

In this cookbook and travelogue, the founders of London restaurant Honey & Co. are seeking out savory smoke flavors in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, and Greece. And it’s not just grilled meat! Fruits, vegetables, breads and “Unmissables” are make their way into these pages, too. Find out more about the authors on BGS’s The Shift List.

Kim Ruehl, A Singing Army: Zilphia Horton and the Highlander Folk School

An activist and song collector, Zilphia Horton finally gets her due. Ruehl (also a BGS contributor) explains how Horton adapted folk music and hymns for empowerment and social causes, with “We Shall Overcome” as just one example. Considering the school’s ties to civil rights, this piece of Tennessee history merits the attention.

Bobby Rush with Herb Powell, I Ain’t Studdin’ Ya: My American Blues Story

A favorite on the blues scene since the 1950s, Bobby Rush remains a beloved figure in the genre, winning his second Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album earlier this year. A well-traveled entertainer at age 87, this memoir follows his remarkable life journey from Louisiana to Arkansas, on to Chicago and ultimately the Blues Hall of Fame.

Paul Simon, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy): A Children’s Picture Book

If you gotta make the morning last with little ones around, try this imaginative picture book. With song lyrics from the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel classic and vivid illustrations by Keith Henry Brown, the 24-page book captures the small details of city life by following a bunny on a bicycle — how groovy is that?

 

Best of: Hangin’ & Sangin’ 2017

Posted on by Editor

The best part of my job is, without question, Hangin’ & Sangin‘ every Friday at Hillbilly Central. Not only do I get to talk with and listen to some of my absolute favorite artists, but I also get some quality time with my own personal Gelman (aka Justin Hiltner, BGS’s social media director). We keep it loose and fun while still digging into some deep, interesting topics. Because of that, inevitably, after the show, the artist says, in a pleasantly surprised tone, “Wow. That was great! It didn’t hurt at all. Thank you!” I don’t know what other interviewers are doing — or not doing — but we’re sure thrilled and touched by that compliment. Every time.

To close out 2017, I’ve pulled together a batch of the best moments from throughout the year. Some happened on camera, some off, but each made our little show that much more special — as did each of you for tuning in. Thanks for supporting us!

Watch all the episodes on YouTube, or download and subscribe to the Hangin’ & Sangin’ podcast and other BGS programs every week via iTunes, Podbean, or your favorite podcast platform.

Squared Roots: Johnnyswim on the Perfect Imperfections of Johnny Cash

Posted on by Editor

Through wars with authority and battles with addiction, Johnny Cash carved out a place in musical history for himself that is the stuff of legends. The rebellion and redemption, as well as the humor and humility, that run through his songs resonated — and still resonate — with fans around the world who have bought more than 90 million records. An Arkansas native, Cash grew up listening to the Carter Family, spent time in the U.S. Air Force, found his way into music while in the service, got married just out of the service, struggled with addiction and affairs, had four daughters, got divorced, and, eventually, married the love of his life, June Carter, with whom he had one son. In the midst of all that, the “Man in Black” made some of the most popular and influential music of the 20th century. He passed away in 2003, four months after June’s own passing. 

For the husband-wife duo of Johnnyswim (comprised of Abner Ramirez and Amanda Sudano) Cash represents an artistic archetype worth emulating. As such, for the 12 years they’ve been making music together, Ramirez and Sudano have blazed a musical path that similarly reflects the lives they live — lives of faith, family, love, and wonder. Johnnyswim’s deep passion and immeasurable joy for their work is most evident in their live shows, where the audience reflects it all right back at them. There’s no doubt Johnny would have loved their jaunt into the balcony of Ryman Auditorium to be among those fans at a recent Nashville show. It was right out of the Cash playbook.         

Usually, I can connect the dots for myself on these picks. Other than the fact that he has quite a few songs the drunks all sing, help me get from Johnnyswim to Johnny Cash.

Abner Ramirez: [Laughs] Amanda and I … the influence our parents have given us from their varying backgrounds into what we’re doing today is the desire to do the thing we are most passionate about — to live for that and that alone. The trajectory is not record sales or moving up in a company. The trajectory is “how close are you to the mark of doing what you’re truly passionate about.” And I think, if there’s an artist I can point to that, in all his albums and the interviews I’ve seen him in, it seems like he had that true north trajectory. And that’s, to me, the most drawing facet of any artist.

There’s the … I want to say “no bullshit” but there’s a better way to say it. There’s that gritty, imperfect … I mean, us being on Conan and Amanda forgetting the lyrics and me singing a little bit sharp because I was so excited and nervous, that’s some of my favorite stuff because it’s real. Otherwise, have a computer go do it and put a pretty face on it. Anybody, with enough money, can be beautiful. It’s not about doing something perfect or exactly beautiful. It’s about being honest. And, sometimes, the only place you see that honesty is in the imperfections. That drives us toward our passions. We’re not trying to be perfect. We’re trying to be passionate. And I think Johnny Cash was one of the most passionate artists I’ve ever listened to.

Amanda Sudano: On a personal level, Johnny Cash was one of the very first artists that we bonded over when we first met and were writing songs. We would listen to him all the time, riding around town, singing along, being fully absorbed in the stories of each song. He was kind of our joint one true love. He was our first threesome. [Laughs]

[Laughs] That’s AWEsome.

AR: [Laughs] Oh, God! There have been none since. That should be said.

AS: [Laughs] First and only!

So, Abner, when you were parking cars at the Palms [in downtown Nashville], how often did you sneak down to the Johnny Cash Museum?

AR: You know what? It wasn’t there, when I was at the Palms. I’m older than I’d like to be. [Laughs]

[Laughs] Right on. Of all the different facets and eras of Johnny, is there one that you guys gravitate more toward?

AR: I think it’s seasonal for us. Ask me that question again in six months or six days, and I’d give you a different answer. But, for me, I love the Folsom Prison moment, when he’s established as a worldwide star and he’s recording this album. And I’m sure it was his choice to do it at the prison. I love the moment when he’s saying, “The record label wants me to do this thing and they’re filming it, and they want me to do this and that. And the only thing that matters is that you like what I’m doing and I like what I’m doing! So screw them!”

There’s something about that attitude of bucking the system … even though, of course, we’re in the beginnings of our career, we’re just getting started … there’s something about that attitude of not submitting to every opinion that a suit has for you that really is still in fashion in 2017 because, being people that are in pursuit on the grind, for so many of us young artists, that seems like the only wise decision — to agree with somebody who has a larger catalog or more experience — just to submit. Many times it is the wise thing, but it’s not the only wise thing.

And having your own compass inside your chest that burns when you’re going the right way — how important that is — that’s something that, right now, is so important to us. So that part of his career when he’s famous, but he’s still gritty and doing the wrong thing a lot of the time …

AS: If you listen to his live recordings, you get a sense that it’s not about the recording. It’s about the people he’s in front of. I feel like that’s so important. Now, most of the time with the shows you go to, it feels like you’re kind of watching them on TV. It feels like, “This is entertainment. This is a performance. They’re up on stage. We’re down here.” I think that’s something we’ve always tried to copy, really, that sense of him being one with the audience. It’s not just him on stage for you to ogle at. It’s him being part of you and you being part of him, and “we’re all in this together.” I feel like you get that sense in every bit of his live recordings, which I love so much. It’s really helped us.

A lot of that goes with what Abner said before: It’s not about perfection. It’s about the moment. If you can focus on that and quit worrying about perfection so much and worry more about being present, then the music becomes more alive than it could ever be if you were just playing the notes. Anybody can just play the notes, but let’s have some fun!

That being said, I do love the later years. I feel like, in every song, there is this bittersweet sadness of a man who has loved and lost, especially after June was gone. Those last recordings, there’s something so powerful about that tone of his voice. You can hear that he’s at the end of his life. You can hear that he’s lost his best friend. And there’s something so powerful about that. I think, especially in times when we’ve been going through loss and dealing with our own hurt, it’s helped us identify it and make the bitter a little sweeter, just hearing it in his voice. I have days when I just want to listen to the very end of Johnny Cash, the very last record of Johnny Cash’s, because that seems appropriate.

I’m glad you brought June into it because I think she’s an important piece to not lose in all of this, particularly because of your relationship. Through that lens, what do you see that June brought to Johnny that he wouldn’t have had on his own?

AS: What didn’t she bring that he wouldn’t have had?! She stabilized him in a lot of ways. I imagine them being much like me and Abner — obviously, on a very different spectrum. But with June coming from a family of musicians … and I come from a family of musicians … and being able to harness some of that passion. We had a friend that once said something like Abner was the passion, the fire, and I was the intimacy. And that was something that made us special because Abner has all this fire, and mine was smaller. It was a smaller flame. But it was that intimacy that made us, together, kind of come alive.

And I feel like you hear that … you hear something different in Johnny, post-June. For the rest of his life, she was able to bring out the more subtle flavors of him. There was just a sensibility of someone who’d been in music and wasn’t one of those girls who was starry-eyed at him all the time. That kind of balanced him out.

It’s important to not let the guys get too cocky about it all. You can’t fawn over them all the time.

AR: That’s right. Especially when they don’t have the right to be too cocky about it.

[Laughs] Especially when they sing a little bit sharp on Conan .

AR: [Both laugh] That’s exactly right!

Do you guys feel like the legacy and legend of Johnny — and even his music — if he hadn’t lived such a raucous life, it wouldn’t have been the same. What do you think it would be?

AR: Of course not. No.

AS: He wouldn’t have had the stories.

AR: He wouldn’t have had the stories or the honest place to come from when he was telling the stories. You learn the lesson, like you learn through loss, that, yes, it sucks. That is a statement on its own: When you lose somebody, when there’s a rough patch, whatever it might be, it really is the thing that makes the rest of your life take flavor. Picasso says the painting, on its own, isn’t the most valuable part. It’s the plane that it’s in, the dimensions that you put it in, because there are limitations — the frame gives it limitations. And it’s what you do within those limitations that make it beautiful. If there were no limits, there wouldn’t be beauty. And I think that’s what loss and suffering and hard times do to us: They put a frame around a canvas and it’s what we do within that frame that makes it beautiful. If it were limitless happiness, I think you’d be limited in the true beauty you could create.

Seeing as you’ve stated quite clearly that you “want to write a song the drunks all sing,” which of Johnny’s songs do you guys wish you’d written?

AR: “Sam Hall.”

AS: [Laughs] I was gonna say “Sam Hall”!

AR: [Laughs] I don’t think he even wrote it! But that’s my favorite Johnny Cash song. I think it’s both of ours.

AS: Whenever we’re on a road trip, that’s the one where we’re like … you know when you get a little bit delirious? There’s always a point on a road trip, right as you’re pulling up to where you’re going or, at some point, you’re going to fall asleep and you decide to double-down and try to stay awake? That’s our song. We’ve sung that song so many times on the road, so that would be the one that I secretly wish we would’ve written.

AR: [Sings] “The sheriff, he come to, he come to. The sheriff, he come to, he come to. The sheriff, he come to, he said, ‘Sam, how are you?’ I said, ‘Sheriff, how are you?’ ‘Damn your eyes!’” [Laughs]

AS: [Laughs] The only way you could write that song and sing it as legitimately as he did is if you really mean it and fully commit. Because it’s so ridiculous. But he does it. And I want to have that sort of commitment.

It’s like “Boy Named Sue.” You have to give yourself over to the whole thing.

AS: Uh huh. Yeah!