September 27, 2022 • 72 mins
Jeff Tweedy is a musician, songwriter, author and frontman of the prolific band, Wilco. Norah joins Jeff in the studio to chat and play duo versions of 5 of her favorites songs of his, including ‘Jesus, Etc.,’ ‘Muzzle of Bees’ and ‘Sunken Treasure’. They dive into how he’s made music a family pastime and writing the perfect set list. Norah & Jeff laugh about the time she got the words wrong to one of his most beloved songs in front of him, and they tackle the age-old question of ‘who’s career would you like to have?’ They revisit recent history and discuss how the pandemic impacted songwriting. In the end, the answer is simple: Love is the king! Recorded on 10/1/2021
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Norah Jones and you're listening to my Hi. Hi,
I'm Norah Jones and you're listening to play along. I
hope you I just had an espresso.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You need to slow down.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Five six seven.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi, I'm Norah Jones and you're listening to playing along
with Norah Jones. Wait a second, Well.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I think it's and today I'm playing along with ooh.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, we got Hi. I'm Norah Jones. Today I'll be
playing along with Jeff Tweety.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
That was great, just playing alone with you, just playing
alone with you.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Welcome to the show. I'm Norah Jones with me as always,
Sarah Oda, what's up? Oda?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
What's up here? I am your cohort.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Sarah's my partner, she's producing the show. She's part of
my brain. We've been we've been together for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yes, And so why don't you tell us about this show?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Well, this is my excuse to play music with people,
some who I know, some who I don't know that well,
and to just sort of hang out.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
And you might just learn something new about some of
your favorite artists.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I know I certainly did so. Today's guest is Jeff Tweety,
Jeff tweety Can you just repeat everything I say?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Like all your effects.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You might know him as the frontman of Willcoe or
countless other musical projects he's been a part of.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
He's collaborated with lots of different people, including one of
our favorite people, May the Staples.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
We're going to talk about a lot of this stuff
and more, and we're going to play some some songs
from his older catly with Wilco, as well as some
new songs. He is an incredible songwriter, a musician, one
of my favorites. Without further adieu, A do A do,
wait a second.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
And you to you and you what is it you?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Without further ad maybe that's your thing.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Wait, no, that doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It's your thing.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I hope you enjoy the show. Here's Jeff tweety, tweety tweety.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
That sounds great.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
It's kel Croydon, kel Croydon.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
They were made for They're made by Gibson during the depression.
Wow for a toy company.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Oh that's why they has the birds.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
Yeah, and birds are hand painted. I have like six
of these and the birds are really wildly different on
all of them, depending on I think, depending on what day.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Of the week they were painted.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
That's beautiful, you.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Know, like Fridays the dots are all like, let's get
out of here.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I love it. I should get one.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
You should.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
Yeah, they're really there's this weighs like less than three pounds.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Oh. I love the lightest.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Guitar because I hate carrying guitars. They're just so heavy.
It's for kids.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
Yeah, I know you're not a gearhead. That's why I'm
let's just talk about you want to.
Speaker 7 (03:30):
Talk about gear I am not a gearhead, but I'm
still interested.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I mean I start glazing over sometimes if it gets
too geary.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
But I sensed it. I sensed it yours, I totally felt.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I just felt with me. Okay, stay with you. I'm here,
So thanks for doing my podcast. I'm just going to
take a nap over here.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I have that effect on a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, exactly. So, so what about the tweety show, Like
how do I train my kids to be in a
band with me when they're older, or how do I
trick him into doing that?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Do I just not?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I just tell them I never want to play music
with them. Like, how how did that end up being
so wonderfully? You know amazing.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Uh, Spencer, I think just came out of the womb
wanting to play music. And he's you know, he used
to ask to be you know, ask us to sit
him at the drum kit and hold him up before
he could even get on the drum throne by himself.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And he would play.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
And even my wife's rock club, they had a drum
kit in the basement, and the bands that would be
playing there like, come here, you got to check this
kid out. He's like, he seems like he knows what
he's doing. But he was only like one or two
years old.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
It's pretty great.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
So he had like a natural you know interest that
was really sweet, and he just kind of I don't know,
I don't remember him practicing or getting good.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
It just feels like he always just happened how to
do it. And so.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Spencer and I that was like our version of playing catch,
and it still is, you know, I think. Yeah, Sammy
resisted I think a little bit because it was his
older brother's thing, and it was so natural for Spencer
that he seemed to want to find his own thing
for a long time and then eventually he just surrendered.
(05:26):
You know that this is something fun to do, and
he started joining in and he discovered that he has
a you know, has a sweet voice and felt empowered singing,
so he started singing more.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
With us and so great.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
But I think I think the main thing is to
just not let it be a drag.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I know, that's kind of what It's delicate because anytime
I tell them to do anything or try to get
them to learn something, they immediately resist it.
Speaker 6 (05:56):
So yeah, I mean I feel like a lot of
I think, you know, parents struggle with this. How hard
do you push somebody and are they going to thank
you for it later if or regret that you didn't
push them harder?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
You know.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
I feel like that with the piano for Sammy in particular,
because he was so resistant to it that we just
kind of, you know, backed off, and now that it's
so important to him, I feel like we kind of
undersold it to him a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Well, like when I was little, as soon as I
started taking piano lessons, I wanted to quit because I
didn't want to practice every week, you know, And my
mom said, well, you can quit after you take for
five years, and so that was her kind of compromise.
So by that point I had enough to continue if
I wanted to pick it back up, which I did. Yeah, yeah,
but yeah, it's weird.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
It's like, yeah, it just you know, it just ends
up being part of the I don't know, just part
of how it happens for an individual. For Sammy, it
kind of maybe opened the door to him finding it
and see your appreciation for it, you know. But no,
never know what would have happened if you pushed him
a little harder on that, but.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
He not wanted to do it.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
Yeah, he might have liked it's just really developed a
hatred for it. But yeah, no, he ended up really
gravitating towards synthesis and and electronic music and learning how
to put all that together.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Which he's a really he's really expert.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
At all of that, and so he kind of came
at it from a weirder angle.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, but that's weird. Is good?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
No, it's great, weirdo.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Would you like to play a song with me?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Do you think? Let's see, should we try to do
Jesus et cetera? Because it's we have history together your song.
You have history with it, of course, but we kind
of have history with that song.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, I remember.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
When I got the words wrong.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I remember that. Yeah, you said it's all we got
so well, so I really did, and that what you
thought it was.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I thought that's what the lyrics were. And I didn't
even google them because I loved the song so much,
and I really thought that the lyrics were our love
is all we got, Tonny, and they were not.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean, which it does sound.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Like that when you google lyrics all the time, I
mean they come out.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
Wrong and oh all of my Yeah, so I think
if you google these they're probably wrong.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Well, can I ask you a question? Is it voices
wine or voices cry? We're both?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
What's it say on their cry?
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It says wine.
Speaker 6 (08:46):
I don't know until I'm singing it. To be honest,
I think it's wine. But do you think it's cry?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
No, I think you're it's I don't think anything.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
It's your son.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
Do you know, like when Lenny Bruce was that money
Bruce phil Oaks was testifying in a courtroom about some
of his songs having some obscenity or something like that.
They asked him some of his lyrics and he couldn't
remember him and they had to get him a guitar
and he could remember them.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, that's kind of how it is. I know what
you mean.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Well, but when we get to that, it'll be interesting
because now it's.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
In my head, like I shouldn't have said a word.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
One time we did this song, we did live band
karaoke and we had contest winners sing the songs at
our festival, Solid Sound, and we put a bouncing ball
version of all the songs up on the screen behind us,
and the crowd was just like, huh. They bended all
(09:47):
of the lyrics except for Jesus et cetera. I just
assumed it would be right, and it was like really
really off.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It was probably from my recording of it.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Probably Yeah, They're like, oh, we.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Got what we got, Tony. I was so. I was
like shocked when you said that to me, You're like,
so you changed the lyrics that lyric and I was like,
what are you talking about, Jeff tweety, Well, this is
one of my favorite songs in the last twenty years.
When was this released twenty more than ago? Exactly like
(10:18):
twenty years ago.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
On September it was the record was supposed to come
out on September eleventh, two thousand and one, and we
were dropped from our label, so that release date went away,
and we ended up streaming it on September eighteenth for
free on the internet.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
And then it officially came out I think in April
or something of two thousand and two.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, And my first record came out in February of
two thousand and two, and I met you for the
first time of the Jules Holland Show.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
Right, yeah, yeah, and we were doing songs off of
this record.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Yeah, and this is like my first sort of introduction
to you.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Oh well, so I probably not alone in that.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
But you know, it's a good introduction.
Speaker 8 (11:12):
Jesus, don't cry, you can allow on me, honey. You
can combine any thing you are. I'll stick around you,
(11:33):
Ride about the stars. Each one is a set egg song,
tall buildings, shaped voices, scared singing, said said songs, turned
to chords, Strong down your cheeks, bitter melodies, turning your ub.
Speaker 9 (12:01):
Round, don't cry you carry lie on me, honey.
Speaker 10 (12:14):
You can combine any time you want a be round.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
You ride aboy the stars.
Speaker 11 (12:30):
Each one is a setting inside, tall building, shake voices.
Speaker 8 (12:42):
Escape singing, such sass songs, do not to God, Strong
down the.
Speaker 12 (12:49):
Chicks bedle Mallese, turning you all bit around?
Speaker 13 (12:58):
What's this?
Speaker 8 (12:59):
One scotscraper is a screen eadband together your voice.
Speaker 13 (13:06):
He's smoking last cigarettes.
Speaker 12 (13:11):
All you can get, turning your old bittle round.
Speaker 14 (13:19):
I love, I love, I love It's.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
All we have.
Speaker 15 (13:35):
I love, I love this all of God's money. Everyone
is a burning song, down't building ship voices, scared singing sets, assholes,
(14:00):
two two colds, strong, down your cheeks, little melodies, turning
your all bit around.
Speaker 13 (14:12):
Buzzes one.
Speaker 8 (14:16):
Skyscrapers a scrape together your voice.
Speaker 13 (14:21):
He's smoking last cigarettes. All you can.
Speaker 16 (14:26):
Get, turning your all bit around, last cigarettes all you
can get, turning your all.
Speaker 13 (14:38):
Bit around, last cigarettes all you can get, turning your
all bit around.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Awesome. Hey, thanks for letting me sing that with you.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's like my dream pleasure.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Would you say that this is one of your most
Like people love this song the most, not the most,
but like one of the songs.
Speaker 8 (15:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
I think it's probably the most well known song, and
it's certainly.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Just judging by covers and stuff.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
It's one of the only songs I've written that has
like multiple multiple covers around. I mean, there's like a
Swedish version of it, and you know, a lot of
it just comes up every once in a while. It
seems like once a year somebody kind of covers it,
which is really really nice.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's a great song, is it? The kind of because
you have such a huge catalog, and I feel like
you also have very very die hard fans. I mean,
I know a lot of bands do, a lot of
artists do, but I feel like yours are very specific.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
They're pretty hardcore.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
They're very hardcore, and they're amazing. I mean, do you
do you feel like when you're writing a set list
do you feel stressed about balancing stuff? I'm curious about
that because I sometimes do, and I have like way
less catalog than you.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
But you know, we just got We toured a lot
just recently on that trip, kind of because it was
kind of a big outdoor bill and the shows were
a little bit shorter than a normal Wilco show.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
It felt like we really just didn't even worry about it.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
We kind of did roughly the same set every night
and just swapped out a few songs because I don't know,
I just wanted after two years, I kind of wanted
everybody that was coming to not leave thinking they didn't
hear one of I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It's kind of like a for whatever Wilco has his hits.
It was kind of like the Greatest Hits.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Show, which is not how you usually do it, don't
you so much?
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Normally we do it where here's how I balance it generally.
I look, I actually call up the last time we
played in that town. Yeah, and I look at the setlist,
and I try and make it at least half different
from the last time we were in town.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
And and you.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
Know, Jesus et Cetera is probably the most well known
voco song. But we've gotten away with playing lots of
shows without playing.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Without playing it. Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
And we don't really have that song that that people.
I mean, maybe a good maybe a percentage of the
audience walks away going I can't believe they didn't play that,
But for the most part, our fans don't. I don't know.
That's one of the benefits of not having hits. It
might be the only benefit of not having hits.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
No, I know, you mean, but like, I feel like
your fans are also so hardcore. They probably they're just
like maybe they're excited that you didn't.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
Play it too, you know, I had a really disturbing experience.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, maybe you know, like, yeah, they went deep for me.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
We started doing this request thing on our website, and
it was kind of disturbing because every every night, every
song gets one vote, like every song in the whole
catalog gets one vote every night unless somebody hacks it,
and like sort of like ask for a super deep cut,
(18:22):
like with four hundred votes, you just know some you know,
computer wizard like is coming to the show. But for
the most part, I started, like when I started doing
solo shows and I would look at the request list
for the show, I'd just be like, what, Like, how
do I know which ones to pick from this? Everybody
just has one Every song has one vote. So I
started telling the audience that when they hear the song
(18:43):
they came to hear, they should leave, so I know
when to quit.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That's funny, That's a good way to do it. Except
it didn't help.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
No, I was like, play four hundred songs, yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I mean that's great that you have all those songs.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
I guess, so, yeah, I mean I would have would
have been nice to have a hit. Maybe I think
that that ship is probably sailed at this point.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I mean, I think I think you're doing just fine.
Do you ever get asked that question about who you
want to whose career you'd want to emulate. I always
thought that was kind of a lame question from journalists.
You know, you get that question, right, or have you,
like in the past.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
We used to get it a long time ago, and
I mean at that time when we were starting out,
I think I would always say something like Ram or
Randy Newman or just somebody that's been around a long
time and has had like the opportunity to make a
lot of different records and a lot of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
But but I mean, did you ever think of that
answer until somebody would ask you that question?
Speaker 6 (19:43):
No, I was like, I never really, I mean I
stopped modeling what we do on other people. By the
time we made us an independent record and we're touring
in a van totally. That was like, Oh my god,
this is the coolest thing. This is the high I've
always like out lived my dreams.
Speaker 12 (20:01):
You know.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
That was like as cool as it could get. I
never went to a lot of big rock shows when
I was a kid. I went to small shows and
punk rock shows and stuff. So the arena playing bigger
places was I never could picture myself doing it because
it wasn't something I had experienced a lot, and we
haven't done a whole lot of it, but we've definitely
(20:21):
played way bigger venues in stages than I would have
ever anticipated, and it was a growing experience. Certainly had
to kind of like learn how to do that as
a challenge, which I'm glad. It was a cool challenge
to figure out how to make that feel right.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Well, it's like you just keep rolling along and trying
new things. So I was thinking about that question today
when I was sort of preparing for this, and I
always like, I don't know, like I always say, like
Dolly Parton or Joni Mitchell, but the truth is I
never think of it outside of being asked that question. Today,
I was thinking, like you, like, I love You're exactly
(20:59):
who I feel like if I had to model my
career after anyone. And I feel like at this point
I've outgrown that question a little bit, but like, sure,
I love how adventurous you are and you're always doing
something different, and it's it's like thing songs for this
was impossible. So many good ones.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Well, thank you. I mean, I mean, well you don't.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
I mean, I think everybody, I think with the aspiration
should be for everybody to have one that doesn't look
exactly like anybody else's exactly and you totally have that.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Well yeah, I mean I think that's why I always
thought that was such a silly question, because it's like,
I don't really want to be like anybody else.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
You've kind of used I feel like, you know, like
you have this massive, massive success, like right out of
the gate, and a lot of people I think, I mean,
I don't know, we've never really talked about it, so
I don't know how disorienting any of that was. I'm
assuming it was probably pretty disorienting. But but I think
(22:05):
that you took control of it really quickly, and I
think that that I always thought that was really admirable
because you didn't. I felt like, I just watching you
from the outside, it felt like you didn't let it
steamroll you. You just decided to use that leverage to
be able to do the things you want to do.
And I don't think that occurs to a lot of.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
People at length.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
I don't either. I think it was just dumb. Luck
for me, it was just like, oh cool, Oh I
get to do whatever I want. I'm going to do it.
I wasn't like plotting anything because I think when you're young,
you just keep rolling and that's yeah, that's what you
seem to do, and that's that's exactly how I like
to do things.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
Yeah, I from the outside it looks like being sort
of self possessed or something, you know, which is good.
I think, you know, having a certain amount of confidence
and self possession, but I don't. Internally, I don't feel
that way at all. I just feel like I kind
of just really uncomfortable doing things I don't want.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
To do exactly. You're just you're just enjoying.
Speaker 6 (23:05):
I almost couldn't do it if in a way that
I feel like would be you know, anyone would want
to hear or respond to.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
But that doesn't I don't know.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
But at the same time, I really love being outside
of my comfort zone and finding out if I can
do something, you know, like the Mayvest Staples stuff. It
was just like I'd never produced a record, so it
was just like being asked to do that. It was like,
I'll try, you know, like I'd love to help because
I love I love her. I love you know, And yeah,
(23:36):
it was really nice seeing the stuff I had learned
making my own records and being in the studio for
so long actually applied to an environment or to the
type of music that wasn't you know, just square on
the nose for what I do.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, I mean, it's one of my favorite records too,
The Mavis record that song too, I mean that You're
you Are Not Alone song, thank You. I mean, it's
one of my favorite songs for the last twenty years.
But it's just such a great songs.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
It's gorgeous. I forgot I played last night and I
forgot to play it.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
You were going to play it. I was going to
play it at the end, but it felt a little too.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
Like I would I don't know, like I would be
milking the moment of people being out of the houses
for the first time or something like. I thought about
singing and I was like, oh, that's gonna I don't know.
I got really self conscious about it on stage.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
That's funny. I mean, do you get self conscious?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
N It feels emotional every time.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
It's very emotional song. It's incredibly emotional. That's what's so
moving about it. And it's very universal. You know, her
singing it is universal, but some people might relate to
it one way you singing it, people might relate to
it another way.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
Yeah, there'd already been a lot of stuff last night,
I mean, just the whole you know, it really felt
that it was the first time in a crowd like
that for a lot of people, and it certainly the
first time I've done a solo show in a in
a crowded room, and so there were a lot of
moments throughout the show that already felt like that emotional.
(25:06):
It should been scratched or something.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, you didn't want to send them home bawling.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
That's usually my goal, leave them wanting less and depressed.
Hey full Yeah, is everybody having a good time? Yeah,
we'll see what we can do about that.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
It's amazing. I do have a little fomo because I
haven't gone to a show and I haven't played a
show yet since everything.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
So at the beginning of the summer before we went out,
you know, it felt like, oh, this is going to
be amazing. And by the time we got out there,
of course the delta variant and all the different things
were happening with the you know, other people canceling tours
and stuff. So it was a little confusing, but we
managed to keep keep ourselves healthy and the crew healthy,
(25:54):
and we had like forty people, you know, with all
the different bands in a bubble, and we managed to
do it.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
It's great.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Only canceled one show because of whether and we had
two hurricanes on that oh gosh, yeah on that trip
or like we're in the line of two hurricanes.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That's wild. Yeah, it must have been nice.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Though it was. It was really nice. I mean very
special people seem Yeah. I mean it's a huge thing
in people's lives and it's a really special yours for ours,
but just getting getting to be a part of that
equation for someone looking out into an audience and seeing
the like this joy and relief and sense of I
(26:41):
don't know, just being a part of a communal experience,
which for a lot of people that don't go to
church a lot. And yeah, exactly, like sports or whatever,
it's like kind of the only place you get that.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, that's interesting because yeah, a lot of people get
at other places. It was at the longest that you've
not been on the road as an adult during the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah, because your road dog.
Speaker 14 (27:09):
Well, I mean I have always on the road.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Yeah, I think I've been playing shows and do you know,
getting in advance since I was about you know, eighteen
or nineteen years old, and for sure in my adult life,
that was the only time I've ever spent eighteen months
at home. Yeah, and I was it was great. I mean, honestly,
(27:33):
that part of it was really kind of uplifting because
my wife and my kids and I were all under
one roof and we were very fortunate to have a
house that's big enough to kind of have not be
on top of each other, which really sympathized with people
that were in living situations where it wasn't easy to
(27:54):
get away from.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
You know, everybody had your family members, everyone had their
own unique experience.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Yeah, but for us, it was like, oh wow, we
we you know, I really love each other. We really like,
i mean not just love each other, but like to
spend time together. And for my wife and I, honestly,
that was the you know who knew.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Yeah, it's pretty great because.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
You know, I think we've always kind of attributed the
success of our relationship to being able to be a
part you know, and that that we've remained sort of
connected and strong, even though I'm gone a lot.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So it was a test.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Then if she was here.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Right now, she'd be rolling her eyes and saying that
she wanted to pack. She wanted to pack my bags
many times. And that's always been the joke before the pandemic,
is that if I'm home for too long, I wake
up and my bags are packed by the front door,
because she she likes it when I'm out doing what
I do, and maybe she senses that I need to
do it.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
That makes sense, I mean, that all makes sense, but
it's I'm glad you guys passed the test. Yeah, yeah,
can we do save it for me?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (29:09):
This is from the album we put out like twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Kind of right, No, it came out during the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Came out during the Was it written during the pandemic? Okay,
so this is the perfect segue. I didn't even mean
to do it. I'm just yeah, so this is one
of those songs that came out of that.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:33):
When I came home from the pandemic, for we were
on tour when everything got shut down, and so we
got home and a few days really only a few
days in I started thinking I just try and write
as an exercise. I wanted to write country songs, like
(29:55):
I thought the way a country song would sound if
it was gonna you know, you're trying to pitch a
to somebody to be played on a jukebox in like
the early sixties, just as you know, just as a
genre exercise or something. It's like, I wonder if I
can just write a straight country song. And I wrote
a few songs like that, and I started sharing them
with my my friend George Saunders and Nick Offerman, who
(30:17):
we have a we kind of have a thread, a
text thread. Were the actor, Yeah, okay, yeah, we're just
like it's just this.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Long, gooing text thread.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
I was just like, hey, I'm going to send you
guys a song a day just to see what if
I can do this.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
You're really good at that, by the way. The self
discipline thing, thank you. I mean I read your how
to Write One Song book and I loved it. Oh,
thank you, Because I don't really have any of that.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
I just, yeah, I like, I like just seeing if
you can do it. And the only and one of
the reason reasons I can do it is because I like,
you have to really just accept whatever comes out.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
But that's the best advice you can give anybody trying
to write a song, yeah, because everybody wants to just
shut it down when it's cheesy or if you don't like.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
It, right.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
Yeah, I don't think I always think that that's what
writer's block is. It's not so much you can't write anything,
you just don't like what you're writing.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
You're just not letting yourself go.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
So it was really satisfying and it was really fun.
And then over time, like really, within like a week
and a half or so, I had enough songs for
a record, and they were starting to become less and
less of that genre exercise. They were starting to have
more of a unique flavor, you know, or a unique
(31:40):
feeling to the moment.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
It started taking shape as its own as the record.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
Yeah, and it became the record Love is the King,
and you know, so it was Spencer and I primarily
laying down all of the tracks at the studio because
it was in our bubble. And then this is really
the record where Sammy started taking a much more active
interest in being a part of it. And so he
sings all the harmonies on the record.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Ah, So this is him on harmonies. This okay, I
can't realize that.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah, yeah, the Three Boys, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
And I love his harmonies because they're they're different, you know,
they're so cool.
Speaker 6 (32:16):
So yeah, I think that this is this is the
first song. I think that we had him come in
and sing harmony on.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
That's so sweet. It's funny you were writing country signs.
To me, this sounds like an old jazz standard also,
but I feel like there's a lot of overlap there.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
There is for.
Speaker 13 (32:30):
Sure sae me.
Speaker 8 (32:44):
When the wealth those bod I could say, with certainty
left on in an empty room.
Speaker 13 (33:02):
So love can be.
Speaker 8 (33:06):
A rainbow in the mouth of clouds, dark d days
boon needs you know, rainbow in the mouth of clouds,
dark end days soon needs me?
Speaker 13 (33:28):
Now see it for me? When the world falls power,
I can say the certainty.
Speaker 17 (33:50):
There's a redson, there's a pie left out that you
can't consume, so sweet it cannoty.
Speaker 8 (34:32):
There's a reason no one would call today.
Speaker 13 (34:40):
People you lean on don't always know what do you say?
Speaker 18 (34:51):
See it for me?
Speaker 14 (34:57):
When the world fose body.
Speaker 13 (34:59):
Like say the certainty by a light left one and
an empty how love can be. It's all love can
(35:22):
be it's a love can be, so love can be.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
That's beautiful, beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Yeah, I loved it. I had this like idea of
trying to do it ragtime, but it's definitely in the
wrong key for that.
Speaker 6 (35:57):
Yeah, I should have told me how would I would
do now.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I liked what we did. It was great. I just
wanted to sing on it mostly and just tinkle a
little piano.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Just well half step up would have been rag time
key right, gee with a big.
Speaker 19 (36:12):
I was saying, when the world falls apart.
Speaker 13 (36:23):
I could say with certain but.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Yes, that's what I was hearing, Like is man, That's
why I was hearing it kind of jazzy, right.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
But you have to make I have to make that track.
I want to hear it.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
It'd be fun. I'll fiddle with it. I'll do any
different key that's a little low, But I love that song.
It's beautiful. Also, I really have avoided using jazzy as
a as a descriptive word my whole life, and I
don't know why I just did that, but I just
want to put that out there. I don't usually I
was use it.
Speaker 6 (36:56):
I was impressed. I was like like, wow, like I right,
jazz now.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
That was myself.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
I love that you made that record with the with
the Spencer and Sammy like that during the pandemic. That's great.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
It was.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
Yeah, I wrote the book and I and I and
run the same time. So a lot of the kind
of exercises I'm trying to describe in the book I
was using at the same time making the record, or
you know, it was fresh in my mind from kind
of writing really quickly.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, that's pretty great. I'm gonna I'm going to do
the book and try to do that again, like try
to I'll just send you stuff.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, let me let me hear it.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, that'd be fun.
Speaker 6 (37:41):
It's good to let somebody hear it because I mean,
if you have to find the right person. But you know,
when uh, when somebody else receives it in the same
spirit that it's it's created, it's really the steaks are
really low, but really reward.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
You know.
Speaker 6 (38:01):
It's like, yeah, it's like playing it for your mom
or something, or.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Like, well, that's interesting because I was listening to your book.
I was listening to your book on tape. I was
really struck by that that scene of you playing her song,
your mom's songs in the kitchen when you first started
writing them. Yeah, and I think that earnestness of songwriting
is what helps you be so fearless with it and
(38:28):
like just yeah, what you're saying is basically the key
to unlocking it. And it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Yeah, I mean, you got somebody that's.
Speaker 6 (38:39):
I mean, I think ultimately you're wanting to reach somebody
that is open to loving you. It's hard to reach
people who are not open to making having a connection right,
you know, God and the people I think spend a
lot of time worried about those people, worried about the
people that are critical.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Its difficult to like.
Speaker 6 (38:59):
Are not really coming at it, Like they don't really
need it from you? There there, it's not for them,
or they have other things that that really means a
lot to them, and they're not I don't know, they're
just not. They don't need another friend, you know.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
I think that's that's a great Yeah, that's an interesting
thing to think about.
Speaker 6 (39:18):
So so it's like, if you know that that's there,
you still have a vulnerability because I don't know if
you ever quite shake that feeling, especially if you're saying
something that's emotionally resonant within yourself. It feels a little electrifying,
(39:42):
almost like a like an electrocuting.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Yeah, either way, just.
Speaker 6 (39:49):
Like you know, oh, I shouldn't be saying this. I'm
not sure how I feel about this being out in
in the air. You know, Yeah, that's still there, even
with somebody that loves you a whole lot, you.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Know, yeah, it can still hurt you.
Speaker 6 (40:07):
But I just like think that I don't really spend
a lot of time picturing an audience. But it took
me a long time to figure out that I shouldn't
picture an audience that isn't open to it, Like, what's
the point?
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, it's true. I mean it took me a long
time to realize this. I don't know why. Maybe because
my first record was so successful and I got a
little like weird, you know, sure, and I would play
shows and I would like be kind of upset sometimes, like,
well they weren't as into it as they could have been.
And I don't know, I remember somebody saying to me
(40:40):
was like, everyone here, I bought a ticket to come
see you. They're on your side, they already like you.
For some reason, I thought I had to win them over, right,
and that's like a weird performer thing, right that sometimes
I think people get in their head for sure, and
especially when you're young.
Speaker 6 (40:57):
Oh yeah, well, I mean and you start out that way.
For lot of people, it's just like, yeah, that's your
whole goal. That's just went over an audience, and then
they're never really quite let go of it.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, They're not always there to see you in the beginning.
They're maybe there to see someone else.
Speaker 6 (41:10):
Which if I guess, if I had to pick a
side of which, you know, default position to come into
a show, I'd probably still want most performers to feel
like they need to put an effort in to win
you over.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Oh yeah. But there's a difference between not putting an
effort in and not feeling defensive immediately about like or
like you know, scared too scared.
Speaker 6 (41:32):
Yeah, like just assuming the audience is going to be
withholding yeah, of their affection or something.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, it's just a weird head trip that I went.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Through all the thing.
Speaker 6 (41:41):
The thing that's crazy and you know to me is
how how adept at picking out people that aren't having
a good time. Yes, we are, and everybody that's ever
I've ever talked to you that's been on stage has
like just like almost like an animal instinct for the
guy that's yawning or looking at his phone or.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Gets me because I also, like in the beginning, I
got called Snora in the press, which my mom for
some reason thought was hilarious and like always jokes around
about it.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
But it does hurt a little bit, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
So like the yawning always gets me for sure.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (42:20):
They can be in the middle of like fifty people
like dancing exactly, and you're like, what's wrong with that guy?
I'm giving all this mental energy to this person that's
like like the last person I should be thinking about.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, as soon as I stopped thinking of it that way,
it was so much more fun.
Speaker 6 (42:37):
The world is like that though, we always like seem
to be most disoriented and distracted by the the I
don't know, the naysayers and the yeah I mean energy,
And now we're programmed to be more like that every day.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Yeah, what you know, the way the news is and.
Speaker 6 (42:53):
Everything outrage economy, Yeah, it's all just outrageous. I always
thinking about how, you know, you could have a bunch
of people in a room having a great time and
one really really sour. Negative person can walk in the
room and completely change that room. Yes, but it doesn't
work the other way. You could have a group of
like people.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Are you sure, I mean if there's a group of
negative people, is.
Speaker 6 (43:19):
What you Yeah, and like one really happy person comes
in and tries to make it just makes them all matter, Like, yeah,
I guess there are there. Well that's a real gift.
That's somebody like Mayvis Staples.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yes, she can brighten a room.
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Yeah, she like.
Speaker 6 (43:33):
But yeah, it's it generally, I think it's much more
energy expended to get it to go the other direction.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Yeah, it's true. Love is the King. I mean, it's
it's you said.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
It available everywhere.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, it's great. I remember when I came to the
loft to write songs and just play with you. I
was just like so, I was so excited. I don't
know why, but I've always felt, well, even though I'm
a fan, I feel like over the years seeing you
around and you were so cool with posts some moods
(44:07):
and I don't know, we just have fun. The brief
times we saw you, I just thought we would get
along and I felt very at ease with you playing
music and writing songs. And it was weird because I
really was surprised that I wasn't more withholding of my
own ideas because I do think of you as a
you know, you're way more accomplished songwriter than I am.
(44:29):
But it was just so fun and I felt that
energy from you, and I feel like it worked really well.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
Absolutely. Yeah. No, I mean I feel like.
Speaker 6 (44:43):
We've always had like a real strong friend chemistry. Yeah,
me too, even from the first time I told you
you got the lyrics wrong.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
Oh god, I took it with a lot of Oh.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
I was like, it was hilarious, but also a little
bit horrified, I was. I mean, it was great. I
love playing music with you, so yeah, it was so fun.
Speaker 6 (45:07):
I remember the first time we met at the Jules
Holland thing. I was we were playing I'm the Man
who Loves You and I have like a crazy loud,
fuzzed out guitar solo, and I felt I was scared
I was gonna hurt your ears because they had seated
you directly at like a little table directly in.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
Front of us.
Speaker 6 (45:27):
Yeah, and I think my amp was aimed straight into
your head, and I'm like, oh my god, I just
can't believe I'm gonna have to do this.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
You're gonna you're gonna make me go down Grace record.
Which one do you want to do? Do you want
to do I'm alive?
Speaker 3 (45:49):
Or yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Or okay?
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Yeah? Is that okay?
Speaker 14 (45:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:52):
No, it's great. I just didn't know which one. Let
me just grab my.
Speaker 11 (45:56):
Yay, Okay.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
It's funny because I put this album out during the pandemic,
so I never got to play with this this with
a band. Oh wow, And it's actually the last time
I saw you was like the week before Lockdown when
we did the video for this.
Speaker 20 (46:13):
Right.
Speaker 6 (46:14):
Yeah no, that was like probably the last time I
flew yeah before I just came here.
Speaker 3 (46:20):
Yeah, yeah, possible, Yeah, I think I think it is.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
It is so I've been doing all these like solo
piano versions of the song, which I never thought i'd do.
But it's great.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
I'll just hang on for dear life.
Speaker 21 (46:31):
No, no, it's great.
Speaker 13 (47:06):
Jess anyway, don't move.
Speaker 15 (47:13):
Just says it.
Speaker 11 (47:14):
You can hope and pray, you can move, baby, things
will change. I feel your song get her love dout.
Speaker 13 (47:35):
Wow, world implodes. You just live with that.
Speaker 11 (47:46):
She walks, she runs, She fights, almost as one fight.
Speaker 13 (47:57):
Her voice shem. She has no choice.
Speaker 18 (48:07):
She's crushed my thoughts and night.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Oh man, who wants?
Speaker 13 (48:18):
Who writes? And you?
Speaker 14 (48:22):
Jelie waits.
Speaker 13 (48:25):
Oh she is alive. Yeah, she's alive.
Speaker 14 (48:34):
She is alive.
Speaker 13 (48:37):
Oh she's alive.
Speaker 7 (49:00):
He screams, He shats the head are TV bow They
take the bait.
Speaker 13 (49:12):
They made road way, feed.
Speaker 18 (49:21):
The bray down walls to free their saints and the.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
Little hat comecake very.
Speaker 14 (49:39):
All watch. I think.
Speaker 11 (49:44):
I dance and sometimes I drink. I see my sons.
I'll hope someone says.
Speaker 21 (49:55):
Mon.
Speaker 11 (50:01):
If I should break.
Speaker 10 (50:04):
My side streak, will.
Speaker 13 (50:09):
Now lives come down.
Speaker 12 (50:13):
To good?
Speaker 13 (50:15):
My gee.
Speaker 11 (50:18):
Oh I'm alive. Yes, I'm alive.
Speaker 10 (50:27):
I'm alive.
Speaker 11 (50:31):
I'm alive, but I'm live. Yes, I'm alive, but I'm alive.
Speaker 22 (50:47):
I'm alive, Okay, alive.
Speaker 13 (50:57):
I know the things.
Speaker 18 (51:01):
It's all right, it's okay.
Speaker 11 (51:07):
Maybe things would change.
Speaker 1 (51:15):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
That was great.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
I remember I tried to play drums on this, but
Spencer was so much better. I was like, I need
to play drums. But I loved playing with you and
Spencer together. It was so fun.
Speaker 6 (51:26):
Oh yeah, it's me too. We love playing with you. Obviously.
It was so such an incredible fun time to get
to do that. But for me, you know, I love
playing with Wilco, I love playing with, you know.
Speaker 3 (51:44):
Lots of musicians. I've been lucky to play with a
lot of great musicians.
Speaker 6 (51:47):
But yeah, there's really nothing like playing with your own
DNA or something like.
Speaker 1 (51:51):
Well that's what they say. Like the Everly Brothers hook up,
that was just there was just something about that.
Speaker 6 (51:58):
It's crazy, how I mean, I so many tracks on
Love is the King are not to a click, just
me playing acoustic guitar and him coming in later and
putting drums on it. And people don't seem to do that.
It's like, just it's not that common. I don't think
for people to do that.
Speaker 1 (52:19):
It's not easy.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
It's really hard. But he never has any problem.
Speaker 6 (52:23):
He like understands where I you know, I don't have
terrible time, but I'm not perfect, but.
Speaker 1 (52:28):
Well you have your own unique sense of time.
Speaker 6 (52:30):
Right, So he just he just has been hearing that
his whole life or something. So he just like kind
of dips and ebbs and flows where it feels right.
And it's really really kind of I don't know, interesting.
I think I would love to know why it works.
So well, but at the same time, I don't really
need to know.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
Well, that's the beauty of it is not it's not
a technical thing that you can know. It's just it's
just it's called chemistry.
Speaker 6 (52:59):
And then yeah, it's beautiful. But it's the thing I
guess I'm trying to express is like, when we play together,
it's obviously there and it's like it's really effortless and
fun and we you know, just really hear each other
super clear, clearly. But the thing that I always think
it is a very amazing is that it still sounds
(53:20):
that way when we do it separately.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
I know, I know, that's what I'm saying. That's exactly
what happened on this song is like I was trying
to play drums for some reason, but then he came
in after and overed up the drums, but we did
not do it to a click uhh, And so I
was like, oh God, is he going to be able
to and it was so perfect it's crazy.
Speaker 6 (53:40):
We did the Pop Staples record that Spencer and I
completed with Mavis's Blessing. She kind of brought these recordings
in that he had worked on before he died, and
they were never finished to anyone's satisfaction. And so we
did like Spencer and I as a rhythm section and
played along with just Pop's voice and his guitar, and
(54:07):
those weren't to a click or anything either. So it
was just like just kind of trying to get in
the head space of we're playing in the room and
closing your eyes and playing with Pops and it was
really kind.
Speaker 3 (54:16):
Of it was. Yeah, it was. I had a lot
of like.
Speaker 6 (54:24):
Just crazy eerie feelings of him his presence or something.
Speaker 3 (54:29):
This is it really he really is present.
Speaker 6 (54:31):
His voice is I mean, the voice is a huge
part of you who a person is, you know, just
having it in your headphones listening and listening so intently
to try and follow that was a really beautiful experience.
But yeah, it was, you know, he was able to
do that too, which was really exciting.
Speaker 13 (55:08):
The rows and rows of houses.
Speaker 8 (55:14):
With the windows spinning, blow with a light from a TV.
Speaker 13 (55:28):
Round a palel, do you but there is no sunken
treasure rumored to be wrapped inside my ribs in the sea.
Speaker 14 (55:59):
Blaye with a.
Speaker 13 (56:03):
I am so out of tune.
Speaker 3 (56:10):
With you.
Speaker 13 (56:15):
I am so out of tune.
Speaker 12 (56:21):
With you.
Speaker 13 (56:39):
If I had a mountain.
Speaker 8 (56:46):
A child to fold it over. And if I had.
Speaker 13 (56:55):
A boat, I'm probably roll over. But I leave it
all the shore.
Speaker 8 (57:14):
I leave it for somebody. Surely there's somebody.
Speaker 13 (57:28):
Who needs it more than me. I am so.
Speaker 5 (57:38):
Out of tune with you. I am so out too.
Speaker 13 (57:53):
With you. For all the leagues we burned, autumn fires, then.
Speaker 20 (59:15):
Return all the fires we burned, all will return.
Speaker 8 (59:35):
Music is my savior. I was maimed by rock and roll.
Speaker 13 (59:49):
I was maimed by.
Speaker 8 (59:50):
Rock and roll.
Speaker 13 (59:56):
I was teamed by rock and roll. I got my
name from.
Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Rock and roll. I love that signe. It's very emotional.
(01:00:57):
There's that chord though that I have no idea what
it is, the last one, the last one, and that.
Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
This one.
Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
Sorry, No, I was looking at you want to go
for that part.
Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
Of I wasn't sure what was happening. But I just
try to ghost that one.
Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
That court a little bit, but me too.
Speaker 6 (01:01:20):
I didn't have a pick I forgot to put a
pick up, so I was just kind of like trying
to But.
Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
It was good. I liked it. I liked it. I
liked that version.
Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
I love I love that song.
Speaker 6 (01:01:30):
It's it probably doesn't need the dissonance in the second
in this type of version, but it's can edit it
out if you need to.
Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
No, I love that part. It confused me at first
because I was like, what what are those chors? I
don't understand it, And then I'm used to it. I
love it. I love that part.
Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
This part of the song, that song was improvised.
Speaker 6 (01:01:53):
That version on the record is improvised in the studio,
and uh, like I had had some of the lyrics
and I this part, and I had the chorus in
this and but there was no middle section or anything,
and so it's basically kind of got through everything I
had and and the band was still playing, so I
(01:02:18):
just started. I was like, kind of improvised like a
dissonant section. Everybody kind of went with it was amazing.
And then all of the lyrics from that point on,
like the for all the Leavey Ben and Autumn Fiz
and then that's all improvised.
Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
And the and the music is my savior. It's just
like it's it was very emotional when I was listening
to it. It's it's pretty great.
Speaker 6 (01:02:44):
Yeah, it was like, it's very true. It happens sometimes.
It happens like that sometimes, and yeah, you feel really
really lucky to be in a part of it, you know.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Yeah, that's great. I love I love it when it happens.
Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
Well, you know it.
Speaker 6 (01:03:03):
I think it happens a lot more than people think
it does. What just doesn't happen is making it happen.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
No, you can't like.
Speaker 6 (01:03:14):
But you have to put yourself in the way of it.
It's sort of the same thing in the book, like
writing songs, you don't they don't happen if you don't
pick up the guitar, and it don't doesn't happen. You
don't write something unless you pick up the pencil or
something like that. And and something like this doesn't happen
unless you you convene exactly, you get together and make
(01:03:37):
make an effort to be in the way of something
beautiful potentially happening.
Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
That's the best I mean. I remember I used to
always come to the studio with songs to record, either
my own or covers. But I never wrote in the
studio until maybe two thousand and nine, I want to say.
And I made a record with Danger Mass and that's
how we wanted to do it. I was like, well,
I've never done that before, and it was it opened
(01:04:06):
up my whole world. And that's why I felt confident
enough to come and do that with you, because I
had just never thought to do that before. Yeah, and
it's the best.
Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
It's really great.
Speaker 12 (01:04:16):
You know.
Speaker 6 (01:04:16):
It's like it's just like it's just an active discovery
each day. And they're like just like like the question
isn't what do I want to say? It's like how
do I find out what I want to say?
Speaker 9 (01:04:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
If I talking? Yeah, yeah, it's true. I love that. Well,
do you have time for one more? And then we
can you can go to your show.
Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
Which one is this?
Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
You want to do a muzzle of bees? Should that
be okay?
Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
Sure?
Speaker 8 (01:05:00):
It's a random painted highway and the muzzle the beast.
My seeds are come on stitched from climbing the tree
(01:05:25):
when dogs left and sand it barking.
Speaker 13 (01:05:29):
I don't think they're mean.
Speaker 8 (01:05:35):
Some people get so frightening the fences in between.
Speaker 13 (01:05:45):
The sun gets passed from tree to tree silently and
back to me.
Speaker 23 (01:05:59):
With there he's going through, pushed up against the scene,
finally back to me.
Speaker 13 (01:06:20):
I'm assuming you got my message on your machine. I'm
assuming you love me.
Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
And you know what that means.
Speaker 13 (01:07:18):
The sun gets passed from sea to sea.
Speaker 24 (01:07:24):
Silently and back to me with the breeze bone through pushed.
Speaker 15 (01:07:36):
Up above the leaves, with.
Speaker 13 (01:07:43):
The breeze bone through my head upon your knees. Half
of it's you and half is me. H. Half that's
you and half is me.
Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
That's not an easy subbody to with that.
Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
Thanks for playing with me.
Speaker 6 (01:09:05):
Oh my god, it was great to see you and
pleasure great, great thrill to be asked to do anything
with you. I really wow.
Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
I love you. I love is the king it is though,
and I feel it and I I'm glad we get
to do it. Yeah, thank you, Hey, thanks for listening. God,
I had so much fun. That was so great, so fun.
Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
You just lock into each other.
Speaker 13 (01:09:37):
It's well.
Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
I picked songs for this that I knew. Most of
them I knew really well. I mean, I've known that
last song we did for twenty years and I've loved
it so once I figured out what Q was in,
it was pretty you know, it was like inside me already.
I just didn't know quite what.
Speaker 13 (01:09:54):
It was needed to be released.
Speaker 1 (01:09:57):
I adore Jeff and thanks to Jeff for making it happen.
Save it for me.
Speaker 25 (01:10:07):
When the world falls apart, I can say with certainty,
there's a rain, a light laught flown in an empty room.
Is how love can be.
Speaker 10 (01:10:31):
Rainbow in the mouth of clouds, darkened days?
Speaker 14 (01:10:38):
Who needs you?
Speaker 22 (01:10:39):
No rainbow, a mouthful of clouds, darkening days?
Speaker 14 (01:10:51):
Who needs me?
Speaker 17 (01:10:53):
Now?
Speaker 14 (01:10:57):
Save it for me?
Speaker 26 (01:11:02):
Where the world falls upon, I can say with certainty,
apart left out that you can't consume, so sweet you
(01:11:23):
cannot eat.
Speaker 11 (01:11:27):
Reason, no one will call today.
Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
This show was produced by Me and Sarah Oda. Mixing
engineer was Jamie Landry, recording engineer was Matt Marinelli, and
additional engineering by Greg Tobler. Artwork by Eliza Fry, photography
by Shervin Linez. Save it fon me.
Speaker 18 (01:11:54):
Where the world falls upon, I can say
Hi, I'm Norah Jones and you're listening to my Hi. Hi,
I'm Norah Jones and you're listening to play along. I
hope you I just had an espresso.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You need to slow down.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Five six seven.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi, I'm Norah Jones and you're listening to playing along
with Norah Jones. Wait a second, Well.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I think it's and today I'm playing along with ooh.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, we got Hi. I'm Norah Jones. Today I'll be
playing along with Jeff Tweety.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
That was great, just playing alone with you, just playing
alone with you.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Welcome to the show. I'm Norah Jones with me as always,
Sarah Oda, what's up? Oda?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
What's up here? I am your cohort.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Sarah's my partner, she's producing the show. She's part of
my brain. We've been we've been together for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yes, And so why don't you tell us about this show?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Well, this is my excuse to play music with people,
some who I know, some who I don't know that well,
and to just sort of hang out.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
And you might just learn something new about some of
your favorite artists.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I know I certainly did so. Today's guest is Jeff Tweety,
Jeff tweety Can you just repeat everything I say?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Like all your effects.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You might know him as the frontman of Willcoe or
countless other musical projects he's been a part of.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
He's collaborated with lots of different people, including one of
our favorite people, May the Staples.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
We're going to talk about a lot of this stuff
and more, and we're going to play some some songs
from his older catly with Wilco, as well as some
new songs. He is an incredible songwriter, a musician, one
of my favorites. Without further adieu, A do A do,
wait a second.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
And you to you and you what is it you?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Without further ad maybe that's your thing.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Wait, no, that doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It's your thing.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I hope you enjoy the show. Here's Jeff tweety, tweety tweety.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
That sounds great.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
It's kel Croydon, kel Croydon.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
They were made for They're made by Gibson during the depression.
Wow for a toy company.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Oh that's why they has the birds.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
Yeah, and birds are hand painted. I have like six
of these and the birds are really wildly different on
all of them, depending on I think, depending on what day.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Of the week they were painted.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
That's beautiful, you.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Know, like Fridays the dots are all like, let's get
out of here.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I love it. I should get one.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
You should.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
Yeah, they're really there's this weighs like less than three pounds.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Oh. I love the lightest.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Guitar because I hate carrying guitars. They're just so heavy.
It's for kids.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
Yeah, I know you're not a gearhead. That's why I'm
let's just talk about you want to.
Speaker 7 (03:30):
Talk about gear I am not a gearhead, but I'm
still interested.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I mean I start glazing over sometimes if it gets
too geary.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
But I sensed it. I sensed it yours, I totally felt.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I just felt with me. Okay, stay with you. I'm here,
So thanks for doing my podcast. I'm just going to
take a nap over here.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I have that effect on a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, exactly. So, so what about the tweety show, Like
how do I train my kids to be in a
band with me when they're older, or how do I
trick him into doing that?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Do I just not?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I just tell them I never want to play music
with them. Like, how how did that end up being
so wonderfully? You know amazing.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
Uh, Spencer, I think just came out of the womb
wanting to play music. And he's you know, he used
to ask to be you know, ask us to sit
him at the drum kit and hold him up before
he could even get on the drum throne by himself.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And he would play.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
And even my wife's rock club, they had a drum
kit in the basement, and the bands that would be
playing there like, come here, you got to check this
kid out. He's like, he seems like he knows what
he's doing. But he was only like one or two
years old.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
It's pretty great.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
So he had like a natural you know interest that
was really sweet, and he just kind of I don't know,
I don't remember him practicing or getting good.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
It just feels like he always just happened how to
do it. And so.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Spencer and I that was like our version of playing catch,
and it still is, you know, I think. Yeah, Sammy
resisted I think a little bit because it was his
older brother's thing, and it was so natural for Spencer
that he seemed to want to find his own thing
for a long time and then eventually he just surrendered.
(05:26):
You know that this is something fun to do, and
he started joining in and he discovered that he has
a you know, has a sweet voice and felt empowered singing,
so he started singing more.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
With us and so great.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
But I think I think the main thing is to
just not let it be a drag.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I know, that's kind of what It's delicate because anytime
I tell them to do anything or try to get
them to learn something, they immediately resist it.
Speaker 6 (05:56):
So yeah, I mean I feel like a lot of
I think, you know, parents struggle with this. How hard
do you push somebody and are they going to thank
you for it later if or regret that you didn't
push them harder?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
You know.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
I feel like that with the piano for Sammy in particular,
because he was so resistant to it that we just
kind of, you know, backed off, and now that it's
so important to him, I feel like we kind of
undersold it to him a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Well, like when I was little, as soon as I
started taking piano lessons, I wanted to quit because I
didn't want to practice every week, you know, And my
mom said, well, you can quit after you take for
five years, and so that was her kind of compromise.
So by that point I had enough to continue if
I wanted to pick it back up, which I did. Yeah, yeah,
but yeah, it's weird.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
It's like, yeah, it just you know, it just ends
up being part of the I don't know, just part
of how it happens for an individual. For Sammy, it
kind of maybe opened the door to him finding it
and see your appreciation for it, you know. But no,
never know what would have happened if you pushed him
a little harder on that, but.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
He not wanted to do it.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
Yeah, he might have liked it's just really developed a
hatred for it. But yeah, no, he ended up really
gravitating towards synthesis and and electronic music and learning how
to put all that together.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Which he's a really he's really expert.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
At all of that, and so he kind of came
at it from a weirder angle.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yeah, but that's weird. Is good?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
No, it's great, weirdo.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Would you like to play a song with me?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Do you think? Let's see, should we try to do
Jesus et cetera? Because it's we have history together your song.
You have history with it, of course, but we kind
of have history with that song.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, I remember.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
When I got the words wrong.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
I remember that. Yeah, you said it's all we got
so well, so I really did, and that what you
thought it was.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I thought that's what the lyrics were. And I didn't
even google them because I loved the song so much,
and I really thought that the lyrics were our love
is all we got, Tonny, and they were not.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean, which it does sound.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Like that when you google lyrics all the time, I
mean they come out.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
Wrong and oh all of my Yeah, so I think
if you google these they're probably wrong.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Well, can I ask you a question? Is it voices
wine or voices cry? We're both?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
What's it say on their cry?
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It says wine.
Speaker 6 (08:46):
I don't know until I'm singing it. To be honest,
I think it's wine. But do you think it's cry?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
No, I think you're it's I don't think anything.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
It's your son.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
Do you know, like when Lenny Bruce was that money
Bruce phil Oaks was testifying in a courtroom about some
of his songs having some obscenity or something like that.
They asked him some of his lyrics and he couldn't
remember him and they had to get him a guitar
and he could remember them.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, that's kind of how it is. I know what
you mean.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Well, but when we get to that, it'll be interesting
because now it's.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
In my head, like I shouldn't have said a word.
Speaker 6 (09:26):
One time we did this song, we did live band
karaoke and we had contest winners sing the songs at
our festival, Solid Sound, and we put a bouncing ball
version of all the songs up on the screen behind us,
and the crowd was just like, huh. They bended all
(09:47):
of the lyrics except for Jesus et cetera. I just
assumed it would be right, and it was like really
really off.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It was probably from my recording of it.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Probably Yeah, They're like, oh, we.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Got what we got, Tony. I was so. I was
like shocked when you said that to me, You're like,
so you changed the lyrics that lyric and I was like,
what are you talking about, Jeff tweety, Well, this is
one of my favorite songs in the last twenty years.
When was this released twenty more than ago? Exactly like
(10:18):
twenty years ago.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
On September it was the record was supposed to come
out on September eleventh, two thousand and one, and we
were dropped from our label, so that release date went away,
and we ended up streaming it on September eighteenth for
free on the internet.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
And then it officially came out I think in April
or something of two thousand and two.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, And my first record came out in February of
two thousand and two, and I met you for the
first time of the Jules Holland Show.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
Right, yeah, yeah, and we were doing songs off of
this record.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Yeah, and this is like my first sort of introduction
to you.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Oh well, so I probably not alone in that.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
But you know, it's a good introduction.
Speaker 8 (11:12):
Jesus, don't cry, you can allow on me, honey. You
can combine any thing you are. I'll stick around you,
(11:33):
Ride about the stars. Each one is a set egg song,
tall buildings, shaped voices, scared singing, said said songs, turned
to chords, Strong down your cheeks, bitter melodies, turning your ub.
Speaker 9 (12:01):
Round, don't cry you carry lie on me, honey.
Speaker 10 (12:14):
You can combine any time you want a be round.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
You ride aboy the stars.
Speaker 11 (12:30):
Each one is a setting inside, tall building, shake voices.
Speaker 8 (12:42):
Escape singing, such sass songs, do not to God, Strong
down the.
Speaker 12 (12:49):
Chicks bedle Mallese, turning you all bit around?
Speaker 13 (12:58):
What's this?
Speaker 8 (12:59):
One scotscraper is a screen eadband together your voice.
Speaker 13 (13:06):
He's smoking last cigarettes.
Speaker 12 (13:11):
All you can get, turning your old bittle round.
Speaker 14 (13:19):
I love, I love, I love It's.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
All we have.
Speaker 15 (13:35):
I love, I love this all of God's money. Everyone
is a burning song, down't building ship voices, scared singing sets, assholes,
(14:00):
two two colds, strong, down your cheeks, little melodies, turning
your all bit around.
Speaker 13 (14:12):
Buzzes one.
Speaker 8 (14:16):
Skyscrapers a scrape together your voice.
Speaker 13 (14:21):
He's smoking last cigarettes. All you can.
Speaker 16 (14:26):
Get, turning your all bit around, last cigarettes all you
can get, turning your all.
Speaker 13 (14:38):
Bit around, last cigarettes all you can get, turning your
all bit around.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Awesome. Hey, thanks for letting me sing that with you.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's like my dream pleasure.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Would you say that this is one of your most
Like people love this song the most, not the most,
but like one of the songs.
Speaker 8 (15:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
I think it's probably the most well known song, and
it's certainly.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Just judging by covers and stuff.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
It's one of the only songs I've written that has
like multiple multiple covers around. I mean, there's like a
Swedish version of it, and you know, a lot of
it just comes up every once in a while. It
seems like once a year somebody kind of covers it,
which is really really nice.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's a great song, is it? The kind of because
you have such a huge catalog, and I feel like
you also have very very die hard fans. I mean,
I know a lot of bands do, a lot of
artists do, but I feel like yours are very specific.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
They're pretty hardcore.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
They're very hardcore, and they're amazing. I mean, do you
do you feel like when you're writing a set list
do you feel stressed about balancing stuff? I'm curious about
that because I sometimes do, and I have like way
less catalog than you.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
But you know, we just got We toured a lot
just recently on that trip, kind of because it was
kind of a big outdoor bill and the shows were
a little bit shorter than a normal Wilco show.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
It felt like we really just didn't even worry about it.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
We kind of did roughly the same set every night
and just swapped out a few songs because I don't know,
I just wanted after two years, I kind of wanted
everybody that was coming to not leave thinking they didn't
hear one of I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It's kind of like a for whatever Wilco has his hits.
It was kind of like the Greatest Hits.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Show, which is not how you usually do it, don't
you so much?
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Normally we do it where here's how I balance it generally.
I look, I actually call up the last time we
played in that town. Yeah, and I look at the setlist,
and I try and make it at least half different
from the last time we were in town.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
And and you.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
Know, Jesus et Cetera is probably the most well known
voco song. But we've gotten away with playing lots of
shows without playing.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Without playing it. Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
And we don't really have that song that that people.
I mean, maybe a good maybe a percentage of the
audience walks away going I can't believe they didn't play that,
But for the most part, our fans don't. I don't know.
That's one of the benefits of not having hits. It
might be the only benefit of not having hits.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
No, I know, you mean, but like, I feel like
your fans are also so hardcore. They probably they're just
like maybe they're excited that you didn't.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
Play it too, you know, I had a really disturbing experience.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, maybe you know, like, yeah, they went deep for me.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
We started doing this request thing on our website, and
it was kind of disturbing because every every night, every
song gets one vote, like every song in the whole
catalog gets one vote every night unless somebody hacks it,
and like sort of like ask for a super deep cut,
(18:22):
like with four hundred votes, you just know some you know,
computer wizard like is coming to the show. But for
the most part, I started, like when I started doing
solo shows and I would look at the request list
for the show, I'd just be like, what, Like, how
do I know which ones to pick from this? Everybody
just has one Every song has one vote. So I
started telling the audience that when they hear the song
(18:43):
they came to hear, they should leave, so I know
when to quit.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That's funny, That's a good way to do it. Except
it didn't help.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
No, I was like, play four hundred songs, yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I mean that's great that you have all those songs.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
I guess, so, yeah, I mean I would have would
have been nice to have a hit. Maybe I think
that that ship is probably sailed at this point.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I mean, I think I think you're doing just fine.
Do you ever get asked that question about who you
want to whose career you'd want to emulate. I always
thought that was kind of a lame question from journalists.
You know, you get that question, right, or have you,
like in the past.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
We used to get it a long time ago, and
I mean at that time when we were starting out,
I think I would always say something like Ram or
Randy Newman or just somebody that's been around a long
time and has had like the opportunity to make a
lot of different records and a lot of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
But but I mean, did you ever think of that
answer until somebody would ask you that question?
Speaker 6 (19:43):
No, I was like, I never really, I mean I
stopped modeling what we do on other people. By the
time we made us an independent record and we're touring
in a van totally. That was like, Oh my god,
this is the coolest thing. This is the high I've
always like out lived my dreams.
Speaker 12 (20:01):
You know.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
That was like as cool as it could get. I
never went to a lot of big rock shows when
I was a kid. I went to small shows and
punk rock shows and stuff. So the arena playing bigger
places was I never could picture myself doing it because
it wasn't something I had experienced a lot, and we
haven't done a whole lot of it, but we've definitely
(20:21):
played way bigger venues in stages than I would have
ever anticipated, and it was a growing experience. Certainly had
to kind of like learn how to do that as
a challenge, which I'm glad. It was a cool challenge
to figure out how to make that feel right.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Well, it's like you just keep rolling along and trying
new things. So I was thinking about that question today
when I was sort of preparing for this, and I
always like, I don't know, like I always say, like
Dolly Parton or Joni Mitchell, but the truth is I
never think of it outside of being asked that question. Today,
I was thinking, like you, like, I love You're exactly
(20:59):
who I feel like if I had to model my
career after anyone. And I feel like at this point
I've outgrown that question a little bit, but like, sure,
I love how adventurous you are and you're always doing
something different, and it's it's like thing songs for this
was impossible. So many good ones.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Well, thank you. I mean, I mean, well you don't.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
I mean, I think everybody, I think with the aspiration
should be for everybody to have one that doesn't look
exactly like anybody else's exactly and you totally have that.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Well yeah, I mean I think that's why I always
thought that was such a silly question, because it's like,
I don't really want to be like anybody else.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
You've kind of used I feel like, you know, like
you have this massive, massive success, like right out of
the gate, and a lot of people I think, I mean,
I don't know, we've never really talked about it, so
I don't know how disorienting any of that was. I'm
assuming it was probably pretty disorienting. But but I think
(22:05):
that you took control of it really quickly, and I
think that that I always thought that was really admirable
because you didn't. I felt like, I just watching you
from the outside, it felt like you didn't let it
steamroll you. You just decided to use that leverage to
be able to do the things you want to do.
And I don't think that occurs to a lot of.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
People at length.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
I don't either. I think it was just dumb. Luck
for me, it was just like, oh cool, Oh I
get to do whatever I want. I'm going to do it.
I wasn't like plotting anything because I think when you're young,
you just keep rolling and that's yeah, that's what you
seem to do, and that's that's exactly how I like
to do things.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
Yeah, I from the outside it looks like being sort
of self possessed or something, you know, which is good.
I think, you know, having a certain amount of confidence
and self possession, but I don't. Internally, I don't feel
that way at all. I just feel like I kind
of just really uncomfortable doing things I don't want.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
To do exactly. You're just you're just enjoying.
Speaker 6 (23:05):
I almost couldn't do it if in a way that
I feel like would be you know, anyone would want
to hear or respond to.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
But that doesn't I don't know.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
But at the same time, I really love being outside
of my comfort zone and finding out if I can
do something, you know, like the Mayvest Staples stuff. It
was just like I'd never produced a record, so it
was just like being asked to do that. It was like,
I'll try, you know, like I'd love to help because
I love I love her. I love you know, And yeah,
(23:36):
it was really nice seeing the stuff I had learned
making my own records and being in the studio for
so long actually applied to an environment or to the
type of music that wasn't you know, just square on
the nose for what I do.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, I mean, it's one of my favorite records too,
The Mavis record that song too, I mean that You're
you Are Not Alone song, thank You. I mean, it's
one of my favorite songs for the last twenty years.
But it's just such a great songs.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
It's gorgeous. I forgot I played last night and I
forgot to play it.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
You were going to play it. I was going to
play it at the end, but it felt a little too.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
Like I would I don't know, like I would be
milking the moment of people being out of the houses
for the first time or something like. I thought about
singing and I was like, oh, that's gonna I don't know.
I got really self conscious about it on stage.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
That's funny. I mean, do you get self conscious?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
N It feels emotional every time.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
It's very emotional song. It's incredibly emotional. That's what's so
moving about it. And it's very universal. You know, her
singing it is universal, but some people might relate to
it one way you singing it, people might relate to
it another way.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
Yeah, there'd already been a lot of stuff last night,
I mean, just the whole you know, it really felt
that it was the first time in a crowd like
that for a lot of people, and it certainly the
first time I've done a solo show in a in
a crowded room, and so there were a lot of
moments throughout the show that already felt like that emotional.
(25:06):
It should been scratched or something.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, you didn't want to send them home bawling.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
That's usually my goal, leave them wanting less and depressed.
Hey full Yeah, is everybody having a good time? Yeah,
we'll see what we can do about that.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
It's amazing. I do have a little fomo because I
haven't gone to a show and I haven't played a
show yet since everything.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
So at the beginning of the summer before we went out,
you know, it felt like, oh, this is going to
be amazing. And by the time we got out there,
of course the delta variant and all the different things
were happening with the you know, other people canceling tours
and stuff. So it was a little confusing, but we
managed to keep keep ourselves healthy and the crew healthy,
(25:54):
and we had like forty people, you know, with all
the different bands in a bubble, and we managed to
do it.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
It's great.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Only canceled one show because of whether and we had
two hurricanes on that oh gosh, yeah on that trip
or like we're in the line of two hurricanes.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That's wild. Yeah, it must have been nice.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Though it was. It was really nice. I mean very
special people seem Yeah. I mean it's a huge thing
in people's lives and it's a really special yours for ours,
but just getting getting to be a part of that
equation for someone looking out into an audience and seeing
the like this joy and relief and sense of I
(26:41):
don't know, just being a part of a communal experience,
which for a lot of people that don't go to
church a lot. And yeah, exactly, like sports or whatever,
it's like kind of the only place you get that.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, that's interesting because yeah, a lot of people get
at other places. It was at the longest that you've
not been on the road as an adult during the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah, because your road dog.
Speaker 14 (27:09):
Well, I mean I have always on the road.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Yeah, I think I've been playing shows and do you know,
getting in advance since I was about you know, eighteen
or nineteen years old, and for sure in my adult life,
that was the only time I've ever spent eighteen months
at home. Yeah, and I was it was great. I mean, honestly,
(27:33):
that part of it was really kind of uplifting because
my wife and my kids and I were all under
one roof and we were very fortunate to have a
house that's big enough to kind of have not be
on top of each other, which really sympathized with people
that were in living situations where it wasn't easy to
(27:54):
get away from.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
You know, everybody had your family members, everyone had their
own unique experience.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Yeah, but for us, it was like, oh wow, we
we you know, I really love each other. We really like,
i mean not just love each other, but like to
spend time together. And for my wife and I, honestly,
that was the you know who knew.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Yeah, it's pretty great because.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
You know, I think we've always kind of attributed the
success of our relationship to being able to be a
part you know, and that that we've remained sort of
connected and strong, even though I'm gone a lot.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
So it was a test.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Then if she was here.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Right now, she'd be rolling her eyes and saying that
she wanted to pack. She wanted to pack my bags
many times. And that's always been the joke before the pandemic,
is that if I'm home for too long, I wake
up and my bags are packed by the front door,
because she she likes it when I'm out doing what
I do, and maybe she senses that I need to
do it.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
That makes sense, I mean, that all makes sense, but
it's I'm glad you guys passed the test. Yeah, yeah,
can we do save it for me?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (29:09):
This is from the album we put out like twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Kind of right, No, it came out during the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Came out during the Was it written during the pandemic? Okay,
so this is the perfect segue. I didn't even mean
to do it. I'm just yeah, so this is one
of those songs that came out of that.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:33):
When I came home from the pandemic, for we were
on tour when everything got shut down, and so we
got home and a few days really only a few
days in I started thinking I just try and write
as an exercise. I wanted to write country songs, like
(29:55):
I thought the way a country song would sound if
it was gonna you know, you're trying to pitch a
to somebody to be played on a jukebox in like
the early sixties, just as you know, just as a
genre exercise or something. It's like, I wonder if I
can just write a straight country song. And I wrote
a few songs like that, and I started sharing them
with my my friend George Saunders and Nick Offerman, who
(30:17):
we have a we kind of have a thread, a
text thread. Were the actor, Yeah, okay, yeah, we're just
like it's just this.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Long, gooing text thread.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
I was just like, hey, I'm going to send you
guys a song a day just to see what if
I can do this.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
You're really good at that, by the way. The self
discipline thing, thank you. I mean I read your how
to Write One Song book and I loved it. Oh,
thank you, Because I don't really have any of that.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
I just, yeah, I like, I like just seeing if
you can do it. And the only and one of
the reason reasons I can do it is because I like,
you have to really just accept whatever comes out.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
But that's the best advice you can give anybody trying
to write a song, yeah, because everybody wants to just
shut it down when it's cheesy or if you don't like.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
It, right.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
Yeah, I don't think I always think that that's what
writer's block is. It's not so much you can't write anything,
you just don't like what you're writing.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
You're just not letting yourself go.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
So it was really satisfying and it was really fun.
And then over time, like really, within like a week
and a half or so, I had enough songs for
a record, and they were starting to become less and
less of that genre exercise. They were starting to have
more of a unique flavor, you know, or a unique
(31:40):
feeling to the moment.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
It started taking shape as its own as the record.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
Yeah, and it became the record Love is the King,
and you know, so it was Spencer and I primarily
laying down all of the tracks at the studio because
it was in our bubble. And then this is really
the record where Sammy started taking a much more active
interest in being a part of it. And so he
sings all the harmonies on the record.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Ah, So this is him on harmonies. This okay, I
can't realize that.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah, yeah, the Three Boys, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
And I love his harmonies because they're they're different, you know,
they're so cool.
Speaker 6 (32:16):
So yeah, I think that this is this is the
first song. I think that we had him come in
and sing harmony on.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
That's so sweet. It's funny you were writing country signs.
To me, this sounds like an old jazz standard also,
but I feel like there's a lot of overlap there.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
There is for.
Speaker 13 (32:30):
Sure sae me.
Speaker 8 (32:44):
When the wealth those bod I could say, with certainty
left on in an empty room.
Speaker 13 (33:02):
So love can be.
Speaker 8 (33:06):
A rainbow in the mouth of clouds, dark d days
boon needs you know, rainbow in the mouth of clouds,
dark end days soon needs me?
Speaker 13 (33:28):
Now see it for me? When the world falls power,
I can say the certainty.
Speaker 17 (33:50):
There's a redson, there's a pie left out that you
can't consume, so sweet it cannoty.
Speaker 8 (34:32):
There's a reason no one would call today.
Speaker 13 (34:40):
People you lean on don't always know what do you say?
Speaker 18 (34:51):
See it for me?
Speaker 14 (34:57):
When the world fose body.
Speaker 13 (34:59):
Like say the certainty by a light left one and
an empty how love can be. It's all love can
(35:22):
be it's a love can be, so love can be.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
That's beautiful, beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Yeah, I loved it. I had this like idea of
trying to do it ragtime, but it's definitely in the
wrong key for that.
Speaker 6 (35:57):
Yeah, I should have told me how would I would
do now.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I liked what we did. It was great. I just
wanted to sing on it mostly and just tinkle a
little piano.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Just well half step up would have been rag time
key right, gee with a big.
Speaker 19 (36:12):
I was saying, when the world falls apart.
Speaker 13 (36:23):
I could say with certain but.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Yes, that's what I was hearing, Like is man, That's
why I was hearing it kind of jazzy, right.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
But you have to make I have to make that track.
I want to hear it.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
It'd be fun. I'll fiddle with it. I'll do any
different key that's a little low, But I love that song.
It's beautiful. Also, I really have avoided using jazzy as
a as a descriptive word my whole life, and I
don't know why I just did that, but I just
want to put that out there. I don't usually I
was use it.
Speaker 6 (36:56):
I was impressed. I was like like, wow, like I right,
jazz now.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
That was myself.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
I love that you made that record with the with
the Spencer and Sammy like that during the pandemic. That's great.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
It was.
Speaker 6 (37:14):
Yeah, I wrote the book and I and I and
run the same time. So a lot of the kind
of exercises I'm trying to describe in the book I
was using at the same time making the record, or
you know, it was fresh in my mind from kind
of writing really quickly.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, that's pretty great. I'm gonna I'm going to do
the book and try to do that again, like try
to I'll just send you stuff.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, let me let me hear it.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, that'd be fun.
Speaker 6 (37:41):
It's good to let somebody hear it because I mean,
if you have to find the right person. But you know,
when uh, when somebody else receives it in the same
spirit that it's it's created, it's really the steaks are
really low, but really reward.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
You know.
Speaker 6 (38:01):
It's like, yeah, it's like playing it for your mom
or something, or.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Like, well, that's interesting because I was listening to your book.
I was listening to your book on tape. I was
really struck by that that scene of you playing her song,
your mom's songs in the kitchen when you first started
writing them. Yeah, and I think that earnestness of songwriting
is what helps you be so fearless with it and
(38:28):
like just yeah, what you're saying is basically the key
to unlocking it. And it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Yeah, I mean, you got somebody that's.
Speaker 6 (38:39):
I mean, I think ultimately you're wanting to reach somebody
that is open to loving you. It's hard to reach
people who are not open to making having a connection right,
you know, God and the people I think spend a
lot of time worried about those people, worried about the
people that are critical.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
Its difficult to like.
Speaker 6 (38:59):
Are not really coming at it, Like they don't really
need it from you? There there, it's not for them,
or they have other things that that really means a
lot to them, and they're not I don't know, they're
just not. They don't need another friend, you know.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
I think that's that's a great Yeah, that's an interesting
thing to think about.
Speaker 6 (39:18):
So so it's like, if you know that that's there,
you still have a vulnerability because I don't know if
you ever quite shake that feeling, especially if you're saying
something that's emotionally resonant within yourself. It feels a little electrifying,
(39:42):
almost like a like an electrocuting.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Yeah, either way, just.
Speaker 6 (39:49):
Like you know, oh, I shouldn't be saying this. I'm
not sure how I feel about this being out in
in the air. You know, Yeah, that's still there, even
with somebody that loves you a whole lot, you.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Know, yeah, it can still hurt you.
Speaker 6 (40:07):
But I just like think that I don't really spend
a lot of time picturing an audience. But it took
me a long time to figure out that I shouldn't
picture an audience that isn't open to it, Like, what's
the point?
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Yeah, it's true. I mean it took me a long
time to realize this. I don't know why. Maybe because
my first record was so successful and I got a
little like weird, you know, sure, and I would play
shows and I would like be kind of upset sometimes, like,
well they weren't as into it as they could have been.
And I don't know, I remember somebody saying to me
(40:40):
was like, everyone here, I bought a ticket to come
see you. They're on your side, they already like you.
For some reason, I thought I had to win them over, right,
and that's like a weird performer thing, right that sometimes
I think people get in their head for sure, and
especially when you're young.
Speaker 6 (40:57):
Oh yeah, well, I mean and you start out that way.
For lot of people, it's just like, yeah, that's your
whole goal. That's just went over an audience, and then
they're never really quite let go of it.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, They're not always there to see you in the beginning.
They're maybe there to see someone else.
Speaker 6 (41:10):
Which if I guess, if I had to pick a
side of which, you know, default position to come into
a show, I'd probably still want most performers to feel
like they need to put an effort in to win
you over.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Oh yeah. But there's a difference between not putting an
effort in and not feeling defensive immediately about like or
like you know, scared too scared.
Speaker 6 (41:32):
Yeah, like just assuming the audience is going to be
withholding yeah, of their affection or something.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, it's just a weird head trip that I went.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Through all the thing.
Speaker 6 (41:41):
The thing that's crazy and you know to me is
how how adept at picking out people that aren't having
a good time. Yes, we are, and everybody that's ever
I've ever talked to you that's been on stage has
like just like almost like an animal instinct for the
guy that's yawning or looking at his phone or.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Gets me because I also, like in the beginning, I
got called Snora in the press, which my mom for
some reason thought was hilarious and like always jokes around
about it.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
But it does hurt a little bit, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
So like the yawning always gets me for sure.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (42:20):
They can be in the middle of like fifty people
like dancing exactly, and you're like, what's wrong with that guy?
I'm giving all this mental energy to this person that's
like like the last person I should be thinking about.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, as soon as I stopped thinking of it that way,
it was so much more fun.
Speaker 6 (42:37):
The world is like that though, we always like seem
to be most disoriented and distracted by the the I
don't know, the naysayers and the yeah I mean energy,
And now we're programmed to be more like that every day.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Yeah, what you know, the way the news is and.
Speaker 6 (42:53):
Everything outrage economy, Yeah, it's all just outrageous. I always
thinking about how, you know, you could have a bunch
of people in a room having a great time and
one really really sour. Negative person can walk in the
room and completely change that room. Yes, but it doesn't
work the other way. You could have a group of
like people.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Are you sure, I mean if there's a group of
negative people, is.
Speaker 6 (43:19):
What you Yeah, and like one really happy person comes
in and tries to make it just makes them all matter, Like, yeah,
I guess there are there. Well that's a real gift.
That's somebody like Mayvis Staples.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Yes, she can brighten a room.
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Yeah, she like.
Speaker 6 (43:33):
But yeah, it's it generally, I think it's much more
energy expended to get it to go the other direction.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Yeah, it's true. Love is the King. I mean, it's
it's you said.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
It available everywhere.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yeah, it's great. I remember when I came to the
loft to write songs and just play with you. I
was just like so, I was so excited. I don't
know why, but I've always felt, well, even though I'm
a fan, I feel like over the years seeing you
around and you were so cool with posts some moods
(44:07):
and I don't know, we just have fun. The brief
times we saw you, I just thought we would get
along and I felt very at ease with you playing
music and writing songs. And it was weird because I
really was surprised that I wasn't more withholding of my
own ideas because I do think of you as a
you know, you're way more accomplished songwriter than I am.
(44:29):
But it was just so fun and I felt that
energy from you, and I feel like it worked really well.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
Absolutely. Yeah. No, I mean I feel like.
Speaker 6 (44:43):
We've always had like a real strong friend chemistry. Yeah,
me too, even from the first time I told you
you got the lyrics wrong.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
Oh god, I took it with a lot of Oh.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
I was like, it was hilarious, but also a little
bit horrified, I was. I mean, it was great. I
love playing music with you, so yeah, it was so fun.
Speaker 6 (45:07):
I remember the first time we met at the Jules
Holland thing. I was we were playing I'm the Man
who Loves You and I have like a crazy loud,
fuzzed out guitar solo, and I felt I was scared
I was gonna hurt your ears because they had seated
you directly at like a little table directly in.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
Front of us.
Speaker 6 (45:27):
Yeah, and I think my amp was aimed straight into
your head, and I'm like, oh my god, I just
can't believe I'm gonna have to do this.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
You're gonna you're gonna make me go down Grace record.
Which one do you want to do? Do you want
to do I'm alive?
Speaker 3 (45:49):
Or yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Or okay?
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Yeah? Is that okay?
Speaker 14 (45:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:52):
No, it's great. I just didn't know which one. Let
me just grab my.
Speaker 11 (45:56):
Yay, Okay.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
It's funny because I put this album out during the pandemic,
so I never got to play with this this with
a band. Oh wow, And it's actually the last time
I saw you was like the week before Lockdown when
we did the video for this.
Speaker 20 (46:13):
Right.
Speaker 6 (46:14):
Yeah no, that was like probably the last time I
flew yeah before I just came here.
Speaker 3 (46:20):
Yeah, yeah, possible, Yeah, I think I think it is.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
It is so I've been doing all these like solo
piano versions of the song, which I never thought i'd do.
But it's great.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
I'll just hang on for dear life.
Speaker 21 (46:31):
No, no, it's great.
Speaker 13 (47:06):
Jess anyway, don't move.
Speaker 15 (47:13):
Just says it.
Speaker 11 (47:14):
You can hope and pray, you can move, baby, things
will change. I feel your song get her love dout.
Speaker 13 (47:35):
Wow, world implodes. You just live with that.
Speaker 11 (47:46):
She walks, she runs, She fights, almost as one fight.
Speaker 13 (47:57):
Her voice shem. She has no choice.
Speaker 18 (48:07):
She's crushed my thoughts and night.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Oh man, who wants?
Speaker 13 (48:18):
Who writes? And you?
Speaker 14 (48:22):
Jelie waits.
Speaker 13 (48:25):
Oh she is alive. Yeah, she's alive.
Speaker 14 (48:34):
She is alive.
Speaker 13 (48:37):
Oh she's alive.
Speaker 7 (49:00):
He screams, He shats the head are TV bow They
take the bait.
Speaker 13 (49:12):
They made road way, feed.
Speaker 18 (49:21):
The bray down walls to free their saints and the.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
Little hat comecake very.
Speaker 14 (49:39):
All watch. I think.
Speaker 11 (49:44):
I dance and sometimes I drink. I see my sons.
I'll hope someone says.
Speaker 21 (49:55):
Mon.
Speaker 11 (50:01):
If I should break.
Speaker 10 (50:04):
My side streak, will.
Speaker 13 (50:09):
Now lives come down.
Speaker 12 (50:13):
To good?
Speaker 13 (50:15):
My gee.
Speaker 11 (50:18):
Oh I'm alive. Yes, I'm alive.
Speaker 10 (50:27):
I'm alive.
Speaker 11 (50:31):
I'm alive, but I'm live. Yes, I'm alive, but I'm alive.
Speaker 22 (50:47):
I'm alive, Okay, alive.
Speaker 13 (50:57):
I know the things.
Speaker 18 (51:01):
It's all right, it's okay.
Speaker 11 (51:07):
Maybe things would change.
Speaker 1 (51:15):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
That was great.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
I remember I tried to play drums on this, but
Spencer was so much better. I was like, I need
to play drums. But I loved playing with you and
Spencer together. It was so fun.
Speaker 6 (51:26):
Oh yeah, it's me too. We love playing with you. Obviously.
It was so such an incredible fun time to get
to do that. But for me, you know, I love
playing with Wilco, I love playing with, you know.
Speaker 3 (51:44):
Lots of musicians. I've been lucky to play with a
lot of great musicians.
Speaker 6 (51:47):
But yeah, there's really nothing like playing with your own
DNA or something like.
Speaker 1 (51:51):
Well that's what they say. Like the Everly Brothers hook up,
that was just there was just something about that.
Speaker 6 (51:58):
It's crazy, how I mean, I so many tracks on
Love is the King are not to a click, just
me playing acoustic guitar and him coming in later and
putting drums on it. And people don't seem to do that.
It's like, just it's not that common. I don't think
for people to do that.
Speaker 1 (52:19):
It's not easy.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
It's really hard. But he never has any problem.
Speaker 6 (52:23):
He like understands where I you know, I don't have
terrible time, but I'm not perfect, but.
Speaker 1 (52:28):
Well you have your own unique sense of time.
Speaker 6 (52:30):
Right, So he just he just has been hearing that
his whole life or something. So he just like kind
of dips and ebbs and flows where it feels right.
And it's really really kind of I don't know, interesting.
I think I would love to know why it works.
So well, but at the same time, I don't really
need to know.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
Well, that's the beauty of it is not it's not
a technical thing that you can know. It's just it's
just it's called chemistry.
Speaker 6 (52:59):
And then yeah, it's beautiful. But it's the thing I
guess I'm trying to express is like, when we play together,
it's obviously there and it's like it's really effortless and
fun and we you know, just really hear each other
super clear, clearly. But the thing that I always think
it is a very amazing is that it still sounds
(53:20):
that way when we do it separately.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
I know, I know, that's what I'm saying. That's exactly
what happened on this song is like I was trying
to play drums for some reason, but then he came
in after and overed up the drums, but we did
not do it to a click uhh, And so I
was like, oh God, is he going to be able
to and it was so perfect it's crazy.
Speaker 6 (53:40):
We did the Pop Staples record that Spencer and I
completed with Mavis's Blessing. She kind of brought these recordings
in that he had worked on before he died, and
they were never finished to anyone's satisfaction. And so we
did like Spencer and I as a rhythm section and
played along with just Pop's voice and his guitar, and
(54:07):
those weren't to a click or anything either. So it
was just like just kind of trying to get in
the head space of we're playing in the room and
closing your eyes and playing with Pops and it was
really kind.
Speaker 3 (54:16):
Of it was. Yeah, it was. I had a lot
of like.
Speaker 6 (54:24):
Just crazy eerie feelings of him his presence or something.
Speaker 3 (54:29):
This is it really he really is present.
Speaker 6 (54:31):
His voice is I mean, the voice is a huge
part of you who a person is, you know, just
having it in your headphones listening and listening so intently
to try and follow that was a really beautiful experience.
But yeah, it was, you know, he was able to
do that too, which was really exciting.
Speaker 13 (55:08):
The rows and rows of houses.
Speaker 8 (55:14):
With the windows spinning, blow with a light from a TV.
Speaker 13 (55:28):
Round a palel, do you but there is no sunken
treasure rumored to be wrapped inside my ribs in the sea.
Speaker 14 (55:59):
Blaye with a.
Speaker 13 (56:03):
I am so out of tune.
Speaker 3 (56:10):
With you.
Speaker 13 (56:15):
I am so out of tune.
Speaker 12 (56:21):
With you.
Speaker 13 (56:39):
If I had a mountain.
Speaker 8 (56:46):
A child to fold it over. And if I had.
Speaker 13 (56:55):
A boat, I'm probably roll over. But I leave it
all the shore.
Speaker 8 (57:14):
I leave it for somebody. Surely there's somebody.
Speaker 13 (57:28):
Who needs it more than me. I am so.
Speaker 5 (57:38):
Out of tune with you. I am so out too.
Speaker 13 (57:53):
With you. For all the leagues we burned, autumn fires, then.
Speaker 20 (59:15):
Return all the fires we burned, all will return.
Speaker 8 (59:35):
Music is my savior. I was maimed by rock and roll.
Speaker 13 (59:49):
I was maimed by.
Speaker 8 (59:50):
Rock and roll.
Speaker 13 (59:56):
I was teamed by rock and roll. I got my
name from.
Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Rock and roll. I love that signe. It's very emotional.
(01:00:57):
There's that chord though that I have no idea what
it is, the last one, the last one, and that.
Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
This one.
Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
Sorry, No, I was looking at you want to go
for that part.
Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
Of I wasn't sure what was happening. But I just
try to ghost that one.
Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
That court a little bit, but me too.
Speaker 6 (01:01:20):
I didn't have a pick I forgot to put a
pick up, so I was just kind of like trying
to But.
Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
It was good. I liked it. I liked it. I
liked that version.
Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
I love I love that song.
Speaker 6 (01:01:30):
It's it probably doesn't need the dissonance in the second
in this type of version, but it's can edit it
out if you need to.
Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
No, I love that part. It confused me at first
because I was like, what what are those chors? I
don't understand it, And then I'm used to it. I
love it. I love that part.
Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
This part of the song, that song was improvised.
Speaker 6 (01:01:53):
That version on the record is improvised in the studio,
and uh, like I had had some of the lyrics
and I this part, and I had the chorus in
this and but there was no middle section or anything,
and so it's basically kind of got through everything I
had and and the band was still playing, so I
(01:02:18):
just started. I was like, kind of improvised like a
dissonant section. Everybody kind of went with it was amazing.
And then all of the lyrics from that point on,
like the for all the Leavey Ben and Autumn Fiz
and then that's all improvised.
Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
And the and the music is my savior. It's just
like it's it was very emotional when I was listening
to it. It's it's pretty great.
Speaker 6 (01:02:44):
Yeah, it was like, it's very true. It happens sometimes.
It happens like that sometimes, and yeah, you feel really
really lucky to be in a part of it, you know.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Yeah, that's great. I love I love it when it happens.
Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
Well, you know it.
Speaker 6 (01:03:03):
I think it happens a lot more than people think
it does. What just doesn't happen is making it happen.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
No, you can't like.
Speaker 6 (01:03:14):
But you have to put yourself in the way of it.
It's sort of the same thing in the book, like
writing songs, you don't they don't happen if you don't
pick up the guitar, and it don't doesn't happen. You
don't write something unless you pick up the pencil or
something like that. And and something like this doesn't happen
unless you you convene exactly, you get together and make
(01:03:37):
make an effort to be in the way of something
beautiful potentially happening.
Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
That's the best I mean. I remember I used to
always come to the studio with songs to record, either
my own or covers. But I never wrote in the
studio until maybe two thousand and nine, I want to say.
And I made a record with Danger Mass and that's
how we wanted to do it. I was like, well,
I've never done that before, and it was it opened
(01:04:06):
up my whole world. And that's why I felt confident
enough to come and do that with you, because I
had just never thought to do that before. Yeah, and
it's the best.
Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
It's really great.
Speaker 12 (01:04:16):
You know.
Speaker 6 (01:04:16):
It's like it's just like it's just an active discovery
each day. And they're like just like like the question
isn't what do I want to say? It's like how
do I find out what I want to say?
Speaker 9 (01:04:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
If I talking? Yeah, yeah, it's true. I love that. Well,
do you have time for one more? And then we
can you can go to your show.
Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
Which one is this?
Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
You want to do a muzzle of bees? Should that
be okay?
Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
Sure?
Speaker 8 (01:05:00):
It's a random painted highway and the muzzle the beast.
My seeds are come on stitched from climbing the tree
(01:05:25):
when dogs left and sand it barking.
Speaker 13 (01:05:29):
I don't think they're mean.
Speaker 8 (01:05:35):
Some people get so frightening the fences in between.
Speaker 13 (01:05:45):
The sun gets passed from tree to tree silently and
back to me.
Speaker 23 (01:05:59):
With there he's going through, pushed up against the scene,
finally back to me.
Speaker 13 (01:06:20):
I'm assuming you got my message on your machine. I'm
assuming you love me.
Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
And you know what that means.
Speaker 13 (01:07:18):
The sun gets passed from sea to sea.
Speaker 24 (01:07:24):
Silently and back to me with the breeze bone through pushed.
Speaker 15 (01:07:36):
Up above the leaves, with.
Speaker 13 (01:07:43):
The breeze bone through my head upon your knees. Half
of it's you and half is me. H. Half that's
you and half is me.
Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
That's not an easy subbody to with that.
Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
Thanks for playing with me.
Speaker 6 (01:09:05):
Oh my god, it was great to see you and
pleasure great, great thrill to be asked to do anything
with you. I really wow.
Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
I love you. I love is the king it is though,
and I feel it and I I'm glad we get
to do it. Yeah, thank you, Hey, thanks for listening. God,
I had so much fun. That was so great, so fun.
Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
You just lock into each other.
Speaker 13 (01:09:37):
It's well.
Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
I picked songs for this that I knew. Most of
them I knew really well. I mean, I've known that
last song we did for twenty years and I've loved
it so once I figured out what Q was in,
it was pretty you know, it was like inside me already.
I just didn't know quite what.
Speaker 13 (01:09:54):
It was needed to be released.
Speaker 1 (01:09:57):
I adore Jeff and thanks to Jeff for making it happen.
Save it for me.
Speaker 25 (01:10:07):
When the world falls apart, I can say with certainty,
there's a rain, a light laught flown in an empty room.
Is how love can be.
Speaker 10 (01:10:31):
Rainbow in the mouth of clouds, darkened days?
Speaker 14 (01:10:38):
Who needs you?
Speaker 22 (01:10:39):
No rainbow, a mouthful of clouds, darkening days?
Speaker 14 (01:10:51):
Who needs me?
Speaker 17 (01:10:53):
Now?
Speaker 14 (01:10:57):
Save it for me?
Speaker 26 (01:11:02):
Where the world falls upon, I can say with certainty,
apart left out that you can't consume, so sweet you
(01:11:23):
cannot eat.
Speaker 11 (01:11:27):
Reason, no one will call today.
Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
This show was produced by Me and Sarah Oda. Mixing
engineer was Jamie Landry, recording engineer was Matt Marinelli, and
additional engineering by Greg Tobler. Artwork by Eliza Fry, photography
by Shervin Linez. Save it fon me.
Speaker 18 (01:11:54):
Where the world falls upon, I can say
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