JASON FEDDY and Why Gratitude is a Verb

Two years ago, my family and I were vacationing in Laguna Beach, California, where we had the extraordinary good fortune to cross paths with an artist whose music has become part of the soundtrack of our lives. Spiritually charged, viscerally felt, possessing a lyrical eloquence and melodic mastery that is the hallmark of the true timeless songwriter, Jason Feddy proves to be a master of placement; every word, every note, every instrument is thoughtfully chosen and artfully displayed in a mix that allows these songs to sink deep into the listener’s soul. Connected (2008) and The Joy of O.K. (2013) are two Jason Feddy albums that I classify as must-haves for the lover of real art. I cannot emphasize this enough: this is classic stuff.

My wife and I just listened to a streaming broadcast of Laguna Talks, a specialty talk show aired on Laguna Beach’s KX 93.5 FM that features local Laguna luminaries in the worlds of arts, business, and sports. Tonight, Jason Feddy was the featured guest. We listened spellbound as host Billy Fried’s questions prompted Feddy to candidly discuss his life as a musician/songwriter, community activist, radio personality, and temple cantor. Growing up in the U.K., Feddy faced the economic struggles of surviving in the British projects and overcoming a life-threatening heroin addiction.  His subsequent career derailment was followed by his emigration to the United States where he eventually found both personal and professional salvation in the welcoming community of Laguna Beach, California. At one point during the conversation, Feddy shared his perspective on the concept of gratitude that bears repeating here: Discussing his passion for and commitment to Laguna Beach, he explained that his constant participation in community fundraisers and free events results from his conviction that gratitude is a verb; his feelings toward his adopted home must be expressed through action, not mere words.

 

Although "mere words", the action of writing this article reflects my own gratitude towards an artist for whom I have the utmost respect and admiration.  It is now past 3:00 A.M. and while exhaustion is beckoning me to bed, gratitude mandates that I include information that will help you, esteemed reader, to discover an artist whose music is sure to become part of your life's soundtrack. Visit Jason's website to begin your journey: http://www.jasonfeddy.com/

 

- Roy Abrams, Long Island, NY

 

 

 

 

 

Coming Soon - Little Red Men

Coming Soon ... musical originality in performance and composition on a level which I have not experienced for a long time ... and certainly never before from a group of 15 and 16-year old musicians. These Long Island based teens are creating musical magic right now, and anyone who wonders where the next "front line" will emerge needs look no further than Little Red Men.

 

More to come on this great young band in The Island Zone Update in the very near future!

In the meantime, click here

 

  

photos by Eric Gordon 4/12/14

DAVID CROSBY FINALLY REMEMBERS HIS NAME -- THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW

 

For David Crosby, life is especially sweet. Survivor of a lifestyle that nearly killed him dozens of times over, the two-time inductee into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame (The Byrds in 1991, CSN in 1997) has recently released Croz, his first solo album in more than 20 years. Containing 11 new songs, its title is a wry reminder of Crosby’s long and winding return to consciousness in the years after his brilliant 1971 solo debut, If I Could Only Remember My Name. Recorded with his son James Raymond (keyboards, vocals), Shayne Fontayne (guitar, vocals), Marcus Eaton (guitar, vocals), Kevin McCormick (bass), and Steve  DiStanislao (drums), along with guest appearances from Mark Knopfler and Wynton Marsalis, the album exudes a tremendous sense of vitality, featuring complex chord changes, unusual key and time signature changes, and an abundance of subtle poly-rhythms, over which beautiful melodies and harmonies soar and intertwine … all hallmarks of a David Crosby project. It may well be viewed as his masterpiece.

Today, the operative word for David Crosby is grateful: He is grateful to be alive, grateful for his family, grateful for his friends, and grateful for his fans. On the road to support Croz, Crosby’s recent sold-out appearances at City Winery in NYC showcased a man who, at 72, is at the peak of his creative powers. I had the rare opportunity for a lengthy discussion with a true musical legend.

 

Roy Abrams: How do you account for the fact that, at 72, your voice is as supple and as powerful as it was 50 years ago?

David Crosby: I can’t. When something like that happens, sometimes you can take credit and sometimes you simply have to stand back and be grateful. That’s really where I am. I certainly didn’t take care of it, I didn’t treat it like the gift it is, and I’m kind of stunned … but it was very well recorded by my son, James. I got the drugs out of the way, which gives me consciousness, but I’m kind of amazed at the quality level that we managed to deliver. I listened to that vocal on “Holding On To Nothing” and I don’t know if I’ve done much better than that.

RA: How and when did the album begin to take shape? I remember hearing “Radio” a couple of years ago when you performed it first with Crosby/Nash, and then with CSN.

DC: “Radio” was the first one that James and I put together. I had this set of words, and James wrote the music. When we listened to it, we thought, “Hmmm … gotta make a record!” Records, for us, are not “I gotta make a record – let’s write some songs.” They’re, “Hey, I’ve got some some. Think we can make a record?” The songs are the key, man. If you don’t have a song that you can sit down and sing to somebody and make them feel something, you don’t have the wherewithal. And if you take substandard stuff and put a lot of production on it, you’re just polishing a turd. The key to whole process is good songs and once you have them, you serve the songs. Anything else is putting the cart before the horse. You are there to serve the song. That’s the way we look at it, James and I. The fact that you heard “Radio” two years ago will tell you how long we’ve been working on it. We might have even started before that, but I think that was the first one where we looked at each other and said, “Yeah, we’re sure.” It was a long process because we didn’t have any money. We had to do it on the cuff and with the generosity of friends—with an incredible amount of generosity of friends.

RA: How did the collaborative partnership between you and James evolve?

DC: Well, it’s genetic, first off. Secondly, we speak two languages—music and English. Thirdly, it’s been a consistently growing thing ever since the first time we met. We’ve both matured more as writers since then and we’re delivering pretty good songs, I’ve gotta say, I feel strongly about every single one of those songs on the record. I think we had something to say and didn’t shy away from it. I can’t stress enough how central good songs are to the whole process.

RA: What opened you up to collaborating with others as a songwriter?

DC: Well, I find that other people … (and I think the first person that I wrote really successfully with was Graham Nash) … I find that sparking off another person really lights up the process. Inevitably, you widen the range of input; they have ideas that you didn’t think of, you have ideas they didn’t think of. If you’re not defending your turf and trying to get all the publishing (rights), if you’re open to it, it allows you to get songs like “Dangerous Night” and “Find A Heart” … I can write pretty well, but I wouldn’t have thought of either one of those.

RA: Can we talk about the recording process for the album (involving your son and Jackson Browne)? How did Mark Knopfler and Wynton Marsalis get involved?

DC: Well, that’s about four different stories … First of all, the Jackson Browne studio stuff was when we did a couple of tracking dates and was very successful but that was grocery money and we couldn’t afford to step in there and stay there for a month, which is what I would have liked to have done. The Wynton story is … CSN did two shows with Wynton and the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra in New York, so I had gotten to know Wynton then and I found him (as all other musicians do) to be a dedicated, lifetime, extremely talented musician and a gentleman … a really nice cat, man. We kind of made friends, and when I had that song “Holding On To Nothing”, it did not have a solo on it. I sent it to him and said, “Does this tickle your whistle here? Could you do this?” And he sent back, “Yes, I will. I like it!” It was such a beautiful thing he played. The Knopfler story is also fascinating. I have a friend in Italy who’s been my promoter for 20 years, Adolfo Galli, a very, very good friend—a good man. He spoke to Mark Knopfler’s manager; he handles Mark in Italy also, and he said (adopts cultured Italian accent), “This-a David Crosby, he’s-a good, and I think it would be good for him and Mark to do something together, maybe write a song.” Mark’s manager replied (adopts cultured British accent), “Well, Mark doesn’t really do that, but he might play on something.” By that time, he was talking to me, and I said, “Uh, yeah, I do!” So we sent it over for him to have a listen and he said, yeah, I like that song, and I’ll play on it. We sent (the track) over, and he played unbelievably good guitar. And the thing you notice is not only that he is a great guitar player, but man, is he a master craftsman at making a record. He makes setups and payoffs and framing lyrics … he’s a brilliant guy. I don’t even know him. He did that for the music, because the music was good enough and not out of anything else; generous thought. I have tremendous respect for him. I think that was a very generous and nice thing for him to do and I’m deeply grateful.

RA: Referencing your first solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name, to the brand-new release … the songs appear to have brought all the participants to new heights of performance. Jerry Garcia was quoted as saying that he felt that you brought a better performance out of him than he was capable of achieving on his own. What do you bring to the mix that inspires other musicians to that level?

DC: I don’t know … it’s tough to talk about yourself … I’d rather somebody else was answering this question … but (perhaps) it’s devotion to the song and a certain freedom from preconception, a willingness to let the music go where it wants to go and see what happens. I think that’s a tremendous compliment; I didn’t know Jerry said that. I really loved the guy. What we would do, he and I, was precisely that. We would feed each other a scrap of a song and see what would blossom out of it. We would write songs together as we were just goofing off, just jamming. Some of our jams turned into songs. I miss him. I wrote a poem about him because I was just missing him tremendously.

RA: Lyrically speaking, your abilities as a “cinematic lyricist” and a painter of “psychic portraits” are evidenced in songs like “If She Called” from Croz, “Through Here Quite Often” from 2004’s Crosby/Nash double album, and “Yvette in English” from 1993's Thousand Roads. The ability to switch from writing deeply personal, autobiographical lyrics which you are well known for to those which contain virtual “psychic snapshots” of other people is remarkable. I’m wondering how that process works for you …

DC: It’s probably where I do it better. Talking about the stuff that I’m going through and the questions that I have is one level. When I go into someone else and describe someone as in “Through Here Quite Often”—this purely imaginary figure—I get better, I think. I think the story songs are better, I think they communicate better. I’m grateful that you like them! “If She Called” … that’s a very sad tune, and it comes as a sort of vignette about that little European hooker. But it’s a very genuine thing, you know? You have to wonder where they hide their hearts. I was watching them and I couldn’t help feeling empty for them … because their life’s got to be terrible.

RA: “If She Called” and Stephen’s “Love Story” could almost function as companion pieces—

DC: His stuff and my stuff do work pretty well together!

RA: If we were to play word association with just some of the people with whom you’ve worked, could you offer some thoughts on them?

DC: Absolutely!

RA: Graham Nash …

DC: The man’s had a huge effect on my life, and I guess I’ve had a large effect on his. He’s a great friend. He is a fantastic harmony singer, probably the best there is. There are other good harmony singers—we lost one in Phil Everly—Graham and I learned our trade from the Everlys. I guess you’ve probably listened to (their music) … they’re amazing harmony singers. Graham … I put him through a lot. He watched my whole downhill slide, tried to stay my friend, and was there for me when I started the long rung-by-rung climb back up. He’s a good man; a self-made sort of Renaissance Man, fascinated with everything, a brilliant photographer, a brilliant thinker. I love him.

RA: Stephen Stills …

DC: Oh, man. Well, you know, he’s a tougher guy on the surface, but underneath, there’s somebody at home to talk to. My God, has he written some wonderful stuff. “And there’s a rose in the fisted glove, and the eagle flies with the dove, and if you can’t be with the one you love … “

RA: Love the one you’re with!

DC: Would you have loved to have written that? (laughs) He’s a brilliant guy and he’s done a whole lot of fantastic songs. He’s a pleasure to work with. I’m happy about it!

RA: Neil Young …

DC:  Neil! Oh, boy! He’s a really fascinating human being. I think the thing to notice about him is, first off, the talent that he has for writing songs that really matter to you. “Old Man” will always be one of my favorite songs, always. He set the bar really high. Now, he hasn’t always come to that bar, but I think that most of the time he has. The thing I love about him most is that he’s pretty fearless. He will push the envelope. He will go out of the edge. Live, he’s the most live live guy you ever saw. He approaches the song the same way Nash and I approach harmonies live; we don’t ever do it the same (way) twice, and Neil has never played a song the same way twice in his life. He’s always out there on the edge, looking for his muse, looking for “Where can I take this? How far will it go?” And that’s him—you’ve gotta respect that. It’s not a common trait; it’s the exact opposite of show-biz. I love him, I can’t help it. He was a really good friend to me when it really was hard, and I will always have respect for him and care about him.

RA: Your son James …

DC:  What a shocker, huh? Yeah … He’s been a musician already for 20 years before he found out that I was his dad. His mom put him up for adoption when he was born, and the genetics had blossomed for him and he had gone and become a musician and … when I met him, he was a better musician than I was, and he’s been steadily growing ever since. On this record, he played, wrote, he sang, he produced, he engineered, he wrote some more and engineered some more and then produced … I can say honestly that this record wouldn’t have happened without him.  You can see that by how much he contributed. We made it at his studio in his house. I’d wake up, he’d make me breakfast, and we’d just go to work. I owe him so much I’ll never be able to repay it all.

RA: Roger McGuinn …

DC: It brings such a rush to me. I really love the guy. Nobody would question that he was the main guy in The Byrds. He made the Byrds possible: His arranging sense, and his writing sense, and his playing, and his storytelling ability with his singing … incredible. I have huge respect for him. I wish that he would play with me and Chris but he doesn’t want to. You can’t make somebody play, you can only ask, and if he doesn’t want to, I have to respect that. I really loved making music with him, I really did.

RA: Jack Casady …

DC: Ah, Jack … a wonderful guy and one of the greatest bass players ever. One of the best sounds, one of the best minds, one of the best grooves. He’s an incredible player. Did you ever hear (the version of) “Guinevere” that he played on?

RA: Yes I did. His bass playing functions as a third voice, practically.

DC: It’s spooky, isn’t it?

RA: Yeah— any additional thoughts on Jerry Garcia?

DC: Well … I wish he was here. I wrote a poem about him, it’s out there somewhere. It’s called “Missing You Tonight” ….

RA: Joni Mitchell …

DC: What a controversial figure! I think that in 100 years, when they look back, they’re gonna say, OK, the best writer of that era was … they’re undoubtedly gonna say Bob (Dylan), but I think they’re also gonna say Joni, but, for me, I think that she, at her best, was as good a poet as Bob was or very close. A much better musician and singer … so I’d give it to Joni. I think she’s probably the best singer-songwriter of our times. I think that most of my cohorts would agree.

RA: Phil Collins …

DC: Wonderful cat. A wonderful, generous, very smart, very decent guy. He not only made some wonderful music with me and let me make some wonderful music with him but he helped me get through a very, very, very hard scene, and I will be forever grateful to him.

RA: I’ve heard you’re also a fan of Peter Gabriel. What draws you to his music?

DC: I had a reaffirmation. I went to see him with the New Blood Orchestra—I don’t know if you got to see one of those shows—the orchestration was done so brilliantly, I think that guy who wrote the arrangements should get a medal! And I think Peter should get one for bravery and for being the only person to have his stuff orchestrated and then play it that way; the only guy I ever saw, anyway, who actually pulled it off. He’s an incredible singer. To this day, he’s still one of the best singers alive and one of the best writers. And one of the best of us all. I mean, there’s no question!

RA: Would you ever consider working with him?

DC: Oh—what are you, kidding? I’d walk to England to work with him!

RA: Going back to the City Winery show … you performed “Turn, Turn, Turn” as a tribute to Pete Seeger. How would you describe his influence, not just upon music, but upon social activism?

DC: Well, he taught it to us! This is a man who was brave enough to stick up for what he believed in, right from the get-go. He learned it from people like Woody Guthrie and he taught it to us. And thank God we were listening. He spent over 90 years on this planet trying to do the right thing. He was such a stand-up guy, and at the same time so gentle, and so fiercely human. He really held true to himself and what he believed in the whole of his life. I don’t know of a more exemplary human being. I rank him up there with Martin Luther King and people who were willing to risk their lives for what they believed in.

RA: Are there any current artists whom you respect?

DC: I’ve always dismissed rap and hip-hop as being incredibly shallow and pointless. And then my son turned me on to Macklemore and Ryan, I listened to "Ten Thousand Hours" and read the lyrics. Read the lyrics! If you read them, you’ll walk away from it saying, “Holy shit! This is good!” And you can’t ignore it. It was a shocker to me; I had to change how I felt about things, but there it is. Now, Lady Gaga … what an interesting person! This is a person who maybe is—possibly is—as crazy as a fruit fly. But she completely, unlike all the manufactured pop tarts, and we all know who we’re talking about there—I like that phrase, though: “Pop tarts”! It’s so descriptive!—[laughs]… Lady Gaga was a shocker for me because I was sitting 50 feet from her and I can see her hands and I can see her face and I can hear her sing and the shock was that she can really play and really sing, and that she really cares. She sang “You’ve Got a Friend” to Carole King and brought tears to my eyes. Done! You’ve got to give her props, man. She can really do it.

RA: Who else do you view as the new “front line”?

DC: I have to go back to my two favorite current songwriters in America who aren’t big stars. Shawn Colvin: I think Shawn has been a great writer ever since “Steady On.” She’s just a fantastic writer, player, and singer. I don’t think I’m as good as she is. And I look up to her a lot. She’s a joy to watch and a joy to listen to. The other one that’s notable is Marc Cohn. He is a guy that everyone thought was a one-hit wonder with “Walking in Memphis” and then he just didn’t go away. He kept writing brilliant songs, he kept making records whether they were hits or not; he kept making brilliant records. His last record has a song on it that I think is one of the best songs written in the last 10 years—“Listening to Levon.” The record’s called Join the Parade. It’s an astounding piece of work, the whole record is. I listen to him a lot, I listen to Joni still, I listen to Randy Newman, the Indigo Girls, I always listen to Steely Dan. Man, I think Donald Fagen is just incredible. I have such respect for that guy.

Author’s Note: The following question was asked by my 19-year-old stepson Eric, who was on the receiving end of both life and career advice from David when we chatted backstage after the February 1 City Winery show; an unforgettable moment that I will always be grateful for. Thank you, David!

Eric Gordon: As a self-described Constitutionalist and a lifelong advocate of political awareness, what advice could you offer to today’s young people as they grow into adulthood and assume the responsibility for moving our country and the world forward?

DC: Well, you’re facing a very difficult task. To start with, your government is owned by one percent of the population. Your government is corrupt to the point where that one percent of the population can call their senators or Congressmen they’ve bought and get just about anything they want. "Give us a war we can love. We need nobody to notice while we do this awful thing over here" … And they get it. It’s a corporatocracy, not a democracy, and that’s a very worrisome situation to start out with. We had stuff like that to look at when we started sticking up for what we believed in. Black people in the South couldn’t vote in their own country. We didn’t think that was right, so … the civil rights movement. We went to war in Vietnam, we had no business being there; we fought against it. Nowadays, it’s very tough for young people to not feel that they’ve been handed an impossible situation.  They’re perfectly aware that Fukushima is out there poisoning the Pacific Ocean, they’re perfectly aware that climate change is real. Jesus God, help us from the Republicans! And they’re perfectly aware that conditions in the United States are deteriorating, that there’s more poor people and that the top one percent has got 95 percent of the money. It doesn’t look good to them. They want to have faith in democracy, but this isn’t a democracy any more. I don’t blame them for doing things like Zuccotti Park and other places where they said we know we’re being handed the short end of the stick and we may not be to stop you, but we do know, and we’re watching. I wish there were more. One of the big differences is that back when I was fighting against the Vietnam War, there was a draft, so every college campus in the country was a hotbed of anti-war. No draft now, so that’s not true. The people on the campuses are desperately trying to earn their degree and desperately trying to figure out how to earn a living in a slowly collapsing, badly-guided economy. Meanwhile, we sell jobs to the Chinese, who hate us. It’s not a good situation; it’s not easy for any young person to look at, and feel that they have a path ahead of them that they can have confidence in. In the face of all that, my advice is that you simply can’t roll over and put your paws in the air. If you’re gonna be a stand-up guy, that’s what you have to do. You have to find ways to fight the situation rather than just accept it, ways to keep it from degrading you. A lot of people just say, “Ah, fuck it,” and get drunk. I think you gotta watch out for that yourself and you gotta have self-respect and that will entail you having to go against the stream and God bless you if you do!

RA: At your shows for the past few decades, you’ve always voiced your appreciation for teachers. What’s your take on the American education system these days?

DC: It’s degraded quite a bit. In the United States, schools have gone seriously downhill. California used to be number one in the nation, now we’re behind Alabama, Mississippi. The United States used to be number one in the world, now there are 26 other countries ahead of us. In other words, every industrialized nation in the world is doing a better job than we are which is really, extremely worrisome. This may be a conspiracy theory, but I think they are really actually wanting the schools to be dumbed down, because it gives them a less intelligent, more easily manipulated population.

RA: George Carlin once said that—

DC: Yeah, I think it’s true. I think they want us dumb and patriotic, because those are both handles that they can use to manipulate us. I think that’s terribly sad. Teachers can be so influential, can make such a difference in a young person’s life. A good teacher (is one) that doesn’t just try to jam a square peg in a round hole and will actually dialog with the kid and spark them. It’s a fantastic opportunity to do good. That said, I don’t think that an awful lot of them are doing that. I think a lot of them are sitting on tenure and twiddling their thumbs, and I can’t feel good about it. Teachers should be paid two or three times what they’re getting, so that we get the best young people out of college going into teaching. If I can figure that out, anybody can figure it out! That’s what should be happening.

RA: Where do you see society headed?

DC: I’m distressed to see it run by the corporations. I’m distressed to see the military getting all the money and the schools getting none, and that’s just completely wrong priorities to me.

RA: The past several years have seen you working almost nonstop on the road, whether with CSN, Crosby/Nash, and now your solo tour. You seem to be working harder with the passage of time. Does the lure lie in the music itself, or does the concept of time play a role here?

DC: You get a sense of that you’ve only got a certain amount of time and you want to spend it the best you can, and since that what we’ve spent our lives doing, all the people that you’re talking about, we treasure our time more, as we get smarter, as we get older. We say, “Oh, damn, I wish I hadn’t wasted as much time as I did.” Hopefully, we get smarter. I love being able to play music. I don’t like being away from home, I don’t like eating restaurant food, I don’t like being alone in a motel room and stuff, but I love to play!

RA: OK, final question: With the upcoming release of the CSNY 1974 tour on CD and DVD, Graham Nash has alluded to a possible CSNY tour this summer. Can you offer an update?

DC: You’re asking the wrong guy! (laughs) You know who you should be asking! (referring to Neil Young, the usual catalyst for all CSNY reunions)



David Crosby - photo by Buzz Pearson

 © 2014 by Roy Abrams
Note: an edited version of this interview appeared in the April 2014 issue of Long Island Pulse

Cass Dillon: Worth Caring About

The April issue of Long Island Pulse is now available online .... so I direct your attention to an artist profile that I had the pleasure of writing for one of the most talented singer-songwriters I have met in a long time ... Cass Dillon. While the full interview will be published at a later date, please take the opportunity to read about an artist who is well worth caring about. Check out the article here.

Coming Soon: David Crosby in Conversation

I recently had the opportunity to speak with the legendary David Crosby about the release of Croz, his first solo effort in more than 20 years ... an album which may well be his masterpiece. We discussed music, new and old, as well as a plethora of other people and subjects. Look for the interview in the April issue of Long Island Pulse. The full transcript will appear in a later Island Zone Update ... Spring is almost here, folks! Can you say hallelujah?

Billy Talbot: On the Road to Spearfish ... The Complete Interview

 

From age 14, Billy Talbot has spent a lifetime immersed in all things musical. Beginning with a street-corner vocal group, the man best known for his work with Neil Young and Crazy Horse has recently released On the Road to Spearfish, a soulful/spiritual collection of songs that evoke the wide open spaces of the North American prairie in the same vein as The Band’s Music From Big Pink conjured up images of the American South. This is the second release from the Billy Talbot Band, whose members have forged a spiritual connection to both the songs and each other, resulting in an album that is a refreshing example of what can happen when people’s heads are in the right place at the right time.

Part One: June 22, 2013, Hotel Carlyle, NYC

Roy Abrams: For those who know you as the bass player for Crazy Horse, the new album will surely surprise, but more relevantly, blow them away. The album possesses an evocativeness of the North American prairie … Two reference albums come to mind: Neil Young’s Prairie Wind and The Band’s Music from Big Pink. Aficionados of the live recording process will be drawn to the album for its immediacy of both performance and production. Can we talk about the recording process of the album?

Billy Talbot: Well, I was going for the truth, the best feeling I could get from playing a song. If you play it too much, it’s ruined as far as that particular aspect of it (is concerned) – the freshness of human beings playing it for the first time. You cannot replace that; there is nothing you can do to overcome the fact that you’ve played the song too much. Play it live and capture it live – that’s the only way. In order to play a song for the first time and not screw it up, you’ve got to know the song. All the guys in the band, I managed to get it across to them what the song was about without us really playing it. For instance, with “On the Road to Spearfish” Ryan played it with us at this little festival. We played it for the second year in a row at the festival in this little town, and those were the only two times we played it. I waited for the night to be ready so that we could play it again in the studio with all the mics on. We got it on the first take. Everybody had listened to (the song) because both times it was recorded at this festival, live. The first time there was only four of us playing it, the second time there was six of us playing it. (The guitarist), on the second time, came up with this really cool intro, and I mentioned that to him, and then we started to play it in the studio and the machines weren’t running at the time, and (then) Erik came in and said, “I’m sorry I missed that!” So I just stopped and said, “OK, we’ll do this song again another time,” rather than trying to do it again right then. And we came back two weeks later; it was the right night, and we did it twice that night, but the first take was the take. That’s the story on that song!

On “Cold Wind” we got together about a month before the recording sessions to have a little rehearsal. We tried it and it totally felt wrong, so I suggested that Ryan and Erik play sax and trombone, and Matt played the harmonium organ, and I said, “Mark, maybe just play the mandolin, and I’ll play the piano, and then bass and drums." We started playing it, got about halfway through and I said, “That’s it! Everybody, remember what we were playing, it sounds great like that!” and we saved it for the recording. At 2:30 in the morning, if you saw the film, we’re playing that song. We had played it once before at about 2 in the morning, went through it, and it was pretty loose … a little too loose, probably, and I said, “We’re gonna do it one more time,” and we did. Right when I was saying that, Stephan, the drummer, goes, “Really, I can’t play much later than this!” Ryan heard him; he was in the other room with a sax, and I heard him go “Ohhhhhhhhhhh!” [Laughter] Then we played it, and it was pretty good. We went through the whole thing, and at the end of it I said, “Well … “ and I thought that we didn’t get it. I went home and after a few days I listened to it and said, “It’s not too bad” and then I didn’t listen to it for a week or two and then (realized) I really like this. I started singing this low harmony that went along with it, did that for a couple of weeks or months, because it was like six months before we overdubbed some harmonies. We were in the studio for about a month, but we were only in there like two days a week.

“Big Rain” was the one we did before “Cold Wind” … it was about 1 am when we did that one, and we did it once and that was it. It was a great take. That one was recorded on the last possible day of the last week. We did it on a Saturday, and then Matt couldn’t make it and he was going to play organ on it again, so we did it on Sunday and he wasn’t there, but he had played the organ on Saturday, so we used the organ from Saturday on Sunday and it worked. Mark Hanley played lap steel on that one. Erik Pearson played lap steel on “Empty Stadium”; I asked Ryan to play trombone on “Empty Stadium” and we got the trombonium! [Laughter] That was the harmonium and the trombone played together, and we heard that sound, along with the lap steel. Ralph (Molina, Crazy Horse’s drummer) called it the elephant sound [makes trumpeting elephant noise] which was pretty funny. Ralph Molina was making fun of “Empty Stadium” because of the trombonium. Mark Hanley played mandolin. He didn’t come up with the best mandolin (part) but I liked it, and Ralph (said), “That mandolin’s not very good. It could have been a lot better!” Yeah, if you overdub it and have him play it fifteen times, and get this sterile sounding “great” mandolin part that does nothing for the record.

RA: How did you get fortunate enough to find other musicians who understand the concept of space so well, the art of letting music breathe?

BT: Well, first of all, believe it or not, these guys really like me because of the way I do things. Matt Piucci is number one, and the other guys fall in line because of that. He says he’s learned so much from me, and I learned a lot from Neil (Young). I’m also very interested in recording, and very interested in technique, and sound, and mics; I have an idea of what I’m doing, you know, and on this record, since we don’t make records often, I really wanted to use everything that I knew about how to make a great record. I also listened to The Wind by Warren Zevon, and I was extremely touched by his songs, about that he was going to die, and what he was saying to his wife, the real feeling that was captured. I hadn’t heard anybody record with such true feeling before, except for Ray Charles on certain records he made back in the day.

RA: Any plans for live performances?

BT: Plans? I can’t even think about right now, because I’m dealing with Neil Young and Crazy Horse and having a great time doing that! When that comes to an end, I’m hoping for one of those illuminated moments when it all comes to me and I figure out how we could do it. Because the band is so versatile, we could play five, six, seven rocking songs, and we could also play about that many more acoustic with drums, like the record. We could build to that, but I’d like to play places where we could do all of those different things, but not for two hours, maybe for an hour and just really get intimate with the audience. Rock a few songs, get intimate with some other ones, have it be special. Right now, that seems like something we could do. The Billy Talbot Band – that would be great. I could see myself doing some shows with just a couple of us going out and playing in a small place.

RA: Has there ever been any conjecture about bring the Billy Talbot Band on the road with Neil and Crazy Horse?

BT: Never! And I would never do that! Neil would never like that. Even if he said he would do it, and we did do it, he wouldn’t like it. He’s just so intense that he would think that if anything wasn’t happening right, it’s because (I’m) playing with that other band. Instantly, he would go there, and he would probably be right! [Laughter]

RA: In Neil’s autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace, he described your bass playing with three words: simplicity, soul, and aggression.

BT: Wow! I’m gonna hold that against him. No, I like that.

RA: Can you talk about your choice of vintage amps and vintage recording equipment?

BT: I use all the best mics, old Neumann mics from forty or fifty years ago. That’s still the best way to do that, with really great mics. Tube mics have the warmth. (I use) Neve mixing boards. We had two old Studers with sixteen-track heads. If you run them at 15 instead of 30, you get this fat sound. So we had one at 15 and one at 30 going, so consequently one tape machine would run out of tape while the other would still be going, which is kind of what happened on the song “God and Me” … you can hear us rewinding!

RA:  Which was really cool!

BT: Yeah! We left it that way because we had no choice, and then it became really cool. [Laughter] That’s the way things that are really cool happen.  So we went through tape into ProTools. So it goes on the recording head and out the playback head instantly into ProTools as well as recording digitally into ProTools at the same time. You look on the (computer) screen and the analog that you recorded is about this far [holds hands about an inch apart] behind the digital. So you pull it up and match it up exactly. Now what you have in digital you have in analog; you don’t need digital anymore. Now when you overdub anything, you use the same technique. So you can manipulate it and do all the things that you can do in the digital world, but you’ve got the sound from the tape. A lot of people know about this technique and do that, and it’s a cool thing.

RA: it’s a very refreshing album to listen to, when you compare it with so much of what’s coming out today.

BT: (Today’s music) has no feel, practically, and it’s hard to listen to because it makes you anxious because it’s so hard to hear. I consider that (to be) not music.

RA: I wanted to touch on your approach to songwriting. You’ve stated that sometimes when you’re angry, or upset with a particular situation, that you forget that you’re going to get a song out of it.

BT: Yeah, that’s when it’s cool! When a song comes up, and all of a sudden you get it, and it’s not even finished, and you go “Wow!! I forgot (that a song) would come out of this!” and you’re feeling better about whatever it is you’re going through now, because there’s a song.

RA: It’s cathartic –

BT: I guess that’s the word! It’s a good thing, it’s a good thing. And it’s a good thing that you get that, too, because if you just had it at the forefront of your brain, you’d probably go crazy, always waiting to go through troubles so you could have a song!” [Laughter]

RA: “Miller Place” is a really interesting song. From what I understand, that was an actual, totally instant creation?

BT: Total instant creation with all of us, in real time! Nobody gave up; it was so engrossing somehow. It started out like a little thing. Ryan was playing autoharp and harmonica; he gave me the first impetus after I started out with this thing, I said something; then he said something back on autoharp and harmonica. We were really set up (in the studio) to do “God and Me” and the irony of it is that we came up with this song about a brothel. Nobody gave up on it, we all just kept in there, and nobody said anything, and none of us knew that we actually did that when it was over. A couple of months later, Erik played it for me and said, “Listen to this! Listen to what we have! I hardly remember this happening!” I listened to it and went, “Wow, it’s great – and it’s already mixed,” … we barely had to touch it. It was a gift, a real gift.

RA: When I listen to music, I think that a when lot of real music fans listen to music, they prefer headphones. This way, you can actually hear what the artist is hearing, where they’re placing it, in terms of the subtlety.

BT: The only thing you miss, by the way, is the music going through the air. There’s another thing that happens when it travels from the speakers to your ears through the air that doesn’t happen with headphones, but I agree with you. With good headphones and a good system, you really hear stuff. When it’s coming through speakers, you hear all these different frequencies – highs, lows, all that stuff. Sometimes, with headphones, the highs are harder to process.

Part Two:  June 25, 2013 – via phone call to Billy’s home in South Dakota

RA: We discussed Warren Zevon’s influence upon you as a songwriter.

BT: Warren didn’t have an influence on my songwriting. The real influence was on how important it is, and how there is this possibility in capturing real feelings and real emotions. That’s what his influence and his record The Wind had on me.

RA: Any other artists come to mind?

BT: Oh yeah! Growing up, I mean, Ray Charles, especially Ray Charles, as far as how much you can expose and how capable a person can be of showing another person with their music into their utmost feelings.

RA: Given your background in vocal harmonies, one of the things that struck me about the new album was just how exquisitely placed and arranged those harmonies were. Can you talk about your experiences with harmony arrangements?

BT: Well, I’ve always been into harmony and I have a deep respect for where harmony can be and where harmony should be and how they should be used and to integrate it in a song to help it come to life or have more interesting energy or color and help songs move along. When I hear a harmony part, I have to really know that it’s needed there, and when we put them on, sometimes we don’t use them all, because it only needs so much of it, and I try to capture things quickly without overanalyzing things ahead of time. With Neil Young and Crazy Horse, we always have some harmonies here and there, so all of that was going through me when I was working on On the Road to Spearfish. I was trying to use all of my smarts and wisdom and patience to deal with the songs and how we approach the songs and doing them for the first time, with instruments that aren’t usually played; (doing) everything I could to make the extraordinary feeling that I feel come to life in a recording.

RA: Can you talk about the production aspect of the recording process?

BT: Well, the preproduction aspect is minimal, because I don’t want to be playing the song. If you go to YouTube (and search) Billy Talbot, there are two songs that were recorded spontaneously in this music store; they were called One and Two, I’m singing “Big Rain” with the band and “Runnin’ Around” by myself with the acoustic guitar. It’s the only time we ever played that song. Ryan played harmonica.

RA: What advice would you have for someone just starting out in the field of audio engineering?

BT: Well, if you have one microphone, see how well it works. Don’t be afraid to go, “Oh, I see how inadequate it is, or how adequate it is, but I also see its limitations. Be real with what you think the quality is, but you have to do it scientifically. In other words, if you’re using a pretty inexpensive mic with a very inexpensive system of recording, then it’s going to be harder for you to know. When you get into school and you find out about different microphones, find out how good they are and the state of the art. Which are the most used microphones and what do they sound like? Knowing your equipment, its limitations and how good they are will really help you understand what you’ve got. Some of it might be because of the equipment, but it’s just like a guy who doesn’t know how to tune a guitar going, “I can’t play this thing!” … well, maybe because it’s out of tune and if it were in tune, you might be doing a lot better and wouldn’t get so discouraged. Sometimes you get discouraged because of the equipment you’re using, and so it’s good to know how good your equipment is.

Another thing is, things have to be musical if you’re going after music in the audio field. If a person is going to sing a song, saying “OK, sing now!”  … if you get something that’s not too good, maybe that’s the reason. Let it be musical if you’re gonna record somebody. Let them record because it’s time to do it, they feel like doing it, they’re prepared to do it, have good equipment, let them do it, and that’s the end of it.

RA: What does Crazy Horse represent for you?

BT: Well, it’s real. When we’re onstage playing a song, we’re really playing it for real, right then. It’s always better than in the studio, because in the studio there’s no people, there’s no audience. Having an audience really gets the juices flowing for performers. It’s always better. That’s when ‘live” happens, it’s in the now, it’s real, and there’s no fooling anybody.

RA: Any particular memorable experiences with Crazy Horse?

BT: There’s been some been incredible moments for me. In 1976 we played in Paris in this really funky place. It stands out in my mind … I don’t remember exactly why it was so cool, but it at the beginning of us performing – Ralph and I, Pancho (Sampedro) and Neil. It was our first tour of Europe and we did this place in Paris and three or four or five of the songs were pretty outstanding to me at the time. We were offstage in the dressing room and somebody came in and said, “They won’t go away!” We had to come back out. I think that’s all one show … Mostly, the whole thing just is to me.

RA: What’s life on the road with Crazy Horse like?

BT: Well, it’s work! It’s focus; it’s regiment. At the end of one show, you have to come down from that and start preparing for the next show. And that’s what it’s like until you’re finished and then you go home and you get let out a breath! The time that it’s really fun is when we’re onstage together and we’re playing. That’s what it’s all about, what you’re doing all this preparation for; those two or three hours.

RA: Back to the live performance question … any chance of some shows from the Billy Talbot Band in the near future?

BT: When I’m playing with Neil Young and Crazy Horse, that gets all my attention and it takes all my attention, so I couldn’t be doing that at the same time. I can’t divide my attention like that. Both things would take all of my attention and there’s just one of me. I couldn’t do it. When we’re done with Neil Young and Crazy Horse, I hope to get it together and we can put the Billy Talbot Band together and go out and play some places and at least pay the expenses.

*                                                                      *                                                                        *

 

The Billy Talbot Band:

Billy Talbot: vocals, electric guitar, 6-string acoustic guitar

Matt Piucci:electric pump organ, electric guitar, acoustic piano

Stephan Junca: drums and percussion

Erik Pearson: banjo, strings, saxophone

Tommy Carns: bass, vocals

Ryan James Holzer: trombone, vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar, harmonica, autoharp

Mark Hanley: guitar, slide guitar, baritone acoustic mandolin, acoustic piano, vocals, organ, synthesizer

Jeff Chase: bass, guitar, and album illustrations

NOTE: Prior to publication of the original article, Neil Young and Crazy Horse cancelled the remainder of their tour due to guitarist Poncho Sampedero suffering a broken hand. There are still no plans for any Billy Talbot Band performances, but I will keep you posted!

©2013 Roy Abrams
Note: an edited version of this interview appeared in the October 2013 issue of Long Island Pulse

Coming Soon: Billy Talbot in Conversation

Less than one month after sitting down with Stephen Stills, I had the opportunity to speak with Crazy Horse bassist/vocalist Billy Talbot about the release of his latest solo effort, On the Road to Spearfish, as well as life on the road with Neil Young. Look for the interview in the October issue of Long Island Pulse. The full transcript will appear in a later Island Zone Update ... Enjoy the rest of the summer!