Twangville Talks to Kasey Anderson (+ Giveaway)

â€œYou been spittinâ€™ out nails and knockinâ€™ back whiskey/ you got a new tattoo, it says that you donâ€™t miss meâ€- Kasey Anderson

I caught up with Kasey Anderson as he was returning from SXSW and days away from touring the ENTIRE REST OF THE COUNTRY (tour dates below) in support of his excellent new record Nowhere Nights. Â I bothered him about tweeting, running a record label, and the one bad review of his record I could find on the internet. Â Enjoy!

Photo by John Meloy

So how was SXSW, particularly in the wake of Alex Chilton passing away?

I heard about Alexâ€™s passing while I was on stage so, for me, it was difficult to process until several hours after it had happened. It was palpable, the enormity of the loss? How many singers get eulogized in the Op Ed column of the New York Times? It didnâ€™t necessarily overshadow playing the festival, or seeing friendsâ€™ bands, but Alex was there, with all of us in a way he might not have been otherwise.

So Nowhere Nights is your first record on your own label, Red River Records correct? How much added pressure is there operating your own label? Financially etc.?

Thereâ€™s actually a good deal less pressure. I am the only person I have to answer to, so thereâ€™s an absence of fingerpointing and blame-laying that could become a really easy cycle to fall in to were the situation different. So far, the freedom has been really inspiring. Who knows if Iâ€™ll feel the same way three years down the road, but the old business model is broken and Iâ€™m not going to rely on someone else to fix it.

Tell me what went on with putting out the Chip Robinson record?

Eric Ambel, who produced both my record and Chipâ€™s, played Mylow for me while we were working on Nowhere Nights and I asked who was putting it out. At the time, Chip didnâ€™t have a label and he also wasnâ€™t in a position where he could have put the record out on his own, so I stepped in and said I would help. Youâ€™ve heard the record, it was a pretty easy call to make.

HowÂ aware/big a fan of the Backsliders where/are you? Â I love thoseÂ records and was psyched to see Chip was recording again.

I was and am a big Backsliders fan. I don’t see how anyone could not be. Chip’s writing is phenomenal; he’s a great lyricist and he writes those mammoth hooks that I can only dream of.

So reviews for Nowhere Nights have been pretty positive (including Twangvilleâ€™s), but there does seem to be a common theme comparing you to Steve Earle mainly (but also Chris Knight and others)? How do you feel about that/do you think it holds true?

Itâ€™s fine. I know that, vocally, thereâ€™s some stuff I do that Earle does. Thatâ€™s just the way it goes. I grew up singing along to his records, Springsteenâ€™s records, so on. I thought everybody sang that way. Itâ€™s reverence, not imitation. I think thatâ€™s pretty clear to anyone who takes the time to listen to the records. Iâ€™m not trying to be Steve Earle but Iâ€™m not going to pretend I donâ€™t admire his work.

The only negative review Iâ€™ve come across was a particularly bitter review. It was put out by Redefine Magazine, and starts out by saying, â€œKasey Anderson’s Nowhere Nights is the worst alt-country album I have ever heard. If Ryan Adams could be photocopied, and that copy could be copied, and that copy was faxed overseas, the result could very well be this recordâ€â€¦.it then goes on to be a lot meaner actually. I personally didnâ€™t really agree with the Ryan Adams comparison, but you want to add anything about that?â€

I exchanged emails with that guy. I actually thought the review was pretty funny but took offense to the Ryan Adams thing because, of all the people I might sound a bit like, Ryan Adams isnâ€™t one of them. So, over the course of this email exchange, I asked the guy, â€œis Ryan Adams your only frame of reference? I donâ€™t even listen to his records.â€ He said, â€œOh yeah, who do you listen to?â€ I told him I had been listening to a lot of John Prine to which he replied, â€œI donâ€™t know who that is.â€ That told me all I needed to know about the cat.

You are a pretty prominent presence on twitter, facebook, and the like. As well as writing guest spots for a number of blogs including a favorite of mine NineBullets.Net. How do you see social networking and technology helping/influencing the modern music industry?

It allows artists and fans to be in direct contact with one another. I think anything that breaks down that invisible barrier between an artist and their audience is a good thing – to a point. There are boundaries that exist for a reason, and people seem to struggle a bit with respecting those boundaries and being able to separate the artist from the art, but Twitter and Facebook have been great for me so far. Iâ€™m reaching people I may not have otherwise, so itâ€™s hard for me to look at that as a negative thing.

On a similar note, I see your offering samplers on your website, taking a page from Joe Pugâ€™s playbook. Is that still going on/do you want to say something about it?

Yeah, it was Pugâ€™s idea and he is credited on my web site as the inspiration for the idea. I want to make that clear. What Pug did was a really creative thing and all Iâ€™ve done is tweak it a bit – the samplers Iâ€™m giving out are digital, not hard copies. It is still going on, and itâ€™ll keep going on for the foreseeable future. People dig it, and I have fun looking at the choices people make for their samplers.

So, I think your twitter account is one of the more hilarious ones in Tweetland. So if you donâ€™t mind I was gonna read a couple back to you and get some reactions if thatâ€™s cool.

The careers of Kevin Smith and Ryan Adams have somehow become more redundant and masturbatory than actually masturbating.

I stand by that. Ryanâ€™s made good records and Kevin has made good films but both seem so dead set on propagating this â€œI donâ€™t give a shit what you thinkâ€ image and itâ€™s so transparent. If Kevin Smith really didnâ€™t give a shit what we thought, he wouldnâ€™t broadcast he and his wifeâ€™s sexual schedule, and if Ryan Adams didnâ€™t give a shit, he wouldnâ€™t blog about how much he doesnâ€™t give a shit. Kevin Smith and Ryan Adams have made the mistake of assuming that WE care as much about their lives as they do. Not true. All we want are decent records and funny flicks. They can do what they want with the rest of their time and we donâ€™t really need to hear about it.

Hey, has anyone seen President Obama’s bracket? I found it interesting that he picked tort reform over health care.

That was more in reference to the fact that Obamaâ€™s bracket was on every channel, and he was filling out the womenâ€™s bracket on a giant whiteboard on ESPN while the entire country was torn in two over the Health Care Bill. It was asinine.

I wonder if people from Baltimore find it annoying and offensive that all I ever talk to them about is the Wire.

I love that show. Iâ€™ve only been to Baltimore once but Iâ€™ll be back there on this tour. I know very little about the city, aside from what David Simon taught me.

I’m very proud of Nowhere Nights but it will be the last record of mine to which the word “twang” applies. As TP says, it’s time to move on.

I just kind of backed myself into a corner with the way these three records have sounded – theyâ€™re all different to me but the similarities are enough that there has come to be an expectation of what one of my records will sound like – and I need to get out of it. Iâ€™m not going to make a Hip-Hop record performed in Pig Latin or anything, but I am going to explore some things I have been wanting to explore for a while. Weâ€™ll see where it takes me.

Now’s as good a time as any to tell you that I do a killer ’66 Dylan impression, but only when singing along with Prince in the car.

Godâ€™s honest truth.

Also last night: Dreamed I was in a band with my ex-girlfriend, and she sabotaged every song. In other words, I dreamed I was Jack White.

Totally a joke. Iâ€™ve never paid enough attention to Meg Whiteâ€™s drumming to know whether it was good or bad. It seemed pretty utilitarian to me, but Jack was always the draw for me with that band.

Saw Alice in Wonderland. Haven’t had that much fun since I was held at gunpoint and forced to trim Strom Thurmond’s toenails with my teeth.

Tim Burton flicks are supposed to be dark, right? Where was the darkness? Where was the paranoia? I think he dumbed it down and softened it up for a wider audience and it didnâ€™t work. But, given that I have absolutely zero insight in to Tim Burtonâ€™s creative process, that is complete speculation on my behalf. I just didnâ€™t dig that flick and I typically do enjoy Burtonâ€™s films.

I would buy an audio recording of my dog being tortured before I would pay money for an album by Lady Antebellum.

That is terrible, manufactured, soulless music. There is absolutely nothing there. Itâ€™s meringue. Itâ€™s a bunch of sugar and air and nothing else.

—-Red River Records has offered us 3 copies of Nowhere Nights to giveaway. Â Post your favorite Kasey Anderson song, tweet, or whatever below to win. Â Deadline is Friday.

Catch Kasey on tour at any of the following locales.

About the author: Specializes in Dead, Drunk, and Nakedness..... Former College Radio DJ and Current Craft Beer Nerd