Photo credit Jake Hall
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
I have traveled in my Subaru ever since I started touring solo back in 2017. At this point it has about 150K miles on it and is still going strong. When we started doing more serious traveling with the full band in 2021, we switched to a van for a very short period but quickly reverted back to the Subaru… it has served us really well. We try to camp as much as possible while touring and it’s just really well suited for that…
The only trouble we have ever had (aside from tire related issues) was a dead battery after a night of camping in the Mojave Desert one September. We were on the way to LA and camped on some public land near Boron, CA and the battery died overnight… in the moment it was really stressful… definitely not the place you want to be with a dead battery and no cell service. Luckily there was a birder staying in his camper like a mile away. We could see the RV on the horizon and Marshall [Pruitt] set out on foot…. about 30 minutes later he came riding up in the guy’s truck… He was a cameraman for CNN that was out on a birding trip through the Mojave up to Big Bear. Gave us a jump and we were on our way.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
It depends. Camping provides a really nice opportunity to cook which is rare when you’re out playing shows. We have some great camping meals that are super cheap and easy. We always end up hitting our fair share of cheap diners, food trucks, and things of that nature. Whether it’s on a curb somewhere or way out in the middle of nowhere, food tastes better outside.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I break a couple a year. I usually try to stay ahead of it by swapping out strings regularly. I broke one last night like two songs into the set.
Where do you rehearse?
We don’t rehearse very often. When we are working out new songs, we will usually just do quiet rehearsals wherever we can and then run them during soundchecks. Our band’s only rules are to show up with your gear working, know the songs and be kind… we can do all of those things without rehearsing regularly. Those are all really important things that are in your control no matter the gig. That sounds like the bare minimum but leaves space to focus on the things that actually make a set memorable… like emotionally connecting with the songs and each other.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
I don’t think I can recall the first song… I had a little Harmony acoustic growing up and would come up with little bits of songs here and there. Mainly learning other people’s songs and swapping out lyrics. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I actually had written some songs that actually stuck around.
Describe your first gig.
When I started playing my own shows, I didn’t have the band. I was trying to do the Todd Snider/Guy Clark thing. I basically tried booking shows at all the places they used to play like Cactus Cafe, Old Quarter, etc. I played some open mics and eventually got into those spaces. I think the Cactus Cafe was my first proper solo gig. It rocked.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
There have only been a handful of seasons that I have not worked a “day job.” Terry Allen included always having a day job as one of his rules of songwriting…. I’ve had a lot of amazing gigs (they probably didn’t seem amazing at the time). I made a lot of my best friends and wrote a lot of early songs while working at a lumber mill in east Austin. I would trade a lot of things to get to be working a shift at the mill again with my friends.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
It sucks. It has always sucked but when you’re signing up for building a life around making art that is part of it. There seems to be fewer and fewer ways to do this thing in a way that makes any financial sense. I hope that changes but, if it doesn’t, that’s totally cool, too. If you really value this lifestyle, the presence or absence of money isn’t going to draw or deter you from doing it.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
It’s okay. The temperature is not as high as you’re making it out to be. I wish I was kinder to myself when I was first getting going. I’d love to go back and tell my younger self that it’s okay. I’m so proud of my younger self for building a life according to my values.