Jeremy Pinnell on Drunken Santas and Doing Good, Honest Work

Photo credit: Melissa Fields

Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?

We have a white Chevy Express, no stickers, tinted windows. Super under the radar. Attract no attention please. We’ve had no notable breakdowns yet, we’re pretty good about maintenance. It’s how we make our money. How about a few near-death experiences, I’ll save the details in case some loved ones read this.

How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?

We are constantly trying to figure out the right road diet, I know we’ve tried intermittent fasting, no fast food, only free food but I don’t think we’ve figured it out. We try to be strict and I’ve learned not to beat myself up. It’s hard enough being on the road.

How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?

I rarely breaks strings, our guitar player Junior Tutwiler breaks some every now and then but we’re gentlemen and businessmen, we take care of our gear.

Where do you rehearse?

Our rehearsals are usually on the road so if we have time or a long soundcheck we’ll run through some tunes.

What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?

“Them Days And Nights” was my first real song I had written from a few year hiatus about 10 years ago on my debut record OH/KY. “I don’t know which way to go and I don’t know how to leave” are the opening lines and exactly how I felt being in a nowhere relationship with another human being.

Describe your first gig.

I do not remember my first gig but I remember some very hard gigs like the solo Santa pub crawl gig I played in front of roughly 200 to 300 extremely drunken Santa’s.

What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?

In 2020 we got cut off from the road and I got a job for a local construction outfit and so did my drummer. Our guitar player got a job loading trucks. Now that we’ve started gigging a little bit it makes the day job tough. My favorite day job was probably my first job in masonry at the age of 17. It’s good honest work and every job after that seems like a cake walk.

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?

My musical income has drastically changed, people actually want to pay us to play. It would be nice to hit a lick so down the road I don’t have to run myself down in the future.

What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?

I wish I would have known to be myself.

When Jeremy Pinnell released OH/KY in the summer of 2015 to stunned acclaim, it felt like an entire career compressed into one knock-out album. Hailed as, a “Mind-blowingly good” (Greg Vandy/KEXP) “ ”tutorial on classic country music” (Popmatters), Pinnell’s debut immediately differentiated as authentic and unflinching. Dogged touring through Europe and the States and celebrated radio sessions followed, cementing Pinnell’s position as a no-fuss master of his craft.

His 2017 album, Ties of Blood and Affection presented a canny lateral move. Instead of doubling down on the stark themes and values of his debut, the sophomore album found Pinnell finding comfort in his own skin, achieving the redemption only hinted at in his previous batch of haunted songs.

If the third time’s a charm, Pinnell is all shine and sparkle on the forthcoming Goodbye LA. Produced by Texan Jonathan Tyler, the tunes buff the wax and polish the chrome on Country music’s deeper roots. Rooted in his steady acoustic guitar, Pinnell’s songs are shot through with honest and classic elements. The rhythm section, all snap and shuffle, finds purpose in well-worn paths. The pedal steel and Telecaster stingers arrive perfectly on cue, winking at JP’s world-wise couplets. Here slippery organ insinuates gospel into the conversation. You can feel the room breathe and get a sense of these musicians eyeballing each other as their performances are committed to tape. And through it all comes this oaken identity, the devastating centerpiece of his work. Honest and careworn, Jeremy’s voice can touch on wry, jubilant, and debauched – all in a single line. At his best, Jeremy Pinnell chronicles the joy and sorrow of being human, which is the best that anyone could do.

Connect with Pinnell online and on the road.