Terry Klein on Touring, Working as a Lawyer, and Being Jinxed by Twangville

Photo credit: Valerie Fremin

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

It’s a 2015 Toyota Venza with 100,000 miles on it. Getting the Toyota was an effort to stave off the repairs and breakdown stories and it’s worked out so far but I probably just jinxed it so thanks, Twangville.

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

I try to eat cheaply and healthy when I’m not on tour so that I can take it easy on myself and be flexible while I’m out there. The huge challenge is fresh fruits and vegetables. Sometimes you just have to stop at that Subway and load the thing up with vegetables. It all has that vague Subway flavor, but you can get past that. I do hunt for Panera Bread outposts because they get decent produce.

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

This is another jinx question like the tour vehicle one. Back when I played metal in a previous lifetime I’d break multiple strings a month. These days it’s less frequent because it’s folk music or Americana or country or whatever you want to call me. I play Martin strings, mediums. I tried to put lights on my D-28 and it got mad at me. They’re like $8-$10 per pack. I tried fancier strings a while back and wouldn’t you know I broke one of those. So the Martins are boring and trusty, like the Toyota.

Where do you rehearse?

We have a metal shed in the backyard and that is where I spend my days. There’s a big old live oak in the yard and I stare out at it when I write. It used to get absurdly hot in the summer and cold in the winter but we put in a mini split AC unit during the pandemic and now it’s comfy. Our backyard gets treacherous when we have those unequivocal Texas rain storms and I’ve gotten stranded out there during a cowrite. It forced us to finish the song (which was “Dynamite”, with Nichole Wagner).

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

If we’re being technically accurate here it was a song called “She is Dressed in Red”. I think I was five. The entirety of the lyric was “She is dressed in red, she is dressed in red, she is dressed in reticent red, she is dressed in red.” I did not know what reticent meant.

Describe your first gig.

When I was 17 a band I was in played a little town square festival type thing. It was the day of the SAT, which I didn’t do all that well on. I remember being nervous and tired. We didn’t have a lead singer so we played instrumental versions of classic rock tunes. I recall playing “Swingtown” by Steve Miller but I don’t know what else we played. I think we were pretty horrible.

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

I was a trial lawyer for 15 years in Boston, Massachusetts. Now I do the performing songwriter thing full time and it’s my favorite day job.

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’s gone up slowly but surely and I hope that keeps happening. Livestreaming saved my butt during the pandemic.

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

That you build a fan base by touring (and there aren’t corners on that you can cut no matter what anybody tells you). That touring is a lot more fun and a lot less stressful when you can do it and make money. And that it takes a lot of touring and losing money before you can start making money.

Terry Klein is a performing songwriter, yes, but he’s also worked in factories, in hospitals, as a political operative, and tried cases as a lawyer in state and federal courts. He’s lived on both coasts and lots of places in between and been to 49 of the 50 United States. He reads a lot and he likes to go to art museums. He watches sports when he can, though he’s a little furtive about that. In his writing and on stage he attempts to mollify a relentless inner voice that says mean, unforgiving things to himself that he’d never say to anyone else ever.

Terry’s made three records. The first two, Great Northern and Tex, were produced by Texas folk hero Walt Wilkins in Austin, Texas and garnered praise from Mary Gauthier and Rodney Crowell and press and radio outlets across the United States and Europe.

For his third album, Terry went to Nashville and worked with producer and multi-instrumentalist Thomm Jutz. Recorded over a few breakneck days in October 2021, it’s called Good Luck, Take Care and it’s a raw, visceral departure from the work he’s done before. Ten dynamic songs that take hold from the first measure, knock you off balance, and won’t let go without a fight.

Terry has played in some of the most hallowed rooms in the singer-songwriter business: Club Passim, The Bluebird, The Blue Light, The Saxon Pub, Anderson Fair, to name a few. He also played in a heavy metal band in Los Angeles a couple of lifetimes ago, thrashing around on grimy, storied stages like the Troubadour and the Whiskey A Go Go.

Connect with Klein online and on the road.