Tell us about your tour vehicle.
Nowadays if it’s just me and an accomplice, I have him fly to me, throw the instruments, the suitcase and the merch in the back of the car and drive out of the driveway. I love the freedom of having my own car – I don’t even really want to rent one – and not having to ship stuff in advance or send stuff home: you can just leave it in the back. Flying is such a horrible hassle (and getting worse all the time.) On the last tour, we started at home in Philly: the first gig was in Austin, the second in Tucson, and the third in LA. It was a long drive but then we were on the west coast and it all made sense because there we were in my car. Unfortunately, we did so many miles on that tour that I lost my warranty for the year. Or something like that: We’d overdriven! We were, on that same tour, the only touring machine to get their entire touring in before the 2020 lockdown, with the last date on March 7th. And people said we were fools to drive in the winter…
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I don’t really think about that very much, I’m afraid. I eat healthily at home and then I just try to do my best on the road. What I do try to do, though, is to eat extremely well and I don’t even care if that means spending all the merch money on a great meal and a quality cocktail. It cheers me up, makes it worth being in other towns, and makes you feel human. We spend a lot of time working out where we’re going to eat in advance as we drive along. We have a friend who regularly texts us recommendations and then we see what’s available and where we can aim for.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I used to break strings ALL the time when I started, but something changed – perhaps I just got better, or gentler. Now I hardly ever break strings at all. Maybe one a tour. I hate carrying round two guitars so it’s important that I don’t. I always buy twenty packs of strings at a time and I generally change them all at once.
Where do you rehearse?
I have no rehearsal space, though there is a set of drums in the basement, used by my son (occasionally) and I once did have a rehearsal down there. Most of my rehearsing is done at soundchecks and in dressing rooms. I’ve never owned a piece of recording equipment either (except I now have an iPhone that I make voice demos on.)
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
“I knew she’d leave me/Oh yeah/I knew she’d leave me/Oh yeah/And if you happened to think I love her/I don’t care” – I was less than 11. I wrote it in my head on the way to chapel after dinner at school. I was very excited about it.
Describe your first gig.
My real first gig (though it wasn’t technically a gig) was busking in Hastings town centre on the memorial, which I did with great dedication from the age of 15 or 16 on, mostly singing Loudon Wainwright, John Prine, Steve Goodman and John Hiatt songs – I actually used to make decent money in my guitar case. Now there are lots of buskers in Hastings, but back then I was the only one. And that’s where I learned everything I know.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I now do a bunch of reviewing for the WSJ and the TLS: I enjoy that a lot. It gives you an excuse to read and gather your thoughts. I guess that’s not a day job exactly, but it’s work. And I teach – recently at Princeton and Swarthmore, but right now for the Rosenbach Museum. I used to call the bingo numbers on Hastings Pier. The pier is now burned down, and rebuilt in a modern style – I call it the IKEA pier – and there’s nothing as trivial as bingo on there anymore – but I loved that 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?
This is a difficult question to answer because music is not necessarily my main course of income, but in the spirit of your question, I think – given the various royalties, merch, and other avenues of money making these days – that it’s probably the same as it was ten years ago, and that it’ll be WAY less in ten year’s time.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
That I’d still be making music in 2021! I might have taken things a little slower.