Photo credit: Hayden Shiebler
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
1978 Blue Bird “Wanderlodge”. It’s Ben’s and he always drives it. It’s got a CAT 320 and I guess that’s some great engine. Its interior is in wonderful condition and that makes living on it very easy.
This past spring we needed a belt regulator of sorts and spent two days in West Virginia at truck repair shop with some wonderful people. “Hillybilly Truck Repair”. They fed us, talked to us and laughed with us. Gave us a place to sleep. It felt exactly like the early days with the Crows.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I don’t intentionally eat cheaply. I’m middle aged and eat well. I try to be self-sufficient on the bus. I’m doing pretty good at cutting out sugar and fake foods but it can be hard not to snack on food that comes in boxes and bags. My wife helps me eat clean.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
None
Where do you rehearse?
I don’t need any specific place to play music and I don’t really “rehearse” unless there are new people that are asking to be taught something specific. I would prefer to not ever think of playing music as “rehearsing” or practicing. Instead it’s just simply… playing more music. I prefer to play music with people who are capable of figuring things out as we go. We’ll get the best takes in the studio when the band is learning the song. We’ll play the best music of an entire tour during soundcheck on songs nobody knows. Before anybody knows what they’re doing is when all the good stuff happens. I try never to teach a band anything. If you’re good enough to understand the chord changes and then add your own contribution/voice to it then maybe we’ll sound good together. Maybe not.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
“He was an outlaw/She was a whore”
First line of “Roll On”
I was 16, 1996
Describe your first gig.
Bianca’s Daughters. An Italian restaurant in Watkins Glen. Out 2nd Street across the street from the lake where the Walmart is now. My dad got us the gig. We played our five or six songs and “Ripple” to the local all you can eat spaghetti dinner crowd and our friends. Felt awesome to sing “Ripple” to a crowd of strangers.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I think I worked at a plant nursery in Boone, NC but the last one was the house painting job that Josh Moore got me. He lived in a very cool old mill in or near Sugar Grove. His landlord had the painting job. We painted townhome exteriors.
I liked working in the vineyards when I dropped out of school. It gave me something to do while everyone else was at school and it kept me outside. I wished days were shorter but I could kinda do whatever I wanted out there. Sing to the lake, drink wine, or just lay there and look at the sky. Perfect job for a loser from Watkins Glen.
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?
I haven’t made a record in about six years so I don’t think my experience is relevant. I don’t think it has changed much in the past 5-10 years as it has in the past 25 years. It’s very different now and I don’t like it one bit. Being a musician used to be a high paying job. Now it is not. I have no idea what to expect. For all I know I’m gonna be completely self-funding my own records and tours, completely self-reliant on promotion through whatever soul-sucking social media app exists, releasing music that gets lost in the literal shuffle of mediocre garbage cycling through the apps, getting ignored by industry amateurs who’ve never heard of Odetta.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
That I was extremely talented. More talented than anyone else around me and I shouldn’t have bothered comparing myself to them. I wasted many years being insecure and unsure of myself.