Tommy Stinson has had a pretty remarkable career, starting as the bassist in a band called Dogbreath when he was still in his early teens. Based in Minneapolis and also featuring his brother Bob, and drummer Chris Mars, the band were mostly learning to play covers until they met Paul Westerberg, who already knew Chris. Paul had heard the band rehearse and liked their approach, but it wasn’t until several other candidates failed to pass the audition stage that he was asked to be their singer. Dogbreath changed their name to The Impediments, played one gig at a local Church Hall, got themselves banned and consequently changed their name to The Replacements. Taking inspiration from a vast array of influences, the band would become one of the best and most important groups in the American music scene of the Eighties, with a reputation for chaotic, often drunken performances, as well as producing truly exciting records. However, they never made the commercial break-through that many had expected and eventually split-up in 1991. Tommy went on to form a new band, Bash & Pop, who garnered a good critical response but fell apart a year or so later. Tommy moved to Los Angeles where he formed another band, Perfect, but again, despite an initially positive response, the band came to an end in 1998. But this time fate decided to give Tommy a break and he was invited to play bass for Guns’n’Roses, a job that he would fulfil for the next 16 years. During this period, he was also able to find time to record and release two solo albums, ‘Village Gorilla Head’ and ‘One Man Mutiny’, as well as playing with his old friends Soul Asylum following the loss of their original bass player, Karl Mueller. After many rumours had circulated over the years, The Replacements finally reformed to play live in 2013, eventually touring around North America and some parts of Europe, before announcing that they were splitting-up again in 2015. Tommy recorded a new Bash & Pop album, released in 2017, and toured in America and Europe, before focusing on what would be his current project, a duo with guitarist Chip Roberts called Cowboys in the Campfire. With a stripped-down, Country-influenced sound, it’s different to anything that Tommy has produced before now, but his attitude and intent is evidently intact. They’ve already been playing live for some time, but their first album ‘Wronger’ is being released right now, which gave me the chance to speak to Tommy.
With a limited amount of time available, I got straight into the interview…
With a limited amount of time available, I got straight into the interview…
As both you and your brother, Bob, would become musicians, were your parents pretty supportive?
‘Yeah… I think my mother looked at it as, well… I was getting in to so much trouble before then, that she was happy for me to be learning to play an instrument rather than going out stealing shit and getting thrown in jail. But I’d been getting in a lot of trouble up to that point. We’d get complaints when we were playing too loud, which particularly bummed-out my sister, but again it was easier to put up with that than having to go and fetch me out of jail.’
Your first band was called ‘Dogbreath’. Had you played with anyone else before then?
‘No, that was our first thing. I was only 15 or 16 at that time and I was still listening to the same stuff that my brother was listening to. It wasn’t until later on, when we became The Replacements, that I started delving in to punk rock stuff. One of my good friends at Middle School had been to England with his family and when they came back, he and his sister were wearing tartan trousers and had these records by The Stranglers, The Clash and The Jam. He turned me on to all of that stuff, at a time when I had still been listening to stuff like Johnny Winter and shit like that.’
The Replacements quickly got a reputation for being a pretty unpredictable or even chaotic live act. Do you think that was fair?
‘Oh yeah… I mean, besides being social malcontents, we just didn’t really have the social skills to want to conform or even think that we needed to, for that matter. And that’s why we were pretty haphazard in everything we did. We just thought, it might be this today, but it’ll be something else tomorrow, so we rolled with that. We were starting to write some really great songs and that’s what really mattered. How we got to that end result wasn’t so important.’
‘Yeah… I think my mother looked at it as, well… I was getting in to so much trouble before then, that she was happy for me to be learning to play an instrument rather than going out stealing shit and getting thrown in jail. But I’d been getting in a lot of trouble up to that point. We’d get complaints when we were playing too loud, which particularly bummed-out my sister, but again it was easier to put up with that than having to go and fetch me out of jail.’
Your first band was called ‘Dogbreath’. Had you played with anyone else before then?
‘No, that was our first thing. I was only 15 or 16 at that time and I was still listening to the same stuff that my brother was listening to. It wasn’t until later on, when we became The Replacements, that I started delving in to punk rock stuff. One of my good friends at Middle School had been to England with his family and when they came back, he and his sister were wearing tartan trousers and had these records by The Stranglers, The Clash and The Jam. He turned me on to all of that stuff, at a time when I had still been listening to stuff like Johnny Winter and shit like that.’
The Replacements quickly got a reputation for being a pretty unpredictable or even chaotic live act. Do you think that was fair?
‘Oh yeah… I mean, besides being social malcontents, we just didn’t really have the social skills to want to conform or even think that we needed to, for that matter. And that’s why we were pretty haphazard in everything we did. We just thought, it might be this today, but it’ll be something else tomorrow, so we rolled with that. We were starting to write some really great songs and that’s what really mattered. How we got to that end result wasn’t so important.’
During the early Eighties, around the same time that The Replacements were establishing themselves, the music scene in Minneapolis was really thriving, with Prince at one end of the scale and Husker Du at the other. Was it exciting to be in the middle of that?
‘Oh, totally! When I look back at it now, I really don’t think I’ve ever been to any other place that had such a diverse musical community and one everyone really fed-off everyone else who was there. It was a sort-of melting pot, which was kind of funny because the schools were only officially desegregated from about 1978, I think, but in that time-period following that, you got punk rock, you got Prince and all these other things converging on the music scene in Minneapolis, so it was really vibrant and, as I said, very diverse. Everyone seemed to really love and appreciate music of all kinds. I think Prince, in particular, really took advantage of everything around him and as soon as you heard him, whether you were a big fan or not, you knew he really had it going on and was a real musician. The whole community really fed-off itself and there were a lot of bands, so we had a lot of healthy competition. We’d often travel with other local bands and play shows together, so it was an interesting time and I’ve never known another City that had a scene like it.’
After the bands’ fourth studio album, ‘Tim’, your brother Bob was kicked-out of the band. That must have been a really awkward situation for you…
‘Oh yeah, it was awkward and frustrating all at once, because ultimately we just wanted him to be okay and be well. At the time, we were all going down that road, but he was going further because he was just unable to pull it back. It took the rest of us different times to get to that place, which we all ended-up going to as well, eventually, but ultimately he was the first one down. It was tough. We put him into treatment but it didn’t catch and I think Paul felt that he wanted to keep on making music with the band but wouldn’t be able to do that with this guy. Paul really loved Bob, but it just became an unworkable situation.’
The final Replacements album, ‘All Shook Down’, was recorded mainly by Paul with help from session musicians and had initially been intended as Paul’s first solo album. How did you feel about it still being released as a Replacements album?
‘You know, it really wasn’t quite like that. We all knew when we were going in to do the record, that Paul had some ideas about how he wanted to do things. Different instrumentation and things like that… I remember talking to him about it and saying, yeah, anything you want to do, we can do it. We had the budget, so if he wanted so-and-so to play on the record, he could have them play on it. He tried a bunch of different things and over-thought a few things, so when it came back he replaced a few things we’d recorded, just little things like that, and ultimately it turned into the last Replacements record. I think that what he was aiming to do was what he ended-up doing after The Replacements, playing with different people and doing things more his way. I don’t know if he ever succeeded in getting to where he wanted to be with that album, but it turned out to be the last band record.’
‘Oh, totally! When I look back at it now, I really don’t think I’ve ever been to any other place that had such a diverse musical community and one everyone really fed-off everyone else who was there. It was a sort-of melting pot, which was kind of funny because the schools were only officially desegregated from about 1978, I think, but in that time-period following that, you got punk rock, you got Prince and all these other things converging on the music scene in Minneapolis, so it was really vibrant and, as I said, very diverse. Everyone seemed to really love and appreciate music of all kinds. I think Prince, in particular, really took advantage of everything around him and as soon as you heard him, whether you were a big fan or not, you knew he really had it going on and was a real musician. The whole community really fed-off itself and there were a lot of bands, so we had a lot of healthy competition. We’d often travel with other local bands and play shows together, so it was an interesting time and I’ve never known another City that had a scene like it.’
After the bands’ fourth studio album, ‘Tim’, your brother Bob was kicked-out of the band. That must have been a really awkward situation for you…
‘Oh yeah, it was awkward and frustrating all at once, because ultimately we just wanted him to be okay and be well. At the time, we were all going down that road, but he was going further because he was just unable to pull it back. It took the rest of us different times to get to that place, which we all ended-up going to as well, eventually, but ultimately he was the first one down. It was tough. We put him into treatment but it didn’t catch and I think Paul felt that he wanted to keep on making music with the band but wouldn’t be able to do that with this guy. Paul really loved Bob, but it just became an unworkable situation.’
The final Replacements album, ‘All Shook Down’, was recorded mainly by Paul with help from session musicians and had initially been intended as Paul’s first solo album. How did you feel about it still being released as a Replacements album?
‘You know, it really wasn’t quite like that. We all knew when we were going in to do the record, that Paul had some ideas about how he wanted to do things. Different instrumentation and things like that… I remember talking to him about it and saying, yeah, anything you want to do, we can do it. We had the budget, so if he wanted so-and-so to play on the record, he could have them play on it. He tried a bunch of different things and over-thought a few things, so when it came back he replaced a few things we’d recorded, just little things like that, and ultimately it turned into the last Replacements record. I think that what he was aiming to do was what he ended-up doing after The Replacements, playing with different people and doing things more his way. I don’t know if he ever succeeded in getting to where he wanted to be with that album, but it turned out to be the last band record.’
After The Replacements you formed a new band, Bash & Pop. Initially, there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm for what you were doing, but as things went on, it didn’t seem to achieve it’s potential…
‘Well, I mostly made that album with just the drummer, Steve Foley. The guitarist, Steve Brantseg, played on a bunch of it but he and I didn’t get along so great. He was a good guy and all that, but for whatever reason, we didn’t get along in the studio. I think we just had different ideas. Also, as time went on, I never really got a whole lot of help from Warner Brothers on it. They picked up the rights on it, as I had been a member of The Replacements, and they gave me the money to make the album, but I think at that time their focus was more on what Paul was doing rather than me. That’s just the way it works sometimes.’
You ended up relocating to Los Angeles, where you formed another new band, ‘Perfect’. Your first EP, ‘When Squirrels Play Chicken’ was enthusiastically received, but the subsequent album, ‘Seven Days a Week’, was shelved by the record label and wouldn’t eventually be released until long after the band had split-up…
‘I think it seemed much more focused, which was probably because it was more of a real band at that point. When I started playing with Gersh and the others, I felt that it didn’t feel like Bash & Pop, it felt like a new band and we were playing as a collective. Just to jump ahead a little bit, I think the new ‘Cowboys in the Campfire’ record turned out the way it has due to the same sort of thing. When we started making the record, we realised that it was something that deserved to be its’ own thing, rather than a Tommy-solo record or a Bash & Pop thing… I think most of my records have done that. We released a new Bash & Pop record in 2017 and we recorded it pretty-much live with my solo-band. But the feel of it, the way it was going, felt like a band record to me and as I still owned the name, I decided to release it as a Bash & Pop album even though it was a different line-up. I think the music really dictates what the songs end up becoming. The songs drag something out of you while you work on them and you just have to go with the flow of it.’
‘Well, I mostly made that album with just the drummer, Steve Foley. The guitarist, Steve Brantseg, played on a bunch of it but he and I didn’t get along so great. He was a good guy and all that, but for whatever reason, we didn’t get along in the studio. I think we just had different ideas. Also, as time went on, I never really got a whole lot of help from Warner Brothers on it. They picked up the rights on it, as I had been a member of The Replacements, and they gave me the money to make the album, but I think at that time their focus was more on what Paul was doing rather than me. That’s just the way it works sometimes.’
You ended up relocating to Los Angeles, where you formed another new band, ‘Perfect’. Your first EP, ‘When Squirrels Play Chicken’ was enthusiastically received, but the subsequent album, ‘Seven Days a Week’, was shelved by the record label and wouldn’t eventually be released until long after the band had split-up…
‘I think it seemed much more focused, which was probably because it was more of a real band at that point. When I started playing with Gersh and the others, I felt that it didn’t feel like Bash & Pop, it felt like a new band and we were playing as a collective. Just to jump ahead a little bit, I think the new ‘Cowboys in the Campfire’ record turned out the way it has due to the same sort of thing. When we started making the record, we realised that it was something that deserved to be its’ own thing, rather than a Tommy-solo record or a Bash & Pop thing… I think most of my records have done that. We released a new Bash & Pop record in 2017 and we recorded it pretty-much live with my solo-band. But the feel of it, the way it was going, felt like a band record to me and as I still owned the name, I decided to release it as a Bash & Pop album even though it was a different line-up. I think the music really dictates what the songs end up becoming. The songs drag something out of you while you work on them and you just have to go with the flow of it.’
Unfortunately, Perfect split-up in 1998, but quite soon afterwards you were offered the bass-playing spot in Guns’n’Roses. Did that come as a surprise to you?
‘You know, it was never like I’d been offered an audition and I was getting stressed thinking, oh shit, I’ve got to try and get this job! My buddy Josh Freese was already playing drums with them and he enticed me, almost as a dare, to go up and try it out. So I learned a couple of songs and then went up to play with them and, you know, hang out for a while. Then I got the call, pretty much the next day. So I hadn’t set out to join Guns’n’Roses, per se, it just fell into place and I thought, okay, this might be cool. And, seventeen years later, I still had no real regrets about doing it. I had a lot of fun and I didn’t have any of the trials and tribulations that I’d had with everything else, so it was a good gig for me.’
Did you feel comfortable with their style of music, as it’s quite different to things you had done before then?
‘Sure, because I think I went in with the right attitude. All the music aside, it was about the idea that Axl was going to try to continue as Guns’n’Roses without Slash, Duff and Izzy, because he felt that he had the right to do it, you know? Like, fuck those guys, they quit and walked away from me! I thought that was a really ballsy move, so I was happy to go in to bat for the little guy… not that he was a little guy, but what he was trying to do was outrageous, really. That sounded good to me!’
That said, even when the new line-up came together, there was a pretty long wait before the much-anticipated album, ‘Chinese Democracy’, was finally completed and released. As a new member in the band, that must have been pretty frustrating?
‘You know, at times it was, but the undertaking of having a group of guys who all came from completely different musical backgrounds is a testament to Axl’s production on that record and he doesn’t really get credit for it. In my way of thinking, he did a masterful job. I think that his way of thinking with that record was that if he got everyone to invest their own ideas in each song, then everyone would feel like playing them. And he believed that so much so that he really did have all of us writing together on pretty much every song. He got us all to play together as a group and that, on it’s own, was pretty miraculous. When I look back, I think it’s a good record but I also think what he did to make it happen probably took longer than it really needed, in some ways. But my takeaway from it is that making that record was the really interesting part of that whole gig and I’m totally grateful for that whole experience.’
‘You know, it was never like I’d been offered an audition and I was getting stressed thinking, oh shit, I’ve got to try and get this job! My buddy Josh Freese was already playing drums with them and he enticed me, almost as a dare, to go up and try it out. So I learned a couple of songs and then went up to play with them and, you know, hang out for a while. Then I got the call, pretty much the next day. So I hadn’t set out to join Guns’n’Roses, per se, it just fell into place and I thought, okay, this might be cool. And, seventeen years later, I still had no real regrets about doing it. I had a lot of fun and I didn’t have any of the trials and tribulations that I’d had with everything else, so it was a good gig for me.’
Did you feel comfortable with their style of music, as it’s quite different to things you had done before then?
‘Sure, because I think I went in with the right attitude. All the music aside, it was about the idea that Axl was going to try to continue as Guns’n’Roses without Slash, Duff and Izzy, because he felt that he had the right to do it, you know? Like, fuck those guys, they quit and walked away from me! I thought that was a really ballsy move, so I was happy to go in to bat for the little guy… not that he was a little guy, but what he was trying to do was outrageous, really. That sounded good to me!’
That said, even when the new line-up came together, there was a pretty long wait before the much-anticipated album, ‘Chinese Democracy’, was finally completed and released. As a new member in the band, that must have been pretty frustrating?
‘You know, at times it was, but the undertaking of having a group of guys who all came from completely different musical backgrounds is a testament to Axl’s production on that record and he doesn’t really get credit for it. In my way of thinking, he did a masterful job. I think that his way of thinking with that record was that if he got everyone to invest their own ideas in each song, then everyone would feel like playing them. And he believed that so much so that he really did have all of us writing together on pretty much every song. He got us all to play together as a group and that, on it’s own, was pretty miraculous. When I look back, I think it’s a good record but I also think what he did to make it happen probably took longer than it really needed, in some ways. But my takeaway from it is that making that record was the really interesting part of that whole gig and I’m totally grateful for that whole experience.’
You also released you first ‘solo’ album, ‘Village Gorilla Head’, in 2004, whilst still also a member of Guns’n’Roses…
‘Yeah, as was my next album, ‘One Man Mutiny’. In fact, I actually played the songs for Axl and asked if there was anything there that he might want to turn in to songs for Guns’n’Roses, but he just said, ‘maybe not…’ But I didn’t play them to him in their infancy, I played them when I had finished recording them and we were just about to put them out. Not that I wouldn’t want any of them to become Guns’n’Roses songs, but I kind of knew they weren’t going to be suitable and I didn’t really want him to see something in any of them and then just put them aside indefinitely so that I’d never see them again… Which had already happened to a few of my songs down the road.’
You also did some recording and played shows with Soul Asylum around the same time. Was that only ever meant to be a temporary situation, helping-out old friends, or was there an opportunity to join them full-time?
‘I’d actually gone to High School with Dave Pirner and I’d known those guys forever, so when Karl Mueller passed I was on a list they had of possible replacements. Knowing those guys as long as I had, when they asked me to help out there was just no way of saying no and of course I said I’d play some shows with them. But they also knew that I was still a part of Guns’n’Roses and they’d have to work around my schedule. Fortunately they were happy to do that and I played with them as much as I was able to.’
As you already mentioned, you released your second solo album, One Man Mutiny’, in 2011. The album was well-received and you also managed to do some touring to support it. Looking back, would you have liked to have spent more time promoting that album?
‘I didn’t really tour for that record, I just did a bunch of shows around that time and I think I did enough for it in the circumstances that I had in front of me. It was just a bunch of songs that I had sitting around and stuff that I ultimately finished recording in Chips Roberts’ basement. That turned in to us travelling around, playing and writing together, which eventually turned in to Cowboys in the Campfire. I moved to Philadelphia in the middle of making that record and finished it in his basement, so that’s where we started the whole process of what we’re doing now.’
‘Yeah, as was my next album, ‘One Man Mutiny’. In fact, I actually played the songs for Axl and asked if there was anything there that he might want to turn in to songs for Guns’n’Roses, but he just said, ‘maybe not…’ But I didn’t play them to him in their infancy, I played them when I had finished recording them and we were just about to put them out. Not that I wouldn’t want any of them to become Guns’n’Roses songs, but I kind of knew they weren’t going to be suitable and I didn’t really want him to see something in any of them and then just put them aside indefinitely so that I’d never see them again… Which had already happened to a few of my songs down the road.’
You also did some recording and played shows with Soul Asylum around the same time. Was that only ever meant to be a temporary situation, helping-out old friends, or was there an opportunity to join them full-time?
‘I’d actually gone to High School with Dave Pirner and I’d known those guys forever, so when Karl Mueller passed I was on a list they had of possible replacements. Knowing those guys as long as I had, when they asked me to help out there was just no way of saying no and of course I said I’d play some shows with them. But they also knew that I was still a part of Guns’n’Roses and they’d have to work around my schedule. Fortunately they were happy to do that and I played with them as much as I was able to.’
As you already mentioned, you released your second solo album, One Man Mutiny’, in 2011. The album was well-received and you also managed to do some touring to support it. Looking back, would you have liked to have spent more time promoting that album?
‘I didn’t really tour for that record, I just did a bunch of shows around that time and I think I did enough for it in the circumstances that I had in front of me. It was just a bunch of songs that I had sitting around and stuff that I ultimately finished recording in Chips Roberts’ basement. That turned in to us travelling around, playing and writing together, which eventually turned in to Cowboys in the Campfire. I moved to Philadelphia in the middle of making that record and finished it in his basement, so that’s where we started the whole process of what we’re doing now.’
The long-awaited Replacements’ reunion was finally announced in 2013. You had done various one-off projects with Paul Westerberg over the years, so was the reunion something that you expected to eventually happen?
‘I think we’d talked about it pretty much every year for the previous decade or so, but we’d never really thought we’d do it. But then one day, it just kind of happened and we thought, well, maybe this is the right time. And it was fun, we had a good time with it, but we probably over-stayed our welcome in the way that, it was fun up to a point, but we exceeded the point to where we haven’t really spoken to each other for a couple of years, now. That’s not to do with the reunion in particular, it’s just that we did that and walked away from it, just the same as when we walked away from it the first time we broke up. We enjoyed playing the shows, but after the gigs it seemed to become a war of management and a war of this thing or that thing… Paul and I have gotten older and we’ve changed our directions in life and about what we care about the most… It just made sense towards the end that we should stop touring and give it a rest.’
I tend to think that it’s fine when bands reform as it allows people who didn’t get to see them first time around to finally see the band. The problem comes if the band continues to play too much and, as a result, the shows become less special…
‘Exactly! We could have spared ourselves a little bit of that had we stopped sooner. It’s always nicer when you leave on a high note rather than dragging it out and ending on a low note.’
You said at the time that any new material you’d written for The Replacements would be reworked for your solo projects. Was that the case?
‘Not really… I think, when we were flirting around with the idea of going in to a studio to jam around on a couple of things, we never had the right circumstances to be able to do it while we were doing the shows. And it worked out that way because I don’t think Paul really wanted to do it. We had studios booked-up in a way that really wouldn’t have had the right atmosphere for us. He wanted to do it this way, then he wanted to do it that way, and none of it was really conducive to making a new record. He was flirting with it, but not really wanting to do it, I think.’
You kept yourself busy after The Replacements came to an end by recording and releasing a new Bash & Pop album, ‘Anything Could Happen’. You were also able to tour in America and Europe to support it. Were you intending to continue with Bash & Pop at that time?
‘You know, I do whatever I have in front of me that I feel like doing. I did that for a while, but all the people that played with me on that tour came from other bands so they had other commitments. If it should come to pass down the road that we could make another Bash & Pop record together, then I would do it. But as I said, I kind of go with the flow and with the songs. The most recent songs that Chip and I put together were meant to be compiled together as Cowboys in the Campfire, so that’s what we’re going to put out and that’s what we’re going to tour behind. But who knows what’s going to happen next?’
‘I think we’d talked about it pretty much every year for the previous decade or so, but we’d never really thought we’d do it. But then one day, it just kind of happened and we thought, well, maybe this is the right time. And it was fun, we had a good time with it, but we probably over-stayed our welcome in the way that, it was fun up to a point, but we exceeded the point to where we haven’t really spoken to each other for a couple of years, now. That’s not to do with the reunion in particular, it’s just that we did that and walked away from it, just the same as when we walked away from it the first time we broke up. We enjoyed playing the shows, but after the gigs it seemed to become a war of management and a war of this thing or that thing… Paul and I have gotten older and we’ve changed our directions in life and about what we care about the most… It just made sense towards the end that we should stop touring and give it a rest.’
I tend to think that it’s fine when bands reform as it allows people who didn’t get to see them first time around to finally see the band. The problem comes if the band continues to play too much and, as a result, the shows become less special…
‘Exactly! We could have spared ourselves a little bit of that had we stopped sooner. It’s always nicer when you leave on a high note rather than dragging it out and ending on a low note.’
You said at the time that any new material you’d written for The Replacements would be reworked for your solo projects. Was that the case?
‘Not really… I think, when we were flirting around with the idea of going in to a studio to jam around on a couple of things, we never had the right circumstances to be able to do it while we were doing the shows. And it worked out that way because I don’t think Paul really wanted to do it. We had studios booked-up in a way that really wouldn’t have had the right atmosphere for us. He wanted to do it this way, then he wanted to do it that way, and none of it was really conducive to making a new record. He was flirting with it, but not really wanting to do it, I think.’
You kept yourself busy after The Replacements came to an end by recording and releasing a new Bash & Pop album, ‘Anything Could Happen’. You were also able to tour in America and Europe to support it. Were you intending to continue with Bash & Pop at that time?
‘You know, I do whatever I have in front of me that I feel like doing. I did that for a while, but all the people that played with me on that tour came from other bands so they had other commitments. If it should come to pass down the road that we could make another Bash & Pop record together, then I would do it. But as I said, I kind of go with the flow and with the songs. The most recent songs that Chip and I put together were meant to be compiled together as Cowboys in the Campfire, so that’s what we’re going to put out and that’s what we’re going to tour behind. But who knows what’s going to happen next?’
Earlier this year, you were due to play some solo dates in the UK supporting Jesse Malin, but you had to cancel the dates at short notice. What happened?
‘I blew out my hip and had to get it replaced! It was a nightmare and the window to get it done came right then, just as I was supposed to play those dates. The option was to prolong the wait and see if I could live with it for however long it took, but ultimately I knew I’d still have to get it done. So I decided to get it done sooner rather than later, so at least it wouldn’t get in the way of the entire next year.’
If those shows had happened, would you have been previewing Cowboys in the Campfire material?
‘No, I’d probably have done something different for those dates. We’d just finished the Cowboys in the Campfire record and it was in production, but I was just going to do those shows for fun. I was going to open-up for Jesse, so it was disappointing that I couldn’t do it.’
As Cowboys in the Campfire is just you and Chip Roberts rather than a full band, does it make it a lot easier to go out and play?
‘That was kind of the original concept, but saying that, we’ve actually added a stand-up bass player to fill-out the sound a little bit. It’s been good fun rehearsing with him and our first official gig as a three-piece is actually tomorrow, to celebrate the record release day at Grimey’s record store here in Nashville. We’ve been rehearsing together for a while, so we’re intending to tour for about two or three weeks each month until the end of the year. I’m looking forward to seeing how we do and what people make of it.’
As you recorded the new album as a two-piece rather than a full band, did you enjoy being able to strip the songs down to their basic essence?
‘Yeah… the way Chip and I do things all started off with the concept of keeping it simple and the songs kind of dictate where we want to go with them. More recently, they seem to want a bass on there or they seem to want a horn section… I mean, I never planned to make a record that included a couple of ukulele songs, but it’s happened. I like to let the songs go where they want to go and a couple have ended-up with drums because that sounded right for them. But even after adding an upright bass player, we’re still going to be touring with a stripped-down sound and I think it works out pretty good.’
‘I blew out my hip and had to get it replaced! It was a nightmare and the window to get it done came right then, just as I was supposed to play those dates. The option was to prolong the wait and see if I could live with it for however long it took, but ultimately I knew I’d still have to get it done. So I decided to get it done sooner rather than later, so at least it wouldn’t get in the way of the entire next year.’
If those shows had happened, would you have been previewing Cowboys in the Campfire material?
‘No, I’d probably have done something different for those dates. We’d just finished the Cowboys in the Campfire record and it was in production, but I was just going to do those shows for fun. I was going to open-up for Jesse, so it was disappointing that I couldn’t do it.’
As Cowboys in the Campfire is just you and Chip Roberts rather than a full band, does it make it a lot easier to go out and play?
‘That was kind of the original concept, but saying that, we’ve actually added a stand-up bass player to fill-out the sound a little bit. It’s been good fun rehearsing with him and our first official gig as a three-piece is actually tomorrow, to celebrate the record release day at Grimey’s record store here in Nashville. We’ve been rehearsing together for a while, so we’re intending to tour for about two or three weeks each month until the end of the year. I’m looking forward to seeing how we do and what people make of it.’
As you recorded the new album as a two-piece rather than a full band, did you enjoy being able to strip the songs down to their basic essence?
‘Yeah… the way Chip and I do things all started off with the concept of keeping it simple and the songs kind of dictate where we want to go with them. More recently, they seem to want a bass on there or they seem to want a horn section… I mean, I never planned to make a record that included a couple of ukulele songs, but it’s happened. I like to let the songs go where they want to go and a couple have ended-up with drums because that sounded right for them. But even after adding an upright bass player, we’re still going to be touring with a stripped-down sound and I think it works out pretty good.’
Are you curious about how it’s going to be received, as it is pretty different to any of your previous records?
‘I think so, but I know we’re going to have fun with it. At this stage in my life, I’m lucky enough that I can just call up my agent and say, ‘Can you book some shows for July’ and he’ll make sure it all comes together. I’m in a good spot in my life where I can call the shots, do what I want and generally have fun. The Cowboys record is great because I don’t have to go and tour the world for six weeks at a time and risk killing myself doing it. With this, I can just get in a van with my buddies, go play some shows and have fun with it.’
Do you intend to bring this band over to Europe?
‘If I can get Chip out of the country, I’ll do it, but it might be tricky getting him out of here… But never say never! With a little luck we’ll make it over there, but don’t hold your breath just yet. At the moment, it just makes more sense to tour over here, as the record comes out tomorrow and we’re getting radio stations adding it to their playlists already… I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but it seems to be coming out of the gate pretty good.’
Looking back over your career, I think one of the things that’s cool about it is that there’s no one thing that defines it. A lot of musicians have one main project that they’re always be associated with, but you’ve done so many different things that no-one could ever just pin you down to one particular aspect…
‘I think that’s very astute. I think you’d have to know everything I’ve done and everything that I will do to paint the big picture. When I’ve done one thing, it might overlap in to the next thing, or influence the next thing, but what I do is ever-evolving and I’m lucky that I get to do it this way. It’s like a roller coaster ride so I guess I’m also lucky that people still care about it enough that they want to buy my records and find out about what I’m doing and why! But it’s fun… and it certainly beats underwater basket-weaving!’
‘I think so, but I know we’re going to have fun with it. At this stage in my life, I’m lucky enough that I can just call up my agent and say, ‘Can you book some shows for July’ and he’ll make sure it all comes together. I’m in a good spot in my life where I can call the shots, do what I want and generally have fun. The Cowboys record is great because I don’t have to go and tour the world for six weeks at a time and risk killing myself doing it. With this, I can just get in a van with my buddies, go play some shows and have fun with it.’
Do you intend to bring this band over to Europe?
‘If I can get Chip out of the country, I’ll do it, but it might be tricky getting him out of here… But never say never! With a little luck we’ll make it over there, but don’t hold your breath just yet. At the moment, it just makes more sense to tour over here, as the record comes out tomorrow and we’re getting radio stations adding it to their playlists already… I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but it seems to be coming out of the gate pretty good.’
Looking back over your career, I think one of the things that’s cool about it is that there’s no one thing that defines it. A lot of musicians have one main project that they’re always be associated with, but you’ve done so many different things that no-one could ever just pin you down to one particular aspect…
‘I think that’s very astute. I think you’d have to know everything I’ve done and everything that I will do to paint the big picture. When I’ve done one thing, it might overlap in to the next thing, or influence the next thing, but what I do is ever-evolving and I’m lucky that I get to do it this way. It’s like a roller coaster ride so I guess I’m also lucky that people still care about it enough that they want to buy my records and find out about what I’m doing and why! But it’s fun… and it certainly beats underwater basket-weaving!’
And on that shrewd observation, we wrapped-up the conversation. As mentioned, the Cowboys in the Campfire album is available now on the Icons Creating Evil Art UK label.
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