JW: How would you describe your relationship with Gerrit Graham? How has it evolved over the years?

BW: He’s an old pal of mine. I actually met him through a mutual friend of John Barlow, Andy Leonard, a guy that Barlow sent my way back in the late 60s, early 70s. Andy introduced me in the early 70s to Gerrit Graham and we have just been friends for the longest time. At some point in the early 80s, one night I was staying down in L.A. at Gerrit’s place and a couple of beers in, we decided we were gonna try to write a song and it went kind of well. I had a little piece of something that turned out to be the chorus for “Victim of the Crime,” that I had written. He sort of filled in the blanks and developed the music. We wrote a song that’s kind of singular both in its musical and lyrical expression. We looked at that and kind of said ‘O.K., well if we can do that, I guess we can do other stuff too.’ So, we went and chased other stuff.

JW: That’s kind of an interesting concept because as an artist, you’re expressing yourself and coming from your heart. Are there ever times when lyrics are submitted to you that you don’t necessarily agree with or that need revising?

BW: Oh, (laughs) yeah. I’m legendarily difficult on that account. Talk to Barlow sometime&I like to be fully involved. You know, I generally will contribute, a third, a half or more of a the lyrics to a given song because otherwise I feel like someone’s putting words in my mouth and I can’t get there. I can’t get to that lofty place if there’s something that’s sticking in my throat. So, writing lyrics for me, is the toughest part about writing songs. You know, the music I just chase it where it wants to go. That’s kind of easy. I can make it as difficult as I want. Sometimes a song will present itself with sort of a ready-made challenge, like “Victim of the Crime,” for example, which I kind of lifted from a Bartok piece. In general, the music comes a lot more readily than the lyrics, though that’s not always the case.

JW: It must create a certain kind of bond with Gerrit or Barlow, after you’ve finally finished a song and both exposed your soul like that.

BW: It does.

JW: It must make for a stronger friendship.

BW: Yeah, well we’re trying to peel back the layers of the onion on our own selves or on what it is that we are and what it is that we’re here to say. There’s always the question that you have to deal with ‘does this need to be said? What’s the point here?’ The last thing I’m interested in doing is writing something because I think people want to hear it or because I think it will sell. I’m way the hell past that. It’s a process of introspection. The lyric-writing process is very much a process of introspection for me. I’m trying to discover a character that lives inside of me and is telling his story. That’s generally where I’m going with that.

JW: So it’s therapeutic in a way.

BW: Yeah, it can be greatly therapeutic.

JW: Do you have a similar relationship with Robert Hunter in the way that you would construct a song?

BW: Hunter has a great deal more resistance to my efforts to get involved in the lyrics. He liked to hand a page and he liked to hear it recited intact in the song. There is at least the ad-lib part that I can play with and stuff like that. Otherwise, I can’t personalize it or customize it to the point where I can get with the character that’s singing the song. You know, I’ve found ways to do that with Hunter.

JW: How did Jerry work with Hunter? Would he sing the lyrics as they were written?

BW: Yeah. He’d do a little editing but Jerry&He might play this here and that there, but he pretty much read them off the page. I never could do that so much, so Hunter gave up on my for a while and that’s where Barlow came into the picture. When I first started writing songs, back in the days of “Sugar Magnolia” and stuff like that, I was working with Hunter, but it was a difficult relationship. We’ve gotten older, but back then I was just getting started. Without trying, I guess I was being a bit of an enfant terrible.

JW: How close do you follow what’s been called now the jam band scene? Certainly the Grateful Dead would be considered the godfathers of the whole improvisational-psychedelic movement. It certainly seems like there are a lot of jam bands out there that place more emphasis on musical chops, rather than expressing themselves through lyrics.

BW: As they grow up, they’re going to find that that’s more important. To make a song, a song, in capital letters, it has to be words and music. There has to be a compelling story there or some sort for me. I think they’re gonna find out too. I mean, a lot of these guys are young and as they get older, they’re gonna find it’s more satisfying to make whatever effort it takes to have a lyric take you to a special place as well as the music.

JW: Are there any up and coming bands that have caught your attention?

BW: A number of them actually, but I’d be leaving some of them out. In all fairness, I haven’t been listening to anything for the last year and a half, because I didn’t want to be influenced by anything while we were doing the album. When we went into the writing process, with the intent of making a record, I consciously stopped listening to the radio and stopped listening to any new records that were remotely in the neighborhood of what we’re doing, because I didn’t want to be influenced by anything that was currently going on in popular music. I’d listen to jazz or classical. Otherwise, something is bound to catch in my head and rattle around in there and I’d spit it back out and I didn’t want to be doing that. I wanted this body of work to have a purity about it that you can’t have if you’re influenced by other things.

JW: When the album was complete, did you finally sit down and raid your old rock and roll collection? Were you missing listening to other bands that enjoy?

BW: (laughs) No, I hit the road. Since the record has been done, I’ve either been in rehearsal or on the road, so I haven’t had a chance to really&it will be winter before I can start listening to stuff again. I’m all ears by the way.

JW: On the Furthur Tour this summer, I thought that Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers was a great addition to the bill.

BW: He’s great.

JW: Did you have a relationship with his father, Bob?

BW: You know, I never met him. I saw him and I was just knocked out just like anybody who ever saw him was. He was purely amazing. I don’t know how to say that any other way. By that I mean, truly amazing. I don’t know how to say it better.

JW: You’ve shared the stage with so many great musicians over the years. Do Ziggy and his brothers and sisters carry some of that same spirituality with them?

BW: Absolutely. Well, Ziggy’s Mr. Good Vibe. He’s gonna be around for a long time. He’s a real good musician, a real good singer, he’s got a good band, but there’s something that he does that&he can manifest joy and it’s palpable when he’s performing.

JW: I know you’ve collaborated with Hanson in the past, which I though was interesting.

BW: Well, I’m not entirely sure it amounts to collaboration. They sat in with Rob and me and Jay Lane a while back and then on this Other Ones tour they came and sat in with us. They’re gonna be giants in American music if they continue their trajectory. They have a couple of advantages that almost no one ever gets. They’ve been playing together since they were tots and they have a sibling vocal blend that’s just so tight and so great-sounding that it’s just a joy to listen to . They have a great deal of respect for American musical tradition and they ask all the right questions. The last couple times I’ve met them, you know, they’re all over me about this tune and that tune and where did it come from? Who is Rev. Gary Davis That kind of stuff, They remind me of me when I was a kid.

JW: That was going to be my next question. Have you sort of taken them under your wing, because they’re around the age that you were when you began playing with the Grateful Dead?

BW: They don’t need anyone to take them under their wing. They’re gonna find out what they need to find out because they’re curious (laughs). If they want any advice or any direction from me, they’ve got my number.

JW: Speaking of which, Is there any advice that you’d like to offer to any young, aspiring bands?

BW: The advice is really too obvious. Just love what you’re doing. Make sure you love what you’re doing. Love where you’re going, because it’s going to be work to get over hurtles and humps and stuff like that, but loving what you’re doing will see you through that easily.

JW: So what does the future hold for you?

BW: More of the same.

JW: Just keep on lovin’ what you’re doing and doing what you love.

BW: I’ve got nothin’ else to do, believe me. There’s nothing I’d rather do.

__________

Jeff Waful is the Jambands.com daily news editor, host of the radio show Jam Nation and manages Uncle Sammy.

Pages:« Previous Page