The solo record you have out now, ‘Dream of Love: Live at the Whitney Chapel,’ is very intimate and moody. You have Edno on percussion and the great John Ginty of Lou Reed’s and Jewel’s bands on keyboards. Tell me more about that.

It’s acoustic so the focus there is on the singing and the songs and the stories. I like the mood of the record. It’s a live show that I thought captured what I’d been up to with solo shows for the past year. The record was recorded in November of 1999 as part of WNTI concert series. They’re doing a lot of great stuff. It came out in September and I’m selling it through my Web site and by mail order. I put it out through this label that I started by myself and some friends in the D.C. area. It’s BOS Records, which stands for Bag O’ Seeds. We’re going to be finalizing some deals very soon on that.

But I like the sound of the recording. It captured the tone of my solo performances when I first started doing them. That was one of my first shows. I might do another record with BOS at some point. I don’t know when. Already things are changing so quickly with Railroad Earth. But hopefully other things will come out at some point. It’s a nice way to do that.

Your solo act is more mellow than From Good Homes. Given that the name of that band was chosen after getting popped for playing a Replacements cover in a club that you guys broke into, did you form Railroad Earth so you could rock out a bit more?

The solo shows have evolved from where they started. It’s not fair to say they’re solo shows. Edno plays every time and he’s been playing since after the first six months. The mood changes. Some nights it’s a more rocking mood and we’re havin’ a helluva good time playing energetic shows. Railroad Earth wasn’t formed to make a racket, to express that. What I do with my solo shows depends on my mood, how I’m feeling. Some nights I’m more quiet and moody and some nights I let loose and have fun. Railroad Earth was just a pickin’ jam that evolved into a band.

Brady Rymer made a children’s album. Dan Myers is playing with Guster a lot. Jamie Coan is playing with you and with a band called Angus sometimes. Your road keyboardist, Damian Calcagne, is doing great with Swampadelica. Patrick Fitzsimmons just put out a solo record (‘The Changing’) that they and Corey, John and Tim from Railroad Earth all played on. But you’re not on it. Are you still friends with all the From Good Homes guys?

Yeah, but obviously people wanted to do other things. People’s energies were different. We were together a long time. We grew up together. Toward the end, people’s energies were heading in different directions. Personally too. We’d been together a long time. From a business perspective, our deal with RCA was a big disappointment, the way that scenario panned out for us. People had a lot of things going on in their lives and hearts that they needed to explore.

What do you think of Swampadelica? I hope that Railroad Earth is going to share a bunch of bills with them. You are playing the All Good Festival together in May.

Damian is one of my favorite people. He’s a great friend. I like those guys. I’m sure they’ll get some interest. I think they’ve got some already.

You’ve opened for your heroes Bob Dylan and members of The Band, you’ve been on RCA Records and played with labelmates Dave Matthews Band, you sold out Irving Plaza twelve times, more than any other act. Out of all the things you’ve done in your career, what moment or accomplishment stays with you, makes you really proud and/or happy?

Most of my career up to this point has been working with From Good Homes. I would say the feeling and being a part of the love that was in the air at our farewell concert (Waterloo Village, Summer of ’99) between the guys in the band and between the band and the audience. It was a very beautiful feeling. And to know that the music and the band — the playing and the friendships in the band that were created — that’s a nice feeling of accomplishment.

In “Radio On,’‘ you have a line that says, ‘I’ve been five years in NYC, but I would not call it home.’ Comment on home and how you’re proud to be from there because of the strong influence it’s had on your music and the many great musicians there are to play with, like Edno, John Ginty and all the From Good Home, Railroad Earth and Swampadelica guys.

It is pretty amazing. It’s a great scene. There’s a lot of great musicians and great people that support and nourish each other’s work. Over the years, we have become a great group of friends.

What is the focal point?

I’d say The Stanhope House has been for many years a focal point, a gathering point. Wouldn’t you? When there’s shows going on, that’s where people go to hang out.

[site editor’s note: Bob asked the following question to correct something I wrote in my book Jam Bands, where I commented, “One critic derisively dismissed From Good Homes’ music as ‘hick pop.’”…] Just for the record, when I coined the phrase ‘hick pop’ in the demo review that inspired the title ‘Hick Pop Comin’ At Ya’,’ was I mocking the band or was it said with love?

It was all out of love.

[Site editor’s note: duly noted. In my defense, I did see one writer use the term derisively but apparently this was someone who was simply referencing Bob’s original quote and taking it out of context. All apologies, Bob…]

__________

Bob Makin is a New Jersey-based music writer who’s covered the jam band scene since 1988.

Pages:« Previous Page