JPG: You’re appearing later today with Dark Star Orchestra, is that a festival as well?

KW: No, it’s just me opening for them at a drive-in movie theater. Really cool. First show ever at this drive-in movie theater. We came into town last night, and the valley’s psyched up about it. We’re close to Jackson [Wyoming] and there’s a lot of towns around here with young people who are looking forward to this show. And I’m really excited about it, too. And EOTO is doing the aftershow in Victor. So, there’s definitely a buzz going around today.

JPG: So, you’re going to paint the red state blue.

KW: Well, we’re gonna have fun, multiple sit-ins, and different cities on the same day. I would imagine it’s going to be a really, really good time. The weather’s perfect…

JPG: Going back to the adaptation of your set, near me is Kent, Ohio and I see that you’re returning to the Kent Stage this October. In reference to what you said about playing a sit-down type of set. What is it about Kent Stage that appeals to you?

KW: Well, I guess it’s the vibe of the room. It’s like a movie theater turned into a club. I was going into it expecting it to be a sit-down vibe, but it wasn’t. It was a stand up and dance thing. And that’s always cool, an old theater like that but it has a rock club type of vibe to it. The town is really cool and small. I hung out at the music store there. It was just a good relaxing day. I’m psyched to play any cool old theater that has a backstage with a bathroom. That’s like a prerequisite in my world.

JPG: And I suppose a check that clears. [The track, “Spartan Darn It,” from the new album details a promoter who didn’t pay up.]

KW: (laughs) Yeah, that helps.

JPG: Speaking of the new album, when I interviewed you for the site back in 2004, I asked what are you currently listening to and you mentioned Fela Kuti and song number 12 on the new album is “Song for Fela…”

KW: That song has been kicking around for a little while now, too. Just never got around to record it. I don’t really come close to what he did, but the influence definitely runs deep through it. I’m a huge fan of that whole style of music and everything that’s involved with it. There are different groups that are really encompassing and some that drift towards the Afrobeat sound. I really get off on hearing that influence in these bands today.

JPG: Were you able to see Femi Kuti [Fela’s son] play at ROTHBURY?

KW: I did. I’ve got to see him a few times, too. It’s always exciting to see him.

JPG: You were saying at the time how Fela’s music is more political than yours but you did put the song, “Rush Limbaugh,” online earlier this year, which focused on free speech and its use. It seems as if the song has gained added potency with the craziness going on with health care town hall meetings and things like that. Have you thought about that lately and played it live due to the current political climate?

KW: No. That song was written, around the time when Rush Limbaugh was quoted saying he hopes Barack Obama’s plan fails. And that’s pretty much an attack on Rush Limbaugh’s character. It’s just directed at him and how he is like the king of free speech and how because of the free speech that he is projecting, he gets the choice and the chance to say that. There are other people who take politics and put it in their music and it’s very much part of them and that’s what they play at the festivals because that’s what they do and I can relate to that. I’ll probably play it again someday but that requires a different kind of scene for my shows. That’s a good sit-down venue type of song.

JPG: Also, in the news item about that song streaming online, I found the quote from you talking semi-jokingly about if you want a copy of the song it’ll cost 99 cents, but if you steal the song, you’re a cheap bastard. So if you do, here’s the address, send me a dollar, blah, blah, blah…go choke to death on sewage…

At the same time I’m thinking to myself, I hate to say it, there’s a generational thing where we grew up with the idea of you want it, you buy it, you want to have it in your hands. I think some people just can’t handle it. That’s where I think the value of music was killed unfortunately by Napster more than anything else.

KW: Well, the value of music was killed and then the romantic idea of an album and the songs appearing in their order, now it’s just kind of you pluck ‘em out. It’s like anything, change happens and this type of situation, it’s like can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em type of situation. There are people who are taking pride in releasing their stuff on vinyl and that’s cool.

And it took me a long, long time to really accept this whole thing and to realize that CDs and vinyl and whatever, it’s just a medium. It’s just a piece of plastic. Once it gets digitized and passed around then there’s more of a chance of it becoming immortal. That’s what I keep telling myself to keep doing it. The Once A Week Freek series is pretty cool and I could see where it could be a possible overflooding of material. But at the same time, it’s fun for me to dig into this archive and really listen to the tapes in a different way; you know more releases and whatnot. I’m going to continue to be doing records and making CDs and selling hard copies with artwork and lyrics and everything. I’m going to continue to do that, but I’m also trying to keep up with the Joneses at the same time, wanting to do something completely different and wanting to, at the same, time keep up with technology. And so the idea came to release this record out one song at a time, once a week. I’m sure people do it but that’s nothing I’ve ever done before. So, I was kind of proud of the fact that something completely different as far as writing, selling music or attempting to.

JPG: Do you have it planned out for the next month and beyond so you’re not stuck with having to put a track on at the last minute?

KW: Some really cool recordings I did with the band. And that’s, of course, Keith Moseley on bass, Jeff Sipe on drums, Gibb Droll on guitar. We had a really cool sit in with Danny Barnes. I met him through Yonder Mountain String Band. We’ll be releasing that. Releasing a bunch of different covers.

JPG: When did you do the thing with Danny Barnes, was that recent?

KW: It was at the end of the band tour. I think it was like September or October of last year. The band had done 60 or 70 shows, 5 or 6 tours over the course of a year-and-a-half. And that’s kind of where Live that double live along with the DVD record came from that tour. There’s going to be all kinds of stuff that I release. There’s also studio outtakes that I’m digging up and remixing. So, it’s not going to be all live stuff. Studio stuff in there, too.

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