BF: Let’s talk about the two albums you made with Lucinda Williams, Grammy-winning projects Car Wheels On A Gravel Road and Essence.

BR: I played guitar on Car Wheels, only overdubs. Steve Earle produced that album, so I worked with him and I just played on a couple of songs. There was a lot of people on that record. I think the main guitar player was Buddy Miller. Kenny Vaughan was in the touring band behind that record. And that was great, working with Kenny. Great player.

I played guitar and co-produced Essence with Lucinda, Tom Tucker, and Charlie Sexton.

BF: She heard your first album while in New Zealand of all places. That must have been an ‘out of the blue’ call.

BR: Yes, it was. She got my number from a guy in New Zealand, ‘cause I had toured in New Zealand, behind that record, which was called Down to Bastrop. Then, three months later or so, she toured Australia, and did one show in Auckland, New Zealand on her way to Australia. And she was hosted by the same guy who hosted me when I toured over there. He had a record store she went into after the show. She was getting ready to leave to go to Australia and there were some CD’s laying on the floor of the record store. And she goes “What is that?” and pointed to my record. He picked it up, and said “Why don’t you take this with you?” She told that when she got home after the tour, she put my record on, and liked it, got a hold of the guy in New Zealand and asked for my number.

And I can remember coming home one night after one of those turf gigs around here, four in the morning and my answering machine was flashing, so I hit it and there was a message from Lucinda Williams. Saying [in a voice similar to Lucinda’s] “I got yer record and I really like it, and I’m in Los Angeles, and you can call me if you want”. So I called her up, had a nice conversation with her.

BF: Were you familiar with her work at that point?

BR: Yeah. I had heard a record of hers, and thought it was great. But I didn’t know her, I’d never met her or anything. So, it was a real special relationship because it came through the music. One of the beauties good music is that it brings people together. It’s a beautiful thing. I was really into that, because it was purely for the music. And I thought this was good.

She was also in the process of moving from Austin to Nashville, and I just happened to be going to Nashville in a few weeks, at that time, to work with a buddy of mine, Kevin Gordon, who had just moved there. He had asked me to come down and play guitar with him on some gigs. I went down there and I met Lucinda. That’s how we met.

BF: What were some of the more ‘uncommon’ highlights of being with Lucinda?

BR: Well, with Lucinda, there was a lot of… “all of it” [laughs]. I think with her, just playing those great songs every night was a real treat for me. She’s such a great songwriter. Just playing those songs every night [is] what I think I carry with me.

And then there were some great nights. Emmylou [Harris] sittin’ in- they sang together and it was just, like, otherworldly. One night in New York, all of a sudden I’m standing next to Jimmie Vaughan, and we’re playing and Lucinda’s singing. Just great fun. Then Elvis Costello jumped up one night. [Lucinda’s] talking to the crowd and somebody hollers back, and it’s Elvis, and all of a sudden he’s on stage.

One night I remember, we were in San Diego; we finished playing and I ran out the back door to have a smoke and I’m back out there by the tour buses. I see this guy come out, and he sees me, comes over, he was looking for me. It was Bill Murray.

So, working with Lu was interesting. I met a lot of fine people during that time, had a lot of great musical experiences. We played the Ryman Theater in Nashville, and Emmylou had jumped up and sang with Lu. And then doing Essence with her, with Jim Keltner on drums.

BF: How did you know it was time to leave Lucinda’s band?

BR: There was a lot of reasons I left. It seemed like ‘the time’. One thing I wanted to do with Lu was, I wanted to tour behind the release of Essence. I wanted to be there for her, tour behind that, and I did. The record came out fairly early in 2001, and then we toured until the end of that year, and then she took a considerable amount of time off, and I thought that’s probably about right. It felt right to me, it was time to move on.

And that kind of touring maybe didn’t agree with me all the way, the whole full-on, major label, tour bus, grueling, touring. Everything I’d done up to that time was runnin’ and gunnin’ with my mates. With Greg Brown, the two of us will get on a plane or rent a big car, throw our stuff in and go do three or four shows, and come home. I think I’m more comfortable doing that. I have family and everything, [and] when you’re out there slamming like Lu was doing, doing that major label thing, it’s grueling, man. It takes you away from your home.

There’s road guys, like hard-core road guys. They’re a certain kind of player, and I’m maybe not that. And there are players that can do that gig, they can play anything that you want, they can do it. You say “Play this” and they play that. And, I’m not really [good] at that. But I wanted to do that for Lu, and I did, and I felt good about it. It was not an easy decision to make. I had three kids at the time; there was a lot going on not only in my work, but in my life, and I just felt like I had to do what I had to do.

BF: Along those lines- sometimes musicians seem to ‘give up the ghost’ and move on to different things. Is there still something mysterious after all these years that keeps you coming back?

BR: Oh… the music. The music is so beautiful and mysterious… it’s all about the music.

BF: Why do you think some people lose that?

BR: Well, life is a big thing, and there’s a lot more to life than music. We’re so blessed to have music in this life. It would really be a bland place without it. It would be really pretty bleak, to my eye and ear. I’m sure every person has their reasons. You know, I mentioned Tom Petty just put this new record, out and he’s as vibrant now as he was thirty years ago. It’s inspiring. BB King is still doing 150 shows a year, and he’s 85 years old. Bob Dylan’s still out touring. He goes out for six to eight weeks at a time. You just have to take your hat off and say I have tremendous respect for him as an artist.

Some people are just in for the long haul, and others aren’t, and it’s OK. Life’s a big deal, and some people put their all into [music], and that’s their life, and that’s what they do, and that’s great. And there’s other people who have hung it up, maybe run dry, who like music and play it for a while and then they move on to something else. And that’s OK, too.

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