BR: “Cool November” makes you want to zip up your jacket and turn you collar up against what’s coming, but it feels hopeful at the same time.

RP: Exactly. I wrote that one for my wife after a tough time the family was going through. We’d lost a very close loved one and when it happened, it knocked the family for a loop – it really did.

The “coat of pearls” in the song was a black mink coat with white pearls, ladybugs, Grateful Dead-type roses, and peace signs on it – hanging in a store window. It should’ve had my wife’s name on it. This was when she was really at her lowest point, and this coat was so her – and so unaffordable, but so needed at the same time. I just did whatever it took to get it for her.

When I wrote the song, I was just getting into the New Riders; I was just about to have the coolest November of my life; and at the same time it’s a very sad time of the year for the family. So the song is very Siamese in that it acknowledges both things – the sadness and the positive, as well. One door closes, another one opens.

BR: That’s a cool thing to give people; they can interpret it however they need to.

RP: Exactly.

BR: And if you want to go back to the “College of the Grateful Dead” theory, people have been applying those songs to their own situations for years now – to make themselves feel better, to get through things, to better understand something. We’ve all done it.

RP: It’s the Golden Rule; it really is, man.

BR: You have a cool bass tone throughout the album; was there one standard rig that you played through? And did you do something different on “Cool November”?

RP: Wow – you’ve got some good ears. (laughs) Most of my tone comes from my Olympic pre-amp that I just love – I’ve had that for 20-something years. That and using a Fender Precision. I have a ’57 pre-CBS Precision that my dad gave me when I was 13 or 14 and he was teaching me how to play.

When I met the Riders and things were getting going with them, Falzarano said to me, “Are you going to tour the country with that family-heirloom-can’t-replace-it bass that you love?” And I said, “Well … yeah.” And Michael was like, “You’re nuts.”

So I went out and bought a copy, which is the one I’ve been playing live. It was an expensive copy, but it’s a great guitar and I love it. But to answer your question, I played the copy on everything on the album, except “Cool November” – that was with my dad’s bass.

BR: Ahhh …

RP: Yeah – you caught it. (laughter)

BR: “Little Soul” – when a seven-minute song feels like it ended early, that’s sign of something to me.

RP: Yeah, that’s one of my favorites on the album.

BR: It has the makings of a big “Lovelight” rave-up at the end.

RP: (laughs) We’re having a lot of fun with it live, just letting it rock out. It definitely lends itself to that sort of thing.

When I started writing “Little Soul”, it took a little bit for it to become what it is, which is this sort of “Might As Well” party thing, only we’re on a boat – a riverboat, right? And the whole story in my mind was just this fictional thing – all the characters and everything, including the name of the boat: “Delta Queen”. It wasn’t until I was already in the process of writing the song that I came across this story about the real Delta Queen – an old riverboat that’s supposedly haunted by the ghost of Ma Green, who was one of the captains. It’s a great story itself. I found more than enough material to write about my own party on the Delta Queen. (laughs) And she’s got soul.

BR: So does Ivan’s steel solo on that one.

RP: Any time a solo just pulls at your heartstrings … I’ll take that any day over a bunch of notes crammed into a little space, you know? The intro on “Little Soul” was originally going to be this big thing with horns; that’s what I was hearing in my head. But then I thought, “Well, Ivan’s here anyway – let’s see what he comes up with on this.” I sing what I was hearing into his ear and three minutes later the tape was rolling – we didn’t need horns. (laughs)

BR: I totally agree, man. “Only Road Home” – once more, I’ll read my first-blush notes to you: “Same vibe as ‘Black Muddy River’ or ‘So Many Roads’ or ‘Brokedown Palace’.” I hope you’re okay with that.

RP: (laughs) When we do “Only Road Home” live, I have to announce, “I wrote it – I swear I wrote it.” (laughs) But as I told you earlier, that influence is just sort of leaking out of my pores and I don’t try to deny it.

Overall, that song is about living in the now, not in the past. It’s about my musical roots and moving forward at the same time. Don’t be stuck in the past – the good times are here and now.

BR: On top of everything else, Chris’ guitar work on that accentuates the Dead vibe; he’s got that Weir-ish lead/rhythm hybrid thing going on.

RP: Totally – the spaces were there in the song for him to do that. But that’s part of his style. You hire him for a session and that’s one of the things he just naturally does.

BR: And the closer – the big jam – “American Junkie”. I should begin by saying the song stands on its own; it’s a good story. The sun rises and sets on a day in the life of this gal … she’s on the backside of her glory days, but there’s still this level of cool around her – like an Edie Sedgwick character.

RP: That’s it, man – you got it. She was “the queen of high society,” right? Now she’s curled up in her one-room apartment talking to her dealer on the phone. That one’s kind of cut-and-dried and in-your-face compared to some of the other songs. (laughs)

BR: And then there’s the jam. It’s stealthy. (laughter) I mean, the way it makes its way from major- to minor-flavored passages … you don’t even realize what’s happened until you’re there.

RP: Ha! I love it.

BR: So how much of that just happened and who led the way?

RP: When we started doing that song live, I could definitely tell there was going to be a jam there. At first, we hung around the major; maybe the second time that we were going to play it live, I turned to the band about two minutes before we went on stage: “When we do the jam on ‘American Junkie’, we’ll let it modulate slowly down to the VII chord – and then morph into the relative minor of the VII – that’s B minor in this case. We’ll fool around there for a little while and then drop it back to the I, okay?” (laughs)

So I hit them with this 20-second musical theory lesson; they all look at me petrified; we go out on stage – and it worked so well, it blew their minds. (laughter)

But I knew it would work. They’re all such great musicians – and if you give musicians too much time to think about something, they are going to think about it, right? I’ve learned from guys like Nelson and Cage that you just play it.

So, yeah – those chord modulations are the ground rules, but beyond that it’s a blank canvas every time.

BR: What is it Phil Lesh says? Something like, “We all know where the islands are – it’s the getting from one to the next that we’ll figure out as we go”? I’m paraphrasing, but –

RP: Exactly. And the take on the album was all live and just the way it went down. It could’ve been longer, but it wouldn’t have fit on the record. (laughs)

BR: So now you have this album to get out there, along with two or three hats to wear …

RP: Yeah, there’s plenty to do, but I’m loving it. We have some Ronnie Penque Band shows lined up for January, plus we’ll be going back into the studio soon to start work on another album.

In the meantime, the New Riders are touring, along with working on a new album, as well.

BR: Cool … we’ll be looking forward to it.

RP: Yeah, that should be out by spring. So that’s the plan, man: touring and recording with the New Riders – and when there’s a space, we’ll plug in some Ronnie Penque Band. (laughs) We’ll have some fun with it.

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