BR: When did you disband the Stumpknockers and bring the Lost Cause Minstrels together?

GC: I guess it was almost three years ago. We’d been touring with the Stumpknockers forever and those guys were fun – oh my God … we’d get on stage and play and everybody would have a blast … it was awesome. But at times, the party thing almost superceded the quality of the music and it started not being as funny any more when the economic thing happened. Then it was like, “All right, dude – we been having fun and people have embraced us, but we gotta be real – we gotta be good.” And there were a few times we just didn’t deliver; some high-profile things where the band just fell apart. And you go, “Damn …”

When we parted ways, the guitar player had arthritis real bad – his fingers looked worse than Keith Richards’, man. He was very disgruntled and in pain and needed to take a break; and at the time I was really frustrated with the way things were going, too. And when he left, that affected the chemistry with the bass player – and we needed that to be right. It was a fragile chemistry with just the four of us, When it worked, it was great … but when the guitar player left, I just said, “Okay …”

The only person I kept was the drummer, John Milham. I’d been playing some with a guy named Chris Spies – the best keyboard player in this whole area. And then there was this guitar player I knew from Mobile, Alabama named Corky Hughes. He played with Black Oak Arkansas back in the early 80’s and he’s in his 50s now. Just a phenomenal, bad-ass guitar player … and humble as hell. Then there was a bass player that I done some recording with who’d played with all these guys down in Alabama; his name was Christian Grizzard.

Basically, there was a jamband eight or ten years ago named Kung Fu Mama and what I ended up with was pretty much that whole band. I mean, those guys had played together for a long time and I pieced them back together.

BR: I hadn’t pieced that together that they had a history, but now that you tell me, I’m not surprised. The album has a vibe that comes from having played together.

GC: Yeah and that’s the cool thing about these guys; it wasn’t like I just threw some people together.

BR: So now we have your new album, The Lost Cause Minstrels. I think it needs to be noted that here we are, this many years later, and you have Trina in the studio with you, co-producing. Was it hard to work together in the studio and then shut down the board, turn the lights off, and go home to just being Grayson and Trina – mom and dad?

GC: Yeah – Goddamn, yeah. (laughs) She’s super-hyper focused when she goes to work. I mean, when she works on anybody’s record it annoys the hell out of me because she comes home not focused on me, you know? (laughter)

And when she’s working on my record, I’m asking her, “Why do you have to be so mean?” (laughs) And she tells me, “You ought to be glad – I’m giving you everything I’ve got.” And I’m like, “Gawd …” (laughter) She’ll want to take something out and I’ll be like, “Leave that mistake in there, Goddammit – that was cool. I like it to smell a little bit and have some hair on it – come on!” (laughter)

But she really is one of the best in the world when it comes to doing a record, man. She really, really is.

BR: Well, it doesn’t sound over-polished; there’s a great “live” vibe to the album.

GC: Yeah a lot of that was first-take kind of stuff. It’s like the difference between film and stage, you know? You can have a great stage performance, but put it on film and it’s not so great. The luxury of being able to edit and find the best of the best of the best and make it cohesive is Trina’s art form. She’s got the best bullshit meter of anybody I’ve ever seen; she’ll pull the most honest parts of what anyone did and put it together. It’s simple music – it’s not complicated or anything – but it means a lot to get it all together and have it feel honest.

BR: How about we take a quick walk through the album, track by track?

GC: Yeah, that sounds good, man.

BR: “Highway 42” is a great road song. It sounds like just about the time the guy has a good tan on his arm out the window of the truck, he’s starting to get things figured out.

GC: (laughs) That’s good, man. (laughs) Yeah, it’s one of those songs that just feels good to sing.

BR: There’s a chugging banjo driving the thing but I love that guitar that’s just kind of burbling along, picking the chords apart.

GC: That’s Corky. He can play a hell of a solo, but he loves rhythm more than anything. The banjo part came from a keyboard thing that Chris had started that sounded just like a banjo. It was like one was there, coming out of the speakers all by itself. We had Keith Gattis come in and lay a banjo down on top of Chris’ keyboard part.

That song – oh my God, man. That’s one of the simplest songs – the same progression over and over – but it was one of the most difficult tracks to do and get the beat right. Jerry Marotta’s playing drums on there – he’s done a bunch of stuff with Peter Gabriel – and he’s got, like four different snares going. (laughs) I said, “How the hell do you do the half beat and the full train beat at the same time?” It’s a crazy thing … but it’s one of my favorite tracks to listen to, just because it’s so freaky. (laughs)

BR: Here’s my question about the next track, “Coconut Moonshine”: how did the world get along this long without anyone using the descriptive phrase “Dancin’ like Anthony Quinn” before? That’s what I want to know …

GC: (laughs) I don’t know, man – I don’t know! (laughter)

BR: I mean, I know exactly what you’re talking about … (laughter)

GC: See, it’s sad to me that a lot of people don’t know who Anthony Quinn is …

BR: Well … to hell with ‘em. (laughter) If you inspire just one person to go and find out who Anthony Quinn is, then you’ve done a good thing.

GC: I agree with you, man. (laughter) Zorba The Greek was part of my childhood education.

BR: Is there really such a thing as coconut moonshine?

GC: Oh, yeah, man. There’s a place where we play in Ocean Springs called The Shed and Mr. Jim’s always there. He has this connection with a guy in Mississippi who makes coconut moonshine and it’s so good, especially in the summertime. And if Mr. Jim sees a good-looking woman in the place, he’ll go home and get his three-piece suit and come back all decked out. (laughter) Pour that moonshine and be dancing in the sand all night long. It just fascinated me, you know? He’s probably around 80, maybe, but healthy as hell – he dances all the time.

But everything I say in there is true – he started coming there about the time the bar opened and he’s been there ever since. And yeah – he’s very much the Anthony Quinn/Zorba the Greek type. So precious.

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