How do you feel your songwriting has progressed over time?
It’s always evolving – you try to push the boundaries. When I was in Austin around 2005 or 2006, I always had been a songwriter from the beginning but I didn’t know how songs were put together. There was a guy I worked with by the name of Mark Hays and he introduced me to writers like Nick Lowe, Guy Clarke and John Hiatt, and I started to pay attention to the power of the song and the lyrics and that’s why I ultimately went to Nashville to dig more into that. So, I started wiring with a bunch of people and writing a bunch of songs. And I think just through that process, I learned what I wanted to say through the lyrics. A lot of bad songs were written through the process, but that’s the way you learn. It is an elusive thing songwriting. The great ones, I think Tom Waits said, “It’s kind of like fishing. You have to be real quiet to catch the big ones.”
During the recording sessions, you were joined by Oliver’s brother, Chris, as well as drummer Jano Rix. What did each musician add to the sessions?
Chris Wood needs no introduction to what he can add. He’s such a wonderful player and
and has command of tone and groove and Jano’s the same way. He’s the drummer for the Wood Brothers, and he’s also an incredible piano player and played all the keys on the record. Jano was kind of a wildcard honestly in the group – he was a jack of all trades. I think both those guys brought a fresh element to it.
My guys Steve Mackey and Derek Phillips were there too. They’re bad ass and great musicians. So we already had a chemistry and then when we added Chris and Jano – it perked it us all up and all of a sudden, it clicked.
What can you tell me about Derek and Steve?
They both live in Nashville. Derek toured a lot with Charlie Hunter and countless others. He’s a great jazz drummer and all-around soul drummer and Mackey understands grooving and under-stands songs.
I know a lot of artists have been going to Southern Ground studios to record, what makes that setting so conducive to making albums?
It’s Unbelievable. That whole Southern Ground family is exactly that. You go in there and you feel like you’re part of it. It’s laid-back but on point. Oliver’s wife Rebecca, an amazing woman, she works in Southern Ground studio but she also cooks all the food. They have a kitchen downstairs and they ask you what kind of food you want – organic, fish, whatever. She cooks a home cooked meal. It’s just an awesome experience. And of course, the sound in that place is killer. It’s one of the best studios in Nashville. I also wanted to mention Mike Poole – he engineered the Wood Brothers’ latest record. He was instrumental in the sound of this record.
What kind of guitar do you play?
I play a 1952 Gibson ES 150. It’s a large top guitar. It’s basically a jazz blues box. On the early BB King records, he was playing the same guitar. It’s a very unique guitar in that it’s completely hollow. It’s really alive and it will take off on you and it will wrestle back. It makes me work for it.
Your parents were classical musicians and your uncle was a jazz bassist. Can you talk about the impact that had on you growing up in North Carolina.
My mother was a violinist and my father was a cellist. They taught the Suzuki method of classical music. I was playing the cello when I was about 5 years old. I did the whole Suzuki program with them. My fingers have always been on strings and it helped my ear. The Suzuki method is an ear training method. You don’t learn by notation, and I think a lot of blues musicians don’t know how to read music, it’s more of a feel. I think that has helped me. Also growing up, I lived in a commune of sorts. My parents and another couple built this house to-gether out in rural North Carolina and the other family listened to a lot of Texas music: Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Willie Nelson – I vividly remember leaving a mark on me. I think of those records and remember how vulnerable he sounded. I think the classical music mixed with some of that, kind of spun me and then when I went off to college I discovered blues guitar.
Where do you go to college?
I went to East Carolina – two glorious years. That’s where I discovered electric guitar. Guys in my dorm room were playing Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix and Clapton._ Electric guitar? What the heck is that?_ I ended up buying my first electric strat guitar with my book money that I was supposed to spend on textbooks. And then I just sat in my room and tried to pick out blues lead, listening to blues records.
I guess you didn’t get those books.
That version of education went out the window and a new education began.
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