I hear a lot that in Nashville, everyone’s very open to collaborate and write and record with each other. Could you talk about the guests you have on the album, like Robbie [Crowell] from Deer Tick and Tom and Bo from Jacket?

As I was working on this, I was getting the studio dialed in and trying to figure out how to record things that sounded good. That’s why I started by myself, and I was struggling but got “Out of Reach” done. Then I tried to do “Dark Matter” the same way. I mapped it out, tried to play the drums and kept listening to my drum track, being like, “Ugh. This is just not good enough.” So I was like, “Fuck it, I’m gonna call Russ and have him come over and fix it.” And he came over and played it in like two minutes. So I’m like, “OK, now let’s work on some more songs—but you’re gonna be here the whole time.” Then we did some songs just me and him. That was feeling good, then I wrote Tom to come in towards the end. All the keyboards and stuff were done later. I had Robbie come over and we set up like ten keyboards in a circle and I just let him go crazy for a day. Then, when I went out to Malibu, I actually brought one of the songs on a hard drive and had Bo record at his house, because he’s got a music room with pianos and everything. So that’s how it accumulated. It was half overdubs, but some of it was people playing live in a room, which was cool. And I think those are the songs that I like the most. Every time you make a record, you go in with one idea—and it’s good to have marching orders—but then you immediately have to change. You have to be open if it’s not working. Like, “That drum track sucks. I’m done. Help!”

I know you play multiple instruments. Had you done your own drums and/or producing before?

I’d produced, but never drums. I’ve always tried to play the drums. When Patrick [Hallahan] walks away from the kit, I’ll get up there and sneak in. It’s pretty challenging. But the hardest part was that I engineered the album and wrote it, and I guess I was producing, too. We’re all standing in the same room and performing, and out of the corner of my eye I’m looking at the meters and making sure everything’s recording right. Which is really fun, in a way, but the technical aspect can distract you from the artistic aspect. Once you get a song written, then you stop worrying about it and you can get analytical about making it sound right. And I learned a lot. When I listen to it, all I can hear is, “Oh, I got the drums to sound good there. I hate that vocal mic, but oh well.” Lesson learned.

I think the overall sound of the album is great. In the past, when you’ve been in the studio with My Morning Jacket with outside producers, have you tried to be hands-on and learn from whomever is behind the board?

A little bit. I took classes in college, recording classes, so I technically know how to do everything, but I was totally out of practice. You just learn through trial and error. And having my own space, if I had to reset something it wasn’t a big deal.

Is your Stocks in Asia label just for your own music, and have you thought of putting anything else out under it?

So far it’s just been my records. We work in partnership with Thirty Tigers in Nashville—they do distribution and all that stuff. But if it made sense for someone else to want to be on Stocks in Asia, it would be cool to do like singles at my house and put them out on that label. Yeah, I have inklings of that every once in a while.

And you said you’ve recorded other people in your studio, right?

Yeah, yeah, I have. A bunch of other stuff. We recorded a little bit of the Watson Twins’ record here. My friend Russ has songs we’ve been working on. There’s another band I recorded, but their record won’t come out until next year, so I’ll let them announce it.

Is that something you see being a bigger part of your career going forward, if you happen to have the time, helping other bands make their music and producing in your studio?

Oh definitely. I love doing it. It’s nice to have your feet in the fire with your own music and do that as much as you can, then to step back and help—from a safe distance—by working on someone else’s music. I feel like I’m good at that; I’m good at being a guitar player in a band because of that. I can pick my moments to help and otherwise just let it happen. For me, the big challenge is doing this all myself. It’s not my comfort zone, but it’s always interesting to try. It’s been fun to be on the road with Steelism and see what they bring to it. The music’s evolving. We’re trying to keep it fresh every night, tossing around solos and messing around—not taking it too seriously, which I think makes the show even better.

How did you and Steelism—Jeremy and Spencer—meet up and start collaborating?

I’d seen them play a couple times and was like, “That was so cool. What a great idea.” There aren’t really instrumentals these days. It sort of romanticizes the days of sitting in your pickup truck and hearing [Santo and Johnny’s] “Sleep Walk” on the radio, or [Booker T. and the M.G.’s] “Green Onions. It turned out that two Newports ago they had a set and were backing someone, and I got booked at the festival. I really wanted to have a full band, so I reached out to Jeremy and asked if they wanted to play on my set, too. So we did that, and it went really well and I was really impressed. We rehearsed for like two hours, then two weeks later we were on stage at Newport and we played. And it was fine—even good! [Laughter.] That’s where it kicked off. It’s fun to have pedal steel that I don’t have to play, and we can do dueling pedal steels and goof around. I don’t think a lot of people do that. I’ve never seen two pedal steels on stage except at the [Grand Ole] Opry—and at the Opry, there’d be no way that two pedal steel players would play at the same time. So we’re breaking all the rules.

Had you known them personally before you called them up for the Newport thing?

I knew Jeremy. He does a lot of artwork and layout stuff for records, so I had met him in that context before.

In our conversation a couple years ago, you were talking about solo touring and how it’s a bit scary for you—in a good way—since you’re so used to being one of many in a band and moving to fronting a band and doing your own music and having it on your shoulders. Have you gotten used to it at all since then?

No, I haven’t really gotten used to it. [Laughter.] I need repetition. I’m just an idiot—I need to have obvious things put in front of my face over and over again before I’m like, “Oh, I should do that instead.” For me, just grinding it out and touring is the only way for me to learn anything about what to do next. Sometimes I’m on tour singing these songs and I have inklings of what other kinds of songs I want to have. But I’m really happy with this record; I think it’s cool. I’m a fan of going to a show and having the show be more intense than the record. One of my favorite bands when I was in college was Guided By Voices, and they recorded their record so lo-fi, then you go to their show and it would be massive. So I’m stoked on that idea, too. The records are what they are, and the live shows are a different element that you get to ice the cake with.

Do you think that your approach going forward will be more like what you planned for this record, or leaning more towards 4th of July, more subdued stuff, with the live show bringing the energy?

I don’t know. That’s a good question. Depends on how the songs come out. I think I’m feeling pretty confident about recording at my house with more people, so I think I’m gonna have more people involved from the get-go next time.

Jacket took some time off this year. Looking forward to next year, are there any plans to play with those guys, or any solo tours in the works?

There’s not really anything on the schedule yet—for Jacket or for me, personally—next year. Just kind of getting through this, then we’ll discuss it. Nothing to report yet, unfortunately.

Do you and your Jacket bandmates ever share some of the music you’re working on with your other projects?

Oh yeah, we’re always sending music to each other. There’s always a text thread going with ridiculous ideas in it. I mean, Tom lives in Nashville—I’m gonna see him tomorrow. I saw Patrick not too long ago. But Bo’s in South America right now with Roger Waters. I’m gonna see Jim when I get to LA. I’m gonna go a day early, so I think he and I are gonna have dinner. We’re definitely still in touch and, you know, good pals regardless if the band is busy or not.

I’ve heard from many musicians in bands—especially ones that have been together for a long time—that it’s great and refreshing, creatively, to have time off from your longtime group and then get back together re-energized. Is that your experience with that kind of thing?

Yeah, I mean absence does make the heart grow fonder. I think after 14 years—and that’s just my portion of being in the band—it is really important to go live, be with your family and make mistakes or learn something new and be around other musicians. Then you come back and you have a fresh perspective. That’s important for any band to survive, I think.

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