Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
meanwhile, thanks for #268 David.
  

    
Not a question, but a thought about a meta-topic, re; covering the
Grateful Dead. For me, just for me, perhaps, the best legacy of their
work is not just in listening to the recordings, but in hearing current
bands create anew in their "modes", and use them as a point of
departure.

When these bands and artists actually "cover" specific songs, when
they do it just exactly perfect, it's not just like anything that the
GD did, and it's not really "covering" the material. Instead, they get
inside the "stuff", they make it new; It is transformed and goes on
galloping in new directions.

Ratdog seems to follow, fall into, run away with this approach these
days. Gans seems to have followed this road for a spell.

Yeah, to quote the famously cranky bard, Hunter, "Show me somethin' I
don't know…"
  

    
I heard a version of Cumberland Blues by the Waybacks that flat-out
redefined how that song could be played as an improvisational vehicle
-- a case in point.
  

    

Okay, I'm back from the last day of Grateful Fest.  I've got a head full of
idea that are driving me insane.

I'll share some of them with you now.
  

    

John Adams:

> David, I get what you're saying in #264 so far as your role as a musician,
> and I have an idea what it's like for you as a writer, but I'm curious what
> the effect has been in your non-professional musical life, as just another
> music lover among other music lovers.

Being a creator of music and a sometime producer of records hasn't completely
ruined my ability to enjoy music - not by a long shot.  For example, I know
enough about music and the technology of music and recording that I can un-
derstand just about everything the Beatles did, and it doesn't diminish my
appreciation of the magic in those grooves one bit.  In fact, it increase my
awe, because I understand how primitive the tools and techniques were at that
time.

I have a high standard of songwriting and performance, but I see no point in
being a dick about it.  I try to take art on its own terms.  That doesn't
mean I think everything deserves to be played on the radio, of course.  I
only program two hours of music per week, so it's hard to make room for
everything that I think is both worthy of airplay and consistent with my
fairly loose understanding of my broadcast mission.

I get a lot of CDs sent to me, and handed to me at gigs, etc.  A lot of it
isn't very interesting, because it doesn't offer anything new or unique.  I
don't live on the bleeding edge of anything, and I don't demand that music
break down barriers - I just want it to have something to say and to say it
in a compelling way.

My life as "just another music lover" is somewhat circumscribed, given that
so much of my listening is "professional" listening.  I stood on the wide of
the stage in the rain this afternoon and watched the New Riders of the Purple
Sage and then Hot Tuna play powerful and deeply satisfying sets, I was as
much as fan as a critic, and I felt just a little bit like a peer (in the
case of NRPS, I've performed with all but one of them).

There's something to learn from just about every musical encounter, and the
work is almost always a great pleasure, too.  So the fan and the professional
are pretty much the same guy.
  

    

Adam Perry (who, by the way, is a very fine musician - drummer for a band
called The Love X Nowhere ( www.thelovexnowhere.com ).  We've done a few gigs
together, and I expect we'll do more in the future):

> I'm more impressed by bands that choose to take what they love about the
> Grateful Dead and make something new out of it, rather than playing Grate-
> ful Dead songs as their tribute to the Grateful Dead...but that can be en-
> joyable too. Zen Tricksters are great...and Dark Star Orchestra...they're
> too "Ripley's Believe it Or Not" for me, but they are AMAZING at what they
> do, i.e. imitating the Grateful Dead as close as possible to the real
> thing, down to covering entire Dead shows and having a singer/guitarist who
> looks, sounds, and moves just like Bob Weir.

This weekend was a case in point.  DSO delivered their usual high-quality
tribute, very much a crowd-pleaser.  And yet, I find my interest in witness-
ing their performances diminishing after peaking a few years ago.  They are
re-creating moments I was around for the first time, in many cases.  No
problem: they don't need my ticket money to stay alive!  They are making that
feeling and that musical rhetoric available to a generation that wasn't born
when the GD did it, and more power to 'em for that.

The Zen Tricksters didn't play this weekend.  Instead, we got two sets by
Kettle Joe's Psychedelic Swamp Review - the four members of ZT plus singers
Donna Jean Godchaux Mackay and Wendy Lanter and keyboardist Mookie Siegel.
I'm always hopeful and a little apprehensive when friends or musicians I ad-
mire (in this case, both!) start something new: I hope it's somerthing I can
enthusiastically support.  In this case, my trepidations have been van-
quished.  I was truly excited by what I heard.  Every one of these players
has deep roots in Grateful Dead music, but the GD energy was by no means the
dominant flavor.  Lots of really engaging original material, a powerful and
rich ensemble sound, and - this is one of the big things we get from the Dead
- a feeling that they're telling a story, pointing at something worth seeing.

(In the interest of full disclosure: I've worked with the Tricksters quite a
lot over the last few years, and I share a manager w/ the Kettle Joe band.)


Adam added:

>  Then again, those songs are truly fun and exciting to interpret...so once
>  in a while, why not?

Yes!  Kettle Joe's Psychedelic Swamp Review did a kickass version of "Cosmic
Charlie," and I can tell you from personal experience that's a really fun
song to play.  They did it 'cause it's a kick to do it, not because they
wanted to suck up to a Deadhead crowd.

I am telling the band, and our mutual manager, that I think this band can and
should be marketed as its own new phenomenon, rather than trot out the
Dead credentials of the players (Donna Jean sang with the Grateful Dead for
ten years, and the rest are seasoned players in the Dead genre.)  The
Deadheads who are open to good music will hear about this band; better they
pitch themselves at the winnder musical world and not risk the pigeonholing
that usually comes with the skulls and lightning bolts.
  

    

I think that's enough for me for tonight.  Tomorrow (July 4) is a travel day,
and I'll have plenty of time to compose replies.
  

    
David and I were in a band called Guilty Pleasures with Klyph Black of
Zen Tricksters (and now Kettle Joe's) and let me tell you...he is a
master at taking Grateful Dead songs to new places and challenging all
the players around him to do the same. He's a great musician (and a
hell of a nice guy) with knowledge of many different kinds of music who
happens to be in bands that play Grateful Dead-related music, and I
dont see anything wrong with that...in fact it excites me. Just like
John Scofield or Jeff Sipe suddenly being in Phil Lesh's band excites
me. I havent heard any Kettle Joe's music yet, but if Klyph is involved
I dont expect anything less than excellence.

David, I guess my question to you is...do you ever play a show that
includes absolutely no Grateful Dead or Grateful Dead-related songs?
And if not, do you long to? I'm pretty sure you've done it, and I
*know* your talent and original material afford you that right.
  

    

Yes, Adam, I can and do play sets with no GD songs.  Of course, many of my
songs are "about" my experiences in that world to one degree or another, so I
can't say the performances are free of GD content.
  

    

Ruth asked:

> How do you write your setlists? i.e. what goes into deciding what you want
> to play on a given night?

I usually don't write a set list, although lately I've been doing so
occasionally.  And freely departing from it as the muse inspires.

I have some songs that I've written that I notice tend not to come up when
I'm not planning ahead.  That tells me I'm relying too much on the mainstays,
and I want to keep them from getitng stale.  It also means I may not have
sufficient confidence in a given song, and I want to challenge myself to stap
up and do it; the song will never develop its power if I don't play it.
  

    

I totally agree with Gary about The Waybacks' "Cumberland Blues," by the way.
They hav eopened that song up in a wonderful way.
  

    
On this last day of the interview, I have one more question:

We've talked a lot about various aspects of your solo work, David. 
But I know that you've also done a bit of work in bands, often in what
I gather to be fairly informal settings (The Reptiles, The Broken
Angels, Rubber Souldiers).  What can you tell us about the dynamics of
working in a band and how it differs from being a solo artist?  Does it
take some of the pressure off?  Or add more pressure?  And, if you
were able to form your ideal band, how would you do it, and what would
it look like?  If, that is, you have any desire to play in that kind of
context ...
  

    
David thanks for all the heart-felt answers!
  

    
This has been a delight.
  

    
It certainly has been fun!  Thanks to the inkwell.vue hosts for
inviting me to participate!
  

    

Wedon't have to stop just because the spotlight has shifted to the next
topic.

I have been in computer hell all day.  I'll respond to Gary's excellenbt
question this evening.
  

    
you've played some private residences while on tour before.
have you ever looked into doing something more formal about playing the
house concert circuit? it may not be nearly as well developed as i imagine
it to be. verlon does it some i seem to recall for example.
  

    
I do need to add one more thing for anybody out there who has been
reading this conversation:  if David plays somewhere nearby, go and
give him a listen.  It'll be worth your while!
  

    
Indeed!
  

    

Thank you, Gary.

Alan, I really enjoy playing house concerts.  I much prefer the intimacy of
that setting to the noise and alcohol-fueledness of bars.  I haven't figured
out where to tap into that "circuit," but I've discussed it with my team a
little.


Now, to the Big Questions about band v. solo:

> What can you tell us about the dynamics of working in a band and how it
> differs from being a solo artist?  Does it take some of the pressure off?
> Or add more pressure?

Being in a band is a whoel different kind of pressure.  It's easier in some
respects and much harder in others.

From a practical standpoint, it's much cheaper to tour as a solo than to take
a band on the road.  I couldn't possibly tour with a band at this point in my
career.

Creatively, there is a lot you can do with a band that I can't do as a solo.
But there is much to be said for the ability to do whatever I want up there -
to segue into another song if the inspiration strikes, etc.

A good band is a deep bond among the players, and it requires a great deal of
commitment, respect, and compromise.  I've been in bands that were nonstop
psychodrama, and I know a few bands for whom that is a fact of life.  It's
like a marriage of many, with the same issues of intimacy and control and
varying emotional weather only multiplied.  There is nothing like the feeling
you get when the group mind is locked in.

Then again, you have to travel with all those guys, plus crew, in a cramped
van for hours.  Everybody's got different tastes in food; their bladders go
off at different times; so-and-so finds it amusing to fart in enclosed
spaces; that other guy is constantly on the cell phone arguing with his wife;
and who gets to decide what to play on the stereo and how loud?

Then again, again, the publicist is the funniest human being you've ever
known, and you hurt from laughing by the time you get to the gig and start
unloading the gear.


> if you were able to form your ideal band, how would you do it, and what
> would it look like?  If, that is, you have any desire to play in that kind
> of context ...

I could put together any number of wonderful bands from the guys I know.
These days it's most likely to resemble Railroad Earth: bluegrass instrumen-
tation plus drums.  Those guys, with whom I hav ehad the privilege of per-
forming several times over the last few years, are brilliant ensemble players
and gifted soloists, and they understand that their job onstage is to serve
the song.  Todd Sheaffer is a fine songwriter, and the arrangements they've
created together serve his stories well.

Andy Goessling, RRE's multi-instrumentalis, got onstage with me in Jamaica on
March 31, playing the soprano sax, and accompanied me through a set that in-
cluded some songs he had never heard before.  No one listening could have
guessed that, I'm sure.  In order to be a great player, you first have to be
a great listener; you have to know that it's not all about you, it's about
the song (and a corollary: to my way of thinking, you can have all the chops
in the world, but if the songs suck, the jams won't hold my interest).

I enjoy any opportunity to be a support player, especially because I spend so
much of my professional life having to do it all myself.  My years of trying
to call attention to myself are long past; I love to help another singer tell
his tale.  Two of my favorites are Jim Page ( http://www.jimpage.net ) and
Joseph Langham ( http://www.josephlangham.com/ ) - any chance I have to get
onstage with them, play guitar and sing harmony, I'm there.
  

    

And thank you Steve, who slipped in while I was composing that.
  

    
David, I have a friend who does house concerts and whose wife is a
promoter in Salt Lake, if you'd like me to inquire.
  

    
Yes, please!
  

    

One of my long-term, hope-I-get-around-to-it-someday ambitions is to write a
novel that takes place in a back yard on a summer afternoon, around the an-
nual reunion of a semi-legendary (in some circles, anyway) garage band.  Tons
of flashbacks, of course (probably in at least two senses of the word).  I
have so many characters in mind, and I can draw on my own experiences for
plot points, conflicts, betrayals and heroic acts.
  

    
Wow! I sketched out a similar idea once. It wasn't set all in one day,
however.