Club Mullum | October 12 | 8pm | $38.50 + BF
Where did your passion for old time music begin?
Old time music is very specifically fiddle and banjo mountain music – and it’s just a facet of folk music. When I was a teen grown up in central NY state around Ithaca NY –there was a lot of this music owing to the hippies in the folk revival of the 60s and 70s and it really stuck – so there was a lot of it locally.
I listened to records from Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham. In a sense I really play a more broader ‘folk’ music – like Keep It Clean and Midnight Special – and those are not ‘old time’ songs, those are blues songs, another facet of folk music.
Did you grow up in a musical house hold?
My dad was a music fan – no one played. No-one played instruments or anything. There were a lot of records and a love of music in the house. I found the old-time music myself.
Was your heart always with American folk music or have you dabbled in other genres of music.
In folk music there’s bits of everything, not just blues or old-time. Old-time predates bluegrass, and bluegrass comes from old-time. Old-time is a marriage of Scottish, Irish and European fiddlers, coming together with the African American slaves who brought the banjo – it’s just a whole world of music. The Cajun music down in Louisiana, the Nova Scotian sea shanties from Canada, and all around New England are the whaling songs. There’s the jig band music out of Memphis, the delta blues from the Deep South and then there’s the Texas fiddlers. There’s just all kinds of stuff. I didn’t singularly restrict myself to this kind of music. You know I didn’t start out playing this – I was playing Neil Young and Nirvana songs – and the Ramones. It wasn’t until later that I got into this. I love Bob Dylan and Neil Young; lately it’s Major Laser and all kinds of stuff.
Are you excited to be coming to play here in Australia? You seem to be making quite a few visits. How is your fan-base growing out here?
Yes, am excited to be in Australia – Ive been out here quite a few times over the years. We played a sold out show in Melbourne a few days ago, and it’s going great. It’s like – I don’t always sell as many tickets back home, so to see the appreciation for what I do over here is really heartwarming and I am really grateful for it.
Your music is so ‘American’. Why do you think people here love it so much? It’s certainly music from before a time of political correctness!
I don’t know – it might be like a stylistic thing or a trend. It’s like people like music ‘cos it fits clothes they wear. It’s almost like a new thing over here – I’m not saying it’s just like a trend, but I have to say that if you really love the music and you dig deeper, and it really means something to you, and you start giving it some time, and obsessing over it like I do, it’s a beautiful thing and it can change your life in a big way, and can benefit you in a big way. It’s a captivating show and people get wrapped up in it. Before political correctness? I don’t see it as that. I don’t think that matters or is even a thing, and I don’t see this existing in my record. I know what you mean – but I suppose I think the times have changed in a big way. I can speak for back home anyway, and I’m all for that kind of change. It’s been a long time coming. There’s a genuine love of it. And if you come to my show, we’ll have a unifying experience.
Tell us about your most recent release, Folk Singer Vol 2. What was the inspiration for this album?
It’s the same deal as the first record, and it’s a continuation of Volume 1. I’ve stuck to the same program, but wanted to expand it sonically a little bit. We’ve put some bass on a few songs, and of course we’ve included the Ferris Wheel Four – an incredible gospel group that’s been around forever. We just wanted it to better than the first, you cant be worse – that wouldn’t be a good thing at all! I wish I was Bob Dylan, I wish I was writing songs every day, but I’m just not built like that. So when I found myself solo – and out of of the Old Crow Medicine Show – I thought well, I’ve got to be a singer-songwriter. But when I go out to a show and I play the songs I write on my own, people think they’re okay, but they really love Midnight Special – so I’m going to play that. I play them like they’re mine, and I feel like I’ve claimed them – which people really enjoy. Keep It Clean’s mine now! (Laughs)
What can bluegrass and American folk music fans expect from your show at CLUB MULLUM this Friday?
I think they will feel something – they’ll catch the wave that I’m on. I’m up there onstage and am really passionate about it, I really dig into it and dig into the feeling that I’m getting when I’m up there. I want to feel it in my whole body and in my heart and in my soul when I’m singing and when I’m playing.
And if I get myself to that place, and I get out there and I share it, and that’s the energy that’s coming off me, people pick up on that, and they get affected by it. I think expect more than just to sit there and casually listen. I think expect to sit there and get changed.
Willie Watson (US) plays Club Mullum on Friday Oct 12 with special guests ASH & SARA – 8pm.
Tix and info: www.redsquaremusic.com.au
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