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Paul Burch Speaks to Old Weird Americana
Paul
Burch, Nashville resident, member of the Lambchop collective,
talented songwriter/multi-instrumentalist & leader of the WPA Ballclub
returned to Kilkenny last weekend. He very kindly agreed to talk
to O.W.A about his new record, songwriting, Irish audiences
and Lambchop, before his show in Cleere's Theatre.
After
playing at the Hooves & Grooves Festival in Wexford, which "went
OK", Paul was making a welcome return here following his marathon
performance over the Rhythm & Roots weekend. He has this to say
about Kilkenny, "…being here in Kilkenny is great, it's a really
warm place." Paul feels that there is a different attitude to live
music in Ireland, audiences are more proprietary, "…people really
care about music, I think they get it more than in the States."
In
addition to the Irish release of his 'Blue Notes' record Burch has
just released a new (solo) record in the states. Called 'Last of
My Kind', it's based on the novel, 'Jim the Boy', written by his
friend and neighbour, Tony Earley. He was asked to sing some old
country tunes to accompany a reading but instead asked if he could
write some of his own songs. The happenings in the book somewhat
mirrored his own life at the time, his grandfather was dying and
it allowed him to write some really straight, early country style
songs. "It's mostly acoustic, a little more up than 'Blue Notes'
", he explains. I put it to Paul that he has earned the label of
traditionalist in some quarters of the press, "I don't think it's
true", he replies, "…because a traditionalist would do traditional
country music exactly the way it's done, I don't, because once you're
a Beatles fan or a Bob Dylan fan it changes the way you play, you
can't just pretend those things never happened." He goes on to say
that "it's better to be described than not described I guess and
anyway I love loud Rock & Roll but now loud Rock & Roll has no rhythm,
there's no Roll, it's just Rawwwk!"
I
asked Paul about the effect being a member of Lambchop has had,
if any, on the WPA Ballclub. "I think we have very similar tastes
in music, our approach to music is very similar, but the end product
is very different. And that's to do with Kurt and his particular
influences and how he wants to write and how he wants to sound.
Sometimes we're in similar places and even when we're not it's not
a big deal for me. I love what he does and I'm always interested
to see, you know, how far you can take another songwriters idea,
you know, somehow get inside their head and cut it out as close
to what they envisaged as possible. Because I know how hard that
is. Musicians are easily frustrated by trying to understand somebody
else, so I make the big effort to learn as much as I can." So there's
no real clash of interests then. "It's funny, a freak but wonderful
thing happened where Lambchop got a hit record last year. But before
that, in the States I'm probably just as well known as Lambchop.
I still play with them, but it's become more of, not an issue, but
a mention of notice because Lambchop have become a known band. But
that's cool I suppose."
On
the topic of his own band, the WPA Ballclub, Paul says that he'd
love to get the whole band over but the cost is prohibitive at the
minute. We moved on to the state of country music in the US, "in
the States country music is a joke. When you say Hank Williams,
you know, what's a Hank song? If it's that easy to do, it would
be not a big deal. But have you heard a band that can play like
that, there's not really that many." One artist Paul admires in
Nashville now is Lucinda Williams, for being a strong willed woman
succeeding on her own terms in a male dominated industry.
I
wanted to know Paul's thoughts on song writing and was surprised
by his admission that "I don't write really naturally". Paul majored
in English as an under graduate and I asked him if this had helped
him develop as a songwriter, "it's hard to say, it's given me an
energy to read. I don't carry a book of poetry around or anything.
I used to but don't anymore. I try to match the words with some
kind of physical energy and that's countryish I guess."
'Blue
Notes' is out now 'Last of My Kind' will be out in the
autumn.
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