By Brent Thompson

“His masterful instinct for arrangement, along with his reedy voice, earns Nau a place in the rock’n’roll underdogs’ Hall of Fame,” says respected online magazine Pitchfork of Michael Nau. In 2017, the singer/songwriter released Some Twist [Suicide Squeeze Records], the follow-up to his critically-acclaimed 2016 release Mowing. On Saturday, March 10, Nau and backing band The Mighty Thread will perform at The Firehouse. Recently, Nau spoke with us by phone from Vermont as he and his band rehearsed for their current tour.

Birmingham Stages: Michael, thanks for your time. We are enjoying Some Twist – if you will, talk about the creation of the album. Were these mostly newer songs, ones that had been around for a while or both?

Michael Nau: It’s definitely a bit of both. Some were as new as six months prior to the record coming out and some were as old as five years. With both of the solo releases, it ‘s worked that way both times. I think a lot of times, when I’m trying to make a record, I’ll get four or five songs that I really like and I feel like I’m on my way. I’ll go on tour and come back and start fresh. Songs end up getting set aside for long periods of time. I think once they get old enough they feel new to me.

Birmingham Stages: Do songs continue to evolve even as you’re recording them in the studio?

MN: Yeah, because we don’t really take the approach of being rehearsed to go into the studio. Every time we’ve done stuff as a band, we’ve had four or five days to spend. I’ll play a song and the guys will hear it once or twice. We’ve never toured on a group of songs and then recorded them – I imagine that would be a different approach. What I do like about it is we’ll be able to catch some things in a recording that probably wouldn’t have happened had we thought about it more.

Birmingham Stages: Some artists favor the current musical climate given anyone can release content and music is instantly accessible via iTunes and Youtube. Some artists say, for those same reasons, the current model makes it difficult to separate yourself from the crowd. How do you reconcile this give-and-take?

MN: I haven’t really figured it out. We’ve kind of tried to do it in a certain way that feels right to me. A lot of times people are coming to the show because they came across a video or something like that. My records all sell the same amount regardless of what’s going on. I really enjoy the process of making music and I’d be doing it regardless and I’m trying to navigate my way through it. It’s all I can do – I just try to make records I’m happy with.

Birmingham Stages: How would you describe your writing process?

MN: It varies – I try to write all the time. I don’t write very much on the road – I’ve never been able to do that unless I’m by myself. A lot of times I write by recording the music first.

Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread will perform at The Firehouse on Saturday, March 10. Tickets to the all-ages show are $8 and can be purchased at www.michaelnau.com. The Firehouse is located at 412 41st Street South.