By Brent Thompson

 

A fixture on the Americana music scene, David Ramirez has been releasing albums for more than 15 years. Currently, the Austin, Texas-based singer/songwriter is touring in support of his latest release, All the Not So Gentle Reminders (Blue Corn Music). On Saturday, April 19, Ramirez will perform at the Woodlawn Theatre. Recently, he spoke with us by phone from a tour stop in Atlanta.

Southern Stages: David, thanks for your time. Has your tour started yet?

David Ramirez: We’ve been out for a few days now – we are in Atlanta. It’s nice to play some of these new tunes live.

Southern Stages: We are really enjoying All the Not So Gentle Reminders. Are these songs newer compositions, older ones or a mixture of both?

Ramirez: Everything is relatively new. I started writing two years ago and everything was written for the record. There have been some musical ideas that I’d been fiddling around with a couple of years before, but everything else is relatively new.

Southern Stages: Over what period of time was the album recorded?

Ramirez: It was January and February of 2024.

Southern Stages: Do songs continue to evolve once you being them into the studio for recording?

Ramirez: For this record, it was the most pre-production I’d ever done. I pretty much knew exactly how I wanted it to go, but it’s important to stay flexible. There were some pretty big changes that happened at the eleventh hour and you have to be willing to say, “Hey, maybe I was wrong.” Things like tempos and endings changed. The ending of “Twin Sized Beds” was completely improvised on the spot. We were tracking as much as we could live and our friend James Westley Essary on piano felt led by the spirit to pursue that outro. It was a pretty magical moment and we kept it.

Southern Stages: How would you describe your writing process? Do you write on the road or shelve it until you get home?

Ramirez: I shelve it. If something comes to mind I’ll scribble it down. When I was younger, I wanted to be the guy that writes for eight hours a day but it’s important to live my life and do other things.

Southern Stages: How do you feel about the industry climate in the era of Spotify, YouTube, satellite radio and other modern outlets?

Ramirez: Depends on the day [laughs]. I’ve been trying to live in a space where I’m mindful of my motivation. When my motivation is the love for the craft, then it’s a really good day and I’m grateful for where I am in the world of show business. Sometimes my motivation slips and I find myself expecting more than I’m receiving and I get grumpier on those days. I don’t feel like any of us deserve anything, so when something shows up it’s more reason to be thankful. I try to live right there in the moment.

Southern Stages: With a large catalog of songs under your belt now, how do you comprise your setlists these days?

Ramirez: With the band it’s easier because I have to give them a set – 20 or 30 songs that we might potentially play. That keeps it in a nice little box, if you will. For solo sets, I like to wing it and that can get very fun and exciting to recall some song I wrote 15 years ago. I’ll be in Europe in May and I’ll be solo, so I’m really excited to go through some really old songs. And, with a new record out, I’d like to play those songs as much as possible.

You Should Be Listening Presents: David Ramirez at the Woodlawn Theatre on Saturday, April 19. Advance tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $21 and can be purchased at www.woodlawntheatrebham.com.

 

 

By Ben Belden

This is my time at Jessica Pratt. Hello … Jessica. Acknowledgment of the openers – Merce Lemon (I don’t not know how to pronounce Merce correctly … I believe). Ok, ok, ok … if you guys could bear with me here, it would be greatly appreciated. My brain has been on build, engineer mode for the past month. Honestly, I like build mode. I am like, actually, happy now too which is a strange feeling but cool, I guess. I feel my creative juices are dwindling (if they were even present in the first place). I used to be able to write, so this is my best shot at articulating my experience at Jessica Pratt. Saturn … cool venue.

If you are reading this, I ask (reader) for a favor. I want (reader) to think. Think of the most intimidatingly nonchalant person you know. Can you please do that for me?

 

Insert moment of silence while we dwell.

 

Sweet, are we good? I sure hope so, being “good” is a nice feeling, I guess. Ok, so that person in your head right now. The epitome of aura. The definition of relaxed. The person you are thinking of, yes, lets enhance that by … hmmm, say a couple (a bunch) of points. The result we get, Jessica Pratt.

Jessica is suave. California calm. A warm presence. Almost reserved. Observant. Beautiful, white hair. High protruding cheek bones. Black. Black clothes. The look of an indie queen. Throughout the experience, she sat. Her “notes” in front. Into her world. A simple aesthetic. With a saxophonist behind, a percussionist (also) behind, a pianist lookers left, and a bassist (I think it was a bass) lookers right. Sophisticated. Sophisticated was the intention. High quality music. Cream of the crop musicians. Relaxed. To say the least, it was a nice night. Intimate and warm.

My introduction into the world of Jessica Pratt was through another (oof, sorry). Another meaning ASAP Rocky. This immersion came from “HIGHJACK” (ASAP Rocky) in which Jessica is featured. The end of HIGHJACK is a dream, ascending, with Jessica Pratt providing angelica. Visualization … makes me want to reconvene. To apologize for everything. Lots to apologize for. Thank you Rocky and “HIGHJACK” for allowing me to become comfortable. Comfortable with Jessica. The proceeding months leading to Saturn (yes, the planet) had Life Is, World on a String, The Last Year, Moon Dude, Better Hate. It is better not to hate but sometimes necessary, I guess.

I could not tell you the setlist from last night. I can tell you it was nice. Sleepy. A wholesome feeling. I felt not anxious, but breezy and composed. Thank you, Jessica, for giving me (us) this feeling. Thank you, NY new friend, for talking nonsense with me in rain after. Talking Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, Ramones. This man is as NY as it gets, I was all for it. To reiterate, it was a nice night. Thank you.

Ok … this is much more to say but, for now, I am done. See you soon Jessica Pratt.

 

 

 

 

 

By Brent Thompson

Athens, GA-based band Five Eight has been recording and performing for over 30 years, but now the quartet’s story is being documented on screen as well. On Sunday, March 9, Saturn will host a screening of the band’s documentary film Weirdo: The Story of Five Eight along with a Q&A with director Marc Pilvinsky. Recently, we spoke with Pilvinsky and the band’s Mike Mantione by phone.

Southern Stages: Marc and Mike, thanks for your time. How did the two of you originally meet and how did the idea for a documentary take flight?

Marc Pilvinsky: I went to the University of Georgia and lived in Athens in the early ’90s and that was when Five Eight was becoming extremely popular and signing to record labels. You would listen to records – they were fantastic records – and in their live shows they would blow the doors off the place every time. I just was a fan and I ended up reviewing them for the local paper and we sort of went our separate ways for a while. When I moved back to Georgia, Mike and I got in contact and we started talking about doing this documentary. I had some idea of the Five Eight story, but the more I dove into it – and the more I talked to these guys – it was just an enormous and really interesting, emotional, hilarious and heartbreaking story. I couldn’t wait to do this movie.

Southern Stages: How long ago was the idea hatched to make this film?

Pilvinsky: [Laughs] This movie took nine years to make.

Southern Stages: Mike, were you always open to idea of a documentary or did you need some convincing?

Mike Mantione: I think that I trusted Marc and convinced Marc that there was a story there. Over the last nine years, Five Eight has continued to do exciting things and part of the story is that [Marc and the band] worked off of each other. We got to tell our story but the story doesn’t seem to stop – I think it was hard for Marc to step away and pick and endpoint.

Pilvinsky: It’s true. You start a documentary and you don’t know how it’s going to end. These guys just kept doing interesting things so it took nine years to make it.

Southern Stages: I assume Covid accounted for a delay in the process.

Pilvinsky: It sure did. But it allowed me to stop editing the movie and I kept shooting new things with the band. I sort of stopped looking at the movie because I had a finished version of it in 2019 or what I thought was a finished version. But as the pandemic gave us time to rethink it, it began to feel like a movie that somebody else had made. I lost the close, personal touch I had with the movie and the problems with it became really clear to me. I was able to remove all these side tangents and really focus on the spine of the story that I wanted to tell. It’s a much better movie and it changed by probably 50% between 2019 and last year.

Southern Stages: What were the challenges in making the film?

Pilvinsky: For me, it was the sheer amount of material. I’m an editor by trade and I always want as many camera angles as possible and I want every piece of archival material there is about the subject. But with Five Eight it was really enormous – I have probably 100 live shows on videotape and thousands of photographs from the past 37 years. Trying to figure out what the story is and do I have the right material to illustrate that story – that was really time-consuming because it’s a really big subject. I could make two other movies with stuff that I didn’t put in this one [laughs].

Southern Stages: Mike, we are also excited to have new music from Five Eight in addition to the film.

Mantione: To Mark’s point, when he stopped making the movie I had a lot of time on my hands during the pandemic and wrote most of the new record. I wrote a ton of material and I think it’s one of our finest. We’re really excited about the new single. and we are really excited about the documentary. The response has been overwhelming – people understand the band better than ever before. It’s been very affirming for Five Eight and all the work we’ve put in over the years – we really thank Marc so much.

Southern Stages: Mike, with a large catalog of songs under your belt at this point. how do you comprise your band’s setlists these days?

Mantione: I don’t [laughs]. We have a list of songs, but it’s really about the audience and what’s happening. We don’t have an enormous production staff and it gives me a ton of freedom to create a setlist right off the top of my head than the original list itself. If we’re going a direction and it’s not working, we can switch gears. It’s a loose and exciting way to do it.

Southern Stages: Marc, any parting thoughts?

Pilvinsky: One of my favorite things about Five Eight is this tension between these seasoned pros who have been playing together for over 30 years on one side. On the other side, the fact that they don’t have a setlist and Mike may start playing a song that they haven’t played in 12 years and the rest of the band has to figure it out as quick as possible. Sometimes it’s hilarious and sometimes it’s magic. But that tension is really beautiful and speaks to the way that these guys keep each other on their toes all the time.

On Sunday, March 9, Saturn will host a screening of Weirdo: The Story of Five Eight along with a filmmaker Q&A. The screening will be followed by a live set from the band. The Pauses will open the 7 p.m. show. Advance tickets to the 18+ show are $12 and can be purchased at www.saturnbirmingham.com.

 

 

By Brent Thompson

 

UK-based guitarist Clive Carroll toured alongside the likes of John Renbourn and Tommy Emmanuel before going solo in 2006. In addition to releasing several solo albums, Carroll has garnered attention from fans and critics alike while winning multiple awards. On Thursday, February 20, Carroll will perform Upstairs at Avondale Brewing. Advance tickets to the 8 p.m. all-ages show can be purchased at www.avondalebrewing.com.

By Brent Thompson

In a recording career spanning over 20 years, Marc Broussard has created a style that expands boundaries while holding true to his Louisiana roots. Last year, the singer/songwriter/guitarist released Time is a Thief (Artist Tone Records), his first album of original material since 2017. Written in a short, creative burst, Time is a Thief was produced by noted guitarist Eric Krasno (Soulive, Lettuce). On Friday, February 14, Broussard will perform at The Lyric Theatre in a show presented by Code-R Productions. Recently, Broussard spoke with us by phone from his Louisiana home.

Southern Stages: Marc, thanks for your time today. We are really enjoying Time is a Thief.

Marc Broussard: Thanks, man – I’m really proud of this one. It was really written over the course of about a week in March 2020. It took a little longer than expected to get finalized, but I think it was well worth the wait.

Southern Stages: Of course, Covid hit in 2020 so I’m sure that accounted for some delay. Other than that, why was now the right time to release the album?

Broussard: I ended up recording a blues record with Joe Bonamassa that came out in 2023 so it just took a little longer than expected.

Southern Stages: Written in a week? That’s quite a creative burst!

Broussard: It was. I reached out to (producer/musician) Eric Krasno to produce the record in March 2020. I was sitting on a batch of about 30 songs that I had previously written and had decided that I wanted to work with “Kras.” I figured that we should write a little bit together just to get the juices flowing and to see if we liked working together. Within a week, we had an entirely new album.

Southern Stages: Will we ever get to hear the 30 songs you mentioned that haven’t been released yet?

Broussard: It’s a real good question. I just actually made another blues album with Joe Bonamassa two weeks ago. Quite frankly, I think that my writing in the past four years has gotten substantially better than it was throughout the course of my career. I would say the chances are pretty slim that that stuff will ever see the light of day.

Southern Stages: How would you describe your writing process?

Broussard: It comes in fits of spurts. What I’ve found really helps me these days is when I have a co-writing partner that can handle the arrangements. I don’t fancy myself a great arranger, so when I have a co-writing partner that can take care of the arrangements and I can focus on lyrics, I find that the process goes a lot quicker. This Joe Bonamassa stuff – I wrote the entire record over the course of three days and I wrote three more songs while we were in the studio. Joe’s bass player, Calvin Turner, was my first sideman and he’s been one of my best friends for the last 20-plus years. He and I wrote everything together – he would send me an instrumental demo and I would knock out the lyrics on my own.

Southern Stages: Where do you prefer to write – at home or on the road?

Broussard: I typically write at home. It comes in seasons and it doesn’t always hit me. Calvin had sent a big batch of material and I sat on it for several weeks until I could get to my home studio and hone in on what I was trying to do. Generally, it comes in waves.

Southern Stages: With such a large catalog of songs under your belt now, how do you comprise your live setlists these days?

Broussard: It can be a struggle. There are fan favorites that have stayed in rotation like “Home” and “Lonely Night In Georgia” and those songs will probably stay in rotation for the foreseeable future. It can be very difficult [laughs]. Sometimes I want to play a song because I miss playing it from years ago, sometimes we need more upbeat material in the setlist – there are a variety of reasons that songs make the list.

Southern Stages: How do songs stay fresh after you’ve performed some of them literally thousands of times?

Broussard: Some of them, like “Cry To Me,” are so good as they are and you really enjoy playing them every night. There are songs,  like “Home,” that have had several evolutions over the years. The latest iteration of “Home” has this gospel-inspired section in the last verse that we’re having a lot of fun with. Arrangements get updated over the years – “The Wanderer” is a very different song now than it was on [2004 album] Carencro. It’s a much funkier version that we really enjoy playing a whole lot.

Code-R Productions presents Marc Broussard at The Lyric Theatre on Friday, February 14. Advance tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $35 – $44.50 and can be purchased at www.lyricbham.com.

By Brent Thompson

Few artists have created a buzz like MJ Lenderman lately and he showed us why on Saturday night. Performing at Saturn, the singer/songwriter/guitarist had the beyond-capacity crowd mesmerized throughout his set. Lenderman highlighted songs from his latest album, Manning Fireworks, along with a well-known cover (“The Shape I’m In”) and some obscure covers.

 

 

By Brent Thompson

He is a solo artist, songwriter, sideman and producer. Now, you can add Grammy nominee to Will Kimbrough’s dossier. The Alabama native and Nashville resident has recently been nominated in the Best American Roots Song category for Shemekia Copeland’s “Blame It On Eve.” The song – and album’s title track – was co-written by Kimbrough and John Hahn. Currently, Kimbrough is touring in support of his latest release, For the Life of Me. On Saturday, December 14, he will return to WorkPlay Theatre. Recently, Kimbrough spoke with us by phone.

Southern Stages: Will, thanks for your time and congrats on the Grammy nomination.

Will Kimbrough: I’ve worked on records that have been nominated before, but this is the first time I’ve been nominated myself. The album is nominated for three Grammys and I produced it, played on it and co-wrote eight of the songs. I had a big hand in this record – it’s the fourth record of Shemekia Copeland’s that I’ve produced in a row. I had worked on a previous record and that’s how we met, so I’ve actually worked on five albums in a row. It’s definitely a labor of love – I love Shemekia and I love my co-writer John Hahn. It’s a good team.

Southern Stages: We are really enjoying For the Life of Me. Are the songs on the album newer compositions, older ones or a mixture of both?

Kimbrough: There are always brand new songs and there almost always a couple of songs that have been around for a while. I write a song or two and a little bell rings in my mind that says, “These could be on an album.” That must be inspiring to me because I start to write more songs just for myself; not thinking about other people or co-writing for someone else’s project. There will always be a few songs that have been around for a while that pop up in my consciousness and I realize that those songs have finally found a home. I have a lot of songs that have never been released and that used to give me anxiety – now I realize it’s a good thing to have.

Southern Stages: If you will, talk about recording the album.

Kimbrough: I was offered studio time at Blackbird Studio, which is a wonderful studio that I would not be able to afford. They have a recording academy there and they need professionals to come in and do recording sessions so that the students get some experience. They offer you a serious discount to do a session there, but the session is only a day and a half of full band recording and two days of overdubbing. It’s a really good way to force yourself to make some decisions. I got a call from the studio manager and he said, “Are you available next week?” I said, “I am, but I wasn’t planning on doing a recording session,” but they needed somebody and gave me the studio time. I called my wife and said, “I guess I’m making a record.”

Southern Stages: I’m not sure you always want to record in that manner, but are you glad you recorded this album in such quick fashion?

Kimbrough: I have a home studio, but there’s something about going into a studio and just saying, “I’m making a record now.” After all, the word “record” means capturing a moment in time.

Southern Stages: Your career offers you quite a variety.

Kimbrough: I’ve worked in music for so long that I always have a job. That doesn’t mean I don’t lay awake at night and wonder if I’ll stay busy enough. But as of right now, I know what I’m doing into next summer on a weekly basis. I’ve learned to really adore working with artists as a sideman because it’s such a great education and I’m kind of addicted to it. The main person I play for is Emmylou Harris and she doesn’t play much anymore –  she’s writing a memoir, she’s in her late seventies and it’s time for her to see her grandchildren more often. I love the adventure and privilege of trying to get inside someone else’s head and that’s helped me be a producer and a songwriter. I’m going to one of these songwriting with soldiers trips right now called Warrior PATHH. It’s a post-traumatic growth program for combat veterans and first responders that are struggling with the after-effects of trauma. It’s a relatively new way from to learn to use their experiences – even if they’re negative – as a strength.

Southern Stages: If you will, talk about your specific involvement with Warrior PATHH.

Kimbrough: For this Warrior PATHH group, I ‘m going to work with a group of women who are combat veterans. I’ll sit down with them, ask questions, write down what they say and two hours later we’ll be singing a song that we wrote. It’s an intense job, but there’s great power in knowing you have to do something. It isn’t like getting together with a friend to write a song and saying, “Oh, we didn’t get one today.” I’m heading into a mystery tonight and, at the same time, the assurance of knowing that we will write a song.

On Saturday, May 14, Will Kimbrough will perform at WorkPlay Theatre. Advance tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show are $20 and can be purchased at www.workplay.com.

By Brent Thompson

Brad Tursi has always kept busy, both as a member of Old Dominion and as a lauded songwriter for other artists. Now, the Nashville-by-way-of-Connecticut artist has released his first solo outing, Parallel Love. The album – an efficient 10-track release that clocks in below 30 minutes – puts a spotlight on Tursi’s introspective side. Recently, he spoke with us by phone from his Nashville home.

Southern Stages: Brad, thanks for your time. We are really enjoying Parallel Love. How did you decide that this was the right time to release a solo album?

Brad Tursi: I felt like there were so many songs that had built up over the years that I knew weren’t right for my band, Old Dominion. It was sort of an epiphany and these songs need a life of their own and something internally just clicked.

Southern Stages: Are the album’s songs new compositions, older ones or a mixture of both?

Tursi: They’re a combination of both. “Oh Darlin'” and “Where You Been” – those songs are probably 12 years old. Some songs you think are good and then you go back six months later and say, “Yeah, they’re really not that good,” but those two stuck around and withstood the test of time. Some are brand new, but somehow they all fit together. They’re all coming from the same place which is my brain [laughs] -that’s the common theme.

Southern Stages: How do you decide what songs fit Old Dominion and what songs fit you as a solo artist?

Tursi: Honestly, lately it’s easier for me to separate them. If it’s something that I really want to say about my life, I usually just keep it for myself. I’ll work on it sometimes for weeks and months  – they songs I write for myself, I can take more time on them. When I was younger, I would start them and I would bring them to other songwriters to get them recorded. They would often not turn out the way that I wanted them to because we were trying to make them into something that they weren’t supposed to be. Now, they don’t all don’t have to sound like hits – I can take them in the direction I want them to go. I come from a folky, James Taylor-ish background and the band is a little more pop and rock and roll.

Southern Stages: How would you describe your writing process? Is it done by inspiration or by schedule?

Tursi: I do both. I’m about to go write a song at 12 o’clock today with a couple of people, so there’s still that professional songwriter schedule I keep because I’m still interested in writing songs with other people. I like to be creative mostly early in the morning – get coffee and play the guitar and see what happens. If you get something started that day, great – if you don’t, just try again the next day.

Southern Stages: I know this question may be premature, but are there plans or songs already in the works for another solo record?

Tursi: I definitely have the songs already. It feels a little early, like I would be offending Parallel Love [laughs]  – I’ve got to wait a few more months for it to happen. But I’m definitely excited to get back in there and do some more stuff.

Southern Stages: Some artists say that – given the accessibility provided by Spotify, Youtube, satellite radio and other modern outlets – this is a great time to be an artist. Others say – for the same reason – it makes it difficult to be found among the crowd. How do you view the current climate of the music industry?

Tursi: It is difficult, especially for someone who’s a little older like myself. The way that people break on Tik Tok doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s a struggle for me to do the social media because I’m really not that interesting [laughs]. It is an incredible tool – you can reach the whole world all by yourself. It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to make that part of your plan if you’re trying to get your music out there. But, like you said, at the same time there’s probably 100,000 songs getting uploaded to Spotify every day and it’s a big pond out there and it’s hard to get heard. All you can do is keep doing what you’re doing and hopefully people will like it.

Southern Stages: How does your schedule look from until the end of the year?

Tursi: It’s pretty light for the rest of the year. The band is going to be in the studio and there will be time to get this second solo record started. Next year is going to be a big year.

Southern Stages: As a guitarist, are you a “gearhead” that visits music stores while on tour?

Tursi: I made a couple of purchases this year. In Austin, I bought an old (Gibson) J-45 and when I’m in Seattle I go to Emerald City because they always have great guitars. Nashville has a lot of great shops, too, so I do a lot of my shopping around here.

www.bradtursi.com

 

By Brent Thompson

It’s not an overstatement to call Bob Mould an alt-rock icon. Over the past six decades, the singer/songwriter/guitarist has performed as a solo artist and fronted the influential bands Husker Du and Sugar. On Wednesday, October 16, Mould will being his “Solo Electric” tour to Saturn. Cash Langdon will open the 8 p.m. show. Fans old and new alike are in for a special evening as Mould has been playing songs from his entire catalog on this tour. Advance tickets to the 18+ show are $27.50 and can be purchased at www.saturnbirmingham.com.

 

By Brent Thompson

Austin-by-way-of-Memphis singer/songwriter Kelley Mickwee has returned to the forefront after a 10-year hiatus. In September, Mickwee released Everything Beautiful, a follow-up to her 2014 release You Used to Live Here. A former member of The Trishas and Shinyribs, Mickwee used Dusty Springfield’s Memphis sessions as an inspiration for the project. The result is a nine-track outing that sounds relevant and reverent at the same time. For the album’s recording, Mickwee enlisted producer David Boyle and session musicians that have backed Black Pumas and Gary Clark, Jr. among others. Welcome back Kelley – please don’t make us wait another 10 years for your next release.

www.kelleymickwee.com