On October 5, 2008 we had the pleasure of Jeff Graham’s company in the Folk Salad studio. He was accompanied by bass player David Johnson. Jeff has a new cd out, entitled “Jeff Graham”. This interview excerpt has been edited for clarity and brevity. While in the studio, Jeff and David played live in-studio songs from the new cd, as well as selected cuts from the recording.
FS: Jeff, welcome back to Folk Salad. It’s been too long, where have you been?
JG: A lot of places.
FS: You came bearing gifts, we see. A new cd?
JG: Yessir!
FS: What’s the name of it?
JG: Well, I thought long and hard about it, did a lot of soul-searching in the night, and finally came up with the name “Jeff Graham”.
FS: Profound!
JG: Yeah. It worked out –I had a title that sounded and looked like my name.
FS: So, tell us more about it.
JG: Well, I came at this album with 22 songs, like I think you’re supposed to do, and whittled it down to 10. This is my 5th album since 1989 but this one had a real “starting over” feel, so I said ‘that’s it, we’re going from point A, right here’.
FS: The Tommy Keane song “High Wire Days” from the new CD, is that acoustic or electric?
JG: Pretty much acoustic –I kept it pretty sparse, but it’s got some strings, some cello.
FS: Jeff, when you’re making a record, do you labor over whether to lean toward an acoustic version of a song versus rocking out, or do you just sort of know which way to go?
JG: That’s a good question. “High Wire Days”, for example, Tommy Keane’s original was recorded at the end of the 80’s, produced by John Hampton, I think, down at Ardent Studios in Memphis, and it’s a full rockin’ band. So, I had my friend Karen Maumee, of Nude Furniture, come over, and I told her “Let’s do it exactly like the album, and I’ll try to make it real big”, but as I kept listening to Keane’s version, I realized I was never going to make that sound out of my garage –or anyone else’s. So, I decided okay, let’s go all the way to the other end.
FS: A good strong song can handle different arrangements.
JG: Yes. Because now, the band –and there is a new Jeff Graham Band, which I’m very excited about –we have Dave Johnson on bass, Dave Cooper, the original drummer for the Science Project, and Jay Lesiker on keyboards –a really fun unit and every time we get together I feel like the luckiest man on the earth. But, now, what we’ve ended up doing on that song is we’ve kind of gotten in the middle, we’ve made a band arrangement, but it’s not Tommy’s and it’s not what I did on the album.
FS: The cd looks like a Tulsa project. Who are some of the people who played on it?
JG: Let’s see, we’ve got the very talented fiddle player from the Roy Clark Band, Shelby Eicher, Rocky Frisco plays keyboard, Karen Maumee of Nude Furniture infamy on drums, also Neil Dierksen of Nude Furniture played bass, and Don Geesling, the man-of-the-album is all over it with Hammond B3, Wurlitzer, piano and electric piano, and Susan Herndon on piano and harmony vocals, and Michael Steed on Farfisa.
FS: You mentioned cello. Who played the cello?
JG: Er, um. Well, that was a really talented machine-like-person named Boss. It was this little Boss Drum Machine, okay?
FS: I withdraw the question.
JG: It’s okay, it’s okay! I orchestrated all that stuff. Yes, I pressed my finger the length of time that that would have needed to play.
FS: “Rock and Roll Lost and Found” from the new cd has a really big sound.
JG: I was undeniably going for that E Street Band thing.
FS: What I like about that cut is that it’s big and yet it’s lean at the same time. That’s hard to do. Kudos, man.
JG: Thanks.
FS: You produced and engineered the record, right?
JG: Yessir! My wife can attest to that, lot’s of sitting in the van and hearing the mixes. I think she’s heard this album all she’ll ever want to hear it.
FS: Jeff you mentioned earlier that this cd felt like a starting over. Tell us a little more about what you meant by that.
JG: Well, for one thing, I didn’t come into the project with ten songs that I had finally collected together. This time, if I didn’t have ten good songs, then I just didn’t want this to be done. I’ve always tried to do that on my previous albums as well, and I hope I have, but this time if I didn’t have ten really good songs, I just wasn’t going to put it out. I’d wait until that last one fell into place, however long that took. And also, I don’t have the kind of “name” producer that I’d love, so I’ve got to be that guy, and be really harsh and say “no, this song’s not making it, and maybe this one will.”
FS: That can’t be easy, to see through your own self-delusions.
JG: Especially when you’ve got this one you’re sittin’ around with and think you’ve really come up with something great and you’re drivin’ down the road and you realize you’ve stolen half a Journey song.
FS: Oooh, that’s gotta suck. It does slip in there, though, doesn’t it.
JG: However inverted it might be.
FS: Homage, it’s homage….
JG: It’s homage! Yes. And, it’s awful when you find yourself thinking “I sure hope this song ends soon –oh, wait! I wrote this song! I spent time to record this song!
FS: Ah, well. Jeff, we love the new cd. We wish you the best of luck with it.
JG: Thanks.
Jeff Graham’s new cd, “Jeff Graham”, is available in local outlets and also at performances around town by The Jeff Graham Band.
