How did you approach this record?
When I went into the studio, I never know exactly what I want to play. W hat I tried to get is a palette of songs,  get a bunch of songs together I think work. I worked with Don Was on this record, and it was pretty organic. He had called up my manager and said, “What’s this guy doing?” and he said “He’s in LA right now,” and Don said. “Why don’t you come over?” And I went over to his house and played him some songs. He’s a pretty laid-back guy, a music lover, and I worked with him. Who knows what’s happening with record labels? I’m on one now, and figured this might be the last one I make for the label. I always wanted to work with a couple of the musicians who are on this record, so I figured now is the time to try. All the guys – Palladino, Spooner.
I’m not a download-a-song-on-iTunes kind of guy. I like full-length albums and want to listen to albums in entirety. This album has that a sinous, connected feel all the way through. But the age we live in …
It makes it a little difficult. Sometimes a person will hear a song and go, “Well I don’t know about that,” but he doesn’t know the context of it. I think the hardest thing for me on this and the last record, was sequencing it. I probably had 20 sequences I came up with. I think they’re all pretty good. Some people are under the idea it doesn’t matter, because are only going to take a couple songs off it anyway. But I still think of it this odd way: I plan out my records for vinyl even though I’ve never had an all-vinyl release. I like the way those recordings feel.
Did any themes emerge on “Last Days?”
I thought about that since I made the record. I’ve listened to it a couple of times. I feel like the biggest theme to me is there’s an undertone of transition in a lot of the songs, not necessarily full-on, but a developing transition, a mentality of wanting a change.
In the first song, “Listen,” there’s a surprising, bracing guitar bit that comes in midway.
(laughs) The thing is, when we play live, especially on the Dylan tour we did, things were a lot more jangly, and a little bit more harsh and I like that.
What’s this touring band like?
Drummer, bass player, keyboard player, guitar. I’d love to have a 12-piece band, but at this point I can’t really handle that.
Do you write on acoustic guitar and then transpose to other instruments?
Yeah, I write some a capella too.  Like “Street Corner Preacher” was basically an a capella thing I came up with. The whole thing just came out. I think sometimes what happens is there’s some melodic basis to it. A lot of times I feed off a simple melody on a guitar and then I weave the melody around what’s happening there. On “It Started to Rain,” I came up with that little guitar thing, that slide-up part, then a dom-dom-dom-dom and I based everthing around that. I let things kind of fall into each other.
How was Don to work with as a producer?
There wasn’t a whole lot of didactic things. It was pretty straight, me and him, us picking songs out, getting in the studio and cutting them and finding out which ones actually stood up after some things were done.
My understanding is you write a lot, quite prolific.
Yeah, I write a lot of songs. “Prolific” is a word I’m not sure I call it, because a lot of the songs shouldn’t be on (disc). Sometimes, I get the feeling that when something is rubbing, it’s hard to tell what it is, a rhythmic thing, getting in the way of really letting somebody hear the song. There’s a pretty delicate balance in there.
How did touring with Dylan, Morrison and Simon affect you?
Well, I think it helped, because I got in front of a lot of people and it’s such a great thing to play in front of a crowd of 10,000 people because even if 9800 don’t like you, you can go back and play again.
I would think your sound would overlap nicely with all of the above.
It’s been cool, man. Those bands, everybody I’ve opened for, I opened up for Mose Allison one time, I feel so lucky to be around all this music. It’s almost like you don’t realize it how impactful it is on you. In ten years, I’ll  look back and say I can’t believe that. It was incredible.
John Prine is an influence, I know. He’s detailed, nuanced approach.
He’s really the foundation for me, the foundation I got from listening to him is so helpful. I guess it’s perspective, the way he writes, it feels like there’s a real wisdom to it, but it’s not a ‘hot’ wisdom or a pretentious wisdom. It’s just a real down-to-earth wisdom, which I find is the most helpful.
Which would apply to you, too, though I don’t want to goad you into saying that.
I’m trying, man. I’m hoping to get closer and closer to that as I go on. I love to write songs, because I feel I learn more every time I do it.
You’ve spent a lot of time on the road. Enjoy it?
It can get tedious at times, especially when it goes on and the honeymoon is over.  But everybody’s got a job, man, and I don’t really consider this a job, I consider it a life trip. A lot of people would like to be doing this and I try to respect it for the music and the opportunity and try not to see the negative too much.
What do you listen to?
I’m pretty all over the place, man. I like a lot of stuff, the real basis is singer-songwriters, R and B music, but I love a lot of jazz music and I love the blues. It takes a lifetime to catch up to the music before 1940.
Do you feel like you’re carrying any particular torch?
I’m not sure, man. My hope is that I try to be true to the songs and the songwriting I’m doing, just try to make an honest connection with people that’s lasting and they feel throughout their life.
Are we to assume the “I” you sing about in songs is you or a character?
It’s both. Sometimes it’s a character, I don’t write a whole lot of super autobiographical stuff, especially for the latest reocrd. A couple of things are –“What’s Been Going On” is and “Street Corner Preacher.” “It Started to Rain,” it sort of becomes you because you have to live the song every time you play.
Where did “Jails and Bombs” come from?
That song was started a lot time ago when I was teaching school in 2001. I was in the school on 9/11 and the kids went home – we had a couple of days off. I’m sitting there with teacher I was working with and we started talking about terrorism and hardship and it was like 9/11 was a horrible thing, ghastly, but it’s also, there’s a lot of tragedies in life … a lot of kids are faced with lives that are pretty tough. We’ve got a lot of things to deal with here, not just the enemy. The thing is we live in an era of politics, and it’s extreme, and I don’t think it’s wise. For these songs, like Prine can do it, he doesn’t hit you over the head with a lot of things. but he let’s you hit yourself over the head with it, if you want to.
Tickets: $27.50 - $25. Show at 7:30.

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