Unlike many of her peers, Dori Freeman has resisted the draw of packing her bags and heading for Nashville to further her musical career. Instead, she has remained in small town Galax, Virginia, where she lives with her husband Nicholas Falk and young daughter. Nicholas also enjoys a career in the music industry as a session drummer and producer. Dori’s DNA is steeped in music: both her father and grandfather are musicians and owners of the Front Porch Gallery and Frame Shop, which is a tourist stop on the Crooked Road, Virginia music trail. Her fourth album TEN THOUSAND ROSES is about to be released and she has made a slight diversion to deliver a more muscular and percussion-driven sound on this occasion. The common denominator from her previous recordings are her inimitable vocal stylings that rise and fall gloriously across the ten tracks. A much-loved artist at Lonesome Highway and the possessor of one of the sweetest voices in the Americana genre, Dori is a bona fide Americana artist with an acute attention to detail in her writing. Her songs are based on personal experiences, real people and genuine sensitivities, far removed from the formulaic and slavish songwritingoften emerging from Music Row and farther field. We spoke with Dori prior to the release of the album about the album’s origins and her seemingly ideal life balance between career and motherhood.
Are you still in New York after your recent show at The City Winery?
No, I’m actually home now. There were to be two gigs, one in Philly and one in New York and the one in Philadelphia got cancelled so I got to come home a day early.
How was the show?
City Winery was good, it was a packed show and seemed bizarre having not played live for a year and a half. People seem to be so happy to be back at live music shows, everybody’s missed it more than they thought they would. Everybody seems pretty happy. My set was a solo show, my husband Nic (Falk), plays in a few bands and he’s on tour right now. I hadn’t actually done a solo show in a while, which was a little scary at first. Half the set was from the new album and the other half from my earlier albums.
Was the show restricted to those fully vaccinated?
The show was vaccination mandatory or negative covid test within three days. Everyone had to be masked at the show too.
The issue of mandatory vaccination for concerts seems to becoming a political football and the artists are the ones likely to lose out. It seems that if you take a stance like Jason Isbell did, you’re likely to get a backlash as much as support for your stance. You can’t win, would you say?
You really can’t, especially with Americans (laughs.) Everything can be so divided and absurd; it’s ridiculous and hard to understand. I may be in a different position to some musicians because I’m also a mom to a child who is not old enough to have the vaccine. So, I’m very pro-mask, pro-vaccine, pro-whatever we need to do to protect our children. I want to go and play a show and know it’s relatively safe and that I’m not going to potentially bring something home to my daughter.
I’m loving your new album TEN THOUSAND ROSES. Unlike other artists you went for a fuller and more experimental sound than many of the more stripped back and acoustic albums that were born in the pandemic. Had you always intended going in that direction musically or was that motivated by the pandemic?
It’s a bit of both. I have always wanted to do something different with an album, more electric guitar and a bigger sound. I was also very conscious that most people were going to make post-pandemic records, the sadder and acoustic songs that you mention. That was something I did not want to do not because there’s anything wrong with that, I just didn’t want to get washed away in the mix of all that and didn’t want the album to be a pandemic - for want of a different word - record.
Were the songs written during those times?
Obviously being home so much more, I had a lot more time to sit around with my guitar and try to come up with songs. So, yes, I pretty much wrote everything during that time in 2020.
You gifted your husband Nicholas Falk the role of producer on this album. Given that I witnessed you silence a talkative audience at Cannery Row in Nashville by launching into a capella mid set, I get the impression of someone who is well capable of fighting her corner. Was there going to be any conflict giving Nic the duties?
(Laughs). He definitely deferred to me anytime I had very strong opinions. He has a lot more experience in the studio than I do and I really wanted it to be a percussion-driven album. I was very comfortable with him producing and also had a hand in not letting any decisions be made that I wasn’t on board with. He knows how to deal with me at this stage(laughs).
You also remind us that you’re no shrinking violet with the opening lines of the song I Am (“I ain’t a good girl though everybody thinks I am / I got a mind as dirty as the bottom of a coffee can”
(Laughs) Well, I was thinking of saying ‘garbage can’ but I thought people might get the wrong impression, so I settled for ‘coffee can’.
Was the album recorded live in the studio or remotely?
We all went to a studio together, the only thing that was done remotely was the song Walk Away, which Logan Ledger sang on. He sang his part in Nashville and we put it together afterwards. The rest of the album was all musicians in real time, six of us. The options were to either wear masks all the time in the studio or do covid tests, and once everyone is negative you can stay in your little pod in the studio. We did the tests, were all negative and recorded in the studio.
I love that song Walk Away. How did the Logan Ledger connection come about?
Thank you. I’ve been a fan of Logan since he started putting out music and we also had some mutual friends. He knows Nic and a friend of ours, Ric Robertson, who Logan has done some collaborating with. I just reached out and asked if he’d like to work on a song with me, which he fortunately did.
I see Dori Freeman very much as an independent spirit but also very much a family person. The song Appalachian on the album reinforces that. You seem to have the perfect life and career balance living in Galax, Virginia. How important is it to have family support close by?
It’s super important, I’m always trying to balance things and don’t always get it right. But having a home so close to my family and having them step in and help when I’m on the road is so important, particularly with a young daughter. It would be much more difficult to do this job without that support. I want to devote time to both my family and my career, which is not always easy and when I’m doing one, I sometimes feel I should be doing the other. It’s a constant battle, but I try and keep a balance.
I understand that you are third generation musician in your family and third generation Galax resident?
Yes, my grandpa and my dad are both musicians. I’m only second generation Galax, my dad is from North Carolina and my mom grew up here but her parents were from Kentucky and West Virginia.
I really enjoyed your live streams during lockdown, which featured your husband and yourself alongside your father and grandfather. Your daughter even made a few inadvertent appearances running across camera!
(Laughs) I don’t think they were really inadvertent, she’s very dramatic. It was good training, she did acting camp this summer and I would not be surprised if that is the path she takes.
Are there any negatives career wise living in small town?
Not really, because people living in Nashville or wherever, most of the marketing, booking and media stuff is done via phone, email our internet anyway. As far as travelling goes, as a musician you’re always going to travel a lot anyway, so it doesn’t really matter where your home base is, you’re going to be on the road the same amount of time.
Have you had time to consider what direction you will now go musically? Do you intend repeating the fuller sound of TEN THOUSAND ROSES?
It’s hard to say, I wouldn’t mind keeping exploring that but it all depends on what type of songs I end up writing for the next one and I never know how long that’s going to take.
Have you many shows booked as things appear to be opening up again for live music?
I’ve about ten dates lined up. I think next year will be a lot busier as things get back to normal. I did not apply for AmericanaFest this year as I’d be a bit nervous going to Nashville at the moment with that many people around. Tennessee is one of the States that is doing poorly with the vaccine take up. So many people over here are resistant to vaccination, you have all these conspiracy theories, it’s an issue.
Europe seems a very good market for you?
I love playing over there. I really want to come back to Ireland so bad, it’s my number one favourite place that I’ve been. I don’t want to keep harping on about Americans because I am one (laughs) and there are so many things that I love about it here, but the audiences in Europe are so much more engaged, into the concert rather than looking at their phones. They pay more attention and are more enthusiastic. I’ve really enjoyed the times I’ve had the opportunity to tour over there. I’d love to get over again in the summer or fall of next year. Hopefully Americans can get over there again but who knows where we’re going to be in six months from here.
You mentioned fellow musicians Logan Ledger and Ric Robertson. Do you actively get the time to listen to other artists like them?
I do, I try to keep on top of what’s coming out especially music from friends of mine. There’s just so much, it’s often hard to keep up.
And who would you have been listening to growing up?
All kinds of stuff. A big one for me was Nanci Griffith, who just passed away. She was one of the first female songwriters that my dad introduced me to. He introduced me to a bunch of different music when I was growing up: Linda Ronstadt, The Louvin Brothers and even Supertramp, all kinds of different stuff. He was a great influence.
Interview by Declan Culliton