Twenty years into her recording career, North Dakota-born Brennen Leigh continues to be one of the leading lights and highly respected artists representing what can be simply termed ‘real country’ music. She has remained steadfastly loyal to traditional roots music, whether that be classic country, western swing or bluegrass. Her latest album, AIN’T DONE HONKY TONKIN’ YET, is arguably a career finest and follows on from two splendid albums, PRAIRIE LOVE LETTER, which was an album of the year at Lonesome Highway in 2020, and OBSESSED WITH THE WEST from 2022. The new one is a throwback to a golden era in Nashville when many of Brennen’s all-time favourite albums were recorded. It was co-produced by her close friend Chris Scruggs who also played guitar alongside a ‘who’s who’ of Music City session players. Tommy Hannum (pedal steel), Aaron Till (fiddle), Micah Hulscher (piano), Alec Newman (upright bass) and Nate Felty (drums), all joined Brennen and Chris in the studio. Collectively, they have created an album brimming with the qualities of music from a bygone era but is very much at the heart of the resurgence of classic country music.
AIN’T DONE HONKY TONKIN’ YET plays out like the last leg of a trilogy following the release of OBSESSED WITH THE WEST last year and PRAIRIE LOVE LETTER from 2020.
No one has said that yet, but that's a really interesting way of putting it. To me, it was just the next kind of thing I wanted to do. I've had all these country songs that didn't have a home and I wanted to make this record with my friend Chris Scruggs, and we just found a hole in our calendars to do it. I consider everything I do across the board to be country music. With this album, I was having a long-term obsession with a certain era in Nashville, which was around the late 60s,1967/68. Some of the best records in history were made here in Nashville at that time, records by people like George Jones, Melba Montgomery, Tom T Hall and Connie Smith. That era was when some of the greatest songs ever were written by the greatest songwriters who were walking around in Nashville. And, with some of the greatest musicians to ever have walked the earth, they all just combined powers. I'm fascinated and smitten by that era and I wanted to channel that a little bit on the album.
That certainly was a golden era, though it also divided opinion among many purists who felt that country music was heading in a more commercial direction.
Chris Scruggs, who produced the new album with me, could probably tell you more about that than I can, but I feel like there were two things happening in Nashville at that time. There was the more cosmopolitan sound, pushing things into mainstream pop, a kind of smoother sound that was happening. And then there was the hillbilly side of it, which is the side that I like. If you listen to records by somebody like George Jones in 1967 it was just so great because you'd have a solo break with two parts to it. The first part would be steel guitar and the second part of it would be dobro, it didn't get any more hillbilly than that. So, to me, they were introducing their own level of defiance making those records. What was so good about the 1967/1968 era in Nashville was the creativity that was around. I think producers, players and singers looked at each song as an opportunity to say something new, it wasn't a conveyor belt. I liked the hillbilly side, I don't get as excited about the more polished cosmo side, the Billy Sherrill stuff. I like the hillbilly stuff that people like Melba Montgomery were making.
Were the songs on AIN’T DONE HONKY TONKIN’ YET specifically written for the album?
I had been coming to Nashville for a decade before I moved here in 2017 and so I had a relationship with the town. I had a publishing deal in my first year here and was writing with different people every day. I had hundreds of songs that were sitting around that I had collected over the years and I simply selected the ones that I thought fitted the best. I also had the pleasure of writing with lots of people I admire and collaborating with some of my heroes for a number of songs on this album. The funny thing is that no matter what I write, it comes out country. It really doesn’t matter though, a great song is a great song. I don't think Kris Kristofferson ever sat down and said ‘I'm gonna write a country song.’ Maybe he did, but it was just his vernacular, his way of speaking and his medium that made it country. If you’re writing from life and what you know and channelling it, you don’t really need to think about genre. You need to find truth in a song. I care about writing in a natural sort of way, natural speech to me is at its most beautiful when it's undetectable, like having a conversation.
You have an A-list of players and backing singers on this album alongside Chris Scruggs. Tommy Hannum’s pedal steel is particularly noteworthy. How did the selection process for the players and the eventual recording of the songs evolve?
Firstly, Chris and I sat down with songs and started to work on the sound we wanted, and who we thought could do that the best. Tommy has playedwith me a lot around Nashville. I love the way he plays because he's so emotional, he's creative, but he also knows the steps. He's got the foundation and his steel playing is wonderful. He really thinks about the songs and I try to find people that are emotionally involved in music. To me, that makes a big difference because you don't just want some machine. So, to answer your question, we were all in one room in The Sound Emporium, we recorded it all in one room and just overdubbed some of the harmonies.
Tell me the background of the track Carole With An E. Is that based on a real-life character?
Yes, it is. I wrote that song with a wonderful artist from Oklahoma, Mallory Eagle. She had a neighbour named Carole who was a long-haul trucker. We were both just so fascinated by Carole. Mallory came to me in Nashville a couple of years ago and said she wanted to write a song about her neighbour. So, we just got all the info we could about Carole and wrote her a little ballad, an ode to her. We recently made a video that's coming out very soon with Mallory playing Carole in the video.
Dare I ask if the song You Turned Into A Dragon was directed at someone in particular?
I wrote that a number of years ago with Noel McKay. It’s about a person we both knew that we thought turned into a dragon. I had that melody in my head forever, it was sort of like a fake Asian melody.The song Sukiyaki, which was a big hit about a half-century ago, was floating around in my head at the time and that’s where the idea for the melody came from.
You totally embrace the Western culture not only in your writing and playing but also in your personal style.
Thank you, I love it and I've accepted it. You know, growing up, I used to think ‘why should I have to look a certain way?’ There's a lot of pressure, particularly for women, to look a certain way, be a certain body type. None of that should really matter but if you're having fun, why not? Clothes have been a part of country music culture for a long time, going way back to Rose Maddox and Lefty Frizzell. If you make fun out of it like a hobby then it's less stressful in my opinion and works alongside the music at the same time.
That attention to detail also comes across in your album’s artwork.
The visual and artwork side of it is something that we have paid more attention to, to make the albums beautiful. You have to put something in a pretty package if you want people to open it.
We are heartened by the progressively increasing numbers of younger people getting into real country music in recent years. Have you noticed this dynamic over your performing career?
The audiences have gotten different over my career. Not to brag or argue my legitimacy, but I've been playing traditional country music since I was a teenager. So, my audience for a time was my grandparent’s age, and then my parent’s age. They have an appreciation and their minds are never closed. Ironically a lot of folks at my dad's age, are rock fans. They still like the rock bands from the 60s and 70s, but they have that appreciation, their minds were never closed. I met a lot of people quite a bit older than me over the years who had an appreciation for real music and they didn't really care what you called it. I had some fear for a time that eventually I'd outlive my audience, but now I'm seeing less and less evidence of that. I think it's maybe because of the internet, I don't really know, but there's an enthusiasm for country music and that's wonderful to see – it's validating.
You have been playing as a trio fairly regularly with Kelly Willis and Melissa Carper. Are you intending to record with them?
We have a project that we take out on the road a few times a year. Those trio shows have really been fun as those two are both just a delight to travel with and play with. We plan on doing some recording, either an EP or an album.
Interview by Declan Culliton