Broken Radio is a solo project by Klaus Patzak who started making music under that name back in the early 90s. With a background in folk, rock and country, he also discovered a preference for pop and electronic music. A combination of traditional songwriting and contemporary ingredients became the DNA of Broken Radio's complex and eclectic sound - from pedal steel to synthesizers, from campfire guitars to drum loops. In 2010 Patzak released his first full-length album HIGH FIDELITY. It had been a few years in the making and featured Texan guitar wizard Phil Hurd and Klaus’ long-time buddies Thomas Ganshorn and Axel Ludwig who were also part of the recording sessions. Now Broken Radio is back with a new album DIRTY COUNTRY. Lonesome Highway took the opportunity to ask Patzak about the background to the album and his journey to making it.
Germany, has links to country music going back to Army Forces Network radio which played traditional country music for the GIs stationed there post World War 2. One of those, of course, was Johnny Cash. You are well aware of this I’m sure, but when did country music enter your life?
This was in the seventies when I was a kid. I used to listen to Armed Forces Radio, which played very different music than the local radio here in Bavaria. It was mostly rock, but also country, which was new to me. I heard classic songs by Johnny Cash, George Jones and Merle Haggard as well as contemporary artists like Tanya Tucker. I loved the melodies and the mood that came out of this music, and I was captivated by it. My English was not good enough to understand what was being sung. Only much later did I realise what great stories were often being told here.
Much later I learned that Johnny Cash worked as a radio operator in the early fifties just two miles from where I live today. I can't help but think of that when I drive by the former air base guard station today.
Another major influence that brought me to country music was Neil Young, who was a very formative artist for me. His 1977 album American Stars And Bars has some great country songs with great vocal harmonies. Neil was largely responsible for me learning to play guitar in the first place.
What part did it play after that in your musical journey?
I consider it my home base. I listen to a lot of different music myself, some of which has nothing to do with country music at all, like electronic music. But those are just detours into other areas and I always come back to country music. It's the same with my own work. Country music is the real thread in my musical world.
You lived, for a time and played, in Austin, was that also a pivotal part of creating Broken Radio?
Broken Radio already existed when I moved to Austin. I had recorded a song for a Hausmusik label compilation, but didn't pursue the solo project because I joined a folk-rock band.Working in Austin has been an opportunity for me to spend an extended period of time in this wonderful city. The reason I came there in the first place was for the music, of course. I've never experienced anything like it here in Germany. So many great bands and artists of different styles in one place, so many live clubs. It seemed like this city was all about live music. I felt like I was in heaven and enjoyed it as much as I could, only to come to work in the morning totally exhausted.
After my return from Texas I was invited to play a festival in Austin with my band at the time. Friends who ran a record store there organized everything for us and even got us together with a lead guitarist. Our actual guitarist couldn't fly with us because he and his girlfriend were expecting a baby. After the festival a few more gigs followed, including one at the famous Gruene Hall. It was a great experience.
Dirty Country, is your latest album. Tell us something of its creation and who was involved with you in its recording. Did you bring other musicians in?
I produce my music mostly independently in my home studio. I see myself first and foremost as a songwriter and producer. The recording artist comes in second. I cannot play all the instruments you hear on Dirty Country. I work a lot with virtual instruments, which I play via a midi keyboard or in extreme cases even program note for note. This gives me the opportunity to add a fiddle or a pedal steel to the arrangement. I do have a pedal steel, but my skills are limited. Using the virtual instruments, I can get very convincing results. From time to time I also work with samples or add a drum loop. The most important thing to me is that the result sounds real and natural despite my computer-heavy approach. The real should be the foundation of country music. I'm pretty happy with how I've done that on Dirty Country.
I think I have made a virtue out of necessity with the way I work, because I can realise my musical ideas without any limitations. Of course it would be great to record and work with a real band again.
Most of the songs on this album were written and recorded during the pandemic. It took me about three years to get it all done and ready for release. That seems to be my rhythm, so far there have always been about three years between albums. I write all the songs on guitar. It's usually a hybrid of writing and recording at the same time.
I often struggle with my vocals, so I'm very happy to have found two singers, Lois Walsh and Teodora Gosheva, to take Dirty Country's recordings to a higher level. They are both the icing on the cake. I hope there will be more to come.
You have made a number of YouTube videos of the tracks on the new album. How are they conceived and produced?
If I have an inner movie running in my head while I'm writing or arranging a song, then the song is working for me.
If I'm lucky, these initial ideas can be captured with simple cinematic means. Actually, I just use my smartphone and an action cam. I then edit the scenes together in a way that best highlights the music. Most of the time, though, that's not enough and I need additional footage. I love to dig through archives for old public domain footage, or even use stock footage if I like the images and they enhance the music.
I never have a script or a set process. I just try to create and find footage that might fit and then put it together like a puzzle. I let the images guide me. That's why it's always a particularly beautiful task to begin with the realisation of a video, because the images add new facets to the finished music recording. Sometimes I even hear and understand the song in a completely different way than it was originally intended. Actually, it's like a movie score, but unlike a movie score, the images serve the music and not the other way around.
How has your music been accepted in your home territory and further afield in the America?
To be honest, it's pretty hard here in Germany. Country music has an absolute niche existence and the fact that all my lyrics are in English does the rest. When I look at various statistics, be it streams on Spotify, sales on Bandcamp or hits on my website, it is mainly people from English-speaking countries who listen to my music. UK, USA, Sweden, Canada, Brazil is the order, then Germany.
But I am very happy that there seem to be no borders and that I get great feedback from all over the world, even from the U.S., where this music actually comes from. Feedback is the most valuable thing of all, it motivates immensely and is the real reward for the work.
As you are not living in the States, although you have visited , where do you draw the inspiration from?
My musical coordinate system is of course shaped by what I hear myself. As far as inspirations for the lyrics go, I'm not fixated on the USA. The content and the themes are usually universal.
Of course I sometimes use metaphors that are more or less common and typical of the genre. But, for example, interpersonal themes are the same everywhere.
Also, there is a lot of rural area here in Bavaria. Tow Truck Driving Lady, for example, is a true story that happened to me here a few years ago with my old classic Chrysler. So you don't necessarily have to be in the Texas Hill Country to get the inspiration.
Did film and literature play a part in that?
Of course, movies and literature round out the picture, providing inspiration and influencing one's world view. I love classic movies, especially westerns. I really enjoy old grindhouse and B-movies. I definitely have a taste for the absurd. As in music, I love a certain simplicity, a good story, interesting characters and no frills. The simplicity you can find in a three-chord song.
What do you think of the emerging more traditional country artists in the States now, and also your thoughts on the more mainstream acts?
I'm a big fan of those traditional artists. Artists like Charley Crockett, Sierra Ferrel, Melissa Carper, just to name a few, but also artists who have been around for a while like Dale Watson.
I'm not really into mainstream country, but I'm sure there are some interesting songs and artists out there. I usually don't notice it until a few years later when I think to myself, "Wow, this is pretty good, why didn't you like this before?
Given this and previous album releases are you able to tour to promote them and do you play solo or with a band?
Not really at the moment. I definitely want to play live again and try out the new songs on stage. But I don't want to do solo performances any more. I don’t consider myself the greatest performer, and I can't get across what my music is all about the way I'd like to on my own. I would really love to have some gunfighters at my side. I'm currently planning something with a friend, but we're still in the early planning stages.
How big is the home grown scene in Germany, I know there is a thriving scene in Scandinavia?
As already mentioned, the scene for this kind of music in Germany is quite small. And especially here in the south it is really dead. The interest seems to be not that big and there are only a few booking agents who book country bands. The live club scene is also difficult and there are only a few clubs where you can see live country acts. The local country bands are mostly just cover bands. Things are a little better with the neighbouring genres, Rockabilly for example has a real scene here.
Are there other acts you can recommend and indeed acts with whom you see yourself aligned in the rest of the world?
It's all pretty scattered around here and I, at least, have a very limited network. But I'm sure there are some very interesting bands and artists that I don't know. One pretty well known singer/songwriter is Markus Rill, who I'm sure some of you have heard of.
There is another band on my label by its owner Wolfgang Petters called A Million Mercies. He is releasing a country double album at the end of September called Unten im Süden. It is a collection of western poems by Franz Dobler, who is a very cool German writer. The music is pretty raw and unconventional, sometimes bluesy, but really good. The great lyrics are in German though.
Are you a prolific writer and do you see yourself getting back to record in the next while, or has the process of recording and releasing become more difficult?
Yeah, I think it's getting harder and harder to put out good new material. I try very hard not to repeat myself, but on the other hand to keep a certain “brand core”. It's not that easy. And also, of course, the demands on yourself increase with time and I want to try to have the feeling that the next album is the best I've done so far and what I can do at this point in time. It wouldn't make sense to put out something that falls short of what I've done before.
I'm writing and recording all the time. I have to try things out, get a feel for the new song ideas. At some point it clicks and I know what direction a song should take. Especially because I'm working without a band, I need a lot of takes with different instruments to get a picture. So there are already some very concrete ideas for the next album. But it is still a long way to go.
You also seem to identify with a certain cowboy/outlaw look. Is this a part of the whole package for you?
Well, it's not a masquerade for me. I don't slip into a certain role and play something I'm not. It's all real, although I don't usually jump around in a cowboy hat. I went a little overboard for the videos and the artwork, just because it was fun for me.
Likewise what part do you play in the creation of the artwork?
I do all of that myself. I have a certain affinity to graphics and also to photography due to my daytime job as a web designer. Similar to what I said about the videos, it's really fun for me when the music is produced to put it into a picture. For example, the cover of Dirty Country is an old black and white photo I took somewhere in Wyoming many years ago. Somehow I was always waiting for an opportunity to use it. I recoloured it on the computer, which gave it a wonderful vintage effect. The Cowboy Motel with the pickup truck in front of it, almost kitschy. Somewhere along the way I got the idea to insert myself into the picture with a recent photo. I admit I was inspired by the Elton John cover of Tumbleweed Connection.
Finally. is it easier to keep the mystique of a band name rather than release under you own name?
I don't know if it's easier, but maybe it gives you more options. Broken Radio hasn't always been a one-man show, we've been a four-piece band in different lineups. It's easier for new band members, who I hope will be around again, to play a weighty part and identify with the band name if they're not under somebody else's name.
But honestly I never thought about it that much, I just always liked the name and I didn't see any reason to change it, especially since I reached a certain level of popularity at some point. By the way, the name Broken Radio comes from an old song by Green on Red, a band I've always admired.
Interview by Stephen Rapid