Your 2020 album, JESUS, RED WINE & PATSY CLINE, arrived during the pandemic. Do you feel that you didn’t really get the opportunity to adequately tour that album?
I don’t really feel that I did. It just took so long for things to feel normal again and I never really hit the ground running with a tour for that album. But I’ve been playing those songs for a few years now and that developed into writing the new record. I’m moving forward on a more normal path with this new record, I’ll be touring this one in October and also next year. I still feel that the first record’s songs still got a lot of light in shows that I did.
That album was very much an appreciation of the Bakersfield sound of your home state. You have gone in a more old-timey, gospel and bluegrass road with A COWGIRL RIDES ON.
I didn’t grow up with country music, it was something that I fell into in later life. So, JESUS, RED WINE & PATSY CLINE sprung out of my first steps into writing country songs and fully embracing it. For that album, I was learning about all the country music that came from California. Learning about that really fascinated me, I just loved the sound and I then formed my first country band. Fast forward to this record and I feel that the sound is also what I love about country music, the bluegrass, gospel, and old-time sound. I really wanted this record to feel different from the first album and to sound very raw and live, I think the songs really deserved that. We recorded the new record live and all together in one room with a four-piece band and I wanted all of that to come through on the record, as I felt that was very important for the genre of the record and the stories that I had to tell. Both records are very different, but I feel that they are both true to my sound.
What were your pointers towards the sound of the new album?
When I first started thinking about this record, I was listening to an Emmylou Harris album, I just can’t think of the title now, but it was not necessarily labelled as gospel but a lot of the songs have religion and gospel tied into them. I think Emmylou has often done that on her records, where she sneaks a gospel tune in from time to time. I kind of did that with this record, half gospel and half bluegrass. Another big influence was the Ricky Scaggs album, SOLDIER OF THE CROSS, we actually cover a song, Waiting at The Gate, from that album, on the new record. My producer and good friend, Brian Whelan, who co-wrote the record with me, when we sat down the first few times, we also just kept referencing O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU, the way that it was recorded, and the artists on that album. We wanted it to feel raw and live, just like that album.
I feel that the new album really reflects your maturing as an artist and songwriter. The lyrics are less playful and more soul-searching than the last album. You open the album with these lyrics from the title track, ‘She’s a drifter, miles from it all with no one around her or a place to call home.’ I believe the song was inspired by Melissa Chapman’s book, Distant Skies, but is the song also somewhat autobiographical?
Yes, definitely. It’s an intertwined story about myself and the author of the book that inspired it. The book, Distant Skies, is a book about a woman who rode cross country on horseback in the mid-70s. I was really moved by her story and her truth and heartache, and the song just poured out as two stories into one. Something really cool then happened. Her book publisher got wind of the song and she ended up reaching out to me and we’ve become pen pals writing back and forward which is the full circle from reading that book, writing the song, and gaining a friendship out of it.
I also particularly like the song Sabina on the album.
I’ve had that song for a long time now. It also came about from a book that I read years and years ago by Anais Nin, called A Spy In The House Of Love. I pulled some inspiration from the character in that book who actually would be vastly opposite to me and I’ve been playing that song for years. I had recorded it before this record but never felt at peace with it and never felt it was recorded the right way. I used to play it when I had a jazz band project for a few years and it didn’t fit the glove then. So, bringing it into this room and this project, it finally felt right as a bluegrass-type song. It just feels it has finally found a home because I’ve been singing it for five to six years.
You also include a break-up song, Forever, You and I. Was it difficult to open up your heart and write that one?
I hadn’t really done that before and it was a weird way of closure, writing that song. I was afraid that singing it every time would be a big deal, but it’s the song that I’ve had the biggest reaction to. I’ve had messages from people telling me that they can really relate to it and that meant a lot to me because it’s one of my favourites on the record. It was actually the last song I wrote for the record.
You mentioned previously the Ricky Skaggs cover, Waiting At The Gates. What attracted you to that particular song of his, given his vast back catalogue?
I had that song on repeat for so long, the harmonies reminded me so much of Brian Whelan, who produced the record and sang harmonies on it. I just had a clear vision that we were supposed to do that song together. It’s also a feel-good gospel song and it was super fun doing it. It also went on to inspire the song Snake Trails on the record.
Tell me about that connection to Brian Whelan and how you got him to produce the record.
A few years back I got asked to do this filmed Merle Haggard tribute show. There were a few artists asked to play and I hadn’t met Brian before, but he was doing a song after me and I was so mind blown, I just loved his voice and his style. We had a quick interaction but that stuck with me for a while and I looked into his background, the records that he has made and the people that he has worked with. I pretty much cold-called him one day and asked him if he’d be interested in co-writing with me, which is something that I had never really been comfortable with before. We met up, it went really well, we had a good connection and he completely lifted my songs up and so I just asked him ‘do you want to make a record together?’ All the stars aligned, as if it was always meant to be.
Where did you record?
We recorded in L.A. in the Station House studio. In the past, I had worked with my own circle of musicians and bandmates down here who I love, but for this project, I was ready to try something new and out of my comfort zone. I let Brian hold the reins in far as pulling in most of the musicians at that studio, where he works with the engineer Mark Reins. I stepped into that scene and immediately fell in love with it. It was so meant to be in that setting, in that I was uncomfortable in a very good way, which helped me a lot to grow into that situation of having other ears and eyes around me in the studio.
Alongside the playing and your vocals, the harmonies are wonderful on the record. You got Leean Skoda on board to record backing vocals and harmonies live in the studio.
Yes, I feel that Leeann is the Emmylou Harris of the L.A. scene. She is known for that and is everyone’s first call for background vocals and has toured with a lot of great musicians. She brought great energy into the studio.
Interview by Declan Culliton