A former member of the Boston Indie-band, Fat Creeps, Gracie Jackson released her debut self-titled solo album under her stage name, GracieHorse in 2015. Working as a full-time travel nurse restricted the time she could dedicate to her art, but the combination of recovering from a neck injury and the pandemic gave her the space to complete her new record, L.A. SHIT. The album is loaded with left-of-centre alt-country gems and has been regularly pouring out of the speakers at Lonesome Highway HQ since its release a few months ago. We got the insight into the album and the change in musical direction from Gracie when we recently spoke with her.
When I think of Boston, bands like The Pixies, Passion Pit, and Aerosmith come to mind, rather than country or alt-country bands. Did you play country music growing up there?
No. I definitely always liked country music but I didn’t play it in Boston, I didn’t really feel confident playing country music until I came out here in L.A. I’ve always listened to a lot of different types of music and when I lived in Wyoming for a while and I heard so much great country music there, I really got inspired. When I moved to L.A. it seemed that people were also playing country music here and I felt that I could at least perform more of my country songs here.
What artists in particular inspired you?
I started with Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Loretta Lynn; I really like sixties country and was also listening to Waylon Jennings and Jessi Coulter. I like a lot of soul music too, artists like Betty Harris, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Mistress Mary and also folk artists like Karen Dalton. The Gun Club was another band that had a kind of country thing going, that I loved.
How did the album L.A. SHIT come about? Was it a conscious decision to go in a country direction sonically?
I let a lot of songs and stuff just stew around in my mind for a number of years and when I had all those parts together, I started figuring them out. During my time in Wyoming, I had A lot of these songs stewing but I just didn’t have enough time to work on them because I also work as a nurse full time. I got a neck injury back then and had nothing to do for a few months and I just started to think a lot more about those songs, mostly to help me stay calm. My neck injury meant that I had difficulty doing things with my hands, I was getting this shooting electricity sensation. So, I got my procedure done, started to feel better, and worked on all these songs that were playing around in my mind. They all just happened to be country-ish type songs.
When and where did you record them?
During the pandemic at our house, my husband has a studio and we recorded it there. We could only have a couple of people come over at a time to limit the exposure, so we got everything together slowly. We had one or two days of full tracking with bass, drums and guitar, and the others would come in one at a time and we would add their track.
The album’s title suggests a degree of frustration with your time in L.A.
It has taken a lot of time to get used to living here and a lot of the songs are about being homesick. I’m so far away from my home base in Massachusetts and hadn’t expected to stay in L.A. for so long and a lot of the songs on the album are about people and situations, generally me trying to get used to life here. The album’s title refers to some of the more superficial and slimy aspects of L.A. It’s like ‘I hate it here, but I’m not going to let you take me down.’ I did hate it when I moved here first but I do like it now, I just had to learn to communicate differently. In Massachusetts, it’s very direct, whereas here in L.A. it’s more like an earthquake culture and you have to tip around things in a specific way to say things. It’s like a more complicated dance here. It’s just so different than the East Coast, I’m sure the rest of California is probably not like that. But there is a great music scene, I also sing in my husband’s Jonny Kosmo’s band, which is more soul and funk, fairly eclectic.
My favourite song on the album is the opener Hollow Heart, which seems to point a finger at less-than-genuine and condescending people.
That song is not about L.A. in particular, it’s really about a few different people over my life. It’s a song that is very special to me and the lyrics really speak for themselves, probably better than I can explain.
If You're Gonna Walk That Straight Line Son, It’s Only Gonna Hurt is a great title and song. Where did that one come from?
That song is about a friend’s partner who was going around town. Everyone knew that he was playing around but didn’t want to get caught up in the middle of it. I didn’t want to be too direct about what was happening, so I wrote the song and I showed it to them. They both were like ‘cool, what do the lyrics mean?’ When I heard that, I just gave up!
By the Light of His White Stetson is another interesting title.
That song is from my time in Wyoming. I had never been to a honky tonk bar before where people would two-step and this was my first week in Wyoming. The song is about one character that I met at that bar one night who was just too much. I didn’t want to dance with him but I thought if I gave him a couple of dances, he would leave me alone, but he didn’t. He had no sense of rhythm, was just whipping me around, was way faster than the music, and was getting really sweaty, even though two-stepping does not require that amount of physical effort. This other guy saw that I was having a hard time and just said ‘Mam, if y’all want to come sit with us, you’re welcome.’ I was glad to join this table of random cowboy guys, who became the first friends that I made there. It was really nice and that is how people in small communities look out for each other, even people that are brand new to the area.
Is the album a one-off or will you continue down an alt-country path going forward?
I do think there’s going to be an L.A. SHIT part two. I have fun with the country thing, I think it’s great for storytelling and I really love the sound of pedal steel. I was just so shocked when I got to play with pedal steel players for the first time. I just love that sound and look for any way that I can include that vibe in my music. Pedal steel and sitar are probably my two favourite instruments.
How do you balance your professional career as a nurse and your artistic career?
I worked as a travel nurse because it’s hard to live off music and you have to support yourself. A travel nurse contract is like a temporary assignment which means you can pump up your coffers and then play music for a while. I like working as a nurse but I have periods of time when I feel that I want to focus more on music. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve switched to less physically demanding avenues of nursing. Times when I was working full time in hospital, I had no energy for what I needed for music and writing and things have got easier for me since I switched to less physically demanding nursing jobs and that is where I’m at now.
You are due to go on tour with your band including a show at The Basement in Nashville on 24th September.
Yes, this is the first full-length tour that I’ve booked myself. We will be playing as a quartet; I’m bringing two friends with me that were in my band in Massachusetts and I have a friend from Nashville joining us on pedal steel. We are playing alongside Sean Thompson’s band in Nashville, we played a show together before at SXSW. It will be cool to play with him again, I really like his music.
Interview by Declan Culliton