With a combined back catalogue of over thirty albums, husband and wife team Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish have been at the forefront of the UK's Americana, roots and country music scene for over two decades. They put their solo careers temporarily to one side and combined their talents to launch My Darling Clementine in 2010. That liaison has resulted in seven studio recordings from their debut album, HOW DO YOU PLEAD? in 2011 and, more recently, their interpretation of a selected of Elvis Costello songs, COUNTRY DARKNESS. After their successful run of shows last year, they come back to Ireland to play ten shows between the 2nd and 12th of May. Included in that roster is a return to Kilkenny Roots Festival, a relationship that goes back twenty years since Michael performed solo and where My Darling Clementine last performed in 2017.
Your latest project, COUNTRY DARKNESS, is a reworking of Elvis Costello's songs. Your association with his work goes back several years including your play, THEY CALL HER NATASHA.
Lou - Yes, it's funny how things have come full circle. I was working with a full band doing a show of all Elvis Costello songs, then Michael and I collaborated and wrote that play, which we took to the Edinburgh Festival. It was about a woman called Elsie Costello, and it was just an excuse back then for Michael and me to indulge in Elvis' material, which we then left alone for almost twenty years. Having done a few My Darling Clementine albums together, we thought it would be nice to explore some Costello songs with a very different attitude to back then.
Michael, was your solo album CRAWLING IN THE USA from 2008 a spin on Elvis's track Crawling To The USA from his 1979 album TAKING LIBERTIES?
Michael - It was. I released three live solo albums in the early 2000’s and based this one on my live gigs and radio sessions in The States. That title does have a double meaning though, as I was literally crawling through the USA sometimes. I did a six-week solo tour over there with just a guitar and a hire car, which sounds fantastic. But by the end of that run, and after so many years of a solo career, I’d had enough, and I thought it was time to quit being a troubadour and ‘get back into show business’. I thought of who I knew who was a good singer and who could drag me from this hell I had descended into. Turned out to be my wife.
You were married for a number of years and enjoying successful solo careers before forming My Darling Clementine.
Lou - It did take a few years, yes. We were both happily planning our solo careers and then we decided to have a baby, which I took as an excuse to put my feet up and not do anything for a couple of years. I really enjoyed being a mum and left it to Michael to bring home the bacon. We then thought we should collaborate, rather than be constantly competing with each other. In some ways, it became very simple logistically, as we both knew exactly where we would be and could never escape each other (laughs).
What was your vision, a one-off album or a permanent career move?
Michael - It was a case of 'let's make a late 60’s Nashville sounding record’ and see what happens. The whole Americana thing was really bubbling along, and in true fashion, having been part of the Americana scene for a long time, I decided to swim against the tide and embrace real traditional country music So, we made HOW DO YOU PLEAD? Which was steeped in classic country duets; I thought we would maybe play a few gigs and then carry on individually again. Or maybe it would take off? I had looked at Imelda May and Richard Hawley and what they had done with traditional older styles of music, Imelda with rock and roll, and Richard with his Roy Orbison ballad thing, which had resulted in successful commercial careers. Part of the thinking was that My Darling Clementine could take country music and fashion it similarly. Both Imelda and Richard would admit that their careers changed when they landed spots on Later with Jools Holland. When the debut album came out, we were booked to do that show, but the series was reduced from twelve episodes to ten, and we were one of the acts that got bumped. Who knows if that would have been the difference for us? Quite possibly.
Have you seen a change in your audiences' profile over the years, given that 'country' music has contracting definitions for different generations in the U.K. and Ireland?
Michael - I'm not sure. I've been working in the ‘country world’ since the days of the emergence of new country acts like Dwight Yoakum and Nanci Griffith. In Britain, our generation has always taken to the better country music from America and rejected the Nashville pop country. Nowadays, a general wave of bro-country / pop-country is being embraced here, and we are as far removed from that as we are from Metallica. Our audience comprises people who grew up with ALt. Country and then Americana, older fans who love the whole Gram Parson, Byrds thing, and others who just like 'our thing'; they like the 'act' although they possibly wouldn't know Tom T Hall from Tom Jones. I was in my forties when we formed My Darling Clementine, and the subject matter we were writing was and is, adult-themed, as it was with George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, so it music for older folks.
Lou – I think the younger audiences think of country music as, what I consider, bland pop music because that is what they are being told is country music these days.
What can we expect from your shows in Ireland?
Michael - we will be playing some brand new songs as we're working on a new record right now. There will be a few songs from the COUNTRY DARKNESS record, we do a ‘Costello set’ within the show, 5-6 songs, and of course also plenty of songs, from the entire MDC back catalogue. 1-2 from my solo album (if Lou lets me). We also like to throw in a couple of more obtuse covers. At the moment it is the great Joe Henry song You Can’t Fail Me Now
Will the new album change direction from that of the previous ones?
Lou - With each album we make, we are moving slightly further away from our first album, not necessarily intentionally; you just try out different things. Potentially, with this album, we will be writing independently a bit more. We have always tended to do that, but we may be a little bit riskier this time in terms of not necessarily having to fit a particular brief.
Michael - We are not singing all these new songs ‘to each other’ as we would with classic duets. Some will be conversational, but there will also be 'Lou's songs' and 'my songs', and it will be less 'country' than the previous records, more a mix of torch songs, power pop and singer-songwriter stuff. We are also producing this one solely ourselves. Two of our albums were produced by Neil Brockbank, who worked with Nick Lowe for many years, and the other three albums, I co-produced them with Colin Elliot, who is part of the Richard Hawley band and also co-prodcues Richards albums. Currently we are in the studio in Mid Wales with a wonderful young engineer and musician called Clovis Phillips; I made my recent solo album, THE STRUGGLE with Clovis, and the studio is ten miles up the road from where we now live, so super convenient, and it has a great sound. We will eventually take it to Sheffield, where Colin (Elliott) will mix it. It's a different process to other Clementine records where we would set up the band in the studio and record live. It's still a work in progress, and as yet untitled, (though I rather like “A Field Of Our Own”) and it should be out in November.
Lou - we are doing this album in a more stripped-down way, going in more gently with our approach rather than setting up with a band and working on the songs as we have done in the past.
How much attention will you apply to the track listing given that the 'streaming generation' don't always play albums in full?
Michael - It's always the first two songs that get more plays and streams, no matter who you are. That wonderful process of putting the track listing together has nearly become irrelevant but as usual, we will labour over it. I still listen to cd’s and vinyl
Lou - And we will have endless arguments about the order of the tracks!
I believe you will be working again in the future with Elvis Costello's sidekick Steve Nieve, who contributed to the COUNTRY DARKNESS project.
Michael - Yes, we are going to Japan later in the year to do some shows with Steve, which we're very much looking forward to. There are also 2-3 new songs which we’d like him to play on, so yes, expect more from the maestro on this album too.
You have a busy touring schedule ahead after your dates in Ireland. You have a strong fan base in Scandinavia in particular.
Michael - We go there a lot, especially to Norway. The Norsk Americana Forum (www.americanaforum.no), the equivalent of the Americana Music Association here and in The States, are fans of ours and very supportive of us. Also Germany, Holland and Spain are good for us. There is an audience out there and we are happy to travel. In fact the travelling, is part of the reward for what we do. Obviously, it would be nice to tour in a little more style, rather than splitter vans and people carriers but still. We enjoy the travelling together. When you're touring on your own, you may be in the most beautiful place in the world but if it cant be shared it rather devalues it. And in fact it can be even lonelier, so the fact we can share and enjoy these experience is an added bonus.
Lou - Our daughter also comes with us some of the time which allows us to also have some family time on the road. She is a musician and regularly joins us on stage and as she gets older, we give her more and more work to do. She is coming to Ireland with us and will be on stage for some of the shows.
Peter Case, who co-wrote the song Sugar, on Michael's latest solo album, THE STRUGGLE, will also be performing at Kilkenny. How did your connection with Peter come about?
Michael - I actually saw Peter play last night with Sid Griffin in Chester. We go back a long way, well over twenty years. Peter is a generation older than me, and I was a huge fan of him before I got to know him. We did a triple bill, trio tour - myself, Peter, and John Doe of X, back in 2001, and we have always kept in touch. Just before lockdown I was in The States at a songwriting retreat in Lafayette. Peter was also there at and we ended up writing ‘Sugar' there. That was a thrill and I loved how it turned out. https://youtu.be/nuFmFP4Uin0?si=2yAT-zoSJuv1ILC0
Irrespective of our friendship, he is one of my favourite artists. He is criminally underrated, a hardcore troubadour who started out as a busker and has carried that on to this day, despite flirting with fame, being signed to Geffen, produced by T. Bone Burnett etc. He, of course, also played in The Nerves and The Plimsouls before going solo. Peter really has ‘it’, playing solo is not the same as playing without a band, there is a whole craft to it, and he is master-craftsman
Alongside the busy touring schedule and the next My Darling Clementine album, you also have a David Ackles tribute album in mind.
Michael - I've been pondering this for some time. I'm a big fan of David Ackles, he was a genius and hugely overlooked. A friend of mine, Mark Brend, is writing a biography of David at the moment. When I get the time, I want to get this album together to coincide with the book, due 2025. I have done it before, curating both tribute albums to old friends Jackie Leven and Townes Van Zandt but it’s hard work - it's a bit like herding cats, trying to get everybody together to record their songs for the album. But, once done they are hugely rewarding, and it is always interesting to see how different artists approach the songs - so hopefully the same will happen with this one.
Before then, and to complete my busy workload, I am also one of three guest vocalists on an album called TREMULANT by Ghostwriter (aka Mark Brend), which comes out on September 13th. It is an eclectic and experimental album recreating and reinventing hymns and spirituals of the past 2 centuries. The other vocalists are Andrew Rumsey whose album Evensongs was a favourite from last year, and the folk singer, Suzy Mangion.
But first, and foremost, the My Darling Clementine Irish tour. Bring it on.
Interview by Declan Culliton with Stephen Rapid Main image by Richard Shakespeare