One of the many highlights at the Static Roots Festival in Oberhausen, Germany, last month was a blistering set from David Newbould and his band. The Toronto, Canada-born artist honed his skills in New York and Austin before moving to Nashville, where he currently lives. His signature sound is very much 70s-driven guitar rock, and for those unfamiliar with his music, a listen to his latest album, LIVE IN GERMANY, is the perfect starting place. We recently caught up with David in Nashville via Zoom, where he spoke of, among other things, his early influences and how the pandemic shaped the direction of his gilt-edged 2022 album POWER UP.
Can you recall the song, band or show that set you off on your musical career?
There were a few stages to that, but my ‘Beatles on Ed Sullivan moment’ was when I heard Dexys Midnight Runners song Come On Eileen on the Top 40 when I was young. That opened the door for me. I’m not quite sure why it was that song, but it was probably the first one that appealed to me. It definitely set something in motion. I knew that this was what I wanted to do right away. I started as a drummer and then switched to playing guitar, but in terms of putting it all together in line with what I’ve been doing ever since, I watched the Neil Young LIVE RUST video that a friend loaned me. That hit me like nothing had ever hit me before, and from there playing guitar, writing songs and being able to sing equally meant everything to me. That was in my later adolescence, and there was no turning back from there.
You moved from your hometown of Toronto to New York and Austin before settling in Nashville.
Yes. I finished High School and didn’t want to stay in Toronto; all my heroes had gone to New York City. L.A. was far away, and I didn’t know anything about the scene there, and England, where some of my favourite bands came from, was not an option. New York was only a bus ride away, and I had a cousin there. I loved it there, but things evolved, and I felt I had spent enough time there. Austin, Texas, seemed really appealing to me, so I moved there. That gave me a whole new set of musical parameters. I stayed there for a while and then ended up in Nashville.
What drew you to Nashville?
Two specific things drew me to Nashville. One was the touring aspect, as Nashville is a place where you can cover more territory being based here. I loved Austin with all my heart, but I had been touring around Texas for a few years. I had a good booking situation in Nashville, which was good, and I could hit so many more markets from here. I was also interested in songwriting and publishing.
You are regularly pigeonholed in the Americana genre. How does that sit with you?
I’m okay with that; I guess I’ll throw the term into my bios. I certainly don’t make music thinking about parameters. I don’t have anything against these terms, so whatever Americana is, I’m closer to it than hip-hop or jazz. Firstly, it was country rock in the 1970s, roots rock in the 1980s, and alt-country in the 1990s. Now, there is Americana from all different countries, which is weird.
When did you record your latest album LIVE IN GERMANY?
That was recorded on tour in the fall of 2023. It was completely random; our sound engineer asked us if we’d mind if he multi-tracked a recording of the show. So, we set up a few iPhones to see if we’d get a decent YouTube video. He sent me the tracks, and I went to work mixing them. I really liked the way they came out. I put them on YouTube, and a few people asked if I’d put it on Spotify. So, I listened to them without the video and felt that it held up pretty well. I wanted to have something to sell when I went over to Europe on tour again this year, and Blackbird, the label I had been working with, were all for it, and we put it out. I had played there a couple of times before Static Roots last month. I have an agent in Belgium, and his territory consists of Germany, Belgium, and Holland. That is where most of my playing overseas has been in the last few years.
Your last studio album, POWER UP from 2022, was recorded during the pandemic with Scot Sax producing. It ended up somewhat different than you had initially intended.
Yes. I had the songs mostly in the can, though a few of them came about during the early days of the pandemic. We started recording simply for something to do at that time. Scot and I have sons around the same age, and I would bring my son over to hang out at his place. One day, we just came up with the song Power Up, which Scot produced. It came out differently from anything else I had done before. I had been figuring out who I would make my next record with and how that was going to happen, and I thought working with Scot would be great. We didn’t know how long the pandemic would last. We worked safely, turning his garage into a studio and doing most of the playing ourselves. The album came out entirely differently than it would have without the pandemic. Still, I was grateful because it was a different recording experience and inspired me to build my own studio, which I had been putting off. I have had the studio room in my house for a few years. As I said, I started as a drummer as a kid, so I began relearning instruments and recording my own stuff; up to that, I had only been demoing vocals and guitar on GarageBand. I’ve been doing a lot of that since then.
Given that you play both with a band and solo, do you intentionally write songs that can be performed in both settings?
I usually start the songs as a laid-back acoustic ballad because I write with an acoustic guitar, which is just the natural way for me. Once the song is done, I start thinking about whether it will work well with a band. There’s a song called Last Letter on POWER UP which I wrote years ago as a finger-picking acoustic, but at some point, I thought it would be cool to turn it into a rock and roll song; I just changed the key and figured out an arrangement, and now it’s definitely a ‘big song’ with the band, even though it didn’t start that way. In most of the songs I write, I have in mind that they will eventually get there.
You have also co-written with Roger Cook, who has written chart-topping hits in the U.K. and U.S. for over five decades. How did that connection come about?
Roger lives in Franklin, south of Nashville, and there is a club there called Kimbro’s, where I play fairly regularly. We played there once before John Prine’s brother, Billy. Roger, who was great friends with John Prine, was there. I knew who he was because I had a job at The Bluebird Café when I first moved here, and Roger would play there. He came up to me after the show and said, ‘Man, that was great. What have you got going on? Anyway, I can help. Let me know; maybe we can write together.’ About six years ago, I started writing songs with him, and we’ve written a couple of dozen songs together; he’s a fun guy.
You’re just back from touring in Europe. Have you shows lined up in the near future?
I’m heading up to Illinois this weekend for a couple of shows and some sporadic stuff playing around town. We have a couple of semi-residencies, and we play Acme & Seed downtown a fair bit. I’m working on returning to Europe next year; I’d love to do an Irish tour when I’m over this time.
Interview by Declan Culliton. Photograph by Ryan Knaack