..People broke down crying, listening to the record [Shadow In The Night], It’s like nothing you’ve ever heard Dylan do.
~Al Schmitt (somethingelsereviews.com)
Here is a great interview with recording engineer on Bob Dylan’s “Shadows In The Night” – Al Schmitt.
[blockquote cite=” short bio from RodPicott.com” type=”left, center, right”]The son of a welder from rural New England, Rod Picott is a masterful songwriter and soulful singer who carries with him as fine a suitcase of songs as you’ll find anywhere. Slaid Cleaves, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Fred Eagelsmith have recorded Rod Picott songs. A former construction worker who hung up his tools when he released his debut CD in 2000, Picott has carved a career for himself with a run of 6 beautifully crafted self released CDs over the last 13 years and a well earned reputation as a engaging, emotion fueled performer..[/blockquote]
I drove up to Haugesund at 11:30 on Friday Sep 26, plenty of time to find a place to park before I would get to talk to the great singer/songwriter, Rod Picott. Or so i thought, but there where nowhere to park, I had no coins to put on the meter and I when I finally found parking space I had to run to get to Amanda Hotel where Mr. Picott was waiting. I hurried in to the hotel lobby and found Rod Picott sitting and smiling in a sofa in the lobby. We said hello (I was a bit stressed out and even forgot to tell him my name) and we started to talk.
I must also say that I saw Rod Picott in concert later the same day at Smio, Vea, Karmøy. He gave a fantastic, intimate and funny show, exceeded all expectations. I will post picture from the concert all through this interview.
Alldylan (A): I’ve been listening a lot to your records lately, and in the car on the way over I listened to your latest album…
Rod Picott (R): Does it work in the car? (smiling)
A: … oh yeah, especially the car-song, 65 Falcon. The car is of course a metaphor.
R: Yes
65 Falcon:
A: … a metaphor for freedom just as Springsteen’s Thunder Road..
Rod Picott laughs and says: but not as elegant
A: Oh, it is very good and it rings very true. Most people in these parts has a strong connection to USA and understands the significance of cars, not just to get from A to B.
R: The song is a bit of a throwback, there aren’t many car songs right now, but I love songs that paints pictures. It’s a small song with many details, I really like those kinds of songs. To me it speaks of freedom and a little rebellion, You know, in the states a car, in some ways, communicate who you are. Not just in a matter of finances, it communicates other things…a sense of how you see the world. I used to have a 65 Falcon. So it’s all true.
A slightly altered cover of …The Further Out You Get
Johannasvisions: What would you say is the biggest difference from the previous album? Alexander Pettersen: I guess you could call it “the evil twin”…
The follow-up to The South’s 2013 album “The Further Inside You Go…” is a more demanding affair, but also an even more rewarding one. It opens with the 11 minute song, No Escape/Don’t Let Go, a track that is quite a departure for the band.
We’re no longer in the southern parts of the USA (well, not all the time anyway) it sounds like an Alan Parsons produced english band from around 1973. It swirls and changes its course as we listen, and this is something that we will encounter on the following songs as well. It starts off with gentle guitar and vocal, the sound is very delicate. The vocals are repeated and doubled, we get a subtle choir. The mood gets darker, but at about 2:40 into the song the drums and electric guitar lifts us up. The Keyboard echoes the melody. The pedal steel comes in, but it has no country-twang, it is airy and elegant. What a great start!
JV: The country-sound is all but gone, is this a conscious choice or did it “just happen”? AP: It is not something we decided, it is a natural progression for us, I think.
I write the songs I do, the only decision-making concerns choosing songs for the record, and the way we put them together to form a complete album.
This time I wanted to do something new, something else than before. And we did, we managed to pull off something special, something “more” than we’ve done before. I think we have succeeded in this, especially on the tracks, 1,2/3,5 and 6.
The South, Mono, Oslo, 2013
Desert Sounds takes us into more familiar territory, to the breezy Californian coast line. It starts off with a strumming acoustic guitar and then a beautiful melody hovers over the acoustic. The guitar is doubled and the keyboard fills in. It is a very finely arranged intro to the track, Glimpse of what we had. The South is in no hurry, they take their time and it builds up wonderfully. I see it as one song.
The second part of the track has a more up-beat melody, but the lyrics are filled with longing for past times and are bittersweet in tone. The electric guitar in the song is an Allman Brothers/Grateful Dead mix, but new and fresh and not retro in feel at all. The bass is subtly restrained and incredibly well played.
Glimpse of what we had (Spotify):
Now, The South takes us for a ride into, well, “The South” as in the musical landscape of the Southern US. They give us a superb Muscle Shoals sounding song, We Got Lucky. A lover reassure his girlfriend that all will be all right and we believe him. The track has some very fine horn arrangements (by Bendik Brænne) and both The Band and Little Feat would have been proud to include it in their catalogue.
Then we’re back on the road, we get a rousing boogie/Texas shuffle in the raw, Psb6u-blues. A steady “motor rhythm” of an accord on el-guitar lays the foundation, and we get a playful guitar that’s just “all over the place” above the steady beat. And then more guitar and keyboard. It reminds me of driving or taking the train, traveling. The vocal starts at 3:35(!) and it is no sweet blues, it is aggressive and insisting. It ends in a wild crescendo and I long to see it in a live setting. It is just fabulous, so far this is my favorite song on the record along with the last track, …The Further Out You Get.
A band calling themselves “The South” in spite of being from Trondheim, Norway need to have their compass in order
When you hear The South’s self titled second album, produced by Bent Sæther of Motorpsycho, it becomes clear that this sextet has a remarkable grip on their rock history, both the map and the terrain.
They actually lift what many hold to be the zenith of rock, the music of Little Feat, Grateful Dead and The Band from the first half of the 1970’s, into our time.
Bringing with them marvellous songs, the tightness of a good oldfashioned BAND and vocal harmonies to die for.
When we decided to go to Bergenfest this year we decided to try to get an interview with The South, they’re so obviousley right up our alley, they embody most of the musical styles that JV is about. They use the rich musical past to create fresh new songs. The press people at Bergenfest said we could get a 15 minute talk, we were happy just to get an interview.
We met in the “lounge” at the hotel where both The South and we stayed. We talked for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
