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Posted |
February 5th, 2010 |
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Shooter
Jennings
paints new
songs
"Black" |
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Mitchell Peters
LOS
ANGELES (Billboard) - On the
title track to his 2005 debut,
"Put the 'O' Back in Country,"
Shooter Jennings, the son of
country legend Waylon Jennings,
sang about "playing hillbilly
music, like I was born to do."
The Southern rocker takes an
unexpected, darker turn on his
fourth studio album, "Black
Ribbons," by tapping novelist
Stephen King to help narrate a
70-minute concept album that
explores an apocalyptic future.
Music
With the help
of his new band, Hierophant,
Jennings moves beyond the
country-rock barriers by
experimenting with multiple
genres, ranging from electronic
to punk -- and even Auto-Tuned
vocals -- on the set, which is
scheduled for release March 2 on
Black Country Rock/Rocket
Science Ventures.
Billboard: "Black Ribbons" is
darker and more experimental
than your past releases. How did
you develop the concept?
Shooter Jennings: There were
many elements in my life that
led to this record; I went
through a lot of big changes. I
had a daughter and left my label
and management in Nashville. So
I had all this swirling emotion.
In 2008 I moved across the
country again from New York to
Los Angeles. I drove in an RV
with my fiancee, our daughter
and our dog. That was the week
when the economy completely fell
apart. There was this feeling of
being in the middle of the U.S.
while all of this craziness was
happening and hearing the fear
from people on the radio. It
opened my eyes to the injustice
of how society is panning out.
So I had a concept for the album
by the time I got to L.A.
Billboard: There are only a
few songs that could work for
country radio. Was this album a
planned departure from country
music?
Jennings: It was
100 percent natural. There were
some songs that didn't end up on
this record that were
country-esque. With all these
changes, part of that was also
examining who I am. That
includes all the work I've done
before, which I'm very proud of.
My past records were exactly
where I was in my life at that
time. For now, I feel like
there's more of a bigger picture
to my tastes and what I can
offer.
Billboard: The
fictional talk-radio host/album
narrator Will O' the Wisp paints
a post-apocalyptic picture of
the world. Did anything other
than the poor economy inspire
this?
Jennings: I've
always been drawn to the darker
side of things. When I was doing
this record, I was reading a lot
on everything, from past
civilizations to government
conspiracies to UFOs to the
brief history of time to books
on the occult. I was soaking up
this dark counterculture of the
world. We're in a very grim
time. So I needed to paint the
grim picture to let the colors
of the positive message of the
record shine.
Billboard:
How did you get Stephen King to
be the voice of Will O' the
Wisp?
Jennings: The idea
popped into my head by the time
I reached L.A. Someone at
Entertainment Weekly hooked us
up and forwarded an e-mail from
me to him. It didn't hit me that
I got Stephen King wrapped into
some scheme until he e-mailed me
back. But I knew he was a fan.
Eventually I sent him my idea
for what Will O' the Wisp should
be and he liked it. The next
thing I knew, there was a CD of
his recording on my doorstep,
with a photograph of him in the
studio and a transcript.
Billboard: In 2008, you and your
band the .357s worked on "Waylon
Forever," a tribute to your
father. Do you have any similar
projects lined up?
Jennings: We're doing some
"Waylon Forever" shows, where we
play the whole record and then
play some other stuff. There's a
Waylon tribute record (being put
together for ScatterTunes) that
has a lot of different people on
it. I have a couple songs on it,
and my mom (Jessi Colter) is on
it a few times. I took part in
that, but it's not necessarily
anything of my artistic
creation. But you never know.
The "Waylon Forever" thing was
important for me to get out
there. Once I did that, I felt
like I had achieved one of my
goals.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61502820100206
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