A Conversation with Annabelle Chvostek (continued)

PM: Let's talk a little about "Devil's Paintbrush Road", the crucial opening song from Firecracker, which literally launches the record. It's really interesting that your mandolin part is intact from the earlier version on your Burn My Ass EP, which--

[laughter]

PM: When I checked that out, I thought "Wow, the new chick in the Jennys has a EP out that's called Burn My Ass. That's pretty wild. This oughta be interesting..."

[laughter]

AC: Yeah. There are some days that I regret calling it that. But there are as many times where I just like it because it's funny.

PM: It's fantastic. I think it's really funny. So the mandolin part is still intact from that early version, which really, to me, pointed up the genius of Nicky's harp playing, especially that recurring bluesy line.

AC: Yeah.

PM: That is a harp doing that line, right?

AC: Yeah, that's harmonica.

PM: That's kind of saxophone-like.

AC: Uh-huh.

PM: And Ruth's fantastic banjo on that cut, and Kevin Breit's dobro--

AC: Yeah.

PM: --and the rhythm section. I mean, it's amazing, all that the song became. It's a great song to begin with, of course--but all that it became on this record is a real testament to the overall effort. It's kind of a microcosm of all that's to come on the record.

AC: Yeah.

PM: A meeting of the greatest elements appear right in that song, right at the top. So that had to be some kind of a small revelation to see your song come to that particular life on this record, right?

AC: Absolutely. In fact, I'm plucking on a fiddle, I'm not actually playing a mandolin.

PM: Oh, a fiddle?

AC: I'm holding it like a mandolin, and I'm just plucking.

PM: No kidding.

AC: Yeah, I mean, I started writing the music for that when I was on a camping trip, and all I had with me was a crappy old fiddle, so--

PM: You mean there's no mandolin on that cut?

AC: No. I mean, I'm plucking it. I'm playing the fiddle like a mandolin.

PM: That's totally cool.

AC: Yeah.

PM: What about on Burn My Ass? Are you playing on the mandolin or the fiddle?

AC: Yeah, no, it's a fiddle, yeah, plucking my fiddle.

PM: That's amazing.

AC: Yeah. It's a slightly different timbre than the mandolin, but it's really--

PM: I thought it was awfully throaty. That's totally cool. Now, you're plucking it with your fingers, not using any kind of a plectrum, right?

AC: I'm just wailing away with my hand, yep. But you're right--when I got back and listened to the Burn My Ass version of it--I have a couple of times since the new one came out--it really is an incredible evolution. Like who would have thunk? Like Mike, who was putting some parts on--Mike Hardwicke from Austin, who we worked with--he was sort of the first one who said to me, "This is a bluegrass tune."

[laughter]

AC: I was like, "Wow, really? I guess I wrote a bluegrass tune." And then as all the parts emerged, it was just like, "Oh, my gosh! This is turning into something huge. This is crazy. Like I almost can't handle it..."

But yeah, working with David Travers-Smith was an incredible experience, because he really sort of tuned into who we are and what our potential was, and what the song's potential was, and was really sensitive about that. And he just built everything up so well. It was very exciting for me to work with such a pro, and have it be such a good experience.

PM: Oh, yeah. He's a frickin' wizard, that guy.

AC: Yeah, yeah.

PM: And I want to come back to him. But you just mentioned Mike Hardwick, too. And I was just hanging out with him backstage in New York City. What a great guy and a great player he is.

AC: Yeah, yeah, he is. And he was there for our bed sessions. And he was a really important presence, because that was a very intense time. We had basically ten days, which included really intensive rehearsals, and then going into the studio to work stuff out. And he was kind of like the Zen master kind of presence. Like he was just like so laid back and solid, and would just come out with these like very simple and humble words of wisdom that kind of were very grounding for me during that whole intense process.

PM: He's one of those like translucent guys, just like, "Oh, right, you're one of those invisible dudes. You're just playing the perfect part, and otherwise you're like, "Where'd he go?"

Yeah, I was in New York, and my close friend and co-writer, Thomm Jutz was playing a gig. He plays guitar with Mary Gauthier, and they were doing this gig with Eliza Gilkyson. So I met Mike backstage; he's a helluva guy.

AC: Yeah.

PM: How do the Jennys know him?

AC: Through Eliza, yeah, because I mean, we all love Eliza.

PM: Yeah. What's not to love, right?

AC: Yeah. I'd seen her a long time ago at some folk conference or something, and I was just like, "Wow, who's that?" And then we all ended up on the same label, on Red House, in the States.

PM: Right.

AC: And yeah, and so last summer we were at some festivals together. We're listening to the record, and just loving all the guitars parts that Mike was putting on. And then we got to meet him at like Kenmore Folk Festival and Calgary Folk Festival. And we did a workshop stage with Eliza, and her son Cisco on the drums, and Mike. And at that time we were starting to really workshop the songs and think about what we wanted, and listening to Eliza's recordings, and just sort of digging that vibe, and there he was. [laughs] So we figured, "Okay, let's contact him to do the sessions."

PM: Wow.

AC: It was really a good choice.

PM: Yeah. He played great stuff on your record, too.

AC: Yeah. And he's never trying to jump in or show off, ever. He's just trying to lay it down and support, which is so amazing.

PM: I mean, if anything, when I saw him in the park in Manhattan with Eliza, I was like, "Is it the sound guy's problem? Is he not turning him up loud enough?" And then I got up closer and said, "No, he's just playing that laid back." If there's a solo, he'll step up a little, and otherwise he's like the part that you don't necessarily hear per se, but that's totally essential.

AC: Yeah, exactly.

PM: And that's very unusual.

But about that wizard, David Travers-Smith, I don't even know where to begin. The guy has done such an amazing job on the record. And you say that it comes from totally getting the group, and totally getting the songs. But is there any one song, for instance, that comes to mind, how he may have heard one or all of the women just run the tune down, and had an idea about how to approach it? Is there any anecdote around any song that has to do with him hearing the song and saying, "Okay, well, let's do this"? Or was there a studio M.O., like, "Well, we always tracked him with the main songwriter, everybody singing, and the rhythm section"? Was there a certain M.O. in the studio, how you tracked the tunes?

AC: Well, he really responded to what we wanted, too. He threw in a lot of ideas. I didn't think that necessarily there would be drums like there are on "Devil's Paintbrush Road." I thought, "Umm, maybe a little train beat on a snare or something like that." And then it's just this huge kabang, kachung!

PM: [laughs] Right.

AC: And that was also Christian, our drummer; he came up with this huge whacky idea. And I was kind of like, "Well, I don't know about that..." But David was hearing the potential in it. And it changed from that first time we tried to do it all together. He was just like wailing away. And I was like, "How can you even hear anything else?"

[laughter]

PM: Who cares.

[laughter]

AC: Yeah, yeah. But it transformed, and it mixed in a bit of the train beat, but it almost has a sense of New Orleans brass band kind of vibe within the drums. That's what he was hearing.

We were on tour in Australia for the last stretch of the record production. And he was sending us mixes every single day, and getting other people in, like every day, and trying out parts, and sending us ideas. And we were sending back feedback. And we were not easy to work with, either.

PM: Of course not.

AC: He came up with a lot of ideas that we were just like--that each individual songwriter really, you know, took to heart, but then things transformed enormously from the time he would present an idea and the actual production. On "Firecracker" as well, I wanted some like crazy hard guitar on there for some reason, even though it's a sweet song. And he sent me all these different guitar ideas that were kind of lovely and twinkly. And I kept saying, "I need something more aggressive."

[laughter]

AC: "Okay. I understand. It's like more male."

[laughter]

AC: And so finally it happened, with Kevin Breit playing these really heavy parts on it. And I said, "Okay! You got it!" And he loved it.

[laughter]

AC: So things like that: it was a lot of back and forth and a lot of jamming out different ideas, and him connecting with these musicians. Fro instance, I had never met Kevin until after the summer, when I got to say "Hey, thanks for doing that. You got it."

[laughter]

AC: Yeah. Kevin is just amazing. He's also one of those players who's so soulful, and so connected. Norah Jones, that's one of his gigs.

PM: Sure. He's a monstrous player, that guy.

AC: Yeah.

PM: We've heard him now on so many great records that I'm happy to be able to ask somebody that's worked with him--even though you weren't there when he got the parts--

AC: Yeah.

PM: --what's he like personally?

AC: Well, my meeting with him was fairly brief, but he's bubbly and funny, and very humble, but full of energy. I saw him do a workshop stage at Winnipeg this summer--it was kind of like the guitar wank workshop where all these guitar players got to just wail away on electrics.

[laughter]

AC: He's on fire, that guy.   continue

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