A Conversation with Amy Rigby (continued)

PM: So there are two great Nashville recording environments on the new record. Let's talk about Steve Allen, and his studio Blue Planet. So he put together a good band, right. Who was that all?

AR: Well, that was part of a band that I've done shows with, so Steve and I figured out when we could record, and then looked around to see who was available. There are certain combinations of bass players and drummers that I like together. And Rick Plant and Ken Coomer [Buddy & Julie Miller and Wilco], I'd had them together on a gig or two, and just liked the combination.

PM: Right.

AR: It's hard to explain why, but just the way some people play together. So yeah, we got them, and then, when we could, finished up with the guitar and stuff.

PM: Steve Allen himself plays some really cool guitar.

AR: He does, yeah.

PM: The way he lays the dirty Les Paul over the major seven chords, it sounds like Neil Young in the Buffalo Springfield days.

AR: Yeah, that's great. We usually have fun. Steve plays guitar with me a lot, we hang out together a lot, he's a very fun guy. And I'm very comfortable with him, so we just had a good time kind of playing around, and saying, "Let's try this, let's do that." And that's something I've really never had the luxury of doing in the studio before.

PM: The fun of goofing around in the studio trying stuff.

AR: Yes. Because it's usually been much more like, "Okay, we've got four or five guys, and we're on the clock."

PM: Right.

AR: Whereas with him it was more relaxed. And in general, Nashville is like that, I think, for recording.

PM: Oh, agreed. Even when recording studios are having such a hard time getting acts in there and getting time booked, it's still like that.

AR: Yeah.

PM: Speaking of cool guys, let's talk about George Bradfute at Tone Chaparral Studio.

AR: Uh-huh. George was the only one who I really didn't know well. I'd met him and been by when Joy White was over there making some demos of songs that we'd written. But I loved the Jason Ringenberg record that he'd done there, the first solo one.

PM: That was a great record.

AR: And the Paul Burch stuff that he'd done there.

PM: Did you have brunch at Paul Burch's restaurant this morning? [The Red Wagon, 10th & Woodland, Nashville]

AR: Yeah, I did.

PM: Yeah, me too.

AR: But it's funny, Frank, because it wasn't my intention. I was going to go to Monell's with some friends. And then they were going at 11:00 a.m., and I just was not ready to eat that huge groaning buffet of food--

[laughter]

AR: --and so I passed on that. And then somebody else called and said they were going to Red Wagon later, so I was totally up for it, and it was great.

PM: Yeah, and everybody who reads this interview, when they drop into Nashville, they ought to know about the Red Wagon. It's owned by Paul Burch and his wife Meg Guiffrida.

One of the wonderful things about George's studio, just like Steve's, is that he'll play any number of things to make your music as incredible as it really is.

AR: Yeah. We actually did a lot of live recording at George's, really trying to get as much keepable stuff live as we could. Vocals, all the guitars--or all the guitars that we could, and the bass and drums. And then we'd just kind of have fun with whatever else presented itself to go on top of that stuff. George would come up with ideas after I'd gone home, and then play them for me when I came back. And we'd take it from there, and that was really, really just great. It reminded me how much fun it is to record. And I could have easily done ten more songs there.

PM: Right.

AR: So that really helped me round out the record.

PM: Nashville is fantastic like that. I mean, you have these producers who, after you go home, you come back in the morning and say, "Okay, let's see what Brad or George or Steve did while I was sleeping." [laughs]

AR: It's so true, yeah.

PM: It's just the incredible amount of talent. I mean, I noticed on the notes on "Don't Ever Change," he played quatro, upright bass, clarinet ,and viola.

AR: I know.

PM: I mean, come on, man.

AR: It was just crazy. It's funny, because that song--that's one where I just didn't want to do the obvious thing--I don't know, I didn't want to have your basic folk rock or country rock arrangement. It just needed something that was more felt than arranged. We had it just a vocal and guitar, and I would have been fine with just using that, but then we kind of dabbled a little with the--what's that thing called, not a keyboard, like the mel...?

PM: The mellotron.

AR: Yeah. So we put a little mellotron on there, and it was like, "Oh, that's opening it up a little bit." And then it seemed like maybe there should be a bass on there. And then when I went home he kind of came up with that odd combination. I really liked that odd combination, the way you can't really tell whether it's a string instrument or a wind, you know what I mean?

PM: Yeah.

AR: It kind of reminded me of--well, I love the production of some of those Simon and Garfunkel records, and I think it reminded me of one of those.

PM: Roy Halee there, right?

AR: Exactly. I don't know how they recorded. I don't know if they did it like Elton John did, where he'd often just go and play the piano and do the vocal, and then Gus Dudgeon would come in and do these incredible productions around the performance. And maybe they worked the same way, I'm not sure.

PM: I don't know.

AR: But anyway, that seemed to work with that song, to just kind of build on the performance.

PM: I think that some of The Band's classic records were like that, too. Certainly the brown record, the second one, I remember reading Levon's account of those days, where they'd cut all the basics and then Garth would stay up all night--

AR: Yeah, and do stuff.

PM: Yeah, and they'd come in or get up in the morning hung over and see where they were now.

AR: [laughs] continue

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