The Handsome Family’s hairy tales

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The Handsome Family is a couple, Rennie and Brett Sparks, married 24 years now and based in Albuquerque since 2001. Their ninth studio album of new, weird Americana, Wilderness, was released this spring, along with a companion book of essays and drawings by Rennie (who writes the band’s lyrics, while Brett writes the music). The theme of Wilderness is animals of all kinds, fertile ground for a woman who tells tales like a member of the Tom Waits family.

Our phone conversation began with Rennie advising LEO, “Brett’s here, if you want him to corroborate my stories.”

LEO: You guys have been married for a long time. What do you like best about him? And I’m asking, of course, because he’s there —

Rennie Sparks: His beard! I married him for the beard. I tell him that if I could have married a grizzly bear, I would’ve. But it’s not legal.

LEO: We’re kind of known for our beards in Louisville. I hope he’s not the jealous type.

RS: I’m excited now! It’s a good time in America for beards in general.

LEO: So, the new record — I’m curious about how much of your writing comes from stuff you’ve read for fun, versus how much you sit down and say, “I want to research this so I have something else to write about.”

RS: I do find that, whatever you think of these days, if you search for it on the Internet, there’s amazing things you can find out (laughs). People have so many strange postings, there’s endless stuff to learn about. So when I go to read about termites, I read all these papers from Creationists talking about how termite mounds are proof of God. Things like that are kind of mind-boggling to me. Also, then you find these scientific articles talking about how termites communicate by banging their heads on the floor of the little dirt corridors inside their mounds.

Plus, one of my favorite things to do these days is to download all those 99-cent books on Kindle that are from the 19th century. You can find these amazing books that are natural histories and zoological treatises from a different point of view. There’s one I was reading last year that’s one of my favorites — it talks about different animal intelligence. This guy’s argument is that orangutans are clearly smarter than chimps because you can train an orangutan to put on trousers and light a cigar, where a chimp will not do that. A chimp can ride a tricycle but … clearly, an inferior species (laughs).

LEO: I’d think the one who didn’t smoke would be the intelligent one (laughs).

RS: This guy had a gorilla living in his house! With his 4-year-old child! He was very proud that the gorilla mastered the front door, he mastered the steps, and the gorilla and the baby were playing really nicely with each other! I don’t know how it turned out, but ...

LEO: As a fiction writer, does it give you inspiration to go online, where there’s so much false information people are trying to pass off as true?

RS: Oh, I don’t care if it’s false! To me, a good lie’s just as good as a truth, really. In my book that goes along with the record, I have a list of fake woodpeckers — the skin-walker woodpecker and the invisible woodpecker and the giant cave woodpecker — and people keep asking me, “Why’d you forget this woodpecker?” (laughs), and they couldn’t even imagine why anyone would make up things. They have to accept the fact that there is a giant cave woodpecker.

LEO: I assume it’s more fun to make up new woodpeckers than to just rehash old woodpeckers.

RS: Well, you know, woodpeckers are amazing, but yeah. And my theory of life is, there should be a giant cave woodpecker. I just haven’t found them yet.

Our place in this world, we never really look at anything with clear eyes, anyway. The human eye’s always subjective, so what we see is always going to be kind of false. We can’t look at animals in the natural world and see them as they are. I would say it’s impossible to look at a weeping willow and not think it’s a little sad — but it probably isn’t.

The Handsome Family with Danny Barnes and Catherine Irwin
Friday, July 26
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Road
headlinerslouisville.com
$12; 9 p.m.

Photo by Jason Creps

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

Jade Jolie — ‘Equality is like rainbows’

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Cute and bubbly Jade Jolie got off to a decent start as a contestant on the reality competition series “RuPaul’s Drag Race”’s recent fifth season, but the pressure soon caught up, leading to her elimination halfway through the season. The Gainesville, Fla., native known to the government as Josh Green also became scandalized when past work as an adult film actor (called Tristan Everhard — also a good drag name!) emerged once she entered the spotlight.

The drag queen says, “My style has always reflected my personality, giving you a taste of the crazy rainbow.” She took her stage name from a combination of the “Mortal Kombat” character Jade (“the character who would always give me life with her monstrous tatas and great physique”) and a movie star (“who, in my opinion, is the queen of queens”).

Jade Jolie headlines this month’s edition of the LGBT party “Hard Candy.” VIP tickets include a meet-and-greet, photo and specialty cocktail at 9 p.m.

LEO: What do you do at your live appearances?
Jade Jolie: Clearly, from my final episode of “Drag Race,” I’m not a live singer (laughs). I don’t wanna scare anyone, and I enjoy having people in the audience for my shows, so lip-syncing is a must. I serve the children with high, fun energy and crazy costumes. Drag, to me, should hold your attention and be a blast, so I do my best to make things visually exciting and entertaining as possible.

LEO: What did you learn about yourself from seeing yourself on TV?
JJ: There’s nothing like some seIf-evaluation after watching yourself on TV. One thing I did learn is to edit (laughs). I also thought, prior to the show, I was America’s sweetheart — and it turned out I was America’s sweet and sour patch kid (laughs).

LEO: Which version of RuPaul do you prefer, the “Tim Gunn” version or the “Covergirl” version?
JJ: I’ll take any version! She is one fierce muthatucka.

LEO: Did you make it all the way through that movie Angelina made with Johnny Depp?
JJ: I feel like a terrible fan saying no — but it’s a no (laughs). Some of my all-time faves from her is in “Original Sin,” “Tomb Raider” and “Gia” ... oh, and she was a clearly a goddess in “Alexander.”

LEO: What is your biggest goal?
JJ: To be a queen to be remembered.

LEO: How do you feel about the recent Supreme Court decision about marriage equality?
JJ: I know to some it seems like a small step, but to me, I am overjoyed. I feel you have to celebrate each and every victory, and equality is like rainbows — beautiful and free, hunty!

LEO: What do rainbows and unicorns add to your life?
JJ: Everything! Seriously, though, who doesn’t love a damn unicorn and rainbow? They make me smile and definitely add some more pizzazz in my life. I love to tell people, “Don’t think it’s only rainbows, because if you mess with the unicorn, sometimes you get the horn!”

Jade Jolie with Dee Ranged & DJ Syimone
Thursday, July 18
Hard Candy at Prime Lounge
104 W. Main St.
facebook.com/HardCandyKY
$6; 11 p.m.

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

Lebowski Fest 2013: The Coen Brothers — you know, for kids!

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Cult hits, Oscar winners and an accidental festival

On June 29, in the midst of a road trip, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Joel Coen and his wife, actress Frances McDormand, came through Louisville. The power couple stopped at a Carmichael’s Bookstore, where staffers recognized the Academy Award-winning star of “Fargo.” Though they didn’t initially identify Coen as they shared their Hollywood sighting with their Facebook followers, WHY Louisville’s page lit up the next day with the news that their spirit animal had made it to the store owned by Lebowski Fest organizer Will Russell.

Coen, who has remained mostly silent about the independently run festival, even signed a poster advertising this weekend’s 12th Louisville edition: “Hi Will, a dozen years is too long … —Joel Coen”

In his career to date, Joel Coen and his brother, Ethan, have written, edited, produced and directed 16 feature films together, including “Blood Simple,” “Raising Arizona,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “No Country for Old Men,” “A Serious Man,” “True Grit” and this fall’s “Inside Llewyn Davis,” which received much praise at this spring’s Cannes Film Festival. The brothers, who do everything together but have often split credits due to union rules, have long since established theirs as one of the most consistently inventive, smart, weird, usually funny, idiosyncratic filmmaking voices of our times, a veritable genre of one.

They are known for their visual work as much as for their dialogue, for never repeating themselves even when working with a company of returning actors, and for being able to do whatever they feel like without seeming concerned about how much money it will cost or earn them.

Their films sometimes work in the noir genre, sometimes as slapstick comedy and sometimes both. Throughout their work, a philosophical subtext missing from most movies can be traced (Ethan holds a philosophy degree from Princeton, while Joel studied film at NYU; their parents were an economist and an art historian, though their intellectualism rarely interferes with their work’s jokes or eruptions of violence).

“The Big Lebowski,” their seventh film, combines great doses of stoner humor with acid-drenched, whimsical philosophy and surprising violence, while reconnecting them with favored actors John Goodman and John Turturro (whose off-kilter relationship in the Coens’ fourth film, “Barton Fink” — written around the same time as “Lebowski” — can be seen as an antecedent to the “Lebowski” relationship between Goodman and Jeff Bridges).

Upon its release on March 6, 1998, reviews were mixed, and the movie struggled to find an audience. Moviegoers expecting a sequel to the Coens’ previous film, the award-winning and popular “Fargo,” found themselves confused by the complex yet almost random-seeming plot of “Lebowski,” and confused by a fatter, hairier Jeff Bridges than they were used to seeing. In a 2010 review, Roger Ebert wrote, “‘The Big Lebowski’ is about an attitude, not a story.” While moviegoers often prefer stories to attitudes, attitude was a great jumping-off point for a party.

As co-founder Will Russell details in his recount in this issue, Lebowski Fest was started by a pair of fans of the movie — a couple of odd ducks, sure, but otherwise decent young men — who found it endlessly quotable, and who decided to get some friends together to celebrate it in a bowling alley. Add alcohol and then costumes to the party, have a few bands play outside, and suddenly, a festival is born.

Part of the credit for the festival’s ongoing success goes to the prescient vision of Russell and co-founder Scott Shuffitt, who anticipated the rise of “nerd culture” 12 long years ago as a viable business model. (San Diego’s Comic-Con is probably the only new place left for the fest to visit, unless you think the Vatican might let them drink a few White Russians in the parking lot.)

Some of the credit must go to the Coen Brothers and the film’s owner, Universal Pictures, who not only didn’t sue the Louisvillians a dozen years ago but even enlisted the fest to help promote the 10th anniversary DVD box set release.

Credit must also go to the weird people of Louisville, who helped get this institution off the ground and kept it going — perhaps, Mr. Coen, longer than it ever should have, to a rational person, but that is not this audience. In the early years, locals could be heard becoming increasingly skeptical of yet another Lebowski Fest, but as the years went on, it’s become harder to remember that an annual Lebowski Fest really is a weird thing to have. So congrats to us, Louisville, and to Achievers everywhere. LEO is proud — we are — of all of them.

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

The Jolly Green Art Giant

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Lebowski Fest revelers take home souvenirs of all kinds — happy memories, bowling injuries, White Russian hangovers — but the most popular might be each fest’s posters, all designed by Louisville native Bill Green. Since 2002, Green has created dozens of unique posters and art prints for the fest. Add up the rest of the merchandise he’s worked on — shirts, rugs, iPhone cases and what-have-you — and we’re talking about 100 pieces of Lebowski Fest “swag,” in his parlance.

He’s seen the movie “well over” 100 times, and literally co-wrote the book on it (2007’s “I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You”). But how does he come up with so many fresh concepts?

“Every time I start a new one, I’m petrified that the well’s run dry,” Green says. “But I think what is driving me to try to keep it fresh is the community reaction.”

He’s not just a guy pumping out product. He walks among them. “The day when it’s, like, ‘Oh yeah, another Lebowski Fest poster from Bill …’ Maybe that’s already happened and nobody’s told me,” Green laughs.

For him, Maude’s the most versatile to draw; Donnie’s the toughest. There are many great ideas for posters, he says, but “of those, there are only a few I could execute well. That helps me a lot, knowing my limits.”

Green likens his process to going down a rabbit hole, searching for ideas. “I just like to find an eye-catching graphic and build around that … I start doodling and see what happens. And it’s really nerve-racking every time. Until I sit back in my chair and take a look at it: ‘Ok, this is going somewhere.’ (Then) I have a lot of weight off my shoulders. But until then, it’s not enjoyable,” he laughs, “what I do for a living.”

In 2007, Green and his then-wife moved to Houston when her job transferred her. “That didn’t work out,” he says now with a bit of an understatement. He thought about moving back to Louisville, but having already been uprooted, he realized that if he ever wanted to live anywhere else, this was his chance.

“I wanted to say I’d lived somewhere other than Louisville in my life,” he recalls. “Even if it means I don’t like it and I move back to Louisville. I felt like if I moved back to Louisville, I’d be looking for the house I would die in, and that kind of depressed me (laughs), so …”

He moved to Los Angeles in 2008. He knew some people there already, and “I work from home and on the Internet, so I don’t really have to be in a certain city.”

He credits his success with Lebowski Fest with giving him the ability to leave the more stable workforce behind and start his own Bill Green Studios. Today, the fest provides him with 10 percent of his clientele, a lesser percentage now than five years ago. The majority of his clients are still based in Derby City.

Green comes home every July for Lebowski Fest. “Coming back to Louisville and being able to see 90 percent of my friends at once — instead of running around town, scheduling lunches — is nice. And, yeah, the fest is always fun.”

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

Kyle Gass does work, sir

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The other guy in Tenacious D, Kyle Gass led his other band, The Kyle Gass Band (aka The KGB), at Lebowski Fest Los Angeles this spring. The Kage returns for this weekend’s mothership edition. (KGB plays Friday at Executive Strike & Spare at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20-$25. Check out lebowskifest.com for details.)

LEO: How was your first experience?
Kyle Gass: Oh God, it was great! We had so much fun. Like everybody, we’re all pretty big fans, so we designed the set specifically for the fans. We did songs from the movie, and then we all dressed up as characters from the movie. It was really fun. Jack (Black) made a cameo. He wasn’t really a character from the movie, but he enjoyed it anyway.

LEO: Who’s your favorite character?
KG: It’s hard not to love Jesus. He’s only on screen for, like, two minutes, and yet, it’s one of the most memorable ... the costume — our guitarist (dressed as) Jesus. He has the same body type, and he found the tightest, greatest costume. But, you know, it’s hard not to love The Dude and Walter. They’re all great.

LEO: Who is the most like you?
KG: Probably The Dude. I feel a kinship to his relaxed attitude and style. I mean, I’m a California guy. So I relate.

LEO: And there’s a lot of pot references in the movie, as well as in your own oeuvre.
KG: I’ve heard that, yeah! (laughs) Come on, it’s California. We can handle it.

LEO: When you played the L.A. Fest, did a lot of people want to smoke out with you?
KG: No, we were backstage. We’re having fun, but we’re working. We’re more likely to maybe down some White Russians than do that.

LEO: Those are pretty potent.
KG: They’re a little rich. They’re not really on my diet. We actually had a little bar set up on stage, and the guy that, I guess, Lebowski was based on, the real Dude (Jeff Dowd) pretty much absconded with our bar. It seems kind of funny, but it wasn’t. Like, “Hey, you know what? Don’t. That’s for us.” Taking it off the stage, like, “Oh, somebody left this here!” ... Like he had some sort of hall pass or something. You’re stealing, that’s what’s happening there.

LEO: How many times have you seen the movie?
KG: It’s one of those I’ll bump into and check out some favorite scenes. All the way through — probably a solid three or four times.

LEO: You’re not obsessive about it.
KG: No, I’m not of that mentality. I’m always glad there are fans like that, because it’s better for a performer, but I don’t need to be crazy obsessive.

LEO: You have your own crazy obsessive fans.
KG: Oh God, yeah!

LEO: How do they compare to the “Lebowski” fans you’ve seen?
KG: There’s more similarities between superfans — whatever they’ve chosen to focus on, whatever floats their boat … But I don’t think you have to be a superfan to celebrate a movie like “Lebowski,” or Tenacious D. Or even the KGB, the band that’s playing.

LEO: You’ll be playing some of the covers here, as well?
KG: We will. I wish I could reveal them. But if you’ve seen the movie, you know what we’re gonna play. We’re probably gonna play “Condition,” and there’s probably going to be some Creedence and the like.

LEO: You’ve also starred in a cult film. Do you think there will be a “Pick of Destiny” festival in the future?
KG: I don’t see it now. But we’re still — let’s see, we’re seven years out ... 10 years, you’ll probably see something. And it’ll be a get-together at a Holiday Inn. Or a Red Roof Inn, if we’re lucky. The Burbank Hyatt — that’s at 25 years.

LEO: (laughs) It’s a movie that some people are very passionate about.
KG: Are they? Well, they weren’t on the opening weekend!

LEO: While I have you, I also wanted to ask about your work in “Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta!”
KG: Yes, yes.

LEO: How did that experience compare to, say, making a Tenacious D record?
KG: It didn’t take nearly as long. I think I was in and out of there in two days. But I had a great time on the “Chihuahua.” I liked my character. He was kind of a lazy gardener. But he had a spirit about him.

LEO: It’s great when you can bring all your years of training in the theater to some of these parts.
KG: If someone casts me in a movie without me having to audition, there’s a real good chance I’m gonna do it. I hate auditioning, but it’s fun to work. It’s fun to act once in a while. That’s how I was for years and years, and the music was on the side — so, whatever’s working.

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

Forecastle feast

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Ahoy, maties, it’s Forecastle Festival time once again on the good ship Waterfront Park and … man, it’s hard to talk like a pirate for too long. How did Johnny Depp do it? Something else that’s hard to do: keep up with all the music being presented over three relatively quick days.

With a couple handfuls of major headliners, it’s easy to know what to do at night — but what’s the best way to plan your days if you don’t know all about each of the 55 acts? If this was a final exam, could you pull off an A or a B? Or would you fail and miss what could have been your favorite moments?

Though we at LEO were, overall, surprisingly non-awesome students in a structured environment, we’re here now to help you make the grade. These are just a few suggestions; if you’ve never heard of the Flaming Lips before, you might want to check them out, too.

FRIDAY

On the first day, what some might even call a “work day,” the gods of music are only offering 15 acts (with 20 to come on each weekend day).

The Pimps of Joytime (5:15-6 p.m.): Get off the clock and on the good foot with these New Orleans-via-Brooklyn high steppin’ funk fanatics. Whether you’re old school or just like dancing, this is guaranteed fun.

inc. (6:15-7 p.m.): Part of the recent wave of alternative soul that’s more subtle and textured than the “New Jack” era, this duo of actual brothers will have to prove they can recreate their sounds in a busy outdoor environment.

Night Beds (7-7:45 p.m.): Singer-songwriter Winston Yellen leads an evocative group who channel songs he’s written over the past half-decade (starting at 18). Now signed by the folks who brought Bon Iver and The Tallest Man on Earth to wider audiences, catch Night Beds tonight and brag later.

SATURDAY

Alasdair Roberts & Friends (2:15-2:45 p.m.): This Scottish folk singer is the real deal as far as roots music goes. In fact, his appearance at this festival is downright punk rock, as he stands alone in genre here. Roberts and Will Oldham collaborated on a CSN-type project with the late Jason Molina once, when we were all younger.

Foxygen (3:45-4:45 p.m.): This indie-glam rock band has been playing buzzed-about shows all year, though they’ve canceled some recent dates, having pushed themselves too hard. Stop by and show your support.

Nosaj Thing (7-8 p.m.): Electro soundscaper Jason Chung came up in the L.A. hip-hop underground but has expanded his sound, and a crossover appearance by Toro y Moi is likely at his set.

SUNDAY

Bombino (2-3 p.m.): Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach produced the second album by this North African blues-trance guitarist. Rock and world music fans alike will be air guitaring together — we are the world!

Tennis (2:45-3:45 p.m.): Breezy pop that sounds about right for an exhausted Sunday afternoon.

El-P & Killer Mike (4:30-5:30 p.m.): The “Run the Jewels” pair is made up of two of the fiercest rappers around and has been on a roll over the past couple of years together.

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

TMI (Tour Manager Information)

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You’ve met the four musicians who perform as Houndmouth. Now, meet their tour manager. “You would think being in a band is as simple as showing up to a venue, setting up your instruments and playing a gig,” says Jason Gwin, “but that is only scratching the surface of what goes into these huge productions.”

He says the band’s daily schedule roughly follows this routine:
9 a.m.: Lobby call
10 a.m.: Breakfast
11 a.m.: Hit the road
4:30 p.m.: Load-in
5 p.m.: Soundcheck

LEO: What do you do?

Jason Gwin: My daily duties are very detailed-oriented, mainly because each day on tour you have to follow a strict schedule. I get all of the contacts from each venue and the other bands we are touring with. I contact them to give a heads-up on advance details of the show: load-in, soundcheck, the time of the show and tons of other information important for making a show happen. I will take all of this information and compile it into the tour book that helps plan out our entire tour.

LEO: What’s the most fun for you?

JG: Routing the tour is always the most fun part. I map out our trip from show to show … if you are in New York City and your next show is in Toronto, the next day, that is a nine-hour drive. I will have to make the call to drive a couple hours after the show that night, get a hotel, and then drive the rest of the way the next day in order to make load-in.

Another job as a TM is getting in touch with the immigration folks in other countries to get work permits. That makes crossing the border a lot smoother. The first time we went to Canada, I had no idea you needed all this information. We got stopped for over an hour … now, when I see we have a stop in Canada, I will get that paperwork lined up immediately to avoid the fiasco we encountered our first time.

LEO: What’s the worst part of the job?

JG: When you get down to it, the job of being a TM is to take all the stressful elements of touring off of the band, letting them only worry about playing their show each night. I would be lying if I said being a TM is not stressful; drive a van and trailer around New York City for an hour looking for parking and let me know what you think. This job is not for everyone. It is a seven-days-a-week job, and you can be gone from home for weeks, maybe even months.

In the past year, I have been more places than some people will go in their entire life. I am very grateful for that, and also very grateful to have the opportunity to work with Houndmouth. At the end of the day, I am not only their tour manager but also a huge fan of them as musicians and as people, which makes me feel good to be involved in any way I can with their continued success.

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

Old and new again

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A new club emerges in a familiar location

Hunter Embry and Dave Chale aren’t quite veterans of the music scene yet. In fact, Embry, a 25-year-old booker and promoter, is surely one of the youngest club owners around, now that his New Vintage partnership with soundman/engineer Chale has gone from a regular showcase at other clubs to a fixed-address business with monthly bills to pay.

The pair started booking bands at the St. Matthews bar ZaZoo’s two years ago. They did well enough to expand to a new club in New Albany, Dillinger’s, and realized they could do it on their own. In fact, Embry was so confident that, in the time between receiving the keys to their new venue on May 1 and opening night — May 29 — he got married and went on his honeymoon.

Embry returned to a pretty much revitalized club just in time for an opening “12 Days of Music” celebration, putting their vision on display. Though the New Vintage is located just down the street from Zanzabar, at the former Uncle Pleasant’s location on Preston Street, Embry’s taste runs more to the traditional — vintage, one might say — sounds of blues and classic rock.

Zanzabar’s owners encouraged him to join them to make the block even more of a destination. Crossover nights are being planned, though nothing is official yet. It’s a good balance for the neighborhood; while Zanzabar books underground bands and up-to-the-minute DJs, the New Vintage is now featuring ragtime piano during happy hour on Wednesdays. At the same time, the Vintage is already the place to see hip-hop acts like Nappy Roots, and nights of cutting-edge bands also appear on their calendar.

They were alone in the St. Matthews bar scene, booking younger and hipper bands than their neighbors. “Some of our friends were, like, ‘Man, I can’t afford to get a DUI,’” Embry laughs about the longer drive some faced after nights of rock ’n’ roll. Chale and Embry considered NuLu for a new location early on, but both live in Germantown and are happier closer to home.

The building was already set up to be a venue, with an interesting history going back a few decades. It holds 333 — larger than ZaZoo’s and Zanzabar, but less than half of Headliners. The new owners have displayed old Uncle P’s signs inside as a tribute, and traces also remain on the façade as licenses get straightened out. A new patio is being added to the back; food service will be added later. “We ran through the budget too fast,” Embry admits.

It’s all part of the learning curve. Embry estimates he works at least 60 hours a week. His wife is used to his schedule, and now he can see her more often for dinner. They’ve been together since they were high school freshmen, he says, making the timing of their wedding even more notable. “When it rains, it pours.”

Photo by Ron Jasin.

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

Cheyenne Mize: Time is on her side

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To become a professional musician, Cheyenne Mize had to give up the idea that time still moves at the same speed it does for other people. In this version of reality, a drive from Alaska to Michigan between shows is a day at the office. An album primarily recorded in December 2011 can become a new release in June 2013.

So it goes for Ms. Mize, whose second full-length album, Among the Grey, was released last week, with a hometown release show scheduled for Saturday. Having waited this long, her band (including Mize on vocals and guitar, keyboards, percussion and/or violin, plus guitarist Drew English, bassist/percussionist Emily Hagihara, and drummer JC Denison) has prepared a special evening of music, dance and food.

One day last week included a LEO interview, rehearsing for an upcoming tour with another band she plays with (Bonnie “Prince” Billy), working as a music therapist and DJing in an online chat room to promote her album. It’s a very modern approach to making it in the business. “I do like the change of pace that keeps me from getting burnt out on any one thing,” she says.

Mize is glad to be able to share these songs — songs her band has been playing for almost two years — in recorded form, in part because the long release process has tied up her ability to write new songs.

Her first exposure to fans outside of Louisville came with 2009’s Among the Gold, an EP of duets between her and BPB boss Will Oldham. Mize has played in his band on and off for several years, and says she’s excited to go back out on tour with his band now — especially as her own album is becoming available.

“It’s a lot less stress — traveling with him rather than playing my own tour. It’s awesome just to get in the van and go where people tell me to,” she laughs. “Not having to worry if people show up … His shows are always very fun and successful.”

She has a good attitude about the fact that her offers to open his shows with her band have not yet been greenlit. “I have been given a lot of opportunities through Will, even being able to get my music out to a wider audience because they associate my name with him. I certainly would never want to take advantage of that relationship.”

Fans attending his shows will be able to buy her album at the merch table. They will play in Louisville on Aug. 4 at the Kentucky Center’s Bomhard Theater.

Mize has led a stable band of her own for a few years now and looks forward to their summer shows, especially as Denison and Hagihara live in other cities. “If something great happens, if we get some great support tour or something like that, I definitely will be excited to just be playing with those folks. They’re a huge part of what this record sounds like,” she says. “If we were able to get together once or twice a week, there’s not a limit to what we would be able to do.”

The album was recorded by Kevin Ratterman in an old church building. There, the other three added details to their respective parts, while guests, such as the other members of another Mize group, Maiden Radio, and erstwhile tourmate Ben Sollee joined in.

The album was originally scheduled for late summer 2012, but most of the post-recording technical aspects — mixing, mastering, pressing — would have been rushed. “Also, there were some things we didn’t get to finish, and even though I was happy at the time with where the record was, I thought there were a couple things we could do to make it better,” Mize says.

Among the songs added: the first single, “Among the Grey,” re-recorded in Lexington with Duane Lundy, a song that otherwise would not have made the album with that name. “Obviously, that has colored the experience greatly,” she says.

Her first album, 2010’s Before Lately, consisted of songs recorded to see what the experience would be like. She liked it. Now, “This is the first time I’ve really been able to think of a whole project as an album, one cohesive thing.”

Cheyenne Mize with Scott Carney and Another7Astronauts
Saturday, July 6
Clifton Center
2117 Payne St.
cliftoncenter.org
$10-$12; 7 p.m.

Photo by Bill Brown

c. 2013 LEO Weekly