Paulo Franco has been a steady mainstay the past several months with a phenomenal track record in tow. His new record The Last Card was one of the most well-received independent releases of current memory, and with good reason. Franco’s storytelling songs are a force all of their own. Combined with his impressive guitar playing, and the help of some notable friends, The Last Card is Franco’s masterpiece. I had the pleasure of catching up with Paulo Franco this past week, with his fresh new video in tow for “Leaving the River City,” which dives deep into the story of the acclaimed musician.
How long did it take you to record the new record, The Last Card? and What was the inspiration behind the record?
The whole album, The Last Card took about a year from first track to finished product ready for replication. A lot of that was due to the fact that I hold down a day job as a lawyer for the Virginia State Bar, a hectic gigging schedule of my own, and finding the time between my schedule and Bob Rupe’s (the producers) schedule. “Leaving the River City” was also tracked over several days. I did a pilot track with the drummer Johnny Hott and then we added keys, bass and lead guitar at later dates. I redid the acoustic track and added the 12 string near the end.
The inspiration for that song was a Chris Knight song, “Rita’s Only Fault.: If you’ve heard it you know how sad it is. I figured that Rita needed a better lawyer. When I wrote the song, the words leaving the river city kept popping into my head. I knew the character in this song was leaving. But I didn’t know why, from whom or any of the other circumstances. While the song was in rough form with only words for the chorus, “Rita’s Only Fault” popped up on a playlist of mine, and then I knew exactly what the woman was running from and why.
What is the meaning behind the title of the record, The Last Card? What significance does it hold for you.
“Leaving the River City” was a song I wrote to help me deal with the grief of the loss of my best friend in December of 2014. Each one of the playing cards in that song represents someone. “Leaving the River City,” as I mentioned was inspired by Chris Knight’s Rita’s Only Fault. But the story is about standing up to something that is not right. It’s also about breaking points. Everyone has one. The tormentor in that song finally found his lover’s breaking point.
How did you combine the elements of your influences to create the new album and hone a sound that is uniquely your own?
Honestly, it’s not something I set out to do. As a consumer of music, I love all types. I grew up with classic rock and the blues, but my father was a fan of Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell. We used to watch Johnny Cash’s variety show so I always loved old school country. My parents are also immigrants. They are from Colombia. In fact, all of my extended family lives in Medellín, the second largest city. So Colombian folk music was always present in my life growing up. It’s still a part of my soundtrack. I love Carlos Vives, who has infused a traditional style of Colombian music called Vallenato (kind of like cajun music), with an Afro Carribean world beat sound (kind of like Zydeco as it is completely accordion driven). In college I was turned onto punk, ska and new wave. I still listen to that stuff all the time. In later life, I really fell in love with alt country sound and singer songwriters, especially the Texas troubadours. When I set out to write music, I have no idea what will come to me. A lot of times it’s chameleon like. For example, the song Love On The Rocks was inspired by an Old 97s show I saw here in Richmond. Tommy Stinson was the opener. He said something about “love on the rocks” while he was chatting up the audience on stage. I thought that was a particularly cool line. I jotted it down and I set out to write a song using that phrase in the style of the Old 97s. Now that I am writing my own material, I really enjoy shows as a fan that inspire me to write.
When in the studio creating the new album, did collaborations generally take place or did everyone bring in their own ideas? You seem to have an all-star cast of background players!
It was a mixed approach. Some of the musicians asked to have ruffs sent to them in advance. Others wanted to be inspired on the spot. A lot these guys are seasoned session guys with a lot of miles under their belts!! My thought and Bob’s thought was to come in and let them do their thing. I trusted these guys with my material to bring it life. That trust was rewarded more than I could have imagined.
How did you meet the members of your in-studio band, and what role do they play in your writing and recording process, as well as live?
A lot of that was due to Bob Rupe. When I was in law school, my two favorite bands were the Silos (of which Bob was a member) and the House of Freaks. Bob and I are neighbors and have been friends for a while. That friendship was forged back when he mastered my first record in 2012, By The Light of a Paper Moon. Johnny Hott and Bryan Harvey were also neighbors until the Harveys were tragically murdered in their home on New Year’s Day back in 2006. Johnny and his family left the neighborhood after that. He worked with me when I released The Green Porch EP with my friend and Austin, TX based singer songwriter Shane Cooley. So when I was ready to record this latest record, I asked Bob if he was interested and he was. Johnny played drums and Bob played bass. So for me, this was a I have to pinch myself because I can’t believe I am making records with the guys whose albums I played so much they wore out. I also used Bryan Harvey’s Gibson ES-335 to record a few tracks. You can hear it prominently on the opening track Catrina Y Su Calavera, it’s the guitar with the finger picking work. Bob was friends with Stephen McCarthy who is a member of the Long Ryders and has also recorded and toured with The Jayhawks, and brought him on board for the guitar on “Leaving the River City.” Charles Arthur is a well known and respected player in Richmond, who has recorded and toured with Slaid Cleaves. I know him through the music scene and when Slaid came to town, I got up the nerve to ask him to play and he agreed. The same was true of Daniel Clarke. Daniel and I used to be neighbors and he was good friends with a mutual friend of mine that had introduced me previously. I had run into him several times at our local coffee shop. When he was in town touring with Ryan Adams back in the spring of 2015, I spotted him walking among the crowd so I went up to say hello. He asked me what I was up to and I told him I was going to record with Bob and needed a keyboard player and would he be interested. He gave me his number and told me as soon as he got off the road he would do it! Dusty Simmons is a local player who is drumming with Cris Jacobs right now as well as a bunch of other projects. I’ve known him and his brother Jeremy through playing music in town and he had some time on his hands and we brought him on board for the songs as well.
It has been an incredible experience playing with these guys. Each brought a unique perspective to the songs, and even chipped in a few ideas. Dusty offered up a great idea for an arrangement on One More Night that floored me. The last song on the album, Too Far Gone, I recorded a demo that had a psychedelic, almost Alice in Chains quality to it. Bob heard that song and said let’s make a rock song but really rock it. Dusty and I locked down the driving tempo and we built it back up from there. Bob laid down a lot of the electric guitar work using the Gibson SG and Ampeg Reverb Rocket that was a hallmark of the Silo’s Cuba and Bird Record. The lead guitar player in my normal backing band, Dan Sessler, played the lead on that track as well as the lead on Rolling Back to Raleigh. It’s an experience I will cherish forever. Making a record with those guys took my playing to whole new level.
Loving the news single and video! What was the musical and lyrical inspiration for the piece? as well as the concept for the video.
The concept for the video came from a review that “Leaving the River City” got from The Boot Dot Com. The reviewer loved the pop jangle of the song but said something like (not a direct quote but close) “don’t let that fool you about the seriousness of the theme of the song. It’s about a wronged woman who may or may not have iced her abusive lover.”
The video director is also a songwriter and when I told him about that review, we both latched onto the idea that we did not want to show the act of violence that the song suggests towards the end. So we decided to make a video that lets the viewer answer the question. Did she really kill her lover/husband, or just dream about it and leave without doing anything to him (other than stealing his truck). The actors were home grown. The young woman is my daughter Camille, and the boyfriend in the video is Andy Vaughan. He fronts a honky tonk outfit called Andy Vaughan and the Driveline and he and I are in a side project called the Burrito Riders League that pays homage to Country Rock of the 70s and ALL things Gram Parsons. The girl that plays young Camille is named Sophia McCarthy. She is the daughter of some very dear friends of ours. She was all pro. Camille and Andy had a hard time shooting the scenes were Camille gets roughed up. They kept laughing because they knew each other and Andy is a complete and total gentleman!! But man did he look the part with the t shirt he had on!
Riding high off of last year’s release, what can we expect from you in the new year?
Trying to get the music out there. I plan on doing some short tours this year to support the record. I’ve also been in touch with some music critics in Colombia as well who really enjoyed what they heard. I would like to do a tour of Colombia and perhaps see where that goes. There is a big interest in American folk music down there and a growing ex pat community (at least there is in Medellín) and three of the songs on The Last Card are in Spanish. The Spanish music seems to be a big hit with audiences at the gigs I play locally. I guess I need to light some candles to St. Cecelia, the Patron Saint of Musicians and ask for some more inspiration!! Even though I am bilingual and fluent in Spanish, English is my native tongue and it comes a little easier in the songwriting process.
