• Drew Kennedy’s Fresh Water in the Salton Sea project

    NO DEPRESSION Posted On October 30, 2011
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    With a style and an alcohol content somewhere between Jack Kerouac’s On The Road and John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley,  Drew Kennedy‘s novel Fresh Water in the Salton Sea  (release date 11/1/11) follows singer/songwriter Dan Murphy on a solo tour across the Southwest.  Neither grim nor glamorous, Dan finds fulfillment with his fans who appreciate the music he brings to their town AND in his journey home as he follows his muse: a career as a travelling troubadour. This realistic fictional travelogue offers some answers to any music fan who has ever asked after an enjoyable concert: “What does this guy do the other 22 hours of the day?”

     Drew Kennedy’s  album Fresh Water in the Salton Sea is a companion piece to the novel and while designed to stand alone they were clearly conceived as one project to be enjoyed together. The lyrics from the ten tracks are printed within the novel. From the introductory contemplative “War With Myself”, to the confident “We’ve All Got Our Marks To Make” which name checks glyphsters Hank Williams and George Washington who made their marks in a barroom table and a stone bridge and obviously in much bigger ways as well and the late night heading home roadsong “AM Radio”:

     

     “I’m fifty thousand watts from Dallas

    And I’m forty-seven miles from home

    I say a prayer to save me from static

    And thank God for AM radio

    Four AM radio”

     

    Drew’s a talented songwriter and novelist who almost bares Dan’s (or is it Drew’s) soul in this multimedia project any music fan will enjoy. 

     

    Drew and I talked  about the project, his influences and more in the following Q & A:

     

    HB– Congratulations on the new book and record Drew. How much of the novel is autobiographical and were names changed to protect the innocent (or maybe the guilty)?
    DK– There are certain aspects of the novel that have their roots in actual events– most of Dan’s view of the world from behind the wheel of a fifteen passenger van while on tour is something that I know intimately well. Almost all of the places exist and for the most part a lot of the people exist as well. Overall, though, I was happy to take a decent amount of liberties in the story itself. I’m a fairly well adjusted 31 year old male, who, with the exception of writing songs for a living, doesn’t lead a very exciting life as far as the kind of events that would make for interesting reading… so liberties were a must.  

    HB-After reading and listening to Fresh Water in the Salton Sea I revisited 2010’s An Audio Guide to Cross Country Travel. In retrospect it feels like a precursor to the Fresh Water in the Salton Sea.
    DK– I think that’s a fair assessment. All of my records are connected in one way or another. I’m not one of those artists who continually looks to reinvent his sound or his style with each foray into the studio. There’s so much that I haven’t figured out yet– so much I have yet to discover about my music and about myself. If I were to jump ship and go in a different direction now I feel like all of the work I’ve put into my craft over the last seven or eight years will have been for naught. I hope that, if you were to listen to my body of work in chronological order, you’d hear the observations of an individual as he matures and ages. I guess that thread of commonality that you’re hearing is, in essence, me. 

    HB– Could you name a few influences: both songwriters and authors?
    DK-Songwriters: Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Merle Haggard, Bruce Robison, Randy Newman. DK-Authors: Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, Willa Cather, Mark Twain, Neil Gaiman, David Sedaris, Nick Hornby. 

    HB– The protagonist (Dan) enjoys the movement, adventure and just being “on the road” but he clearly looks forward to heading home. Does touring help you appreciate home and stability? 
    DK-Absolutely. Partly because I’ve covered most of the country at this point, partly because I love my life at home. I imagine if the continental drift sped up, and another couple of countries nuzzled up against North America my wanderlust would come back in full force… but for now I’ve toured it into submission, and I’m happy that I have. 

    HB-I know you’re touring this fall. Will you do any readings from the novel during the shows?
    DK- I’d love to do something like that. In fact, one of the things that I hope I’m able to do with this project is limit a lot of my touring to the really great listening rooms across the country. As with anything in this business, though, I think the crowd dictates whether or not I’d be able to turn a few pages on stage. 

    HB-It seems like such a personal project who did you end up co-writing five of the songs?
    DK– If you would have asked me that question a few years ago, I would have given you a very different answer than I will give you now– in fact, you might not have even gotten the chance to ask me… this record is the most personal of all of them, but it also has the most co-writes (one on Audio Guide, one on Dollar Theatre Movie). The truth of the matter is that I am blessed to have a handful of really wonderful people in my life– and a lot of those people are songwriters. It’s ridiculous, but I used to think that the fact that I rarely recorded a co-write was some sort of badge of honor. As I’ve gotten a little older I’ve realized that I don’t even know everything there is to know about myself, so it’s an act of stupidity to assume that I know everything there is to know about myself as it pertains to my songs. This batch of songs dictated the co-writes, though. The ideas behind them screamed “Walt Wilkins,” or “Josh Grider,” or “Rodney” or “Stephanie,” and I’m finally mature enough to listen to those screams. I’m also lucky enough to be able to reach out to those people. Aside from this self-awareness stuff, though, I’d be really stupid not to lean on the people I leaned on for those five songs– they’re incredible writers and I’m lucky to know all of them.

    HB– I’m not going to name the novels by singer/songwriters I’ve read and not enjoyed so I’ll leave you with a compliment:
    Drew Kennedy has successfully bridged the divide between two art forms with a book and record that stand on their own and combine to give an honest and entertaining look into the life of a touring musician.
    DK-Thanks Hal.

    HB-Thank you Drew! I’ll see you December 9th in Raleigh and here’s a link to additional tour dates.
    And finally here is a link to a video with Drew about the Salton Sea project:



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