Interviewing off spring of famous people can be tricky. Either they are irritating little punks riding the coat tails of their parents’ fame and peppering conversation with unbelievable antidotes or they have absolutely nothing to say.
Shooter Jennings was different. Sure, he was the son of an Outlaw and country music legend Waylon Jennings, but he stands in no one’s shadow.
I had the opportunity to talk to Shooter from his home in New York City. Shooter recently kicked off his Magical Misdemeanor Tour earlier this year in support of his new album Family Man. When asked about recording a new album, Shooter replied, ‘Going into the studio this time was a freeing experience, something I’ve wanted to do for some time now.’ He continued, ‘This is the first time I had all the songs done beforehand.’
Shooter reunited with longtime childhood friend Erik Deutsch on piano, who joins guitarist Chris Masterson, drummer Tony Leone, bassist Jeff Hill and pedal steel guitar player John Graboff. ‘Aside from Erik, these guys had no real idea who I was. Now they knew [my father] Waylon and some country, but didn’t know my past music or what I really did. But they had such a grasp on dynamics and tremendous range that it left me renewed and excited.’
‘We whittled down twenty songs to the ten you hear on the album. But we finished up the remaining ten songs we had left over and you can expect a new album in September. I’m really excited about it.’
Fans of Shooter’s music are familiar with his Manifesto songs which sound sort of like meeting-Jesus-in-the-bar-before-church songs. ‘I love those songs so much,’ Shooter said. ‘I think when we get to ten we’ll put out an album of just Manifesto songs.’ But what about the elusive Manifesto #3? Shooter just laughed. ‘We put it on a USB special of ‘The Wolf’. We play it live but you can also download it on our website. It is part of the ‘Missed the Boat: A Collection of Demos and Rarities’. (www.blackcountryrock.org/shooterjennings).
Family Man is available now at your favorite locally owned music store. As well as Itunes, Amazon.com among other retailers.
Kelly E Schultz 14 April 2012
Interview to be published in Magazine of Country Music http://www.magazineofcountrymusic.com May Issue
