Altcountry.nl Interview
What is Emory Joseph without food. I think when I put your record in the player I want go to the kitchen and made a big spicy diner Louisiana style. Tell me what you got with food?

"Ha ha..I think you should do that Jan. You're looking a little flacito these days. It could be a good thing for you. What would you cook? I've been told that, for the right kinda people, Labor & Spirits is the perfect album for two things - BBQ parties and first dates."

You got a lot of big names on your first album. Where did you find them?

"It all happened pretty organically, someone suggests someone - and their interest works as a calling card for someone else etc.. Although I had some kind of a personal in with musicians I played with. High profile players are a lot more available to unknowns than people might think.

First, I got Jon (Carroll) and Kenny (Aronoff) from the person who recorded Labor & Spirits, Cookie Marenco. I had Matt Rollins (Lyle Lovett et al) and Jim Keltner (Ry Cooder et ALL) on my first call wish list for those chairs and she suggested them as people she had access to, who she knew personally and who she knew would dig the material.

In fact, Cookie had everything to do with most of the additional sideplayers on my album; bassist Myron Dove (currently with Santana), multi-instrumentalist Mike Marshall, guitarist Stef Burns, percussionist Scott Amendola, and her pal Tony Furtado - for a banjo track on Be Home Baby. Cookie did so much more than just get stuff on tape. I offered her a producer's credit, but the album didn't really turn out the way she would have done it - so she was happy with the credit she got.

Anyone who gets to work with her is lucky.

Anyway, I hooked up with T-Bone (Wolk) from one of my best pals Larry Ciancia playing with him on some Carly Simon TV dates (Larry plays with Ben Taylor). Larry knew what fan I am of Bone's work, and slipped him a disc of the initial roughs. Then, after spending some time together at his house in Vermont, he suggested we call Levon and see if we couldn't get him involved in some way. It went like this. T-Bone, matter of factly "If we did the sessions near enough to him, we might could call Levon Helm and see if he's available to do something with us?" Emory, not matter of factly "OK. Let's do that."

Calling drummer Dave Mattacks and multi-instrumentalist Duke Levine in was a no-brainer - since the second set of basics sessions had been moved to Longview Farms in Massachusetts, so T-Bone and Levon could be near enough to home to drive. They play with Jon in Mary Chapin Carpenter's band, so they were already comfortable with each other and familiar with the nuances of each other's playing. Getting guys of the road/hotel thing is always great idea. At Longview, you get a chance to hang and east and record in a setting that feels like home. The Longview sessions were a story all in themselves. Bernie Worrell was there recording with Mos Def and Doug and Will from Living Color....enough said right?

I knew Soozie Tyrell from way back in the days when NYC's Lone Star Cafe was downtown (5th Ave and 12th St.). I was a big fan then and still am. Everett Bradley was a suggestion from another bass/baritone singer I called that couldn't make the sessions. He's a big, shiny guy. He turned out to be perfect for the gig too.

I think that's everybody."

The music on your record sounds so happy and I can hear the influence of the Band, Dr john (the Gumbo record) and a lot of happy sunshine music. What is the story behind your songwriting?

"I've been a great and awed fan of good writers since I learned (at about 9 years old) to read liner notes. It took me a long time to be happy with my own writing enough to make albums I wanted to put my name on. Now that's all I want to do haha.

I can give you a list of people I admire, but it'll be a long one that crosses way over from Billy Strayhorn, to Randy Newman, Michael Hurley, Jessie Wichchester, JT, Willie, Townes .... You could also safely say that anyone who was signed to Warner Bros. In the seventies (while Mo and Lenny were making the decisions) had a role in why I write like I do as well.

I think writing and singing big ol' ballads is something that may end up being a noteworthy thing about my style. Love is everywhere. Sex is everywhere. It's better to do both of those slowly at first. That's why we need ballads."

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