Since the mid-80s Joe Henry has been one of America’s most thoughtful singer-songwriters, and while his earliest work was often called alt-country, over time his sound has grown to encompass the whole of American music. He’s also developed into an accomplished producer who specializes in framing veterans (Bettye LaVette, Allen Toussaint, Mose Allison, Solomon Burke) in musical contexts that rebooted their careers. Henry is interviewed here by Steve Dawson, one of Chicago’s most talented singers-songwriters, who performs in the bands Stump the Host and Dolly Varden and, as a solo artist, has surveyed a range of Americana nearly as broad as Henry has. Joe Henry plays Old Town School of Folk Music on Fri 1/27. Steve Dawson performs with Dolly Varden at Schubas on Sat 1/28. —Peter Margasak
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Are you sitting with a guitar or at the piano? Is music involved right from the beginning? It can be, but it happens in every possible permutation. I am really lyric oriented. I always have been, even as a seven-year-old. The first songs that completely captivated me [did so] in large part because of some kind of narrative voice. I start writing like I might write a letter to my brother. I don’t know what I have to tell him, but as soon as I sit down to start writing, I find that I do. I just try to spool off as much raw resource as I can. I’m creating bolts of cloth, and once I have those I can make anything out of them. I find it easy to come back and tailor something that’s an intact idea, even a very rough one.
You’re a superbusy guy. You’re producing records and making your own. How do you find time to write? I’m just sort of writing all the time. Or I’m not. I don’t get overly concerned. I feel that whether I’m writing a letter or an essay, I’m still sharpening the same blade. I don’t find that I write less because I’m busier. If I’m incredibly busy I might feel more inclined to be writing in those moments that I can find, just because my creative adrenaline level is high.
I noticed the drum sound in particular was bouncing all around. [Drummer] Jay [Bellerose] and I had both been listening intently to the trio record between Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach, called Money Jungle. They’re playing beautiful ballads throughout, but very aggressively and in the same room and you can really hear the drums, the piano, and the bass colliding against the walls. It provides this incredibly potent, dark energy that pushes the songs along, and I was really intrigued by that attitude. I had already decided I was going to make an all-acoustic album, but I didn’t want that to mean it was going to be small and polite. I don’t say this as any offense to James Taylor, but I wasn’t trying to make a James Taylor album. It wasn’t about making it more demure; it was about how much texture and rumble there really is between each instrument.
