try or push anything. If it comes, it comes.
It seems like the media doesn’t know
what to think of you. They can’t decide if
you’re a genius or a maniac, and they kind
of want to call you both. Do you think of
yourself in those terms?
I don’t know that I exist. [laughs] As long as
they spell the name right. We put a lot of joy
in the room, that’s what I’m interested in.
Is that what draws you to jam band music?
Is that what you’d call what you play?
I call it country music, I just don’t know what
country.
How do you arrive at playing that kind of
thing? When you first started up with the
Hampton Grease Band, why did you play
what you played?
INSIGHT
Well, I just try to play every form of American
music, whether blues, bluegrass, country, as
long as it’s pure. Rock. I’m just interested in
the purity of music.
What makes music pure?
Intent.
What kind of intent? Being there to
entertain, trying to get a message across?
You ask… you’re too smart. Just that one
word, intent. No good, no bad, just intent.
Do you feel like that’s something that
exists in modern music?
I have no clue, maybe you could turn me on
to something. I’m lost now, just lost. I look at
it every day and try to be open to it, and just
think, “Good gosh, what is this?”
December 2015 15