Interview: Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket)
When Band of Horses toured with My Morning Jacket in the summer of 2012, Carl Broemel would take in their opening set nearly every night from the side of the stage. His eyes and ears immediately gravitated to guitarist Tyler Ramsey’s distinct voicings and intricate fingerpicking.
“I didn't really understand it, which drew me in,” recalls the My Morning Jacket lead guitarist. “I’d watch his big hands play these unique chord shapes and figured he had to be using different tunings. I thought it was really, really beautiful playing. And if he stepped out to do a song by himself, that was a highlight of the show for me.”
Broemel then discovered the solo albums Ramsey had recorded with his friend and fellow Louisville, Ky. native, Kevin Ratterman.
“Tyler came to see me play on a solo tour, and we both said, ‘Man, we should do something together,’” Broemel says. “A lot of people say things like that and don't follow up, but Tyler did. And that's the kind of person I want to create a project with that doesn't involve giant overhead from time to time. I'm always looking for things that give me an energy boost, and this became one of them.”
They did a few short, well-received runs of shows billed as the “Duo Quest Tour” in 2019, playing each other’s originals and a few covers, and eventually kicked around the idea of making a collaborative album. The stars aligned during the COVID-19 pandemic when both artists were sidelined from touring. Ramsey, who left Band of Horses in 2017, kicked things off by sending Broemel a pair of guitar instrumentals recorded at his home studio in Candler: “Celestun” (inspired by the small Yucatan Peninsula fishing village he’d visited with his family) and “Elizabeth Brown.”
“I sat with them and played along for about a week or so, then came back later to listen to what I’d done and either make changes or do it again,” Broemel says. “I took my time figuring out how I wanted to fit into each song. I did a lot of improvisation and wasn't really writing specific parts.”
Broemel, who lives in Nashville, then sent Ramsey a few tunes to add to.
“We did about half the album that way, getting together a few times at my house to experiment and record,” Broemel says.
The end result, Celestun, is a simultaneously warm and wintry collection of mostly instrumental songs braiding together their complementary acoustic guitar playing and tones.
Asheville Stages spoke with Broemel via Zoom from Phoenix ahead of this weekend’s tour-concluding, two-night run at Ramsey’s hometown venue, The Grey Eagle.
Jay Moye: How does touring in such a scaled-down format compare with what you’re used to with My Morning Jacket?
Carl Broemel: It's very different. It's been a really cool experiment to get creative with as small a footprint as possible. When Tyler and I have toured together before, we brought keyboards, pedal steel — all this gear. That was really fun, but so much work. The record started simply as just instrumental acoustic guitar pieces, then along the way we added some other colors and stacked sounds to make it a bit more of a fulfilling album. But we kept it pretty minimal, intentionally, as much as we could.
And we wanted to do the same in a live setting. To be able to go walk into a venue with just two vocal mics and two acoustic guitars is an incredible challenge. It's not at all boring. It’s both terrifying and fun every night. It's vastly different than a rock tour. But as a guitarist, it's a cool recentering with the instrument.
Most of the shows have been in listening rooms with people sitting down, almost like a classical concert. And that might be a different experience for people who go out to see a lot of rock ‘n’roll shows. People's attention spans have been much better than I thought they’d be. We're getting cool feedback afterwards. People are like, “Man, I really needed that. That was a really refreshing show.” And that's why we're out here.
JM: You guys originally set out to make an all-instrumental album. When and how did that shift?
CB: We had a lot of instrumentals done when Tyler played me his song, “Flying Things,” and I also had my song, “Nevermind.” When we recorded them and added them in the playlist with the instrumentals, it made sense. That's not really who we are; we’re not rigid. They actually make the instrumental songs feel more important, because after this nice little intro, suddenly a voice pops out. Like “Hi, we're here.” And then it sinks back into instrumentals. We were just having fun making what felt like our version of a Windham Hill record. That's how records work. You start with a concept, but you better not hold on to it too tightly.
JM: A third song with vocals, your take on Neil Young’s “Sail Away,” also made the record. Was it always your plan to include a deep-cut cover?
CB: We just thought we'd try it and make it our own. And we both love Neil. Over the years, Tyler and I have both met and hung out with him a little bit. Not to, like, name drop, but we feel connected to him. And we wanted to pay homage to someone who's been so influential to us.
JM: How did the practices of collaborating remotely and tracking in person complement each other?
CB: Recording is like alchemy. It's impossible to explain the best way to do it. When making a record, if you can somehow manufacture the mindset of a pure space — with the idea that no one will ever hear it — there’s no anticipation, plan, or pressure.
Making records can be terrifying and emotionally draining. We’d both had good and bad experiences in the studio and agreed that if it didn’t feel fun, then we wouldn’t do it. And when we did get together, it was [fun]. It was nice to have the challenge of being together in person, playing into one microphone. When I listen to the album, it's really hard to tell which songs weren't recorded live together. I sent a lot of the music through my cassette four-track and got it to sound glued together and a bit more like an artifact or a retro-ish sounding album, intentionally.
JM: A few years have passed since you recorded the album. How has it felt to revisit these songs after so much time away from them?
CB: I think it's cool to have projects gathering silt at the bottom of the ocean. It's all about incremental growth, which has really helped my mindset with every project. When you make a record and put it out really quickly, often there will be a few songs you’re not happy with. I think every song on [Celestun] feels like it belongs.
We definitely had to relearn and tease apart the tracks before touring. There's one song we recorded around one microphone,[JM1] and it's impossible to tell who was doing what, so it was a cool exercise to figure that one out. We did a lot of preparation, but there's still an element of improvisation every night. The songs are fluid and a little jazzy. They feel alive.
In the middle of a show, I’ll play a certain lick that makes Tyler smile, like an inside joke. In a way, the album is like looking at a painting and the live show is an animation.
JM: Why do you and Tyler complement each other so well as guitarists, but also personality-wise?
CB: I think we're both good collaborators, just because that's been our role in bands — being the second guitar player or the support person. We both just have that toolkit. I love touring with My Morning Jacket. It's my career and the love of my life, besides my wife. But that's five people. To go from five people to two people, if there's an issue or something to discuss, it's just so easy. And touring with Tyler has been a blast. We drive around, listen to music, and have adventures. It's a bit of a vacation.
With the personality stuff, I have trouble talking about chemistry because sometimes when I read interviews and people are like, “We have such good chemistry,” it just really turns me off. [laughs] But when I play with Tyler, I get excited and inspired because he's playing stuff I can't play. I know if I give him a song, he'll come up with something I wouldn't be able to do.
JM: What do side projects like this bring back to your “day job”?
CB: The simplest answer is I’ve been playing guitar a ton over the last six months, practicing for this tour. With the band, it’s important to jump out, do other things, and steal energy from other artists to keep things fresh. Our five-person circle is really tight. We've made a lot of records together, so it's always good when people get stoked on a new thing.
It's also a pressure-release valve. Sometimes when you've got all your eggs in one basket, you can start to get anxious. I'm really grateful right now because the My Morning Jacket enterprise has never been healthier and more fun. We all feel like we’re rolling down the road in the right direction. There's a lot of consensus. So, it's super fun to do something else while that’s feeling so good. To have two groovy things has been awesome.
IF YOU GO
Who: Tyler Ramsey & Carl Broemel with Maggie Halfman (Feb. 27) and David Stevenson (Feb. 28)
When: Friday, Feb. 27, 8 p.m. & Saturday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m.
Where: The Grey Eagle Music Hall, 185 Clingman Ave., thegreyeagle.com
Tickets: $32.81 each night (general admission seating)
