Interview: Kelsey Waldon

If you’re going to be associated with a particular musical artist, John Prine is a good option. But despite close ties to her late, great mentor, friend, and Oh Boy Records label-mate, Kelsey Waldon has worked hard to make a name for herself as a consistent and exciting force in Americana music.

Prior to her return to The Grey Eagle on Thursday, Dec. 8, the Nashville-based singer/songwriter spoke with Asheville Stages about paying tribute to Prine in song and in life, and how flying across the country resulted in her best album thus far.

Edwin Arnaudin: I know you played The Grey Eagle in late 2019. What other history do you have with Asheville?

Kelsey Waldon: I love coming to to Asheville. I've always loved the vibe. I played there recently at The Orange Peel. I opened for Robert Earl Keen on I guess his last show ever in Asheville, so that was cool. It was packed and I just did a duo with me and my fiddle player, but it was great.

I've played there a couple times, but I feel like this’ll be even better. I'm excited to be back at The Grey Eagle. I think last time, it was on the White Noise[/White Lines] tour, my last original record, and that was right before COVID. It just seems like everything's been much more…you know, like, the crowds have been bigger. It's just much more positive, and I feel like people are much more appreciative in a way, if that makes sense, which is really, really great. So, besides hiking and stuff like that in Asheville, I love to visit. I feel like it's always good.

EA: For sure. When I talk to artists about Asheville, they often say the crowds here are among the best they play for — just the most attentive and appreciative.

KW: Yeah, absolutely. I associate really good things with Asheville. Some really good friends live there, and they're just hardcore music lovers. We've stayed at their house and I just associate Asheville with very positive, good things.

EA: Well, I’ve enjoyed listening to No Regular Dog. You can tell that a ton of thought and work went into it, so thank you for putting in the time to make a solid record.

KW: Thank you! It's crazy — it feels like it's been out for a long time [laughs] but it hasn’t. But I am proud of it, for sure, so thanks for saying that.

EA: Absolutely! Well, throughout these songs, you write honestly and openly about modern Appalachian life. Is that a case of “write what you know” or do you have certain goals in mind for listeners who hear these region-specific stories?

KW: Well, of course, I'm not technically from Appalachia. I'm from Western Kentucky, so I'm literally from the bottomland swamp of Kentucky. But people think that because, you know, Kentucky's pretty…the commodity's pretty tight, and as far as the Eastern Kentucky and Lexington scene goes, I'm definitely in that. I've been embraced, and obviously I love bluegrass music and I love mountain music. I'm very inspired by it. So there are definite connections there, but I didn't technically grow up right in the holler or anything.

But, like I said, Kentucky's Kentucky. Where I grew up is still extremely rural and I live kind of out in the country now outside Nashville. But I do write about what I know, of course. I feel like, especially this album, there were still those stories, but a lot of it's about my life now as well. And it's incredibly introspective as far as it being a really big transitional time in my life. It's really about inherent worth and healing and all that good stuff.

I still definitely write about what I know and also write stories about other people. Because, to answer your question — regionally, yeah, I definitely feel like, especially back home and in Kentucky, and all, honestly, pockets of the South, I just feel like there's a lot of colorful stories to write about. People are a lot more complex than we make them out to be. It’s still “the Southern story.” It's just hopefully less sentimental and really pulling back the layers. It's not all just, like, sitting on the back of a truck or whatever.

EA: For sure. I think you’re seeing that a lot with modern Southern literature where writers are getting away from those tropes and trying to present a more honest, accurate portrait of life here. But then still touching on the past and how it affects the present.

KW: Yeah, and also celebrating those things — being proud of where you come from, but also accepting the things that need progress, but also embracing the things that make it beautiful. That's the only way we're gonna change things, I think, is being a part of that community and not shunning it, but just making it better.

EA: And you tracked these very Southern songs in the very not Southern city of Los Angeles.

KW: [laughs] Yeah!

EA: Did that geographical distance provide any new insights into these tunes while recording them?

KW: Definitely. [Producer] Shooter Jennings and I had been fans of each other for a long time, just hitting it off. I love Shooter so much. And he was awesome to work with — we’re kindred spirits, somewhat. And I just wanted to get out. I'd only really made a record in Nashville and before in Kentucky. I just had done all that before and I really wanted to get out of my bubble.

I brought my road band at the time, so it was a mixture of them plus some of Shooter’s band and some LA folks. Herb Pedersen played — he was in The Desert Rose Band — on banjo. You know, at one time there was a Los Angeles bluegrass scene, in the ’70s. And I love those records, too. I love a lot of stuff that came out of California. There's actually a lot of country records that were made in California, especially in the ’70s.

It was just a breath of fresh air. You can kind of hear it in the album — it’s not like it's glitzy. It's still very much me, but there was a vibe and I wanted it to feel that way. When we flew out there, that was when everybody got their first round of [COVID-19] vaccinations and it was kind of a sweet spot for a minute. We were just kind of like, “Let's get the hell of here,” you know? [laughs]

And I think that also had like a lot to do with it. It was really great to hole up somewhere and record. I feel like if we would've been in Nashville…so many of us live here, so it's like, “I gotta go eat dinner.” But instead, we all flew out and were able to hole up in a studio and finish a record for 10 days, because no one had anywhere to be but there.

EA: Nice! Still for me, the easy standout on the album is “Season’s Ending,” and it’s so neat that you got in such a touching tribute to your friend and mentor, John Prine. When did you start writing that song?

KW: Let’s see…he passed away in April [2020]? Yeah, it was the first of April — April 7, I'm pretty  sure. I remember very well. But yeah, I feel like it was a couple of months after that. I wasn't really able to…there was just so much chaotic death, honestly. Not even just his at the time that it happened. My partner's uncle also passed away from COVID the same day. That was just unlike anything…I mean, I think we forget just how intense that really was for a minute, right? Not to get too heavy…

But then, yeah, a couple months later, I finally had something to say. I probably have it written in my journal exactly when the month was, but I know it was a couple months later, I sat down at my desk. I was thinking about the dogwoods and thinking how plants go dormant, things go dormant, and they come back. And I'm a big gardener, so I was thinking about all that stuff and, obviously, how things can't bloom all year. They have their moment and then they go and they come back.

So, it's kind of more like a cyclical view — and then accepting death is a part of it. I think it was also just therapy for me. We weren't really allowed to have a funeral or anything, so I just needed to say some things, you know?

EA: Definitely. Now that a little over two years has passed, what’s Nashville like without him?

KW: I think we all feel the void of him not being here, for sure. But Nashville just feels different in general, for numerous reasons. I was on tour actually when they did the You Got Gold — his celebration. They finally had it [in October]. And I heard it was just incredible. But I was working and I think that's what he would've wanted me to be doing.

So, I’ve definitely felt the void a couple times. The first Oh Boy event we did during Americana [Fest in Nashville], it kind of hit me. That was 2021, so I was kind of just like, “OK, this is different. He is not here, and this is different.” But it's been beautiful. On the positive end, I think Oh Boy has got something to prove, in a way. I think the songwriting legacy is going to remain strong and all the artists that are on Oh Boy, including myself, are gonna try to continue his legacy as much as we can.

I definitely feel his void but I think his memory lives on. Tommy Prine, John's son, is going out and…he’s like my brother, you know, and I feel like he's just going out and killing it. He's selling out places and people want to see him. So I know that John is smiling as big a, I dunno, cat about that. So, yeah, it's awesome. The void is there, but we're filling it — I think the void is being filled as best as it can.

IF YOU GO

Who: Kelsey Waldon with The Brothers Gillespie and Abby Hamilton
When: Monday, Nov. 14, 8 p.m.
Where: The Grey Eagle 185 Clingman Ave., thegreyeagle.com
Tickets: $17

(Photos by Alysse Gafkjen)