I honestly tried to concoct some sort of clever introductory tagline that would play off the title of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’ illustrious 1988 debut album, Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars. But I came up empty.
It’s probably for the best.
Like many others, their inaugural set and its hit extract “What I Am” introduced me to the band’s rich salmagundi of styles and textures, with Brickell’s velvety mezzo-soprano serving as a perfect rudder for its vessel of funky, jangly instrumentals. While a few shake-ups have happened over the years, co-founders Brandon Aly (drums) and Brad Houser (bass and woodwinds) have remained permanent fixtures, while guitarist Kenny Withrow, percussionist John Bush, and keyboardist and background vocalist Matt Hubbard round out the band’s lineup.
In the rearview, Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars was so obviously ahead of its time sonically —the band’s fearlessness in improvising and crisscrossing genres has rendered so much of their catalog dateless. Their fifth and latest studio effort, Hunter And The Dog Star, which arrives this Friday, February 19th via Thirty Tigers, is certainly an evolution of their craft. But the dauntless spirit that initially brought them together has gone gloriously unchanged.
‘Hunter And The Dog Star ‘ is in stores now | Buy
If anything, Brickell believes the authenticity in their writing and recording has blossomed in the past three or four years, extending much of the credit to producer Kyle Crusham for encouraging them to create recklessly.
“Kyle has a lot to do with sort of the transformation of the band’s dream,” she explains. “When I first worked with Kyle and Kenny, I’d gotten Kenny to come to play a solo on a new song that I was going to add to this new record that Charlie Sexton had produced for me that was about to come out on Verve. And I wrote this new song, but Charlie was on the road with [Bob] Dylan, and I really wanted it on the record. The record was all ready to go. So I called up Charlie and said ‘I really want to record this. Do you mind if I get Kenny to come in and play on it?’ And he said, ‘nah! Go ahead!’ because Charlie is the greatest guy and he’s so kind and good-hearted. He said, ‘go for it!’
I called Kenny and said, ‘let’s go in the studio with this guy Kyle.’ When I saw how Kyle treated Kenny, and when I saw how Kenny responded, I said, [claps] ‘here we go! Kyle, would you be interested in producing a New Bohemians record as an experiment?’ Because I felt that we’d never captured the true spirit of the band—ever. Even though we’d had success and it was wonderful, we never captured [it], in my opinion.
But, that’s how we got back in the recording studio, and Kyle has really created the artistic space and vibe and captured the sound. He knew how to capture magic and how to be a presence that would allow it to flow. We owe a great deal to him. It’s a very important presence, like another member of the band.”
However, the heartwarming sympatico of Brickell and her New Bohemians family is so clearly one of its greatest assets. Last week, she, Aly, Houser and I spent time together swapping stories and digging into how their unbreakable sense of community has led them to persevere for almost four decades. Watching how they were equally quick to playfully chide one another as they were to shower one another with praise and admiration was...well, in this line of work, it doesn’t get much more blithesome than this.
With that context, revisiting the diverse track list of Hunter And The Dog Star as a vehicle for that infinitely special kinship is even more rewarding. It’s so evidently an album made with a universal love and devotion.
First, I want to congratulate you on making such a fantastic record. I’ve really enjoyed exploring it. I know Rocket was such an exciting project for you three years ago because you were returning to the studio as a band after a lengthy hiatus. How does Hunter And The Dog Star continue that sense of rediscovery and reinvigoration?
Brandon Aly: Well, I think for us, really, it was about keeping the momentum after Rocket. We still felt like we had a lot of creative juices flowing. I think that record came out in October of 2018. And we were doing South-by-Southwest in Austin in March [2019], which found us all together in the same place again for those South-by shows. So, it was, like, ‘let’s get back in the studio right away.’ We had a great studio, Arlyn Studios, that we love working in. It was really easy at that time, you know, to just get right back in and keep moving. That’s where most of the songs for Hunter And The Dog Star came about.
Edie, I know that songwriting was relatively new to you when you joined the band in 1985, and it’s become this true communal effort where all of you contribute to developing your songs. Where do the three of you think you’ve grown the most as writers in that process?
Edie Brickell: Songwriting has always been a process of understanding what I like and what I’m interested in. I pay attention to what I like and I try to make something I think is new and interesting and colorful. What I’m most interested in is something colorful—I get bored by a sort of monochromatic perspective musically and lyrically.
Brad Houser: Well for me, I just started writing on my own in earnest about a year ago. I mean, I’ve written a handful of things through the years, but I actually started writing lyrics about a year ago. That was new. And things just started shifting, and it was like the door kind of opened up. I’ve in recent years paid a lot more attention to lyrics than I ever did before, although, I’ve realized I’ve always paid attention to lyrics—but now more than ever. So, yeah, there’s a lot of new territory for me, and it’s been cool.
BA: For us, it’s always been such a group process when we write, so it’s kind of a little different than a lot of bands where you’d expect a principal songwriter of the band to come in with a song, you know? Edie does bring in songs, and Kenny does bring in songs, but a lot of time the writing we’re doing as a group and just playing together and throwing out ideas.
And, so, I think where we’ve come to as writers is that we’ve finally allowed ourselves this opportunity to capture that in the studio. Most of the songs that you heard on Rocket and most of the stuff on the new record just came about in the studio. We didn’t rehearse or prepare what songs to bring in—it’s this sort of organic thing that happens. I haven’t experienced that with any other group of players, and it’s great.
Other than songwriting, on what do you find yourselves spending most of the time in the studio? Do you all tend to tinker much in post-production, or is it just a matter of a bit of fine-tuning and refining what’s already there?
BA: It’s kind of all of the above. There’s definitely at times some pretty intense tinkering, and then at other times, it’ll just kind of go straight down to “take,” and be pretty much there. I mean, we run the full range.
EB: Yeah, it’s really born out of a lot of improvisational stream-of-consciousness—listening to each other and allowing yourself to be in the moment. And then when you go back in to listen to it, it’s refining, as you mentioned—as you intuited. Refining it and making it right.
And now Hunter And The Dog Star is coming out at a time when things look rather different for artists and the industry. How are you feeling about that? How have you each been working through the past year creatively?
EB: We’re just excited as we always are. And we were pretty lucky because we still had the opportunity to get together as a band and play in our dream-come-true music barn—we’ve been thinking about that since we were kids. We finally have our own beautiful place to play in the country. So, we’ve come together, we’re getting a chance to play again, and we’re planning on keeping the momentum alive.
In terms of the pandemic, I think the hardest part has been witnessing what other people go through. Our lives, with the exception of playing live, haven’t changed much as I can tell because we’re pretty solitary by nature and have that privilege of working from home when we aren’t playing shows. But seeing how it affects the greater population hurts your heart a bit because you don’t know what to do for people.
BA: And now that we do have that barn, we’re trying really hard to figure out ways that we can create things there that we can share with people in the event that we can’t go out and get in front of them. So, we’ve invested in cameras and things like that, and some audio equipment to capture what we do when we’re creating. It’s a whole new world. I know Brad’s been doing some solo stuff from home and streaming and teaching bass lessons.
BH: Yeah, I have students all over the country now—one on the west coast, one on the east coast, and one in Kansas. The pandemic really enabled a lot of great stuff. I’ve been trying to think about playing solo forever—I figured that when I finally got it together I’d play in a coffee shop to, like, three people. And then this thing started up. I took up pedal steel a while back, and, you know, I’ve got a couple of loopers, and I just started thinking, ‘well…’ I started live streaming doing solo stuff, some instrumentals, and I sang a little bit although I’m not the greatest singer. But it kind of forced my hand.
Playing solo on a live stream is the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done. It’s hard. I’m so used to hiding back behind the drummer, but when you’re solo, there ain’t no hiding. I get crazy nervous in the hours before. The last one, it took me twenty minutes to settle down, and I was making mistakes all over the place. It’s new turf for me, but the enabling of remote teaching has been a blessing. There are silver linings in this extremely dark cloud, you know?
BA: Luckily, we’ve all been able to get together as a group. Edie’s not in Texas right now, but she was for a good long while, so we were able to get to play every day and feel like we were in our little safe band bubble. It’s really been a blessing. Being able to keep creating at home is really great.
Edie, you’ve discussed the meaning behind Hunter And The Dog Star in previous interviews, but the idea and influence of celestiality seems to be a pervasive theme throughout a lot of work you’ve all produced over the years. Is that kind of spiritualism fundamentally important to the band’s work?
EB: Yeah, I think we’ve always felt a connection to the mystery that leads us to the creative process while we’re in it. You’re aware of another force in the mix. Bringing the band together in the first place felt like it had this fated quality or character. There were higher forces involved, I felt. And then this sense of love and loyalty that has sustained and endured—and even grown throughout the years—I recognize to be pretty special among people.
I value these guys and I respect these guys. They’re so kind-hearted. As musicians, they really care. Brad is always learning and evolving, and Brandon is one of the best listeners. He’s very respectful toward players. He never lets his ego get in the way of the outcome—and it’s really unusual [laughs]. That’s why it was so important to play again with Brandon—he brings a real sense of heart to the band and he’s unusually kind, you know?
BH: A kind-hearted man.
BA: Well, thank you.
EB: No, thank you. And that’s why I’ve always liked the image of the dog. When I was reading about constellations and I ran across that phrase, “hunter and the dog star”…you know what it stands for, right? That it’s Orion and Sirius, and that Sirius appears to follow Orion through the night sky. And that dog star is the brightest just before dawn. And I just thought it was so beautiful.
BH: It’s very prominent in the sky all winter long. We see it every night out here. Really cool.
Is there something about the band you all believe has been criminally underrated—or is there an aspect of your tenure that you hoped people would say or talk more about that they haven’t up to this point?
EB: I don’t know—I feel pretty satisfied [laughs]. I mean, I do. Guys, do you feel underrated in any way that you’d like to mention? [laughs].
BH: Since just about the beginning, we’ve always had a kind of, like, a funny country song somewhere in there. There’s always been a funny [mimicking a banjo] oohm-cheh-oohm-cheh-dawrn-durn-deh-deh country song. I guess “Keep Coming Back” kind of fits that off the first record. It’s always been a part of the thing, but we’re finally getting that in the mix proper. We’re not afraid of it, like ‘oh, well that doesn’t fit in with all the rest of the pop stuff.’ It’s, like, ‘yeah it does!’ It’s a part of who we are and it always has been. We’ve always had some wacky country song hanging in the wings for years, very consistently. And we’ve got “Horse’s Mouth” now, and it’s really cool to see that one come out the way it does.
You know, back in the Geffen days, they weren’t gonna put something like that on a record— ‘you’re a pop band, you can’t do that!’ Now, there aren’t very many rules—you can put out whatever you want, you know? That diversity is one of our big strengths, and I think a lot of people don’t know how wacky and diverse our sound can be. We’ve written some really super out there, almost free jazz, kind of stuff. That’s a part of our sound, too, that a lot of people don’t know about. We’re kind of all over the map. Miles Davis is one of our north stars in a way, especially Bitches Brew and his electric period for us guys and Edie, too. That’s been a real big part of our thing since maybe the early eighties. So, yeah, I think we’re more diverse than most people realize, especially if they’ve only heard us on the radio.
BA: Yeah, I definitely agree with that. And, then I think the other thing is that we have a tendency to make songs up on the spot in front of people. That’s always been a hard...during a live show, you don’t necessarily want to go, ‘hey! We just made that up!’ [laughs] But, I’ve had friends or family in the audience, and they’d be standing next to people who didn’t realize it, and they’d say, ‘oh, we haven’t heard that one before.’
That’s something we do that carries over into the process of making records, as well. To me, that’s what real jamming is, and I think sometimes when you talk about the “jam band” genre, that’s really just song bands with extended solo sections. That’s not really how we jam—we kind of have a tendency to jam more of a complete song. Hardcore fans probably understand that about us, but casual listeners probably don’t get that. And that’s why our music goes in so many directions all the time.
The song on Hunter that hooked me the quickest is “Miracles.” It’s a really phenomenal track. I believe it’s the one that was either written first—or maybe it was written the quickest—for the record. If you would, tell me a little about how it came to life.
EB: Kenny came into my vocal room...at Arlyn, you don’t just have a vocal booth—you have a room, and [gesturing widely] ahhhhh...it’s really big and beautiful. But Kenny came and sat in there and he had that chord progression, and the minute he hit [mimicking the melody] bowm-bowm...buh-bowwwuh-bowwwm, I started singing “miracles aren’t just for believers.” Like Brandon said, it’s an improv. I sang what I see and what I hear. That was the first thing that came out. And Kyle was in the room and went [gasps] [laughs] and he turned on the recorder. It had a vibe, it had a feeling, and we just went with it.
I’m so, so pleased and happy for Kenny and for us that he caught that classic mood and vibe in his playing on record. That is a sound I’ve heard from him since I was eighteen years old, and we’ve never quite captured it on a record. It takes Kenny being completely relaxed and just bringing it in the studio. Right, guys? He’s brought that so many times to gigs or at rehearsals, but to me, that was one of the rare moments that he brought that wholeness of his vibe and expression with such beautiful dramatic character into the recording studio.
BH: That song is vibe city.
EB: It really is. From the get-go.
BH: That was the first one we recorded, too, when we went in. What a great way to start.
BA: You took the words right out of my mouth. And there again, it wasn’t a planned activity. I mean, we knew we were going to record something, but it just came about. After that song, the track that follows it was just a jam that while the tape was rolling at the end just evolved. And Kyle, our producer, was smart enough to not turn off the recording and just let it run. So, we loved that so much and we maybe spiced it up just a little bit, but most of it…“Miracles” into the jam was pretty much live.
We had the idea when we put it on vinyl that we just wanted the whole thing to run together as one big, long thing. I think it’s the coolest thing on the vinyl that it goes from “Miracles” into the jam, and then “My Power” at the end. It took some doing to get the tracks to overlap and to get the grooves to line up where there’s not that pause, so when you drop the needle on it, it just all runs. I just think that’s really cool.
EB: I do, too. It was so important to capture that personality of the band that’s never been recorded before. That’s the greater personality of the band than the pop songs we’re known for.
I bought Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars with my allowance when I was about twelve after I’d heard “What I Am” on the radio. Obviously, the industry and the way in which music gets created, produced, bought, and consumed is so different. I’ve asked this of other artists who have had long careers, but what’s one aspect of making or delivering music you hope never changes?
EB: Well, first I want to thank you and your twelve-year-old self. It was so kind of you to spend your allowance and support us like that.
Oh, of course. It wasn’t hard to get me to buy records and tapes when I was a kid. I loved the whole experience. It was a pretty joyful thing.
EB: Yeah, it was. It still is for us. [laughs] I remember being a kid and buying 45s.
I loved buying 45s. I still do.
EB: Yeah, it was so exciting.
Edie, what was your first 45?
EB: The first record I ever bought was “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. I played it over and over and over and over.
And who doesn’t love that song?
BH: That’s a good start!
EB: Anyway—back to your question. The thing that I hope never changes, and it’s what makes it so exciting to play with New Bohemians, is that we have faith that there’s always going to be a song there. And it’s apropos that that first song in the recording studio was “Miracles”—we went in with nothing on the first day, and there it is.
Because we know after playing together all of these years that it’s going to be a matter of what we choose, and not what we have, you know, if we have anything. It’s gonna be ‘oh boy, we’re gonna have a lot to choose from.’ Because it feels like—and, again, it’s that sort of cosmic activity of songs are almost like spirits in the air all around you—they want to be expressed. And I think we’re all willing conduits...except for Brad [laughs].
BH: I am obstinate and stubborn.
Since Albumism is an albums-focused site, I usually ask my interviewees to name their top five albums. We might be here all night having that particular conversation, but can you perhaps name a few albums that have been important to you individually or as a band?
BH: Recently, for me, it’s been In Rainbows by Radiohead. Dear God. Wow!
BA: I’d have to agree with Brad on that.
BH: Yeah, love that. You know, when were we in high school, us guys...we went through a period when we were really listening to a lot of King Crimson—like Discipline and Beat. Being a drummer, one of the most influential things for me that came along was a go-go band out of [Washington] D.C. called Trouble Funk. To this day, there’s this one record called Live, and I just can’t stop listening to that because it’s just pure energy and drum beats just non-stop all the way through. Our song “What I Am” is essentially a go-go beat, and that was right around the time we were getting into Trouble Funk. And that song is pretty much a combination of a go-go beat and a Purdie Shuffle. Super cool.
BA: Edie has a lot of records you listen to that you love.
EB: “Yeah, I love them. It’s more what I learn from artists and not a sense of...I mean, I guess that’s an influence if you’re learning stuff. I think most recently, in terms of a contemporary, it would be Björk. When I first heard that record Post, I fell in love with it because I love every single song on that album. And that helped make me aware that you want to make every single song a moment—a beautiful moment—and not just throw things away. Because I hear a lot of records where I don’t wanna listen to more than half of what’s on the album.
So when there’s an artist who cares about a whole album, it just emphasizes that importance. I’m always striving...I want to make a classic album. I really wanna make a classic album! [laughs] Again, so when you hear one, it puts that hunger and desire in you with a greater passion.
For older records, you know I love Astral Weeks by Van Morrison. I used to listen to Astral Weeks every day when we were in Wales. I’d walk through the countryside and listen to that record, and I thought ‘that has a beautiful improvisational quality about it.’ And then I heard later that it was—it was improv.
Now I understand and I’m kind of attracted to kind of a live energy, and I’m less attracted to albums that sound like they’re a game of Jenga or something—they’re just crafted one layer on top of the other. But, on a lot of the older records, people are actually playing together and responding to each other’s energy, and that’s what’s communicated on tape.
I think we’re determined to do that now, and we have been, luckily. I hope you can feel that difference.
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