MAKING A return visit to these shores in February are the post-Appalachian American folk duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Among their claims to fame, Welch wrote The Horse Whisperer for the movie of the same name, while Rawlings is one of Buddy Miller s favourite guitarists. Busy touring behind Revival and the more recent Hell Among The Yearlings album, Gillian spoke to us during a brief sojourn at home in Nashville about her musical career to date.
On the importance of two s company.
I think that the essence of it will always be David and myself but if future albums will be like that I don t know. We are definitely going into our third album as if it will be. I think it s going to be dictated by the songs we ve written. Hell Among The Yearlings was dictated by the songs. If we felt something was better served by having a drummer in there, then we would probably have one. Though I must say I do have an interest in keeping going with the acoustic duo. It s almost a perverse curiosity to see how far it can go.
On working with T-Bone Burnette
It s an interesting job that he does with us: he s kind of a mixture of cheerleader, editor, producer, arranger and spiritual leader. He doesn t do a lot of the stuff that he might do with a bigger band like the Counting Crows or The Wallflowers. There s not that much to oversee in terms of overdubbing and so on, but he plays a very important task in monitoring all performances and telling us when we re on the right track. That said, I don t know if we will be working with T-Bone on the next album. He s doing his wife s (Sam Phillips) next record and he s doing one of his own and he s got a lot of people wanting him to work with them.
On gaining a wider audience.
Obviously with this record there are things that could have been done to have greater hopes of getting it played on the radio. It pretty much flies in the face of that. There s no big drums on it or anything. In many ways it was a step away from that. That wasn t an issue on this record. I don t like to think that I would ever tailor something specifically to gain a wider audience, for pop radio. Maybe if I wrote a big pop song then that would be the way to do it but that seems so unlikely.
On live performances
It s very important. Basically after Revival came out in 96 we toured for a year and a half. Over the last three years we ve spent more time performing than writing. Hopefully that shows. I like to think Dave and I have got better, I feel we have. It is also an important thing that the records be representative of what you would see at a live show; likewise that we can pull off live what s on the record. I m a firm believer that what you get at a live show should be different but equal to the record. I like to think that we do that.
On respected peers
There s not a lot of crossing over between the various sets of alternative country (in Nashville). But people who cross over those divisions and with whom I feel part of a community would include Emmylou Harris her boundaries for this type of music are basically non-existent. She has an outlook that takes in all of it. Like Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams they will also turn up anywhere to play.
On bluegrass versus honky tonk.
I m much more familiar with the bluegrass community than the swing or honky tonk people. That s where my heart is, it also suits my temperament more. But I know most people. Nashville s a pretty small town.
On cover songs
Well, everybody starts out doing covers, playing other people s songs. For The Songs Of Dwight Yoakam, I was really glad that Miner s Prayer was still available: it was one of my favourites for years. We also did the Ralph Stanley album, The Clinch Mountain Country. What can you say about that? He s one of my biggest heros. Being part of that is such an honour. That s one of the good things about being out of the mainstream: someone like Ralph Stanley will see you as being part of their world as well as Dwight Yoakam seeing you as a part of his.
On coming to Ireland
We had a great time on our last visit. I found people to be very caring and educated on this type of music. You have a great reputation over here for loving music. I just hope it s not too cold.
Gillian Welch s Hell Among The Yearlings is out now on Almo. Dates for her Irish tour are as follows: 11th Feb Roisin Dubh, Galway; 12th Feb Streamstown RFC, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary; 13th Feb Vicar St., Dublin.