I have three weeks. From Asheville, NC, to Maine and the Midwest and back home to Nashville. Then I have three weeks in the United Kingdom—Ireland, Denmark and the UK. And then festivals start and I'll be hitting those for the summer and doing some more minor things in the fall.
What do you find people in Europe have to say about what you do? How do they describe it?
Press, anyway, they use the bluegrass in their copy. The word bluegrass is always there. Americana, they call it. They call it folk and stuff, but British folk is funny, it's like a whole other world. Like what I'm doing to the Brits is definitely country music. Bluegrass music is definitely country music in Britain. And old time music is like bluegrass. But folk music, to them in Britain, folk music is really traditional songs. They do them every which way, they do them with hip-hop.
I saw this really interesting collaboration with an East-Indian, Jamaican guys. It was wild, folk songs. They electrify it up, do whatever they want to, as long as it's a traditional song. And then you have the whole Celtic thing, which is folk music in a way. It's dance music, mostly. I kind of walk in that world a bit, too, just for fun. What happens is you do find a way to get to an audience and usually you do. With me, it was the bluegrass festival circuit that was real good for Hot Rise, when I was touring with them. So I made a lot of fans and when I went on my own, I kept in touch with them because I was playing that same circuit. Even though the music changed a lot.
But it's, after a certain point, it doesn't really matter what you call it. I would hope that they come to see Tim O'Brien music, or hear Tim O'Brien music. It’s a small, but fanatical base.
Having played with so many people, is there anyone you'd recommend for people to check out?
The Duhks—their new record is really going to be awesome. I've heard the early mixes, it's really great. Darrell Scott is always doing good stuff and Dirk Powell—my old running buddies. In bluegrass, I really like the Steeldrivers. They have a new record coming out, or maybe it just came out.
In Celtic music I really like Julie Fowles. I like Kristin Andreassen, she's with Uncle Earl. Her songs are great. I would watch for great songs to come out from her. She's really a great writer. There are so many, I don’t think of them til I hear it. I'm going to work with Robin and Linda Williams. I'm going to produce a record for them next week. That's going to be fun, I always love them. There's a lot of good music out there.
This interview was conducted on Feb. 22, 2008
