Since co-founding the legendary jam-grass act Leftover Salmon over 30 years ago, Drew Emmitt has been one of the most influential trailblazers of the modern progressive-bluegrass movement which has taken the country’s fertile live-music scene by storm.
As the lead mandolinist/guitarist for the Colorado-based jam-band veterans, Emmitt has taken his myriad musical influences and harnessed them over the past several decades, leaving an indelible mark on the Americana musical landscape with his remarkably strong songwriting and instrumental prowess.
These days finds Emmitt nestled comfortably amongst the majestic Crested Butte, CO wilderness where he spends his time with his family and keeping up on his banjo-runs as he looks forward to returning to the road with his Leftover Salmon band-mates this summer in support of their stellar new LP Brand New Good Old Days (out 5/7 via Compass Records)
Join us as Glide speaks with Mr. Emmitt about a litany of topics, including the group’s latest studio effort Brand New Good Old Days, recording with Waylon Jennings, and why Billy Strings now lovingly refers to him as “coach.”
In general, how have you been holding up in the past year or so, given all the craziness?
Well, it’s been amazing actually. In a lot of ways, I think it’s been kind of life-changing. The pause in touring has definitely been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do some self-reflection and be home and get out and into the woods. I live in Crested Butte, Colorado, so we have a lot of beautiful wildernesses here. But, you know, it’s also been a scary time. And obviously, I totally miss playing music and playing out live. And it’s been interesting piecing everything together financially without touring but we managed to do that and keep the house together and keep the bills paid, miraculously (laughs). Other than that, it’s been kind of an astounding and amazing time really.
Have you tapped into any creative outlets over the last year that you otherwise might not have as a result of the pandemic?
Yeah, especially playing instruments, and just focusing on breaking it down and working on my own improvement, you know, and just trying to figure out what will make me a better musician. Without all the distractions of the audience and the road and everything else, just purely playing music and playing instruments and writing, it’s been pretty inspiring in a lot of ways. You know, it’s obviously challenging not performing, but the upside is just really being able to buckle down and work on getting better
I’d like to talk about the new album (Brand New Good Old Days) for a bit. I’ve listened to it several times now over the past few weeks, and I’ve really fallen in love with it. It has a sincerely positive and refreshing feel throughout the entire record, a feat which is magnified in today’s climate. What led to the inclusion of Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden) on the album? A phenomenal choice, by the way.
Thank you. That was my idea. I’m not really sure exactly what inspired me to want to cover that (laughs). I’ve just really liked that song for years, just the way it sounds. The chord changes are really interesting in the melody and the words are very, sort of, indirect, you know? It’s like, you get the innuendo more than the direct lyrics. And it’s very interestingly written.
I was listening to it one day while driving, and I thought “this would be a really interesting bluegrass song”. So, I brought it to the band and we just kind of all learned it together and everybody put in their two cents on how we should arrange it and it just really came together nicely. I think it’s just really fun, because it’s not what you would expect from a bluegrass song (laughs).
Did you ever get to meet Chris Cornell?
No, I wish I had.
I read that Ronnie McCoury was responsible for suggesting the cover of Conway Twitty’s “Boogie Grass Band”.
Ronnie, several years ago, said that this would be a great song for us to play because it kind of fits what we are: a boogie-grass band. (laughs) Vince then brought it to us and said, “let’s try it”. It’s another song that’s completely different for us, you know, venturing into the country-music world. It’s fun and I think that a lot of people will be like, “Holy cow, that’s Leftover Salmon? That’s pretty out there (laughs)”, almost as much as “Black Hole Sun” is out there in a different way. It’s a ton of fun to play live, too. It’s twangy (laughs).
One of my favorite tracks on the album is one of Vince Herman’s songs, the title track, “Brand New Good Old Days”. It sounds instantly familiar and also sort of epitomizes the positive vibe which I mentioned earlier that is present throughout the album.
I think the timing of putting out this record right now is really, really great. Because, you know, we’re coming out of this, although we’re not out of it yet, we are coming out of this pandemic, or at least moving towards normalcy, and it is kind of like the brand new good old days. It’s like there’s hope again, and we get to start over. And, when we were trying to figure out an album title months ago, it was like “well, that would be great, but these are really not the good old days right now”. But we were all kind of thinking well, when this comes out, they could be. We could be feeling that way. So, I think the timing is good for this title.
One of your contributions to the album, “Waterfront”, has a very Frank Sinatra vibe whenever I listen to it. It almost reminds me of “That’s Life.”
(laughs) Thank you! I love Sinatra, so that’s a great compliment. It’s kind of one of those songs like “Brand New Good Old Days”, where it almost sounds like you’ve heard it before, you know, and when I was writing it, it kind of felt like it was coming from somewhere else. It was actually two different songs that I put together. I’d written a lot of the words to it, but I didn’t have a melody or a chord structure. And then, I had another song I just been kind of playing around with using that chord structure, and one day it just kind of hit me that the chord structure would work perfectly for the words I’d written and it just came together like that. It’s just one of the songs that hopefully makes people feel like they’re on the beach, watching the waves come in.
You were born in Arizona, raised in Nashville, TN, and now reside in Colorado, all landlocked states. So, I have to ask, how did you become so enamored with beaches & the ocean?
I’ve always loved going to the beach and the ocean has always been really powerful for me. I didn’t actually even see the ocean till I was 18! I was landlocked until then and I finally went to Oregon and saw the ocean for the first time out there and was really taken. Obviously, it’s very, very powerful. Now, I’ve been to Hawaii a few times and Costa Rica and then we do this festival down in Mexico, Strings & Sol. So, it’s just always been a powerful thing for me. And I just love it. If I could live on the beach and in Colorado, that’s pretty much a dream for me.
Most of the songwriting, past & present, has been handled by yourself and Vince, but each member (Greg Garrison – bass, Andy Thorn – banjo, Alwyn Robinson – drums) also contributed their own material to the album. When that happens, is it typically a collaborative effort, or is it more along the lines of the composer presents the song to the rest of the group, and everyone just sort of learns their individual parts?
Sometimes somebody will bring a song and it’s done. It’s all the way there. And then we just learn it, and whoever wrote it, you know, is singing it, and then we add our harmony parts and solos and stuff and turn it into a Salmon song. But a lot of times somebody will bring a song that’s not quite there. It’s not quite done and then we’ll all pitch in and throw some ideas around and create a song. And that’s something that’s kind of been a more recent thing in our history, maybe in the last 10 years, that we’ve really collaborated more. I think, originally it was more Vince & I were the main songwriters. And, when Andy joined, he started writing, and then Greg started writing, and now Alwyn. But it used to be a little more cut and dried, like we would bring a tune in and the band would learn it and maybe throw in some ideas, but now I think it’s definitely become more of a collaboration. And that’s been really great. To have more than just two people writing songs in the band is awesome.
With a few exceptions, it seems like most of the tracks on the album have not been performed live yet. Now, obviously, there weren’t a whole lot of chances to perform live last year, but there were a few songs that were debuted towards the end of 2019. Is that typically the common approach to a Leftover Salmon studio release where it’s mostly new material that hasn’t been road-tested yet?
Yeah, which is always tricky (laughs). Just going into the studio without having developed the songs by playing them live yet. And then, after you record them, they develop into something else. And yet, you want stuff that’s brand new that people have never heard. So, it’s an interesting balance. Because, after playing songs out live for a while, they just really take on a whole new life, and they get better and better and then you feel like,” Oh, well maybe now we should get back in the studio and re-record these songs now that we know them.” But it doesn’t usually work that way. It’s usually like, you’re creating in the studio, which is also exciting because they’re taking on life as you work on them. There’s a freshness that really makes the studio exciting. But like I said, it’s tough because you want to record them after you play them for a while too. So, it’s hard to say. (laughs)
It seems like there were fewer guest musicians on this album compared to previous studio efforts. Was there a specific reason for that, or did it just sort of work out that way?
Well, that’s just sort of how it worked out. We were on tour and then we took the week off to record in North Carolina. And we just kind of felt like banging it out and not making too much of a production of it in terms of bringing in outside people. It just kind of happened that way. I’m not sure why. I guess this album kind of led to just being the band and not bringing in outside musicians other than my daughter, Willow, singing on “Waterfront”. She’s an excellent singer and songwriter in her own right, and has been putting out music on Spotify under the name Willa Emmett.
Actually, that was Greg’s idea, who basically produced the album. We kind of installed him as the in-house producer and he had this idea that “Waterfront” could use a female singer. And I said, “Well, how about how about Willa?” and he was like, “Okay, cool.” And she just banged it out within, like, five minutes at our engineer’s studio up in Nederland, Colorado. She did a great job.
Other than that, Erik Deutsch (keyboards) now is a guest musician, but he was in the band at the time and has since left to be part of the Dixie Chicks, which is why he left us, and that’s understandable. I mean, I’m probably not going to turn that down, although they’re probably not touring until 2022. (laughs) So that’s how he kind of became a special guest.
That has to be an incredibly rewarding feeling to be able to perform with one of your children.
Yeah. Amazing, amazing. She’s been on stage with us a couple of times. She sang at Red Rocks & Telluride with us and it’s very rewarding. And my son plays guitar and he’s sat in with us. And Vince’s son plays mandolin really well, and he’s sat in with us. It’s great to include the kids, for sure.
Speaking of Erik, like you mentioned, he did recently leave to join the Dixie Chicks. Are there plans to replace him with another keyboardist?
We get asked that a lot. We’ve had several different keyboard players over the years who have kind of come and gone. We originally had an accordion player, Gerry Cavagnaro, and he left and then we got Joe Jogerst, on keys and accordion, and then he left. Then we were five-piece for quite a while. And then we got Bill McKay for a little while. And then we got Bill Payne, from Little Feat, for a couple of years, which was fantastic. And then he left to be in the Doobie Brothers. (laughs) And then we went out again as a five-piece for a little while. And then we thought Erik Deutsch would be a great addition. So, we hired him, and he was with us for three to four years.
And now, the long answer to your short question is that I think that probably what’s going to happen is we’re going to be a five-piece again, for a while, unless it really strikes us that maybe we want to go back to that direction again. You know, if the right person comes along. But this has just kind of been part of our history going back and forth between keys and no keys. So, I guess we’re entering back into a no-keys era. But, you know, if somebody came out of the woodwork and really fit what we’re doing, I think we would maybe consider it but right now we’re not really thinking about that.
I noticed this was the first Leftover Salmon album to be released on Compass Records since Live in 2002. They also released some of your solo project albums. (Freedom Ride – 2002, Across the Bridge – 2005, Long Road – 2008) What led you guys back to Compass?
We started out releasing our first two records on our own, and then we got signed by Hollywood Records, and we put out Euphoria and Nashville Sessions with them. After that, we had another record label for the self-titled record (LoS Records – 2004). And then after that, we took a break for three years. When we came back, we decided to put out our own records without a record label. So, we put out Aquatic Hitchhiker, High Country & Something Higher on our own, and then we really felt like it was time to get a label to help us again, because there’s a lot of great things that labels can do that are much harder to do on your own. You know, radio promo and all kinds of stuff. And since we had the connection with Compass, we felt like, “Let’s try it. Let’s go back to a label and see what happens.” And I personally couldn’t be happier. I think they’re doing such a great job so far. The promo has been great. You know, the radio and everything has been really popping. So, we’re definitely pleased with Compass right now.
Any general thoughts on this album, especially compared to some of your previous releases?
It’s different in a lot of ways and yet, not. It’s very much a Salmon record. I feel like it’s very rootsy and very much just who we are…just us kind of sitting around playing. Very relaxed. And the studio where we recorded, Echo Mountain, in Asheville, is just a really vibey wonderful place. It’s an old church and it just sounds really great. It has lots of nice space and stained glass and it’s just wonderful and I feel like that kind of contributed to the overall feel of it being kind of routine and down-home. And just bare-bones Salmon. No frills, no special guests, really, except for those two. It’s just pretty much what we do. And I think because of that it’s got a really easygoing vibe to it.
Let’s go back to Leftover’s 1999 album, The Nashville Sessions, which is truly an all-time great album, regardless of genre. You guys had an absurd cast of guest musicians who appeared on that record, including Waylon Jennings, Bela Fleck, Earl Scruggs, Del McCoury…
Oh man. Waylon was amazing. All those sessions were just like a dream. We were like kids in a candy store. We’re making a record in Nashville at Randy Scruggs studio, and he’s producing it and, of course, he knew everybody, but a lot of those people were our own connections we made out on the road and at festivals. But there were certain people that Randy brought in that were kind of beyond our connections like, Waylon, for instance. Randy knew Waylon, so that’s how he ended up there. And of course, Earl Scruggs, his dad, and Lucinda Williams. But a lot of those people, we had played with already. Like, Taj Mahal, we met on the H.O.R.D.E. tour, and of course Sam Bush and John Cowan and Bela Fleck. You know, the McCoury’s and Jerry Douglas, we all met at festivals.
Every day was like a wonderland of an experience. I mean, there was a day that Del and Ronnie McCoury came in the morning and then that afternoon Earl Scruggs came in. Another day, Waylon came in the morning and then that afternoon Taj Mahal came in. And it’s like, “Oh, my God, is this really happening?” And Taj hung out with us all night on our bus playing tunes. Just incredible.
But I’ll never forget when Waylon walked in the studio and it was like,” Oh my God. That’s Waylon Jennings. Holy crap.” (laughs) He was such a character and just such a down-home country dude and just old-school to the core. Real, real royalty in Nashville. Such an honor. And he would tell these crazy stories, you know? He & Vince recorded at the same time. They were both in the room together, facing each other on mics and wearing headphones. And we’d be tracking for a while, take a break, and Waylon would be like, “Well, then there’s this other story…”, and he would just go off and you just have to let him because it was Waylon. (laughs) And he would just go off for like ten minutes and it was wonderful. My favorite memory about Waylon was, when he was leaving the studio, Mark Vann, Vince & I walked him out to his brand new, big old red Cadillac. And as he’s getting in, he goes, “You know what? I never did like country music.” Then he just got in his Cadillac and drove away (laughs).
That’s amazing.
Yup. He also told us about the Buddy Holly story. I don’t know how it came up, but he was talking about how they all drew straws and I think he said he was sick and he really wanted to go on the plane because he didn’t feel well but he drew the short straw and didn’t get to go. Obviously, we all know what happened but he said he carried that guilt with him his whole life. That he was the one that lived through that.
Wow. Incredible.
Looking back at some of your early songs like “Ask the Fish”, there is a very psychedelic feel to it that is essentially unique to Leftover Salmon. Is that how you primarily envisioned the band’s sound back in your formative years?
Not at first. I mean, originally, we were more of like a “bluegrass-cajun” band playing more roots music & americana. And I think “Ask the Fish” kind of came from our first years of touring, specifically, going to California and getting into that whole kind of trippy scene. And that phrase came from a party at our friend’s house in Mill Valley, where they had a can opener shaped like a fish. And it had all these sections, and you could kind of move it around and all of us at the party being somewhat of heightened awareness of condition (laughs), it just became this thing. Mark Vann, I think was the first one was who walking around with it and he would walk up to you and say, “Would you like to ask the fish? What would you like to ask the fish?” And so, it developed out of just that and turned into a song (laughs).
Another one of your older songs, Troubled Times, is, unfortunately, an incredibly relevant song right now. Do you find that you’re able to attach new meaning to old lyrics that you’ve written?
Absolutely. That one, especially. We’ve played that a few times, during this period, and I’ve played it solo a few times. But yeah, people have asked me to play it too, because they feel like it really does touch on what’s going on right now. These are some troubled times. Oh, my God (laughs). Especially the past four years have just been so troubling. You know, so with that proceeding the whole pandemic, I mean, it’s been a really scary time in our world. So, I feel like when I sing that song, I definitely feel that and can really send that feeling out to the crowd and I’m glad to have a song that can speak to that a little bit.
Going way back, I read that you started off as a teenager playing electric guitar, and then, around 18 or 19, it was your mom who bought you your first mandolin. Was either of your parents musically inclined?
Yes. They both were singers and writers. My dad was a novelist and my mom was mostly into playwriting and poetry and she taught me a lot about songwriting, actually. She just felt like I needed a mandolin. And I had kind of been attracted to the mandolin before then, mostly through Led Zeppelin. It’s funny because I got to meet John Paul Jones in Telluride a few years back, and I got to tell him that he was like my first mandolin influence. He & Jimmy Page. So, that was pretty cool, to actually be able to tell him that. But, you know, I listened to Led Zeppelin IV – “Battle of Evermore” and “Going to California”, and I just loved the sound of the mandolin. And I was playing bluegrass at the time, but I was playing banjo. I wasn’t playing the mandolin yet. So, when I got the mandolin, I just sat around all day and played it and played it and just fell in love with it and then kind of got into bluegrass after that with the mandolin. But I did kind of come to the mandolin from the rock and roll side of things and then got into Bill Monroe, David Grisman, Sam Bush and Tim O’Brien and on and on.
Do you still play/practice the banjo?
Yeah, we have a banjo in the house. And, you know, I still play a lot of guitar in the band too. I love the electric guitar. It’s hard to say which I love more: the electric guitar or the mandolin. I love both, you know. They’re both super fun instruments and super different. (laughs)
You’ve mentioned Zeppelin and, in past interviews, bands like New Grass Revival and later on Strength in Numbers, as some of your major influences from when you were younger. Any other big musical influences from that era?
There was a band called Hot Rize. Great, great band. And Tim O’Brien was my mandolin teacher for about a year. Luckily, he was living in Boulder and I was able to get with him and learn some stuff, which has really been invaluable to my playing. And I’m a big David Grisman fan, big New Grass Revival & Sam Bush fan and Bill Monroe, of course, was a big mandolin influence and many, many more. I’m probably leaving people out but there’s so many great players that have influenced me as far as the mandolin goes. But the most influential one is probably John Paul Jones on “Going to California.” Just that haunting sound of the mandolin, you know? That ringing, open kind of sound is almost infectious.
I have to imagine that’s a pretty unique primary inspiration for a mandolin player.
Yeah. It’s all backwards (laughs).
I’d like to talk about your vocals for a minute. I feel like they may not get the same sort of due, especially when compared to your instrumental work. But you really do have a naturally smooth delivery that meshes well with the high and lonesome bluegrass sound that Leftover and your solo acts are primarily based around. Did you do anything to develop that vocal style or is that just naturally how it came out?
Well, I guess it’s just kind of how it came out. But I’ve definitely been influenced by a lot of really great bluegrass singers like John Cowan, he was a big influence on me, and Peter Rowan. Just that real high & lonesome sound and that power that bluegrass singers get behind their voices and just trying to emulate that. And, you know, learning how to sing in higher keys also. Once you’re getting up into the keys of B & C, you know, those keys will definitely push you and help you learn how to sing high and put some power into your voice. Also, just singing around campfires probably had a lot to do with that too, just jamming with people (laughs).
As we’ve already touched on, over the last 30+ years, you guys have had a ton of people come in and out of the band from Noam Pikelny to Tye North to Jeff Sipe etc. Is it a challenge to try and constantly have to mesh with new people and rehearse the material? Or do you find yourselves energized from performing with such a diverse ensemble of different musicians?
Well, I think that it’s been really inspiring to play with different musicians and that the band hasn’t stayed the same for 30 years and has gone through different people and different changes. Everybody that has come into this band for whatever period of time has inspired us and taught us things and changed the sound a little bit. And it’s kept up fresh, to be honest with you. It has, several times, given us this kind of new life. Like, when Andy Thorn joined the band, that was a big new era for us, you know, and he definitely brought a lot to the band. And people like Matt Flinner who played with us for a while was a great player. And on and on and on. Bill Payne. We learned so much from playing with Bill. It was just such an honor. There were so many great moments on stage like, “wow, I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Tye North on the bass and Jeff Sipe on the drums. Jose Martinez on the drums. People with a different feel that bring something different to the table every time.
You know, it is challenging when you transition to different players and you’re not quite sure how you’re gonna do it. Like, when people leave and you go, “Oh my god. Now what?” We’ve created this sound and now somebody is going to leave and we have to re-group, but every time we’ve had to do that, it’s been good and it’s really propelled us forward.
As I said, it’s never easy to lose a band member, and losing Erik is big because he brought a lot of great stuff to the band and he’s great to play and record with, but you adjust and you move on and create a new sound.
Do you still keep in touch with most of the former members?
Yeah, definitely. In fact, last February, Vince & I did a duo tour and we did a show in Brevard, NC and Jeff Sipe came and played snare drum with us and it was wonderful. Really great. And he’s on one of my solo records. We run into Tye North here & there. Matt Flinner played with us on Jamcruise in 2019 when Andy couldn’t go because he broke his leg skiing. So, yeah, we see former members here & there and it’s always great. Noam Pikelny, of course, we see him at Telluride and other festivals when he’s playing with The Punch Brothers and it’s always great to see him. It’s rich. It’s all like a big family of Salmon players, you know? It’s definitely created who we are in a lot of ways.
What music do you find yourself listening to these days?
I’m really into the Wood Brothers. I just think their stuff is great. I love the songwriting & musicianship, and their singing is great. Tedeschi Trucks Band, I really love. I just think they’re amazing. And through my daughter, I’m learning about a lot of modern music, you know. Mac Miller and a lot of names I probably can’t come up with right now (laughs). But I’ve definitely been exposed to a lot of new music that I would have probably not listened to, because of her.
I listen to so much different music across the board but probably what I’m mostly influenced by right now is jazz, strangely enough. I’ve been listening to a lot of old John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian and on and on. That’s what I really love to listen to probably more than anything because it inspires me and it’s good for my brain to hear that. You know, it makes me think.
Any thoughts on Billy Strings? I ask because he seems to be someone that has taken bluegrass to a wider audience and has that genre-defying appeal, not unlike Leftover Salmon.
Definitely. He’s a good buddy of ours. We’ve known Billy for a few years now. He first opened up for us with his duo with Don Julin up in Michigan. We had been hearing about him some and then we were at some festivals that he was at, one was Big Sky Big Grass up in Montana a few years ago, and we had a few nights where we stayed up all night picking together.
As it turns out, I gave a big group ski lesson one of those years to Billy, Ronnie McCoury and our drummer, Alwyn, so I got to be his first ski instructor, and now he calls me ‘coach’. (laughs) But it really was pretty satisfying to actually get these guys to where they could do a ski-run without hurting themselves and having a good time.
Since then, we’ve watched him put a better and better band together and just take off. I mean, his band is just top-notch. Everybody in that band is really, really great. You know, we watched him go through some band members early on and now he’s got a really solid unit and he’s killing it. So, yeah, we’ve kind of been spectators to the Billy Strings rise and it’s been great to see. He’s a great guy and a good buddy and it’s always great to see him at a festival and hang out. We always end up mixing it up and picking tunes together and I’m just amazed at what he’s doing, but not surprised because, when you’re that good and you have that kind of energy & enthusiasm, you’re gonna go places, and he certainly is.
As one of the forefathers of the modern progressive bluegrass/jam-grass era, how do you feel about the remarkable rise and prolonged sustainability in mandolin-driven jam-oriented acts such as the String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Greensky Bluegrass etc.?
I’m very proud. Very proud and very honored that we’ve inspired other bands to do something similar and this whole scene has been created by all these different bands. You know, we just happened upon it by accident. We didn’t really have a plan (laughs) and it’s really amazing to see what’s happened with it. I couldn’t be happier that we’ve been able to inspire other bands to do the same thing because other bands have inspired us to do what we do and I’m just tickled dead. I feel like we’re really owning this, you know, “elder” thing. And it’s great. I love it.
I get the sense that there’s more of a focus on lyrics & songwriting, not only on the new album, but throughout your career, as opposed to the litany of long jams and extended compositions that the jam-band scene is typically known for. Who would you say were Leftover Salmon’s biggest influences in terms of songwriting?
I always leave people out, but there are so many. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, New Riders of the Purple Sage. You know, bands that were putting bluegrass & rock together. And, of course, you have to include the Grateful Dead because, those Grateful Dead songs are what drove their whole thing. You know? Robert Hunter writing with all those guys and just really deep & memorable songs. And to me, that’s where it’s at. It’s really all about the song. Jamming is great & fun. I listen to Phish Radio a lot (laughs) and I’m really fascinated with what they do. It’s incredible. It’s a true art form to have jams that go that long and keep them interesting. Not everybody can do that.
But the long jams have not necessarily been our focus. It’s always been songwriting and the songs that have influenced us. I feel like if you have a good song, it stays with people and you try to relate what you’re feeling to other people around you that might be feeling the same thing. Jams are great, but what really stays with people are the lyrics and the meaning of the song.
Do you consider yourself a Deadhead?
I don’t know if I’d call myself a big Deadhead, but I certainly have an appreciation for the Grateful Dead. I got to see them in 1977 at Red Rocks and that was amazing, but that was really one of the only times I got to see them. I couldn’t quite deal with how intense the scene was. It just got to be so much, you know, the whole parking lot scene and just, everything that went along with the whole Grateful Dead experience just got to be a little much for me. So, unfortunately, I didn’t get to go to as many Dead shows as I would have liked to, but the ones that I went to blew me away. It was just amazing, the energy that that band put out was just something I had never seen before, and I’ve seen a lot of great bands. But as I’ve gone along in my career and my life, I’ve gotten more & more of an appreciation for what the Grateful Dead is and have gotten to play with Bill Kreutzmann & Phil Lesh and have been kind of been in the inner circles of it a little bit and it’s just amazing. There never was a band like that and never will be again. They had it all.
Has your approach to songwriting changed since you first started over 30 years ago?
Yeah, big time. It’s such a learning curve. I’m still trying to learn how to write songs. But the more you listen to great songwriters, the more you’re influenced and able to use that towards your own songwriting. But yeah, when you first start writing songs, you don’t really know what you’re doing. And maybe I still don’t, but I’ve written a lot of songs now, so, you know, each song you write, you learn more & more about how to write a song and what constitutes a good song and how to get inspired to write. This doesn’t apply to everybody, but I have to have a feeling or an inspiration or a thought. Something needs to pop into my head. But I think as you go, you learn more & more techniques to be a better songwriter, but it definitely takes time.
Any plans to reunite the Emmitt-Nershi Band? Also, any plans to play with the Drew Emmitt Band in the near future?
Yeah, I do some of my own gigs here & there. In fact, there were some booked in 2020 that didn’t happen (laughs). Big Sky Big Grass and some other festivals that were supposed to happen.
As far as with Billy (Nershi)? I don’t know. It could maybe happen again. There’s no plans for it right now but, you know, I’m open to it.
I saw that you guys had your festival, Boogie at the Broadmoor, canceled last March as a result of the pandemic. It would’ve been your second year in a row of returning to the Broadmoor Resort after several years of hosting the weekend-long festivities at another infamous Colorado landmark, The Stanley Hotel. Any plans to resume that in 2022?
Not that I know of. We’ll see what happens with that, but I don’t think so. I think we’re gonna switch gears from that unless something happens completely different from what I know.
Is it the logistical challenge of putting on your own festival that has caused the hesitation, or do you guys just want to switch it up?
I think maybe there’s a better location. Like you said, we did the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park before the Broadmoor and it was great and really cool and intimate so, who knows? Maybe we’ll go back there again.
So, the plan is to do something next year, just not necessarily at the Broadmoor.
Exactly.
You guys just signed on to do Delfest (Cumberland, MD) later this year. I’ve been fortunate enough to attend for several years now, and there really isn’t anything quite like it. The music is always incredible and there’s just this wonderfully friendly and amazing vibe that seems to permeate throughout the entire weekend. Any memories or stories you’d like to share from past experiences there?
Definitely. My birthday (May 24) usually falls right around that festival, and one year I got to perform one of the late-night shows in the barn and Del stayed up late and did a set with me & my band, along with Ronnie and Jason Carter and the rest of his band and, yeah, that was pretty epic because Del doesn’t usually stay up that late but he stayed up and did the late-night set with us and it was pretty awesome.
Tour dates for this spring/summer are slowly starting to get released, and it looks like you guys are kicking things off soon with two nights at Red Rocks (May 7th & 8th), which will be your first shows in front of a live audience in quite some time. I can’t think of a more special place for that to occur.
Yeah, we’re really super pumped about that. Even though it’s going to be limited capacity, it’s still going to be pretty great.
You and Vince have been working together for over 30 years now. What is it that has allowed you guys to maintain this creative partnership for so long?
We’ve had a lot of fun. I think we enjoy what each other does and I think we complement each other by being different. You know, in a lot of ways, being polar opposites and yet being the same in our energy & enthusiasm for the music. I think we allow ourselves to do what we do and not push each other too hard to be different or to change what we’re doing and just really accept each other’s roles. And it’s worked out so far and hopefully we’ll keep doing it for a while! (laughs)
Top photo by Andrew Quist and live photos by Greg Homolka
2 Responses
Awesome interview. Drew is a musical hero of mine and it’s great to hear from him.
Not even close to Sinatra. More Billy Joel New York State of mind.