With a resume that includes Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year, a song and/or session work on every Jimmy Buffett studio album for the last 20 years, and co-writer of Buffett’s second number one song on the Billboard Charts, called “Bubbles Up” (hailed by Paul McCartney) Will Kimbrough releases his 11th full length album For the Life of Me. Recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville with Red Dirt Boys including Bryan Owings on drums and Chris Donohue on bass, Will plays the rest of the stringed instruments, keyboard, and of course vocals on this three man band record with a large sound. Here’s our interview with Will Kimbrough.
Where did you grow up and where do you call home now?
I was born in Mobile, Alabama. I grew up there too. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, Tennessee in January 1988.
How have the life experiences of where you lived affected your songwriting or the songs you choose to record?
Growing up in lower Alabama… The Gulf Coast in general, has greatly affected my songwriting and the songs I’ve chosen to record. And of course, as a songwriter, living in Nashville is a huge influence. I have worked for long stretches of time with great songwriters like Jimmy Buffett, Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider, Emmylou Harris. David Olney was my neighbor. I live in the same neighborhood as Buddy Miller. As a working artist and musician, spending at least half of the year on the road is another huge influence. I have traveled, the people I have met, The books, I have read on the road, the feeling of being a traveler in a strange place… All these things are influences on a writer. It seems the farther away you get from home, the more you write about home. And the more you were at home, the more your mind wanders far away. I have experienced all of those things in real time Over the past 35 years. And they are influences on my writing.
What artists/songwriters have impacted or influenced your work the most?
Growing up, I first heard The music my big sister played: The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, all the Laurel Canyon greats… Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Carole King… 70s popular music… The Eagles, Southern rock… Then punk rock a new wave. Then it all turned back around to roots music: Dwight Yoakam, Los Lobos, X… And now I’ve lived in Nashville for 35 years, so I’m influenced greatly by all my friends, Including the artists I mentioned earlier. You know, the first time I played the bluebird Café, back in 1988, I looked up and noticed that John Prine and Townes Van Zandt were sitting at the bar. That was a moment. Over the years, I have been around writers like Prine, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Gretchen Peters, Marshall Chapman, Matraca Berg, Beth Neilsen Chapman…so many great, great writers. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t mention all the pros writers I grew up with, thanks to my mother’s house full of great books! Joan Didion, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, Richard Ford, Cormac McCarthy, Larry Brown.
Tie die peace sign flying
Will Kimbrough, from the song “I Don’t Want to Start a War”
By a pillared mansion white
Have they swapped that rag for a MAGA flag
In the thick aired Selma night?
While the chimes of freedom rust and rot
In a death spiral out of control
When did we sell our holy souls?
When you perform, what do you hope is your audience’s biggest takeaway?
First and foremost, I hope they have enjoyed themselves. I hope a connection, however small, has been made between us. Maybe something that I wrote will stick with someone in the audience.
Tell me a little bit about your latest project?
My latest album, ‘for the life of me’, Is a pretty diverse collection of songs, but the comment denominators are love and empathy. I’m deeply interested in communication. I’m fascinated by understanding and misunderstanding. I see the clear difference between the way people behave when they are together and the way they behave when they are, for instance, online, or in their cars on the freeway. The ways we behave when no one is watching. I am at once terrified by the possibilities of the near future, And hopelessly in love with human beings.
What was different or unique about your approach to this last project as compared to previous ones?
I had little or no time To overthink this project: the opportunity to get into the recording studio, came at the last minute, so I jotted down a list of songs, and recorded them. Well, this sort of “no plan“ plan does not always work, I am delighted to say that it did indeed work this time around. I do not typically work this way… But I’m glad I did.
Was there ever a time you felt like you wanted to quit making music? Tell us a little bit about your answer.
About 25 years ago, I considered going back to college, and choosing a different path, fortunately, Music kept coming to me. Opportunities that I simply could not turn down, kept showing up.
What is your funniest or favorite “on the road” story when touring?
Oh man, there are so many…I rode to my first out of town gig – I was 13 – in the back of my father’s pickup truck – Todd Snider and I broke into Universal Studios in Orlando in a fit of late night road fever. The security guard apprehended us but gave us a tour on the way out. He told us he ought to call the cops, but hates paperwork. I remember driving across the desert on the way to LA in our old Chevy van, which had a tiny TV – this was the height of technology in the late 1980s – we were able to pick up Monday night Football on this teeny little television in the middle of the great Mojave Desert – I don’t think this is…funny…but we were so very happy about it. And it was a Saints game! The road goes on forever…
Who or what keeps you grounded the most?
My wife, family and friends keep me grounded. My dog reminds me of what pure love looks like. I’m so lucky to have all that love and perspective.
What advice would you give artists just starting out?
If you really really want to work in a creative field like music, there will be long hours and even longer days of struggle and doubt. With a lot of sweat and luck, the decades will pass in what feels like no time at all and you will have built a career that is full of challenges and surprises. I wish that for all young artists. Everyone must forge their own paths, based on decisions made after long consideration, made on the fly. John Lennon was right: life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. And he only made it to 40! Try and pay attention. Keep a journal. Listen to your heart. Your voice is unique to you. The world needs to hear it.
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