Americana Highways’ Key to the Highway series photo by Melissa Clarke
Fans always clamor to learn more about their favorite, most beloved musicians and those who travel with them. There’s such an allure to the road, with its serendipity, inevitable surprises, and sometimes unexpected discomforts. This interview series is a set of questions we are asking some of our favorite roots rock Americana artists to get to know more about them and what they’ve learned and experienced on the road. We are sure they have key insights to share and stories to tell. Here’s one from Jerry Joseph:
AH: How do you like your coffee or other morning wake-up beverage?
JJ: Black Coffee
AH: What’s the most interesting or strangest motel/hotel or place you have stayed (while on the road?)
JJ: The rooms attached to Plankys in Pringle Bay South Africa …. big ass mean baboons try to break in the room at all hours… and you have to stand your ground or they’ll take your clothes, food, electronics…. they send the babies thru the barred windows to open the doors from the inside. Cool gig.
AH: If one CD is stuck in the player in the van for the entire tour, what do you hope it is? And why?
Something without words. Glenn Gould Goldberg Variations or something beautiful…
AH: What’s one personal item you must have with you on your road trip?
My bullwhip ( don’t ask )
AH: What is your relationship with food? How do you handle this on the road, and what’s your favorite dish on the road, (or restaurant, and what do you order there)?
If there’s time to eat ( and I rarely have the leisure time , unless it’s a night off ) good food is often the point of travel …. Taqueria El Trailor … in El Sauzal Baja Norte…. if you happen to be playing Ensenada… best tacos on earth … period. Or .. the Tamale Pie at Ajax Diner in Oxford Mississippi….
AH: If you could pause your life for a few weeks and spend some time living in a place you only have passed through, which would you choose, and why?
JJ: I’m doing that now … at home with my kids for weeks …. an amazing opportunity….
AH: What quote or piece of advice have you gotten from someone on the road that has really stuck with you?
JJ: Bad idea for Jerry Joseph to carry a gun….
Find all things Jerry Joseph, here: https://www.cosmosexschool.com
See other Key to the Highway interviews here: https://americanahighways.org/category/interviews/key-to-the-highway-series/ (click here for: Patterson Hood Rodney Crowell Todd Snider Elizabeth Cook Tommy Womack Eric Ambel, Dan Baird, Robbie Fulks, Malcolm Holcombe Jon Langford Steve Poltz, Lilly Hiatt Sarah Shook & the Disarmers )
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