Afton Wolfe – interview
Afton Wolfe is part of a family of musicians and songwriters in Nashville, with whom he has teamed up on his latest release. Afton’s father-in-law L.H. Halliburton is a celebrated and renowned songwriter, and his daughter, Robin, Afton’s spouse, is a singer. They came together for Wolfe’s album The Harvest, just released this fall. We had a chance to chat with Afton Wolfe about the collaboration and more.
Americana Highways: On your terrifically eclectic new EP, The Harvest, you tackle the songs of songwriter L.H. Halliburton, who also happens to be your father-in-law, with your wife Robin appearing on a few songs as well. Is this the first official collaboration with Robin and her father?
Afton Wolfe: It is the first collaboration with LH, other than when he walked my lovely bride down the aisle, and when we worked together to bury Robin’s cat that passed away in his backyard in the rain. As for collaborating with Robin, we’ve been best friends for almost 20 years, so we’ve sang many songs together. The first “official” collaboration with her was when she provided vocals to “Late Nite Radio.” I have always loved her voice. But she’s a constant collaborator. Every decision I make involves her interests and/or input.
AH: What was the impetus for this project?
AW: Well, I’ve been listening to LH’s great songs for years, and I’ve always admired his style of writing. I think he was ahead of his time by being so reverent to the folk and country traditions. And he’s incredibly prolific, writing seemingly a new great song every day. I heard “Hello, Mr. Wolf” and that was kind of the seed of it. I thought “That would be kind of cool to cover in my own way.” But I had other projects going on, and I kind of considered it a possibility for including on a future project. Then, one night at The Bowery Vault, I heard LH play “Harvest” and that song walloped me. It spoke to me in a way that I thought he wrote it specifically about me (and he may have; it’s not his style to walk you through each song). Very soon after that performance, my friend Doc Sarlo approached me about doing some recording with him at his studio in Portland, Tennessee. He wanted to collaborate on recording some stuff, and asked if I had any thoughts. I thought that this would be a great project for us to take our time on and experiment with in his studio. So, it all just kind of came together.
AH: How did you choose the 7 songs you did?
AW: Well, I told LH about what I was planning on doing, and I got his blessing for it (second time I’ve asked for his blessing, so we were familiar with the dance). He was almost equally excited about this idea as he was letting me ask his daughter to marry me. I kid. In actuality, he’s been very supportive of both ideas, whether that makes him wise or not, time and critics will tell. I asked him to send me a selection of songs he thought would be good for the project, and that was really the only parameter I provided. He sent me about 30 songs with acoustic demos, lyrics and chord charts/tabs for those. I then gradually narrowed that down through the demo process and conversations with Doc until I landed on these 7 that make up THE HARVEST as it is now.
AH: The title track has echoes of Ian Anderson, with its distinctive flute melody, and Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon,” to my ear. Would you say these guys are deep influences?
AW: Very much so. LH and Seth Fox influenced that recording more, obviously. But Jethro Tull was one of the first things that ever sent me into a different reality, and I’ve loved the sound of the flute ever since hearing AQUALUNG after finding it in my parents’ record collection. I’ve used flute in my recordings many times – So Long, Sweet Lime; About My Falling and So Purple in recent years, and “Harvest” continues that streak. And it will be featured again I’m sure.
AH: In contrast to the title track, “Til the River No Longer Flows” features blistering feedback-laden blues-rock riffs from the guitarist in stoner rock band Karma Vulture. And then “Hello Mr. Wolf” flashes a Velvet Underground beat poet spoken word vibe. How do these divergent sounds come to flow together to become one album?
AW: Well, I like dynamics in a record – even to the point of jeopardizing the cohesiveness, but I understand there has to be some continuity. I’m lucky that my voice, which is now more of a medical condition than a stylistic choice, gives everything I do some modicum of consistency. And with these particular songs, I felt even more freedom to experiment, because there is another continuity that I rarely have on my records – they were all written by the same person. So, I felt like I could really be adventurous is transforming these songs from LH’s intimate acoustic demos to whatever they became.
AH: What was the process in the studio? Did you flesh things out live, as a freeform jam or did you pre-arrange/chart everything?
AW: I took a few of the songs on the road, when I ran up the East Coast with my band that consisted of Seth Fox, Madison George, and Erik Mendez. Seth and I have collaborated on many things in the last three years, and getting the opportunity to bounce ideas around on the road with he and this fantastic young rhythm section really helped, especially with “Harvest” and “New Orleans Going Down.” Otherwise, Doc and I demo’d the songs until we found tempos, keys and feels that we liked, and then we started fleshing those out until we liked where we were or got so frustrated that we started over.
AH: “Lost Prayers” is a folksy introspective lamentation that features angelic gospel harmony vocals by veteran Austin singer Courtney Santana (who also appears in the music video). How did you connect with her and what was the vision for the video?
AW: I met Courtney in Mexico in 2021, my first time performing at the Tropic of Cancer Art and Music Festival in Todos Santos. She has one of the brightest and most beautiful energies of anyone I’ve ever met. Her presence is a gift to anyone who is lucky enough to experience it. So, I’ve been trying to get her voice on some music for a while, so the last time (before the video shoot) she was in town, I made sure we could get her into the studio. Then, she was in town for AmericanaFest this past year, so I arranged for my brilliant friends Anana Kaye and Irakli Gabriel to help make a music video for that song, where I could feature not only her lovely voice, but also her lovely face. Challengingly, we didn’t have much time to do the filming of the video, because everyones’ schedule during AmericanaFest is usually crammed with events or necessary recovery. And we didn’t have much time to prepare beforehand. But luckily, Anana and Irakli are both unstoppable creatives, and after pulling some chairs outside on a beautiful Fall day, the idea kind of materialized and made sense. The pray-OR (myself) would always be sending his prayers in a direction other than that of the angel (Courtney) who was to receive them.
AH: Doc Sarlo’s at the helm for The Harvest. What’s your history together and how did you know he was the right guy to get The Harvest dialed in?
AW: I met Doc a couple of years ago, and we started talking about doing some work together. I went out to his studio and demo’d a really weird song, almost as a test, but more just because I had no idea what it would sound like, and Doc was insistent that he was open to experiment. What we did ended up sounding great; it hasn’t made it onto anything yet, but I was satisfied that Doc and I were on the same wavelength. Then, like I mentioned, Doc and I were discussing working together again when I was inspired to record LH’s songs. I knew we could play around with different sounds and take our time getting some cool sounds.
AH: At local shows in Nashville, you’ve paid tribute to John Prine (with a wonderful duet of “Long Monday” with Jaimee Harris), Captain Beefheart, Faces, 50 years of TV themes and Tom Waits for the last 18 years at the ‘Get Behind the Mule’ tribute show/food bank fundraiser during the Holidays. What artists/authors of yesteryear inspire you?
AW: That list is too long to itemize, but all those that I’ve paid tribute to at some of Nashville’s many tribute events, which also includes The Band and Townes Van Zandt and David Olney as well. The Beatles, Van Morrison, Bread, Jim Croce, and all the other records under my Mom’s turntable were my first loves musically – flipping through those old record jackets and sitting criss-cross on the floor with headphones on. Then, as a child of the 90s, I was influenced heavily by the music of that era – namely grunge and rap. I also really loved a lot of the country music of my adolescence, when that genre had a bit of its renaissance, and the post-alternative pop of outfits like Toad the Wet Sprocket, Gin Blossoms, Lemonheads and Pavement meant a lot to me before bands like Cracker, The Jayhawks, Uncle Tupelo and The Replacements guided me to classic country music like Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark and Doug Sahm. And, I’ve always been inspired by the female voice, and some of my strongest inspirations have come from my love of Karen Dalton, Joni Mitchell, Nancy Griffith, Fiona Apple, Björk, Kim Deal and more.
AH: Who inspires you of the next generation?
AW: One of the main benefits of being in Nashville is that the sharp edge of the wedge is happening here, and you can be friends with these people that inspire you. Because friendship is so important to me, and music is so essential to my life, I am most inspired musically by my friends. Current artists inspiring me (many who are friends, though I wouldn’t put anyone on the spot like that) include, but are definitely not limited to, The Minks, Crystal Rose, LadyCouch, Cordovas, Julia Cannon, Chris Emmert, Van Darien, AJ Lang, Jonny Strykes, Grace Bowers, Hannah Aldridge, Pink Birds, Karma Vulture, Kristen Englenz, Zac Young, Adrian+Meredith, Jake Ybarra, Stacy Antonel, Kevin Daniel, Z.G. Smith, Nathan Kalish, Stella Prince, Molly Martin, Judy Blank, Mudbug Stompers, Nü Mangos, Jon Latham, Alicia Blue, and those are just a small fraction of Nashville-based artists that I’m a fan of. Other folks (not currently residing in Nashville) that have been recently inspiring me that I’ve come across recently are Coral Moons, Star Anna, Hillstomp, Jason Mirek, Folk Faces, Marina Rocks and more.
AH: For your annual spring tour of the eastern U.S., you’ll, once again, be running from Nashville to Maine and back. What’s the biggest piece of advice for first-timers/newbies?
AW: * Take advantage of every connection you make. Finding other humans who vibrate on the same spiritual frequency as your music is the only justifiable reason to drive around the country singing songs, so don’t let someone who’s there with your music go without letting them know you appreciate it.
* Take the day off instead of booking a show too far away just to fill your calendar. It doesn’t go well, and there’s no reason to make this any harder than it already is.
* Be economical, but don’t be too economical. Everything in moderation, including moderation.
* Remember that nobody cares about your music but you and those that you compel to care about it. That’s a good thing to remember when you’re taking yourself too seriously. And it’s a good thing to remember when you’re not taking the show seriously enough, like when there aren’t many people there, or when you’re having some other mental contagion that distracts you from giving 1,000% of yourself on stage, which is not only your job but also the only way you’ll achieve your only actually-attainable goal, which is to make a lasting impact and connection with an individual who might become a supporter of your Art.
AH: Since you’ve been extremely prolific as of late, what’s the next project on the horizon for 2024?
AW: I can’t get too specific, but I’ve got several ideas that I’m stirring around to see what comes of it. After releasing an album completely of songs I didn’t write, I’m obviously primed to release some of the songs I’ve found, and I’ve got about 25 or so of those I’m going to demo to see if there is some continuity and/or connecting strain that seems like a cohesive compilation out of which to make a release. But I know I’ll be releasing something soon. It’s what I do and what I love.
https://aftonwolfe.com
https://linktr.ee/AftonWolfe
‘The Harvest’ EP https://orcd.co/ynpno2n
Enjoy our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Afton Wolfe “The Harvest”