Grits and Soul is two (sometimes three) good folks who love music. Smart, contemplative folks. The Americana/Bluegrass duo, sometime trio, from Asheville, NC, played two sets at Magnolia Fest 2015, each creating more fans of their gorgeous songwriting and excellent playing. People dancing in the dirt and hollering their love after every tune. John keeping us transfixed playing fiddle songs on his mandolin. Annaās soulful voice, and beautiful, sometimes haunting lyrics hypnotizing us into a celebratory frenzy.
When we sat down with Grits and Soul, after their first of two sets at Mag Fest, John Looney, Anna Kline, and Dakota Waddell carefully considered every query like an interesting drinking buddy. Though we were sober, it felt like a good bar talk. Playing in Europe, āSeminole Wind,ā and tunes like āRam it up a Gun Stumpā are just a smattering of the topics discussed. As you do when your ādrinkingā buddies are three wildly talented musicians playing a festival in the happiest place on Earth.
Shows I Go To: You mentioned during the set about playing in Italy, Belgium, and France. What was that like?
John: It was awesome. We had a packed house at an art gallery in Paris, and the festival [in Belgium] was well attended.
SIGT: Iām fascinated with the difference between European and American audiences. Did you notice a difference? Did the crowds get rowdy?
Anna: They did!
SIGT: They have such a reputation of being reverent.
J: Thatās kinda what I felt.
A: There were the line dancers at the festival.
J: Oh, those people. Thatās a whole different set of individuals. Nah, they will not dance. They sit very quietly and listen to us. It was great. Even if a European band comes here, itās more intriguing, than seeing someone from, you know, a state over. So you are kinda at an advantage over there.
The first thing I heard over there was Van Halen. (Authorās note to self: Give Van Halen a nineteenth chance. I swear Iām being followed by that damn band.) You turn on the radio and itās full of American music.
A:Ā It was a little strange riding through the Belgian countryside and youāre sittinā there listeninā to āJump.ā
J: There are little pockets of people all over the world that are into bluegrass, Americana, alt-country. You wouldnāt expect that.
SIGT: Are you still getting energy from a reverent, European-style crowd?
J: Itās different energy. I like both.
Dakota (bassist for Grits and Soul): You play so many places doing bar gigs, itās actually really refreshing when someone is sitting there listening to your art.
A: I love it when the crowd interacts with us. I like when we can get a banter going.
J: I like when they get drunk, too.
A: Until they try to play your guitar.
SIGT: Well, you got what, like a 6:00 set today? So, be careful what you wish for!
J: I donāt mind it. Anything is better than this. (mimics someone playing on their phone.)
A: Itās so different [at Magnolia Festival]. Itās got such a great vibe to it.
SIGT: Itās the happiest place on Earth
J: Anything goes. You had that crushing funk band, The Motet, and Del McCoury in the same day.
But, all those things are kinda connected.
SIGT: Quality is quality regardless of genre.
John and Anna simultaneously: Thatās true.
A: I feel like the bands here, we all love the same things. And even though our music might be different, we all listen to the same fundamentals that weāve grown up on. Thereās a core connector.
SIGT: What does the creative process look like for Grits and Soul?
A: Really, it kinda starts with some ideas on my end, those kinda ruminate for a little while. We have been traveling so much this summer, that I havenāt had time to sit down and write.
SIGT: So you need that headspace, whether at home or wherever?
A:Ā I do. I can gather ideas while we are out. But Iāve never sat down and written a song while in the van. I need that space to be kinda quiet. I bring it to John, and then weāll bring it to Dakota. The main thing we do is try to get a song in rotation as soon as we can and get a feel for it, let it kinda, do itās own thing.
D: A song grows and develops .
A: It does.
J: Absolutely.
D: Iāve always had my bass part needing between five and ten times playing it live. Then Iāll hear what itās supposed to sound like.
A: We all know what we want to hear musically. We know each other so well at this point that we know what we want it to sound like.
D: Hours and hours in a van listening to the same music. Thatās the thing, all the licks you have are all the same ones you have heard for twenty years. Itās not reinventing the wheel. Itās just presenting it in a different way.
J: Itās sorta like Derek (Trucks, who played the night before), his playing is so classic. All his playing is so rooted in classic blues and R and B. He just takes that stuff and presents it in a different way.
D: And it ends up sounding like Derek Trucks.
SIGT: The fiddle songs that you play (on the mandolin), John. How can we get you to make a whole album of those?Ā
JĀ (humbled): Drew Matlich, heās from Valdosta. He plays in a bunch of bands. Just a monster mandolin/guitar player. We have been talking about making an album of fiddle songs for a while now.
Ashevilleās great for that. Thereās a whole bunch of us. When youāre sittinā, playing along with You Tube videos, you donāt get as good as when you sit down with people. Even if you are just sharing these tunes. There is such an awesome tradition of these fiddle tunes that goes in all sorts of directions. Thereās a whole community of guys that want to play those tunes like they sounded a hundred years ago. Then thereās a whole other community of guys who want to take them completely other places. Just trying to take those things as far as they go. And you got both those things in Asheville.
D:Ā Itās great for bluegrass and old time music.
A: Thereās some funky old time tunes.
D: There are some tunes, I told you, I wanna teach you but they are squirrelly as hell.
SIGT:Ā Like what?
D: I play claw hammer banjo too. Thereās this one: I know it as āCider Millā, but some people call it āDown at the Still House.ā Thereās three or four names for the same song. If you had to write āem out in sheet music, I donāt know that you could do it. Thereās all kinda weird time signatures in it. Itās just something you feel.
A:Ā And they have great old time fiddle tune names.
D:Ā Oh, yeah. My favorite new one is āNail the Catfish to the Tree.ā
SIGT: As you do. (Laughs all around)
John and Dakota: āRam it up a Gun Stumpā
J: āCricket on the Hearthā
D: āIndian Ate the Woodchuckā
A:Ā āIndian Ate the Woodchuck?ā
J: Thereās these communities of Old Time music. Then thereās Bluegrass people. And then the rest of the world canāt tell the difference between those two.
And they are so entrenched in what they are doing. I love it all. I love those old ways of playing, and I love that super far out stuff like the Punch Brothers.
The four of us simultaneously realize with a smile that John Andersonās āSeminole Windā is being covered in the distance.
A: Is that John Anderson being played? What?!
J:Ā We have a thing for John Anderson.
SIGT: I recently walked into a wine bar in the kinda hipster neighborhood where I live, and John Anderson was playing. I looked around like, ādoes anyone else recognize the oddity of this?ā
D: Nothing says class like John Anderson.
SIGT: John Anderson is great, man.
D:Ā Heās killer man.
J:Ā He is a great songwriter. His first album came out in ā79. That was tough back in the ā80s. You couldnāt just start a kickstarter. You either had a record label or you didnāt.
SIGT:Ā If you could put together a dream jam session of players from Mag Fest, who would be on stage with you? Iāll limit you to four.
J: Thatās rough. Ronnie McCoury is one of my favorites.
A: I wanna get a womenās chorus and do some soul andā¦
J: If you took Susan (Tedeschi) and Rachael (Price) from Lake Street Dive, youād have a serious session.
SIGT: Shoot, one of the best vocalists youāll ever hear, Mama Blue, isnāt even playing. Sheās just walking around enjoying the music.
J: Iād like to play with that keyboard player from The Motet. Heās an animal.
Grits and Soulās first album Floodwaters is a refreshing blend of Bluegrass, Americana, and Folk compositions written by Anna and John. Classic murder ballads, fiddle songs, and folk come together seamlessly. Floodwaters was released in 2013.
SIGT:Ā Whatās next for Grits and Soul.
A:Ā We are writing more tunes and looking toward the next year.
Sit a spell and write some new foot stompers, Anna.
Grits and Soul just announced that they will be part of a steller Suwannee Springfest lineup in March 2016, alongside such names as John Prine, Keller Williams, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Dave Simonett (of Trampled by Turtles). Stay tuned to Shows I Go To for extensive coverage of Springfest 2016.
Grits and Soul Interview by Jason Earle, edited by Matthew Weller.Ā
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