We will get out and make music …until we can’t
Pared-back Lambchop are working as hard as always
A‘People who love music in Ireland love it in a way that’s really deep’
ssomeonebornand bred in Nashville it wasn’t entirely unexpected that Kurt Wagner would form a country band. However his musical vehicle Lambchop are perhaps the most ‘alt’, left-field, square peg in country’s round hole. Songs such as Soaky In the Pooper, Your Life As A Sequel or Papa Was A Rolling Stone Journalist weren’t designed to be heard at the Grand Ole Opry.
‘Sometimes all a song needs is just a good title or an interesting or amusing one,’ 64-year-old Wagner says by way of explanation.
‘It might not really connect very much to the music but it is a way for me to allow an interesting use of language to become part of a song whether it’s got words or is an instrumental.’
Wagner has been the only constant in Lambchop since they first signed a record deal over three decades ago. Albums such as 2000’s
Nixon (which contains one of their best known songs Up With People), Mr. M from 2012 and their most recent album 2022’s The Bible were on many critics’ ‘Best of’ year lists. Wagner and pianist Andrew Broder will play a selection of songs covering most of Lambchop’s 16-album career at a performance in the National Concert Hall at the end of the month.
‘It’s been too long since I’ve been in Ireland and it seems like I can never go there enough,’ he says. ‘People who love music there love it in a way that’s really deep.
‘We will grab from the entire span of our career but it will be very minimally presented to you, just Andrew on the piano and my voice.’
In the National Concert Hall last year I saw Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve, who has played as part of Costello’s backing band The Attractions since its earliest days. They repurposed songs from Costello’s songbook sometimes to great effect and at others to the bemusement of the sold out audience. It is notable that he and Nieve will return to Dublin this year for shows in a similar vein. Wagner asserts that many artists are cutting their cloth to suit their measure these days.
‘It’s really quite telling that more and more big names are doing this kind of thing,’ he says.
‘It’s just the way things have evolved in terms of live music. This is one way to still get out there and do it. To be completely honest, Lambchop as a band operated in the red for 10, maybe 15 years. At some point it just becomes unsustainable. I miss having a number of musicians to interact with on stage but I’m having a ball doing it this way too.’
If Lambchop is not your standard Nashville outfit, neither is Wagner a typical Tennessean. In a Republican ‘red’ state he and his wife are lifelong Democrats. Indeed Mary Mancini, whom Wagner married a quarter of a century ago, was chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party until three years ago.
‘She already had three terms which was unprecedented and felt she shouldn’t run again,’ Wagner says. ‘We’ve found a way to let politics be a part of our lives in a more regular way now as opposed to such a high-profile position. We looked at what we could do in a local sphere that can make a difference that way. That has been very satisfying.’
He is as incredulous as the rest of us that Donald Trump may yet be destined for the White House again.
‘It is absolutely bonkers, man,’ is as exercised as the softly spoken singer gets in our conversation.
‘I think it’s going to be as close as it was before. That’s not what the media is trying to tell us. They present polls that are designed to promote fear. Then a poll that will show something that’s not promoting that agenda will get no traction at all. I think any little inroad that people can make in terms of common sense has got to be important.’
Wagner has been nothing if not prolific throughout his career and putting concerns about the future of America aside, confided he is already thinking about the next Lambchop album.
‘I’m already plotting and planning and will hopefully start recording it next Fall,’ he says. ‘When I hear music that is interesting and challenging it inspires me to make music myself. I’m just getting ready to navigate my “Golden Years”. I want to be able to get out there and play it while I can still move around.’
‘We’ve found a way to let politics be a part of our lives in a more regular way’