JOHN MORELAND

the last few years and a lot of cool stuff coming out,” says Moreland. “But I remember 10, 15 years ago people were saying the same stuff about Oklahoma City, that it was gonna be the next Austin or whatever. I think that’s dumb. Tulsa always gonna be Tulsa. It’s never going to be Nashville — because Nashville has 80 years of industry that they’ve built on, and we don’t have that industry.”

Musically, Moreland has led a couple of distinct lives. He spent years playing in hardcore and metal bands before latching onto singer-songwriter Steve Earle. “Earle was the thing that led me into roots music at 19 or 20, but I still spent another five years playing in (rock) bands before I put out my first solo record,” he says. In that gap, his inspirations changed. “I really got into stuff like The Band, Randy Newman — I was trying to play guitar like a piano player, chords that you wouldn’t normally hear on the guitar. I’ve always wished I was a piano player. Since then, I’ve gone back to Steve Earle, Guy Clark — folk songs and folk songwriting. That’s where I’ve turned around and where I feel like my songs are now.”

Although he’ll be playing Memphis on his own, Moreland has been playing and touring regularly with a band, and an expansion of his sound seems a likely byproduct. “I’m consciously trying to write stuff for a band now, songs that are more group oriented,” he says. “The past couple records there were songs without drums, but now I got a drummer I like, so I want to let him play. That’s had an impact on what I’m writing.”

Moreland’s been working up his new material and recording in nearby Arkansas. “I’ve been tracking live with a band, guys from Tulsa, at Fellowship Hall Sound in Little Rock, with (engineer) Jason Weinheimer. Then I’ve been taking that and doing overdubs at my house (in Tulsa).”

“There was no real plan — I was just seeing what sticks. There’s a record starting to take shape. I’m going to try and finish it when I get back from tour.”