“We’re all just kind of following our own egomaniacal journeys,” says Wagons. “This is my version [of that]. So many of my favourite albums have been made in Nashville with sort of pick-up studio musicians, and over the years going to Nashville I’ve gotten drunk enough at bars over there when I’ve been traveling through with the band to have met some great musicians. Basically, it was great to be able to rock up and do the same process as so many of my favourite albums. You know, give it a go before I die.”
Nashville is a thriving hub for session musicians, where virtuosic players of countless instruments congregate and wait for a call-up. They’re savvy enough to learn parts in and instant, and eager to lend their ears and skill to an upcoming release. It’s a culture that inspired moments from one of Wagon’s favourite records, Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde, with Dylan ringing in the hazy, Salvation Army style horn section on the groundbreaking Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35. This is the world Wagons wanted to dip his toes into.
“All you have to do is find yourself some mobile phone service and make a phone call, then all of a sudden you’ve got these legendary players dropping by to make some noise,” he says. “I’m incredibly loyal and love my band very much, but I think everyone is in the mood to spread their wings a bit and try to make some music with some other people before we come back together in a year or two and make another record. I got to make a record in Nashville, which is very exciting, and I’m equally excited to be debuting some of the material locally with this new band too.”
Stepping out with a new group behind him, Wagons has also set aside his vast discography and built his live show from the ground up. While that may seem like a daunting move, it’s actually been a creatively refreshing experience for the songwriter.
“It’ll be an absolute thrill-ride for me,” he says. “The AWME conference is very much about showcasing new material and trying out new and different stuff; different genres of music. In the spirit of that pioneering nature, we’re going to be doing mostly new stuff. I can’t wait.”
Across five studio albums with Wagons, plus one mini album of duets, the charismatic performer had previously recorded exclusively within Australia. However, making the pilgrimage to Nashville was something of a homecoming for the Americana-inspired artist. Wagons left with the intent to make a great album, but returned with an enriched love for the city’s infamous culture.
“I’ve got the taste,” he says. “Good burgers on tap, fine bourbons and American accents; Southern gentleman, kind manners and long stories. I suspect I’ll be over to the States again to record one of these days.”
Wagons wanted to take his music back to its proverbial homeland, but in doing so realised the country music capital of the world has a lot in common with our own shores. “It’s a venous returns moment – trying to make music in the music’s spiritual home, returning to Mecca. Australia and Nashville have some kind of connection. Whether it be with narrative songwriting, there’s something that resonates between the two cities; the power of the song.”
For the most part, Wagons’ latest venture was about chasing one of music’s most elusive goals – authenticity. Albeit, on his own terms. “Authenticity in music to me means writing in a way that’s entertaining yourself. You’re not really trying to impress others, you’re not trying to cater to any kind of current fashion or trend, you’re just writing music that seems to make your own blood boil, or your heartstrings vibrate. I’m sounding quite new age [laughs]. This sort of conversation would go quite well in a Byron Bay cafe where you have to walk through beads in order to get in.”
Hippie affectations aside, Wagons has always fearlessly followed his own path, and he’s in no mood to deviate from this ethos now. “The more major metropolises, New York or Los Angeles, their industry and structure is geared towards finding the next global phenomena – which in its essence is all about finding the next fashion, the next image, the next sort of 360 package in artists. Nashville is more attuned to a universal sense of song and just plodding along trying to write good music. It’s not as much about all the other crap that goes around songwriting.”
BY JAMES DI FABRIZIO
