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On The Road: Last Train Home
With Eric Brace
Musician
Friday, Feb. 21, 2003; 1 p.m. ET
Last Train Home has been a staple of the Washington, D.C. music scene since its 1997 debut. An alt-country mix of mountain bluegrass, Nashville swing and shimmy-by-the-bandstand rock, they're releasing a new CD and hitting the road. The disc, "Time and Water" (Adult Swim Records), officially out Feb. 21, is the result of two years of recording around the country, and is being celebrated with performances Feb. 21 and 22 at Iota Club & Cafe in Arlington, Va.
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Time and Water
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Now-on-leave Washington Post staff writer Eric Brace leads the band on guitar and vocals. He was online on Friday, Feb. 21 to talk about the band, the new CD, life on the road and full-time musicmaking. The transcript follows.
Last Train Home features Jim Gray on bass; Alan Brace on mandolin, harmonica and vocals; Bill Williams on lead guitar, lap steel and banjo; Martin Lynds on drums; Scott McKnight on guitar; Kevin Cordt on trumpet and fiddle; Dave Van Allen on pedal steel guitar and lap steel; and Doug Derryberry on guitars, pianos and organ from time to time.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
washingtonpost.com:
Hey Eric -- welcome back. What have you been up to for the last month and a half?
Eric Brace: Hey there you Washingtonpost.com folks!
I've been MISSING y'all, is what I"ve been doing!
I'm glad to be back here in your plush Arlington offices to chat...
Mostly been focussing on the details of bein on leave and making a life in music.
That means getting the CDs all pressed.. getting a zillion things designed and printed (postcards, posters, "one-sheet" promo stuff for record stores, rsdio stations, press people, T-shirts, caps)... Our designer Bill Thompson is amazing. our record label guy Jeff nelson is amazing... our printer is amazing... Oasis CD manufacturin has been amazing, Blue Ridge Productions (the shirts and caps) has been amazing...
Ok that's allthe thanks for now...
Last Train Home was down in Nashville for the Folk Alliance festival to perform and we met a ton of people down there...
and our booking agent in California, Brad Madison at Mongrel Music has been calling me everyday to confirm dates on the road (we're about to get going to places like Pittsburgh, Chicago, Buffalo, NYC, annapolis, etc....)
It's an incredibly complicated process all this and I'm amazed when I read that, say , Dave Matthews, takes 10 tractor-trailers on the road...
So how about you? What have YOU been up to???
Washington, D.C.:
Do Eric's chats ever start on time?
Eric Brace: ouch
Washington, D.C.:
What bar should I go to tonight?
(Just checking to see if you remember how to answer these questions.)
Eric Brace: of course I remember, but NOW I can answer in a way I never could before:
Now I can say: "go to IOTA to see Last Tain Home because its their CD release night (and so is tomorrow at iota and Sunday afternoon at iota)"
Washington, D.C.:
Hi Eric!
Wow ya didn't even give us a chance to miss the chats.
Can't wait for the show tonight. Congrats on the CD release (finally!).
Eric Brace: I know, it's like: how can you miss me if I never go away???
But here's the thing.. the good folks here at washingtonpost.com have asked me to be a regular contributor to the site throughout my one-year leave-of absence. That will take a couple of different forms, depending on how much information there is to impart (the assumption is, that as LTH and I tackle various issues--trying to find management, trying to get a record deal, co-writing songs with folks in nashville, living on the road--there might be enough going on to actually create something of interest for the general public. i hope that's true. Please let me know when I start to bore the pants off you)..
Washingtonpost.com has asked me to create a Blog (short for Web Log, in tech parlance if you're not up to speed). The blog would be a mroe or less real-time diary that I would add too as oten as I wanted.
That would include still pictures, random thoughts, and interviews with people i come across who i find interesting o germane to the issues at hand. It could get interesting..
Then of course, I'll keep doing these chats... every other week, if there's enough to talk about, and I sure hope there will be.
So, please stay tuned to this website for all that hoo-ha, and there will be links to all of it from the LTH site,
www.lasttrainhome.com
Washington, D.C.:
How many tractor trailers are you all getting together?
Eric Brace: let's see.. one Dodge stretch van, bought on ebay... one Taurus wagon (same)... misc. cars of other band members..
You'll be reading a lot more about the van on our Blog throught the year (you know, "hey gang, we're stuck here on I-70, the radiator is pouring out steam...." etc..)
Washington, D.C.:
Hey there, so I've always been inpressed with the peeps you bring in for openers when you're at IOTA. (And word around is that this weekend is no exception.) Anyway, how does that usually work for LTH, are they artists you know personally, do bands send you demos, do you plan on having your "manager" do that stuff now? As you start booking in other cities who can we expect to see you playing with on the road?
Eric Brace: Indeed, tonight for instance, we have the buzz gal of the moment, miz Kathleen Edwards from Ontario opening.. which is crazy because she could probably sell out 10 nights in a row there at this point in her upwardly-zooming career...
We've had some amazing openers for us at iota:
Chuck Prophet, the Pernice Brothers, Tandy... all kinds of great folks. It works in different ways. When we were just starting out, Steve at IOTA would try to pair us with a good act, either local or touring, just to fill up the room. As it became clear that LTH didn't require an opener to fill up a room, it became a good place for bands to play, because they'd be guaranteed a very full house in front of which to play (and I like to think that LTH fans are particularly open-minded and of good taste, so most openers worth their salt could sell a bunch of CDs...)
Now we're more choosey with our openers, and there's usually a reason. In the case of tomorrow, Saturday night, Scott E. Moore is playing, and he's a fine songwriter and rocker dude from jersey. We met him at a show in Bryn Mawr at The Point and got along. We stayed in touch, and last month i went to Hoboken to play at a songwriters ngiht he hosts at a club called GoldenHawk. and turnaround being fair play, I asked him to open for us. It gets us into trouble, because now we know so many bands, and we're such good friends with so many, I'm always saying "hey come down and open for us!" then I space out and forget that I'd done that (apologies to james jewell, a Pennsylvania musician to whom that very thing recently happened! we'll get him down here again though).
Or Steve says: hey, hot canadian act Kathleen Edwards coming through town, the only date she's got is Fri. Feb 21, can she open for you guys?
And I'll say sure (this happened in november, before she "blew up big"...)
We've generally shied away from asking local acts to open for us, as we feel we should use those slots to develop relationships with out of town bands who can then ask US to open for THEM on THEIR home turf, but I know that has won us no great fans among the local bands who've approached us to open for them, and for that I apologize and hope they understand....
Washington, D.C.:
Two questions:
1. I thought I heard through the grapevine you were moving to Nashville. What happened, did you chicken out or get cold feet?
2. Has Last Train Home become the Washington Post House band (so to speak)? Reviews, chats, now Web pages on the site. Why is there such a strong focus on your band when there are plenty of more successful bands in this city alone who deserve this kind of coverage? I don't mean to sound harsh but I read the reviews this morning and I was suprised that your CD got a few paragraphs and someone like Kathleen Edwards who's toured the country, been on Leno and Letterman, etc., gets one short paragraph. There's something wrong about all this.
Eric Brace: I'll get to "one" in a second.
As for part two, here's the thing. i've been playing in bands in town for 20 years, much longer than i was a Washington Post employee. I told my emplyers that I wouldn't stop playing once I was a staff writer.
Once I was a staff writer, for the past six years covering the local music scene, I didn't mention LTH in any of my columns, and would only address it in chats if people really got in my face challenging me about stuff.
I spent years writing about the local scene,coveing some of those bands you're perhaps thinking of that deserve mroe coverage. (and please name names and I'll ask the Weekend section editors to consider more coverage on them).
I understand the questions... I can see how it might look to other bands and such, but the only coverage LTH has gotten in the Post the past 6 years have been 3 small record reviews (like today's) in the Weekend section, which is something that all local bands "qualify" for, and get if they approach Richard Harrington about CD reviews.
As for kathleen Edwards, she's got quite a buzz on her, and has indeed been on late night talk shows, and while I like her album, I would honestly say that the new LTH CD is at least as good, and if there's a reason why the outside world doesnt' know that, well, you can ask all the labels that didn't sign LTH why they felt they couldn't market us in the current marketplace but COULD market K.E... Perhaps that we're older and balder could be part of it. But I'm not here to complain at all. Far from it. LTH is doing quite well. If you don't think we're worthy, I would merely say come to a show. We put on a very very good one. The CDs are really good. We just won the WAMMIE award for Artist of the Year, and that's voted on by peers, so i think we have the respect of the local music community.
As for these chats and the future Blog, I'd say washingtonpost.com has asked me to do it because I've been on all sides of "the industry"... I've been a sideman in bands, i've managed bands, I've fronted bands, i've written songs for other peole, I've run a record company, I've been a critic, I've covered the local scene on deadline for years. Basically, I can bring a lot "to the table" as they say. Maybe some insight in how the business of making music works, even (as in my earlier answer) to explain how someone bigger than LTH could wind up opening for us. There's lots of weird vagaries to the business, and i can perhaps shed some light on it.
As for moving to nashville, yep, i'm on my way... when I'm not on the road, I'll be in nashville beginning sometime in march.
Annandale, Va.:
So is the whole band picking up and moving to Nashville? Don't the rest of the guys have families/jobs, etc.? If not, how will you be able to play without them?
Eric Brace: The Nashville segment of the band will be me, Jim Gray (bass) and Martin Lynds (drums). Those two fellers have just bought houses in East Nashville and are in various stages of moving there. I will be crashing on their floors for extended periods (until they kick me out... They both have jobs and wives and discussed it long and hard and decided that Nashville is a fine fine city regardless of the future of LTH and that they would both (plus wives) enjoy living there.
Why Nashville, when we're not really a country band?
Whenever we've gone down there we've gotten to hang out with (and insome instances perform with) folks like Raul Malo, Allison moorer, Amy Rigby, nanci Griffith, Tommy Womack, Will Kimbrough, Buddy & Julie Miller.... these people all live there and aren't making "commercial" contry music. they're making good music and they are nice folks who support other musicians and don't make snide comments about "when are you going to get a real job" like some musician pals I know get around here.
It's a very supportive scene, with lots of creative stuff going on... amazing musicians, songwriters, studios etc.
And there are indeed many labels there, and managers, and all that, so there's the chance that we could make some great music AND get on the radars of some people who could perhaps kick things up a notch and enable LTH to make a living playing music.
Right now ,the touring band will be a 5 piece, it looks like, with me, martin, jim, and Kevin Cordt, our trumpet/fiiddle player, plus and electric guitarist to be named later.
we will miss my brother Alan, and bill williams, and scott mcknight and dave van allen and chris watling... we will take them out on the road when they can take time of from jobs and afford to lose some money.. we'll rearrange the songs to accommodate whatever holes there are and whichever musicians are on hand. I'm lucky to have found an amazing crew to play with, so it's never going to s*ck.
Beautiful Bucks County, Pa.:
It's always interesting to see just who is is in the band line up at LTH shows -- for instance, for the CD Party weekend who might we expect to see participating?
Eric Brace: Ahhh hello beuatiful Bucks county, land of our amazing pedal steel ace Dave Van Allen (dave, get in the van already! hurry up!)
and indeed, it will be a group effort of the highest proportions this weekend...
The group of:
me, martin, jim, alan, kevin, dave, bill williams, scott mcknight and chris watling will be augmented by guest guitarists Jim Stephanson, Phoebus Spiliotopoulos, jared Bartlett, and of course the ever-rocking Lee Wilhoit joingin for several songs, and our old pal Rob LeBourdais (mother May i's drummer), and whoever else is willing to get on stage with us...
Washington, D.C.:
Let's chat about a good band.
Eric Brace: mmkay.
which one?
Waashington, D.C.:
Woohoo -- glad to h-e-a-r Mr. Wilhoit on the "Walls of Time" track; it is not quite the same without him.
Eric Brace: Oh I know.. Lee brings an amazing intangible to the proceedings.
chattanooga born and raised, and he sounds it. He should be a star. He IS a star, the world jsut doesn't know it. His songs and full-set performances are things of visceral power.
Washington, D.C.:
Anyone in your sights you'd really like to play with/open for?
Eric Brace: My hero is Buddy Miller... man o man, I wanna play with him...
and Emmylou harris.. to sing with her would make me happy.
Maybe (since he's in her band) I can get 'em in one fell swoop.
We are very lucky in that our booking agency, Mongrel Music, is also Buddy Miller's agency, so I'm hoping this year will see our paths cross a bunch of times.
I'm lucky, also to have had the chance to play with some local heroes of mine last month at the Birchmere, with my side band the Skylighters, which features dobro genius Mike Auldridge (ex Seldom Scene, Chesapeake, Lyle Lovett's band, etc) and mandolin guy jimmy Gaudreau (country gentlemen, tony Rice Unit, Chesapeake) and John Starling (great singer, ex Seldom Scene).
That made me very very happy.
I'd love to sing a whole series of Louvin Brother tunes as duets with all those folks mentioned above, plus lyle Lovett, alison Kraus, Kelly Willis,Alejandro Escovedo... stay tuned!
Alexandria, Va.:
Any plans to record with the Skylighters?
Eric Brace: And yes, before the year is out, I would wager there will be some recording done with the Skylighters.
Somewhere, USA:
Doesn't Jeff Nelson work for dischord? Are you affiliated with them?
Eric Brace: LTH has released all its CDs on Adult Swim Records, which has nothing to do with the Nickelodeon comics show. It is a label owned by Jeff Nelson, former drummer of Minor Threat and co-proprietor of Dischord Records. Indeed, Jeff has made no secret of his wish to branch out musically with his businesses, but Dischord can't really accommodate what we're doing, so Jeff resuscitated Adult Swim to release our CDs (he had previously released 9353, the Snakes and early Girls Against Boys on the label, then put it on ice).
So yes, you can order LTH stuff through Dischord Direct, the mail order arm of Dischord, and I'm proud of that fact, Dischord being such a D.C. institution, and since Jeff and ian went to Wilson high, same as me.
Arlington, Va.:
So, since you're on Adult Swim, you can buy LTH records through Dischord.com. Swell. We'll be awaiting the Fort Reno show.
Eric Brace: voila..
yep.
and funny, I used to help book the Fort Reno concert series back in 1977 when I worked at the NPC office there. I don'tknow that the d.c. punk/indie crowd would ake to LTH.. for some reason, the roots rockers and punks in other towns (Austin, Chicago, Seattle, LA) find a lot o overlap, there's not much in d.c.
McLean, Va.:
Hi Eric:
Are there any better-known songwriters that you are going to team-up when you move to Nashville?
Are you going to do any nights at The Bluebird Cafe?
Eric Brace: I'll definitely be hanging now and then at the Bluebird, and hopefully performing there too. I've got a publishign deal down there through Americana Entertainment, Inc. and Larry Shell (a great songwriter who co-wrote "Murder on Music Row" a few years back) has been "shopping" my songs around to bigger name folks to record. So far no takers, but i'm optimistic that once i get down there and start meeting other writers and such, that doors will open.
There's a slightly political game going on down there where you sorta ned to "co-write" with better known people in order to get through some doors.
Larry says he'll make all the necessary introductions to folks i could write with. I'm looking forward to that.
Falls Church, Va.:
Are the other members of your band devoted full-time to it as you have now become? Or do they keep day or part-time jobs? How old (roughly) are you all? Just interested in what it took for all of you to decide to go at the music scene whole-hearted, so to speak.
Thanks. I'm looking forward to (finally) hearing you all tonight!
Eric Brace: Average age of the band is around 40, so we're no spring chickens.. we just really believe in the music we've managed to create. With LTH it's definitely a case of the whole-being-greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts. It's a magical grouping of musicians,and something special happens when we play. Really. other than me, Martin and Jim, the others are all keeping their regular jobs. We will take em on the road whenever we can ...
As far as what took so long... hmmmmmm. We've all played in other bands where we were taking i very seriously, but for whatever reason, things never took of. Then when we pulled LTH together in late '96, early '97, there were no assumptions of a career. It's only as we've gotten better and better , and gotten more and more attention, and developed a body of work that really stand up that we've thought to ourselves "hmmmm Maybe the world would pay to hear this!"... maybe not, of course, but that's what we're going to find out.
and thanks.
Harrisburg, Pa.:
Have far along have you planned your next album? Do you have any songs prepared, and if so, what are they like?
Good luck to you and please keep up your excellent work.
Eric Brace: We've got a bunch of songs ready to go.. some already recorded in fact...so we could make the next record tomorrow, if we wanted to ... but we want to see where our "thing" goes over the next few months, and try different things.. different styles (you'll hear many new sounds on the new record, as compared to the last couple).
but mostly they're just solid pop-songs, rooted in some accepted forms of "american popular music"... country, rock, swing, pop, bluegrass, tin pan alley..
but I want to get even more ambitious.. we'll see...
Arlington, Va.:
Where can I find Doug Derryberry and John Alagias old albums?
Eric Brace: that's a dang good question.
Sadly Doug will NOT be at the release shows this weekend, though he was the producer of 10/12ths of it, and played amazing parts all over it. We couldn't have done it without Doug.
John is out on the eastern shore being a hot shot producer with an amazing (deserved) reputation.
You can check www.dougderryberry.com for possible info on getting those records.. fine fine examples of smart rock-pop.
Washington, D.C.:
I saw you perform for the first time at Bop n Bowl a few weeks back -- thoroughly enjoyed the show! I constantly hum the "Doughnut Girl" song to get me through the day.
Eric Brace: well thanks so much!
Wasn't Roger Wallace an excellent honky-tonker!?
And doesn't '52 Pick-Up have that driving classic country thing DOWN!
we ahd fun at the bowling alley.. too bad it'll be torn down this year.. adn too bad it took 45 minutes to get a beer..
Burnt Stump, Va.:
Hey 'dere, Eric!
How many shots of Makers Mark does it take to catch a "Big Fish?"
Inquiring mimes want to know!
Your pal,
Uncle Munkle
Eric Brace: Just one shot of Maker's will get you a "Big Fish" 9a song we don't often do, but just ask!)
Minneapolis, Minn.:
Good to have you back. Will you be visiting Minnesota any time soon?
Eric Brace: In June I hope!
keep checking the website schedule!
and thanks.
e
Washington, D.C.:
OK, so besides Iota, where's your favorite place to play?
Eric Brace: you mean in d.c.?
hmmmmmm we've had such great times at the 9:30 club, the Birchmere, the Barns of Wolf Trap.. all of those are AMAZING world class clubs, where the sound is perfect, and the folks who work there treat us really well and are totally great and professional.
Out of town? hmmmmm we maybe have had the most fun at the Bishop's Collar in philly, a dinky place , but they are really allowed to have live music anymore. ah well.
Palookaville:
Eric --
As a former Nashvillian, I urge you to look up the piece in the Post travel section from last November on great cheap Nashville eateries like Rotier's and Ellison Place. As a struggling musician, you will want to know these joints!
Eric Brace: well thanks so much!
Indeed I clipped that story written by my pal (and washingtonpost.com music editor) Joe Heim.
He found the right spots!
And I'm definitely going to those spots.
Washington, D.C.:
What's more ambitious than "country, pop, rock, swing, jazz, tin pan alley"? Are you going to go the electric guitar opera route?
Eric Brace: bob Massey just did that, to amazing results, I think, with "The Nitrate Hymnal".. did any of y'all see that? Wow.
and yes it was inspiring.
so mayyyyyyyyyyyyyybe.
I just wanna rock harder, swing harder, write better songs, sound better....
Falls Church, Va.:
I'm interested in hiring LTH to perform for a private party. Is LTH still willing to do private parties? Where should I call?
Polly
(No one's answering LTH e-mail these days.)
Eric Brace: sorry about the email slowdown...
my dial up laptop is very very slow and our website server's mail program is very slow, so i get frustrated and leave stuff until I can get to a feset machine, which hasn't happened recently.
We do do private parties now and then, but much less than before , now that we ahve a booking agent who's getting us on the road.
I promise to respond to a website email..
Washington, D.C.:
Right on, tell U-Munk to chill with the Makers, some of us want to hear you play music, not giggle like a school girl.
Eric Brace: Let's make U-Munk giggle like a school girl instead..
Washington, D.C.:
Eric,
Have the two recent night club tragedies made you think twice about some of the places you've been or will be in the future?
I've been in many a packed bar and club, especially in those old wood framed buildings so prevalent in D.C. and thought -- gee if a fire broke out, I'd be a goner. I've always thought places like Heaven and Madams Organ were an accident waiting to happen. Of course that was only paranoid speculation. Not so far-fetched now it seems.
Anyway, good luck with the band. Just know your exits in advance!
Eric Brace: Wise advice.. know your exits.
Those stories just make me sicksicksick inside.
I wish I knew a good answer to that issue. I can only hope that all the fire code hoops that the city makes venues jump through actually leads to safer clubs where those sorts of things couldn't happen, but we shouldnt' be naive.
washingtonpost.com:
Joe's story:
It's a Twang Thang (Post, May 12, 2002)
Eric Brace: Here's the link to joe Heim's story on Nashville from The Post's Travel sectino last year...
McLean, Va.:
Eric --
Is your bass player any relation to Tom Gray of the Country Gentlemen/Seldom Scene fame?
Eric Brace: No, I checked.
Tom has been a member the past few years of the Federal Jazz Commission, the old-time jazz and dixieland band tha plays every tuesday at Col. Brooks' Tavern in NE DC.
I used to love watching him with the old Seldom Scene.. so catch him when you can at a "Seldom Seniors" show ( a name they hate, but seem stuck with)..
And look for Gray and Starling and Auldridge and Eldridge to be recording some material this year for a possible new john Starling album... woowoo!
Washington, D.C.:
I have some GREAT photos of you and RW from the aforementioned Bop n Bowl show -- will bring them to IOTA tomorrow night.
Eric Brace: bring em on!
thanks.
e
Trainhead, Md.:
First, hearty congrats on the fine, fine record!
But rabid, insatiable fans must ask: Are there plans for the next recording? More with Jeff Lang? Maybe LTH-Live?
Eric Brace: Thanks Trainhead (oh my.. let's hope that doesn't catch on...)
and there are several more tracks with jeff Lang in the can that martin , jim and I recorded af ew months back with this Australian powerhouse... look for a summer release of this fine little CD (8 songs)
And we'll be doing some live recordings of cover tunes soon, just because we have so much fun with them...
and with luck, we'll record a project of Stephen Foster tunes (and other 19th century songwriters) later this year...
Washington, D.C.:
I'm afeared at WHAT it would take to make Munk giggle.
Eric Brace: Me too.
Now I'm scared.
Ok folks.. I really appreciate you logging on and checking in. it means a lot to me, and as time goes on, feel free to ask very specific questions about the band, and the biz and what we're up to, so that I can come up with detailed answers about how this all works. This isn't (REALLY) meant to be random gratuitous plugs for the band (though I'll take it!), it's hopefully bringing some info about the crazy cogs of the music machine to you....
Time to go and put lights up at IOTA for the big show...
If you can't make it tonight, try tomorrow night, if not then, then Sunday afternoon from 3 to 5 we're at IOTA playing a benefit for the Hospice of Northern Virginia.
And after THAT... it's the Birchmere on April 5 with the Gourds!
Thanks again.
yours,
eric
washingtonpost.com:
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