Albino Skunk Music Festival with King Margo and Aaron Lee Tasjan
From backstage conversations to festival magic, Sloane Spencer dives headfirst into Albino Skunk Music Festival, a music fan's family reunion. While this marks the final spring edition of the beloved festival, the fall music weekends continue. Celebrate reinvention, community, and the evolving sound of Americana and roots music.
This episode spotlights both legendary festival staples and exciting new voices, including breakout duo King Margo, who join Sloane backstage to talk about creative growth, finding their sound, and the thrill of releasing fresh music into the world. Then, singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan opens up about the highs surrounding his latest album and the personal challenges shaping his journey through grief and sobriety, offering equal parts wisdom, honesty, and heart.
Grab your favorite drink, settle in, and spend some time where the songs are loud, the stories run deep, and music feels like home.
Catch Our Tastemaker Playlists
Musicians, Bands, Venues, and Festivals Mentioned
- Aaron Lee Tasjan
- King Margo (Rachel Coats and Lucciana Costa)
- Albino Skunk Music Festival
- Americana Fest
- Buddy Miller
- Darrell Scott
- Dave Jacques
- Drivin N Cryin
- Gabe Lee
- Hayley Williams
- Jason Eady
- Jen Gunderman
- Jeff Sipe
- Jimmy Bowland
- John Fullbright
- John Prine
- Justin Amaral
- Kevn Kinney
- Kim Richey
- Larkin Poe
- Margaret Glaspy
- Max Abrams
- Procol Harum
- Roger Alan Nichols
- Sheryl Crow
- SiriusXM Outlaw Country
- Steve Dawson
- Sturgill Simpson
- Susan Werner
- The Mavericks
- The Wallflowers
- Todd Snider
- Tom Petty
- Van Darien
- Warren Zanes
Chapters
- 00:20 - Sloane Spencer: The Final Spring Edition of Skunk Fest
- 01:16 - King Margo: Exploring New Sounds
- 12:20 - Music and Inspiration: The Creative Process
- 19:53 - Aaron Lee Tasjan: Navigating Grief and Creativity
- 29:04 - The Journey of 'Science Friction'
Recommended If You Like
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Transcript
Well, hey y', all, welcome to Dive Bar Music Club, the low key, high taste happy hour for music nerds.
Speaker A:This is a special episode with just me, Sloane Spencer.
Speaker A:I just got back from my favorite music festival, Albino Skunk Music Fest in the upstate of South Carolina, a festival I've been to more than a dozen times at this point.
Speaker A:Absolutely love it.
Speaker A:This year was announced as the final spring edition of the Skunk Fest.
Speaker A:And over the years it has been a fall private party, added on spring Skunk Fest and now going back to a fall only event.
Speaker A:Back when I first started going, it was Albino Skunk Bluegrass Music Festival and over the years it evolved to include other genres of music as well.
Speaker A:But it all fits together.
Speaker A:It's all spearheaded by the wizard Zig, who pulls together the most amazing lineup every single year.
Speaker A:One of my favorite things about it has always been discovery of new to me, artists or folks that I have never gotten to see in this particular capacity.
Speaker A:So this year, several longtime favorites on the bill, including the legendary Darrell Scott.
Speaker A:But I love some Darrell Scott and do I love a Daryl Scott set at Albino Skunk Music Festival.
Speaker A:He brings a legendary trio of players, including Jeff Sip on drums.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, that guy.
Speaker A:Just incredible.
Speaker A:And this year was absolutely spectacular.
Speaker A:I wanted to focus a little bit this time on a couple of my favorites who played Albino Skunk Music Fest this year.
Speaker A:One, a group I discovered at that festival a few years ago called King Margot.
Speaker A:Duo of women who typically work as the backing players for other artists, particularly Jason Eady.
Speaker A:If you're familiar with Tech Texas, Red Dirt and that sort of music, you probably know Jason Eady and also often tour and record with Gabe Lee out of Nashville, who I also love quite well.
Speaker A:So I was excited to hear King Margot play as their solo sets are really different than the records they've released so far.
Speaker A:So I was real excited to get to talk with both of them and I'll bring you a quick conversation backstage from the green room while the festival was going on.
Speaker A:So yeah, there's a lot going on, people coming in and out of the green room, all sorts of stuff.
Speaker A:But we did have a great chat and boy am I excited for what they have coming up in the next couple years.
Speaker A:If you get a chance to see King Margot solo, hundred percent recommend it.
Speaker A:And little side note, Jason Eady, you're fantastic.
Speaker A:Loved hanging out with you.
Speaker A:I also got a chance to talk with one of my absolute longtime favorite people in music, Aaron Lee Tasgen.
Speaker A:Aaron was literally driving in doing the set and hitting the road for a long road to the final show of his over a month long tour that he had been on.
Speaker A:So we actually needed to catch up recently by telephone.
Speaker A:And if you're not familiar with Aaron Lee Tasjan, he has topped the SiriusXM Outlaw country charts lately and it's just one of my all time favorite people.
Speaker A:Really excited for his upcoming record which is on pre order right now.
Speaker A:So we'll add that conversation we had earlier this week as well.
Speaker A:Meanwhile, we're kind of on summertime schedule.
Speaker A:Everybody's got a lot going on.
Speaker A:So we do have episodes coming at you on the 5th and 20th of each month, but they may follow a slightly different format.
Speaker A:We'll have to see how it goes.
Speaker A:So let's jump right in.
Speaker B:I'm Selen Spencer, this is Dive Bar Music Club, the low key, high taste happy hour for music nerds.
Speaker B:And we are hanging out actually in the green room at Albino Skunk Music Festival, which is pretty fun for me for a band.
Speaker B:King Margo, who I first saw here a couple of years ago and awkwardly stopped them as they were loading up their vehicle to head back out to another show.
Speaker B:So if y' all would take a second just to introduce yourselves individually and then I'm looking forward to hearing what you've been up to.
Speaker C:Yeah, well, hello.
Speaker C:Hello, My name is Rachel Coates.
Speaker C:I play bass, guitar, mandolin, sing in.
Speaker D:King Margot and hello, I am Luciana Costa.
Speaker D:I play guitar, piano, slide guitar and write a lot of the songs for King Margot.
Speaker D:I do the words, I'm the Word Girl.
Speaker B:With King Margot.
Speaker B:I follow y' all on Apple Music and you've had quite a number of singles come out since the last record.
Speaker B:What's Going on for y' all in the world of what's up, this is a great question.
Speaker C:I will start and please fill in the gaps.
Speaker C: So we put out a record in: Speaker C:We hit the ground running touring wise, pretty hard after that and we had a couple of tunes in the kitty on a single front that we were going to put out.
Speaker C:But we ended up kind of realizing we needed to regroup and, and reassess how we were going to approach doing it after that because we did like a three month tour that just absolutely kicked our asses and we're like, okay, let's, let's, let's take a beat.
Speaker C: r that record until summer of: Speaker C:And we put out a tune called Animal that was still with tmg.
Speaker C:And then since then we've been like, slow releasing a number of singles independently on our own.
Speaker C:That's been actually a lot of fun to kind of do all that stuff ourselves.
Speaker B:There was one in like, March.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Yeah, we put out a song called Game over in March.
Speaker D:And yeah, it's just been really cool to like, have full control of the creative process from beginning to end.
Speaker D:And we.
Speaker D:We are gonna make another record.
Speaker D:We have been talking about it, like, probably within a year or so.
Speaker D:But yeah, it's just been really fun to kind of like, you know, we've been road dogging so hard in multiple bands in addition to doing our own stuff as King Margot and to kind of take the time to just from conception, record the song, figure out the art direction.
Speaker D:Like, we have a bunch of really talented friends and like, it's just been really cool to kind of have it be a thing per song, to really take the time to do it in a way that we haven't had the time to do it because we've been on the road so much.
Speaker D:So, yeah, it's just been.
Speaker D:It's been really fun.
Speaker B:It's a little more kind of seasonal cyclical in terms of.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And that's actually been awesome to do it that way.
Speaker C:And I want to go back to Waters Rise, the record for a second and talk about how grateful I am that we had that opportunity to put that out.
Speaker C:And it was very educational for how music is being released on a higher level.
Speaker C:Not like mainstream mainstream.
Speaker C:But we had some like, playlisting success, which was, you know, that's really all we could hope for for what we were trying to do at the time.
Speaker C:But what we noticed was putting a full length out really caused other songs that we care deeply about to suffer.
Speaker C:They didn't get the proper attention that they needed for the we.
Speaker C:That the rollout of the record ended up happening.
Speaker C:So we learned a lot from that and we've.
Speaker C:We've decided to like, fully invest in ourselves and take the time and the energy to get the arrangements right to get the recordings right and actually spend time and resources to promote it the way that we want to and have quality content that we like to go along with it.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:It's well said.
Speaker C:There you go.
Speaker D:Well, thank you.
Speaker B:So I know that y' all were working extensively on the road for a pretty long period of time when it came right down to it and, you know, for some folks, they come off the road and they feel like that's inspiring.
Speaker B:And for a lot of folks, it's more like, okay, this is just like decompression time.
Speaker B:And then there's that arc where it starts to go back up again.
Speaker B:And so what, if anything, were y' all listening to in this?
Speaker B:Kind of coming into your own newer phase?
Speaker B:Because to me, sonically, I feel like, especially the song that came out in March, there's some new things coming out that I've seen from you play live, but not so much from the record a few years ago.
Speaker E:Does that make sense?
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, 100%.
Speaker D:What were we listening to?
Speaker D:That's a really good question.
Speaker D: eally into Margaret Glasby in: Speaker D:Truly, both of us just absolutely fell in love with her music.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:We did start working with a new producer for Game over, which we.
Speaker D:The one that we put out in March, and then the next three that we're about to put out.
Speaker D:So we've been working with Roger Allen Nichols.
Speaker D:Yeah, he's awesome.
Speaker D:He's so, so great.
Speaker D:He has done most of Lark and Poe's stuff.
Speaker D:And Hayley Williams.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:So, like, he knows what to do with a female duo.
Speaker D:So we felt very safe.
Speaker D:We were like, let's do this.
Speaker D:Like, proof of concept.
Speaker D:He knows what to do with 2.
Speaker B:Lad, because sonically, they also have a lot of range and can do a lot of different things.
Speaker D:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker B:Oh, I'm so glad to hear there's someone who.
Speaker C:What's been really fun about it is he's been kind of adamant that we have to do everything ourselves, which sounds kind of silly.
Speaker D:Every instrument except drums.
Speaker C:We haven't.
Speaker C:Obviously.
Speaker C:We're not drummers.
Speaker C:Lucy's actually a pretty great Cajon player.
Speaker C:If you happen to catch a show with Gabe Lee, you might see her on Cajon.
Speaker C:I know you.
Speaker C:You saw it happen today.
Speaker E:I've seen some percussion here.
Speaker D:Hold up.
Speaker D:I can hold a rhythm down, but I can't do multiple drums.
Speaker D:It's too much for me.
Speaker C:Well, and for a record, it requires somebody that can really lock it in.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:So he loves that we play all of the instruments.
Speaker C:Like, I play bass and guitar and can handle acoustic and electric and mandolin.
Speaker C:Like, those are kind of like my main staples.
Speaker C:And then Luch can handle, like, slide guitar, dobro keys, and whatever guitar stuff she might have to do.
Speaker C:So between the two of us, we cover a pretty broad spectrum of sonic landscaping.
Speaker C:So he's.
Speaker C:He's been pretty adamant that everything that we do is us.
Speaker C:Now, that being said, yes, we've had a couple of drummers lay down the drum tracks for us, and then also we brought in a saxophone player to throw down on one of the covers that we're going to be releasing later this year.
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker D:Sweet.
Speaker D:Max Abrams from the Mavericks.
Speaker D:We met him on Keamo a couple years ago and he's become such a dear friend of ours.
Speaker D:And he just ripped it on this song.
Speaker D:Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker B:That's so nice.
Speaker B:Kayama brings just a totally, like, not the same vibe as here at Albino Skunk Fest, but it's nice that you can have your own space.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:Well, and it's funny when you said that, it's.
Speaker D:That's the first thing I thought of because both Kayamos, like, there was just a haze afterwards for like two weeks of just like, I probably wrote more songs in those two weeks than I did most of the rest of the year because there's just this, like, wave of inspiration from just being around such high quality folks for that long.
Speaker D:And it's such an insulated bubble.
Speaker D:Like, even just the jams at night, like, you see these amazing shows and then you gather in the artist lounge and there's a grand piano in there and people are just like, going off.
Speaker D:It's just.
Speaker D:Oh, my God.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:We've been really, really lucky to get to go a couple of years.
Speaker D:It's so fun.
Speaker B:Is there a timeline or with.
Speaker B: ential upcoming release, like: Speaker C:We're definitely going to put at least one, if not two, possibly three tunes out this year.
Speaker C:The ones that we've got in the can right now.
Speaker C:The one, the first one, we're going off this batch of three that we just got done recording it, pretty much done mixing.
Speaker C:We have to send to mastering.
Speaker C:We've pretty much got the artwork sorted out on what we're gonna do.
Speaker C:We just shot a music video for it last weekend.
Speaker C:It's called Tinfoil Profiteers.
Speaker C:We started our set with that today at Spring Skunk.
Speaker C:That one's gonna be probably early July, I think.
Speaker C:We haven't officially set the date because it's not 100 done yet, but that's the goal.
Speaker C:And then we'll see how that goes.
Speaker C:And then, I don't know, we kind of just play it.
Speaker C:We like two or three months at a time.
Speaker C:Is kind of a good window to kind of like keep the algorithm happy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And also your fans happy too, obviously.
Speaker C:But yeah, we're hoping to.
Speaker C:To slow drip these next three out and then we want to record three other tunes that we've had in the can for a while that we have to do at some point this year.
Speaker C:And then we're hoping for a full length release of all of this next year.
Speaker E:Nice.
Speaker C:That's the goal.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:But yeah, we're a self run operation so we can decide whenever we're gonna do it.
Speaker D:The timeline's slow and the budget is low, but we're having a good time.
Speaker B:So if you all could just like pick like a couple of buddies musically to hang out with and play some music for just because you wanted to do it for the evening, who would you choose?
Speaker D:Yeah, I know, it's like my answer is everyone we do get to play with, which is really sweet.
Speaker D:And I feel very lucky to say that.
Speaker D:It's like even our buddy Jason Eady, who's here with us, like he's just got an off day.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Like him and Gabe and.
Speaker D:And yeah.
Speaker D:Susan Warner is an artist that we work with a few times a year when we're lucky enough to get.
Speaker D:Do you know her at all?
Speaker D:Oh, my God, she's amazing.
Speaker D:She's like, you know how she's in the folk world, but she's just so much more.
Speaker D:She's.
Speaker D:She's like brilliant songwriting and like jazzy arrangements and she just has such a mastery of like several different genres and.
Speaker C:Oh, and she's a comedian too.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Oh, my God, she's very funny.
Speaker C:Her timing is incredible.
Speaker C:Not only is she just like a virtuoso guitar player and a piano player and an elite songwriter, she's just.
Speaker C:She's got her thumb on the pulse of what's happening and does it with such grace and a sense of humor at the same time.
Speaker C:And her live show is Nobody's doing it the way she does.
Speaker C:Yeah, you definitely need to check her out.
Speaker D:Oh my God.
Speaker D:100.
Speaker D:And I will say probably John Fulbright.
Speaker D:I would put him on the list because we did get to jam with him@mile0 this year.
Speaker D:He played keys on Jason's set and we were in Jason's band and it was like there was.
Speaker D:I've never felt so, like telepathically connected.
Speaker B:I don't know him personally, but I was at Americana fest more than 15 years ago and met him playing in a hallway and we were all just sitting in the hall.
Speaker B:I Don't know what was.
Speaker B:I don't remember the context, but I was like, yeah, John Fulbright in the hallway.
Speaker A:Of course that's what we were doing.
Speaker B:Like, and so for whatever reason, that memory is still there for every album title.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, and there were a whole bunch of us just chilling in the hall for some reason.
Speaker B:I don't even remember why, but that's magic.
Speaker A:What fun.
Speaker B:So y' all were saying that you've got this upcoming song that you opened the set with today, and are there any special plans for getting that out there?
Speaker C:I mean, we went all in on a music video.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:I'll be honest.
Speaker C:I know we haven't.
Speaker C:We.
Speaker C:We put one really.
Speaker C:Like, it wasn't high budgets, high budget for an independent artist.
Speaker C:We put out a music video for the gum song last year with the same film producer guy, but for this one, he brought his buddy out, and we did.
Speaker C:We went really hard on this one.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So to answer your question, it's the music video, and the music video is the thing to keep an eye out for because there's.
Speaker C:There's a guest character in this that I'm not gonna name any names.
Speaker C:Gonna have to check it out.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So speaking of the gumsong, Excuse me.
Speaker B:If y' all are fans of King Margot, definitely go to their website and check out their merch, because the T shirts are spectacular and there's a couple of different versions of them, and I don't want to give anything away, but you need to just buy those, order them, have them shipped to your house.
Speaker B:It's totally worth doing.
Speaker B:So just a little side note for everybody.
Speaker D:Highly appreciate that.
Speaker B:Shout out.
Speaker B:No, like, big fan of a shirt.
Speaker B:A big fan of a shirt of a merch.
Speaker B:That's a shirt.
Speaker B:Not just like.
Speaker E:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:So, yeah, big fan.
Speaker D:We do take our merch very seriously, too.
Speaker D:Oh, that's.
Speaker D:I mean, that's been the cool thing about having the time to think through the details of everything that we're putting our name on.
Speaker D:It's just cool.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:It's a privilege to get to do that because it's fun.
Speaker D:It's not like, oh, I don't want to do that.
Speaker D:Like, that's not music.
Speaker D:So, you know, not really interested in that.
Speaker D:It's like, it's all part of.
Speaker D:Of the same thing.
Speaker D:It's just.
Speaker B:And frankly, if people are going to actually wear the thing.
Speaker D:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:You know, it's helpful if it's not, like, letters.
Speaker B:You know, just saying, this is not a Visual podcast.
Speaker E:Thank God.
Speaker D:It's going to be a fashion statement.
Speaker D:Oh, no, don't towards her boobs.
Speaker D:I know when you said it wasn't, I was like, oh, thank God.
Speaker D:Voice only bring to the table.
Speaker C:For.
Speaker D:Our listeners out there.
Speaker C:Anyway.
Speaker D:We bring that to the table all day, every day.
Speaker B:Why did they let me come?
Speaker B:I know here's what I'm going to now.
Speaker B:But Luciana and Rachel of King Margo, I do appreciate y' all taking the time and hanging out here at Albino Skunk Fest.
Speaker B:Very much enjoyed your set.
Speaker B:We were specifically making sure we got here early enough to catch it again this time around.
Speaker B:So thank you so much for having us.
Speaker B:Absolutely my pleasure.
Speaker B:Take care.
Speaker D:Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker B:It's my pleasure.
Speaker C:Taking care of.
Speaker C:Thanks, Sloane.
Speaker E:Oh my gosh, y', all, what fun.
Speaker E:I just got back home from Albino Skunk Music Festival.
Speaker E:You know, it's my favorite music festival and I always talk about it on whatever I am doing.
Speaker E:And this year one of my all time favorite musicians, favorite humans, was playing one of the biggest sets of the weekend and it was spectacular.
Speaker E:Aaron Lee Tasjan, man, it was so good to see you.
Speaker F:Aw, it's good to see you too.
Speaker F:While riding a tractor, no less.
Speaker E:It was fun and your set was spectacular.
Speaker E:One of the most fun things for me because I've not gotten to see you live in a while was that you've got brand new music coming out that is fantastic from what I've gotten to hear.
Speaker E:But I also love when you do a set, how you rework and refresh more experienced songs as well.
Speaker E:What the heck have you been up to?
Speaker F:Well, this has been a season of change for sure for me.
Speaker F:And you know, a lot of it at first sad, you know, some of it even straight up heartbroken breaking.
Speaker F:But like so many things in life, you sort of see as you're going through the process of it, the ways in which it also benefits you and makes you more resilient and all of the good stuff that that comes along with the inevitability of change and it's really taught me, I think more than anything just to try and embrace that part of it as much as I can.
Speaker F:Certainly you got to feel your.
Speaker F:Your feelings while you're going through all of it.
Speaker F:Know I've really dug into just a metric heck ton of self care and really been feeling like I'm, I'm coming out on the other side of it, you know, more, more resilient and, and focused and clearer.
Speaker F:I think than I've.
Speaker F:Than I've ever been.
Speaker F:And it's kind of crazy, but I feel like it.
Speaker F:It's affected the show in all sorts of ways that I didn't expect, where I kind of almost feel like I'm able to.
Speaker F:That stage Persona and just kind of like.
Speaker F:So I felt like in the past, sometimes it would.
Speaker F:I'd have to sort of warm up into the sweet spot of the set.
Speaker F:I don't know if it's just sort of the emotional release that comes with grief or something, but, gosh, I feel like I've been able to just kind of walk on stage and just get right down to business pretty much every night.
Speaker F:And as a guy that's been doing it for over 20 years now, that feels thrilling.
Speaker E:You touched on so many things that I relate to on different levels.
Speaker E:And it's funny, I will jokingly talk with people about stage me versus home me and home me and stage me are two different people, for sure.
Speaker F:Yes.
Speaker E:And I get that.
Speaker E:But also, in some ways, stage me is sometimes a more real version of me because I get out there and it's not putting on a show.
Speaker E:Cause it's not fake, but it's like you can channel something that you can't channel in different ways.
Speaker E:And I would say I felt that seeing your performance, it really came through.
Speaker E:Grief is so weird.
Speaker E:Until I went through recent grief grief myself, I guess I had never been adult enough to really go through all of that.
Speaker E:And like, I was standing at a CVS and just burst into tears when the, like, 25ft of receipts came out to me for no reason.
Speaker E:But suddenly, like, it all just hit me with this miles and miles of CVS receipt.
Speaker E:And I was like, I'm not even sad right now.
Speaker E:Why am I bawling in the cvs?
Speaker F:Yes, I can relate.
Speaker F:I started wearing sunglasses into the Kroger, you know, and carrying.
Speaker F:Carrying a roll of toilet paper around in the car.
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker E:You're like, I'm not even mad at this red light.
Speaker E:I'm fine, I swear.
Speaker F:Yeah, I know.
Speaker F:It's wild.
Speaker F:They say it comes in waves.
Speaker F:And my friend Kim Ritchie and I were recently writing a song about this from the perspective of, you know, you kind of think you're over it, and you think you finally have just cried enough tears over it.
Speaker F:And then, you know, you turn on the radio and there's that song that takes you right back to that place that you thought you were done with, and you feel all those emotions all over again.
Speaker F:So that's a new A new.
Speaker F:A brand new song that, that we're working on.
Speaker F:But this, it's.
Speaker F:It's funny.
Speaker F:I mean, I get to talk to folks at the shows, you know, in the merch, at the merch table and stuff like that afterwards.
Speaker F:And I don't know if it's just a collective moment in time, but it seems like a lot of folks that I'm meeting are.
Speaker F:Are going through a similar thing.
Speaker F:And, you know, I've tried to be open about my journey with it all on.
Speaker F:On social media and.
Speaker F:And a lot of people have said that that's been really helpful to them because I really question being on social media about 98% of the time that I'm on there.
Speaker F:So finally, 2%, it feels worthwhile, I guess, but I'll take it, you know.
Speaker E:Relatable.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker E:Wow.
Speaker E:I look forward to hearing that with Kim Richie.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker E:That really does touch on it.
Speaker E:Exactly.
Speaker E:Because, yeah, I think that's so specifically relatable.
Speaker E:I had the same experience.
Speaker E:Proko Haram came on the radio and I was like, all right, damn it,.
Speaker B:Now I gotta pull my car up.
Speaker F:Yes, I know I'm trying to go somewhere today.
Speaker F:Come on.
Speaker A:What the hel.
Speaker F:I don't need white or shade of.
Speaker E:Pale Making me cry on the interstate.
Speaker F:This is not cool.
Speaker E:But literally, that's what happened.
Speaker F:Oh, I can relate.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:That is super relatable.
Speaker E:Wow.
Speaker E:You know, one of the things that I have always appreciated about you and your writing and your performing and just folks that you creatively vibe with is how much you not just learn from mentors, but from your peers and to share with your peers and other emerging folks.
Speaker E:And that always comes through in what you're writing and what.
Speaker E:Even what you say on stage.
Speaker E:Who have you been creatively finding fulfillment with in these last several months?
Speaker F:Man, some real gems of musicians and humans, aside from the great Kim Ritchie.
Speaker F:I had a real sort of red letter moment recently when I was on tour in Atlanta and, you know, a longtime fan and collaborator with our mutual friend, Mr. Kevin Kinney of Driving and Crying, knew he was going to be at the show.
Speaker F:Was a show that I was doing with the Wallflowers.
Speaker F:They're out on their 30th anniversary tour for Bringing down the heart.
Speaker F:Bringing down the horse, rather.
Speaker B:How is it even possible?
Speaker F:I know it doesn't.
Speaker F:Doesn't that sound crazy?
Speaker F:30 Years, right?
Speaker E:Is that possible?
Speaker F:Yeah, I was like 12 when it came out.
Speaker F:But anyway, you know, we were playing the Buckhead Theater and I knew that Kevin was going to be in the audience that night.
Speaker F:He told me he.
Speaker F:He bought it, you know, Kevin, Kenny, to put the guy on the guest list.
Speaker F:And he's like, oh, I already bought a ticket.
Speaker E:He's such a good dude.
Speaker F:I know.
Speaker F:My goodness.
Speaker F:But anyway, I knew he was going to be there, so I decided I was going to cover.
Speaker F:I was going to like, sort of pay a tip of the hat to Kevin and do a little cover of one of my favorite songs of his, Scarred but smarter.
Speaker F:And I was singing the song, and then I heard the place erupt in applause.
Speaker F:The whole theater sold out, out show.
Speaker F:So it was quite a noise.
Speaker F:And I thought, well, God, I'm not doing that good.
Speaker F:And I turned to my right and here came Kevin walking out on stage and ended up turning the song into a duet that we did together.
Speaker F:And then at the end of that show, Jacob and the Wallflowers very sweetly asked me to sit in with them and sing a few Tom Petty songs together.
Speaker F:So it was quite a.
Speaker F:It was quite an evening for 12 year me.
Speaker E:You gotta love those moments.
Speaker F:Oh, yeah.
Speaker F:Oh, yeah.
Speaker F:You know, I mean, it's.
Speaker F:They're rare, you know, in my.
Speaker F:In my experience, they're.
Speaker F:They are rare moments.
Speaker F:But, you know, I've gotten to have a couple of them now, and I really have come to.
Speaker F:To appreciate those things when they happen in a way that I never did before.
Speaker F:I think, you know, a lot of it honestly just has to do with.
Speaker F:With my sobriety and really being really present in life in a way that I hadn't always been.
Speaker F:And I feel really, really grateful for that.
Speaker E:I am super thrilled for you.
Speaker E:That's huge.
Speaker E:To make that full circle.
Speaker E:Kevin Kinney is the person who many, many, many years ago said to me one time, you know, Sloan, I think you're gonna like this kid.
Speaker E:Aaron Lee Tashian, you should listen.
Speaker E:And I was like, well, yep, you were right.
Speaker E:And so the next time I saw him, I was like, yeah, you're right.
Speaker E:I like to ski.
Speaker E:Aaron Lee Tashien, you're not getting it.
Speaker E:Fun times and what an incredible humor you've really kind of found.
Speaker E:I don't want to say a new groove, but another level of audience for your music in what has probably been one of the more challenging years with just some really great radio success for this upcoming record that's on pre order right now, fixing to come out real soon with get over at Underdog.
Speaker E:Tell me a little bit more about this record and the folks that helped you bring it to the world.
Speaker F:Yeah, it kind of Started out as just one song.
Speaker F:You know, I had written the song Science Friction, and there was just, you know, at first I thought I was.
Speaker F:Well, the way that the song actually initially got recorded was my friend Steve Dawson, who is an incredible musician, Canadian musician, who lives here in Nashville, and producer, songwriter, the whole nine yards.
Speaker F:He was teaching a class about recording to some students at Belmont and was asking me if I had any songs that I had not recorded, if I could come in and we could sort of track a song to sort of show the students how a recording session happens.
Speaker E:Oh, fun.
Speaker F:And when I got over there, the other musicians were, you know, the great Jen Gunderman, who, you know, Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell.
Speaker F:Just an incredible musician, often usually in the Americana Music Association Awards show house band led by Mr.
Speaker F:Buddy Miller and Don was.
Speaker F:But yeah, in addition to Jen, John Prine's bass player, Dave Jakes, and a really, really great drummer from here in Nashville by the name of Justin Amaral.
Speaker F:And so I had this song, Science Friction, that I had just recently written and wasn't really sure what to do with.
Speaker F:And we laid it down and, man, it really came out good.
Speaker F:And there was just something about it that I kind of kept going back to for whatever reason.
Speaker F:You know, my ultimate litmus test for when I'm not sure, or at least at that time when I wasn't sure if it was as good as I thought it was, I would.
Speaker F:I would run it through what to me was like the ult songwriting barometer.
Speaker F:I would send my stuff to Todd Snyder.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker F:And I would say, hey, man, you know, I think there's something here.
Speaker F:What do you think?
Speaker F:You know, and.
Speaker F:Because we kind of had that relationship a little bit, you know, when Todd signed to John Prine's label, oh Boy Records, you know, John and.
Speaker F:And Todd had that a little bit where John would kind of listen to Todd's songs and give him feedback on them.
Speaker F:And I had sort of asked Todd at one point if.
Speaker F:If he would do that for me, and.
Speaker F:And.
Speaker F:And he said, yeah, man.
Speaker F:So I sent him.
Speaker F:I sent him Science Friction and.
Speaker F:And the email I got back is.
Speaker F:Is.
Speaker F:Is pinned to my refrigerator.
Speaker F:I'm so glad because it.
Speaker F:It really.
Speaker F:I mean, he loved the song, you know, and he'd always been supportive of me, but he was complimentary of it in a way that sort of made me think like, man, maybe this song is.
Speaker F:Is even better than I thought it was.
Speaker F:And.
Speaker F:And that got me thinking about you record.
Speaker F:You know, sometimes it's like songs are like, you know, little tent poles and, and you can sort of figure out how to put the whole circus up, you know, once you, once you have your tent poles going.
Speaker F:And, and that song was definitely one of those.
Speaker F:And so I just started writing up a Storm and I got all of my favorite musicians from the neighborhood in East Nashville and set up a studio in my house, you know, and, and I had Jen Gunderman and Audley Freed and Jimmy Bolan and Fred El and Kim Ritchie and Brian Wright.
Speaker F:And my friend Lafembar came in from Oakland, my longtime best friend, one of my favorite musicians in the entire planet, Ricky.
Speaker F:And yeah, and I'm co produced the record with my longtime sound man and road manager, Mark Miller, who I've known since I was 15 years old.
Speaker E:I didn't roll.
Speaker F:So it was really just kind of the, you know, the neighborhood, the family affair, so to spe speak, you know, coming in and playing their hearts out on it.
Speaker F:And I made everybody Italian sandwiches for lunch and, and we just had a great time and, and ended up recording, I think, you know, 17 or 18 songs in about five days.
Speaker F:And then that got pared down to 11 and, and I just, I love, I love what we came up with and, and Ricky and, and her best friend Van Darien, who's another really great artist from Texas.
Speaker F:They did all the alb.
Speaker F:Helped me build a set in the house because, you know, we got to film all this content now.
Speaker F:And so we built our house into some sort of crazy psychedelic garden and made a bunch of content there and, and it was really, really a fun experience of just working with my friends.
Speaker F:And I remember talking to the great author and musician Warren Zanes on the phone.
Speaker F:At one point he had called me up and we were talking about Tom, Tom Petty.
Speaker F:You know, Tom had.
Speaker F:Had passed away not that long before.
Speaker F:Warren had called me a couple of years and, and we were talking about the crux of.
Speaker F:Of a great band.
Speaker F:And Warren was kind of saying at one point he had told Tom that he was going to like form a band of hot studio musicians in LA and you know, and just kind of get all the best guys that he could.
Speaker F:And he said Tom was just like, man, it's not really done that way.
Speaker F:You got to get your buddy, you know, you've known for 30 years and, you know, and everybody's just kind of three musketeers, all for one and one for all kind of vibes.
Speaker F:And that's what makes music where you can really feel the love and the care that was put into it and that's what we did.
Speaker F:And I just love what we came up with.
Speaker F:And in a certain way I'm always surprised when something good happens.
Speaker F:But in another way on this record, you know, I'm kind of, I'm not as surprised that it is taken off at radio and all that kind of stuff because I do feel like I sort of hid new level, you know, on, on this record and, and it's been just a thrill to see people embracing it the way that they have.
Speaker E:I think that's the thing that's most exciting for me because it's instantly identifiable that this is 100% Aaron Lee, Taz, Janice.
Speaker E:But the thing is for me is that it's so many new people.
Speaker E:It was fun to sit at a festival but the people around me were like, yeah man, I just heard his first song Science Friction and they were like telling me all about it like it was this brand new thing.
Speaker E:And I was like, yeah man, it's awesome.
Speaker E:I am not going to bust their bubble one bit.
Speaker E:It was great.
Speaker E:They'd made this discovery and I was like, hell yeah, I Love it.
Speaker F:A 20 year overnight success.
Speaker E:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker E:And their enthusiasm was just so worth it.
Speaker E:And I was like, glad you're here even if you just got here last night.
Speaker E:It's all good.
Speaker F:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker E:But so the record is on pre order if folks want to get in on making sure they have their own copy of Get Over It Underdog.
Speaker E:What should they be doing?
Speaker F:Just go to www.aaronleetasjan.com and it's going to pop right up on the screen there.
Speaker F:And if you pre order the album, you're going to get an advance listen of it immediately of the whole thing.
Speaker F:So there's a good incentive to do it.
Speaker F:We're following suit of a few different folks that I really admire.
Speaker F:Sturgill Simpson certainly comes to mind.
Speaker F:But we're actually the physical only that's coming out the month in May.
Speaker F:So we're sort of delaying the release of, of the music to Spotify and, and those places in favor of giving people the physical product first and, and trying to encourage folks to visit their local record store and support independent musicians in a way that ultimately benefits the support system that exists for independent musicians.
Speaker F:Because we do talk a lot about supporting the musicians themselves, which is very important.
Speaker F:But we can't forget about these incred small venues, these incredibly important independent labels and distributors and radio stations and radio promoters, publicists.
Speaker F:You know, all these folks work together to bring us some of the most soulful and heartfelt music that's out there nowadays.
Speaker F:And not that there's anything wrong with anybody that is on a major label or any of that kind of stuff.
Speaker F:All that music is.
Speaker F:Is really cool too.
Speaker F:But I think there is something special that comes from those small local music scenes.
Speaker F:And I'm very proud to be a part of that world.
Speaker F:And I would just encourage folks to support it in whatever way they can, whether that's pre ordering the record or going to their local record store and buying it or buying a ticket to a show.
Speaker F:We try really hard on our tour to play as many independent venues as we can and not be doing Ticketmaster and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker F:So we really encourage folks to come check out the gigs and support the whole local music scene.
Speaker E:Absolutely.
Speaker E:And so check that out.
Speaker E:We'll have the link for Erin Lee Tasian's website in our show notes.
Speaker E:And just kind of wrapped up a lot of time on the road and I know you've got some dates throughout the summer and then another massive late summer Euro tour.
Speaker E:So, you know, safe travels to you and congratulations on the early success of some of these releases off of the record.
Speaker E:I do encourage people to go ahead and do that pre order because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to say how I had those songs or not.
Speaker F:No, you absolutely can.
Speaker E:I was like, am I supposed to say that?
Speaker E:Is that everybody or was that just me?
Speaker E:I'm not sure.
Speaker E:I can't remember.
Speaker F:Well, you are.
Speaker F:You are special.
Speaker F:But yes, everybody, everybody can have access if they want.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Here's the magic, y'.
Speaker C:All.
Speaker B:By the record, that's what happens.
Speaker E:Erin leantashian, I really am so genuinely thrilled for you and cannot wait for folks to get to hear what's been going on and glad that I finally got to catch a show again.
Speaker E:So thank you, thank you, thank you for your time.
Speaker F:Always so good to see you.
Speaker E:My pleasure.
Speaker B:Pleasure.
Speaker B:My pleasure.
Speaker E:Take care.
Speaker F:Thanks.
Speaker E:Bye.
Speaker E:Bye.
Speaker E:Bye.
Speaker A:As always, thanks so much for hanging out with us here at Dive Bar Music Club.
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Speaker A:Keep it safe, y'.
Speaker E:All.
Speaker A:And right back with you soon, it's Dive Bar Music Club.
Speaker A:That's last call at Dive Bar Music Music Club.
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