Love Songs for Losers may be a rather cynical title for The Lone Bellow’s newest outing, but the band’s fifth full-length album instead represents a host of new possibilities for the Tennessee outfit by way of Brooklyn. Having worked with The National’s Aaron Dressner and storied Grammy Award-winner Dave Cobb as producers, The Lone Bellow’s creative core—Zach Williams, Kanene Donehey Pipkin and Brian Elmquist—instead took the helm.
(Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson)
Adding to the intrigue of Elmquist and Jacob Sooter taking on production duties as part of this creative pivot was the band’s decision to spend eight weeks recording at Roy Orbison’s house at Old Hickory Lake just outside of Nashville. What started out as Elmquist rhetorically asking, “Wouldn’t it be nice to write a whole album of love songs?” following the completion of 2020’s Half Moon Light turned into a bonding experience Williams felt made the already-close outfit even tighter as friends.
“I’m so thankful that we took a chance and did it ourselves this time,” Williams said. “Brian was definitely behind the wheel in production. He had the vision of the vibe and instrumentation. Kanene worked on the vocals a lot more than she’s ever been able to and had a lot of fun with that. Just using our actual bassist [Jason Pipkin] and drummer [Julian Dorio]—it was just really inspiring and a great time.”
Elmquist was equally effusive about the experience.
“We just had band camp at Roy Orbison’s house, which is a crazy thing to say out loud,” he said. “I was so proud of how everybody came and really gave everything they had. It was a special thing to be a part of. We’re 10 years into this. It’s like trying to create space to be inspired and have fun. You’ve got to find ways to work with your friends. I was really just happy that we’re still finding ways to be inspired as a group.”
Because the music industry love labels, you’ll find The Lone Bellow filed under Americana thanks to a sound that draws from country, blues, rock and roll, gospel and folk. But for Williams, his group defies categorization (“We’re totally genre-less because we love reinventing what we do”) while Elmquist is less concerned about what to call what his band does and more about “…trying to tell a common person’s story and lend them our pen.” To that end, the Georgia natives are more than happy to share which artists and bands serve as an inspiration for what they do in The Lone Bellow.
(Photo courtesy of Big Hassle)
My Morning Jacket (1998 to the present)
Zach Williams: “For me, My Morning Jacket was a huge influence, especially when they did the Monsters of Folk project. There was something really cool about seeing all those dudes collaborate and do that. It was a big thing for me. I love Jim James’ stage presence and his sense of hospitality in the room. He just has a very tender spirit and you can sense it coming off the stage. That’s a really hard thing to project decades in.”
(Photo by Larry Philpot/CC BY 2.0)
Willie Nelson (April 29, 1933 to the present)
Brian Elmquist: “Willie creates [songs using] the common man’s language. That’s basically what I like to listen to. It doesn’t matter if it’s rock, rap or country. People that don’t have much and they sing about it. That’s where music comes from anyway. All the music from the South is from poor people’s front porches basically.”
(Photo by Craig O’Neal/CC BY 2.0)
George Strait (May 18, 1952 to the present)
Brian Elmquist: “I think he was one of the last practitioners of the big Nashville sound like before Garth Brooks. He was that last hurrah. The chord progressions—he’s written very quirky country songs and it’s really interesting. If you go back and listen to him now, you realize that he took a lot of chances even though it’s in that format. And I respect that in any level of music.”
The Lone Bellow will be appearing on November 13 at Webster Hall, 125 East 11th St., NYC. Visit www.websterhall.com or call 212-260-4700 for more information.
