Honesty

“You would think at this point I’d have learned to keep [certain things] to myself, but damn if I’m not terribly prone to projecting my internal monologue upon the world around me.”
“I think that just means you’re honest.”

“I hope that’s what it means.”

Jayber Crow takes Midwestern folk to the Pacific Northwest

When the musical duo that is Jayber Crow stepped onstage on the third day of their eleven day Pacific Northwest tour, their modern Midwestern folk music reminded me, for some reason, of the fable about the grasshopper and the ant. I didn’t expect either of the men to rub their legs together to create beautiful music, but the tunes they create do have an organic flavor, as well as hearkening back to a simpler time of jug bands playing on porches. But in a good way.

Pete Nelson and Zach Hawkins in the Empyrean coffee house.

The joy they express when performing is evidence of an appreciation for hard work as well as living with a kind of  carefree innocence that is sometimes absent in the music of the more tonally serious bands some listeners might liken them to.

Jayber Crow’s music is simple in the best way. As a two man band, what they lack in band mates, they make up for in enthusiasm. During their July 11th show at the Empyrean, the duo performed without amplification out of dedication to, “only playing music as loud as we can make it.” Jayber Crow commands the attention of a crowd with the music itself, rather than its volume.

Zach Hawkins, vocalist and guitar player for the band, is comparable to Collin Meloy of The Decembrists fame, but the lyrics he writes are much less violent, more driven by coming out of youth and the natural world around them. Pete Nelson, sitting alongside Zach, plucked his mandolin with enough accuracy and ferocity to fill the front room of the coffee shop while occasionally chiming in with support vocals and harmonica. The two say they have found a home in the guitar-mandolin pairing and that they don’t try to emulate any other musicians. After their Spokane show, I convinced them to talk with me.

Zach: I feel like people often compare us to the Decemberists, but we honestly had never heard of them when we started making music. People sometimes compare us to Bright Eyes, which is a little more Midwestern.

We like to talk (But introductions are still awkward).

Even better, I like to listen. Welcome to the endless conversation.

Throughout my awkward teenage years I wrestled with social anxiety, was uncomfortable approaching people and being addressed by people. As an organizer for the youth group at my parents’ church, I had to psyche myself up before making phone calls to group members, notifying them of events. I did not attend my first house party until my freshman year of college. However, this petrifying fear of people inhibited my curiosity.

Luckily, like some very bad haircuts, I have outgrown my social anxiety and grown into my own curious shoes. I have gotten into the habit of approaching people I meet in unexpected places. I like to ask questions. I like it even better when people give me answers.

These are the moleskin and tape-recorder interviews. This is what we talk(ed) about.