by hapago

At the beginning of the year I went on vacation with Roan and found myself at the WHISTLE STOP in the best place on the planet: San Diego, California. As I sat there talking to a couple from Philly, “My Stove’s On Fire” by the legend ROBERT LESTER FOLSOM came on. Whatta track! I had seen he was playing some shows out west in April and I decided to sneakily slide into his DMs about playing a show in Nashville. Lo and behold, he’s at the BLUE ROOM on June 7th. Still in awe that I’m gonna be able to see the guy who wrote “EASE MY MIND,” “SEE YOU LATER, I’M GONE,” and “SUNSHINE ONLY SOMETIMES”. Huge shoutout to Megan and the TMR team for making it happen! He’s supported by SUN CHILD and hometown hero DILLON WATSON. Cop your tickets for the show RIGHT HERE !

Here’s an interview I did with RLF over IG a few days ago in preperation of the show next month:

TT: Alright so I’m curious as to what sparked your interest in home-recording/self-recording? Were there other people doing it that you liked?

RLF: Did not know anyone else was doing it. A friend of mine knew someone who had a reel to reel and they let us mess around with it. We discovered that we could record basic tracks and then overdub on them. We loved it and so we went in together and ordered one from sears . Soon after we got the recorder I bought out my friends share so I could use it all the time.

TT: Did you prefer working on your own versus going to a studio?

RLF: There were no studios nearby and we could not afford studio time anyway.

TT: I felt that. You also have more time to experiment if you work on your own and on your own time. When you’re recording a song or an album, do you play the majority of the instruments or do you have other musicians come in?

RLF: On the reel to reel I mostly recorded all parts myself and my friend Hans VanBrackle would join me. We would also let others participate at various times. I would also like to mention that our studios were bedrooms, living rooms, motel rooms, barns and outdoor hog parlours. And the music suite where attended college ! Where(I) attended college

TT: Hahah tell me more about recording in the hog parlors and barns–that sounds like a lot of fun

RLF: The hog parlor was concrete and outdoors, good reverb ! The barn was full of hay bales, good acoustics !

TT: I love it! How was the Way Out West tour? It was your first tour in a while right? Did you have a favorite city that you played?

RLF: It was great and it was my first real tour ever ! Sold out 5 shows and came close on 6 others ! Amazing !!! There was something good to be said about every city ! I would probably live in Santa Barbara and our best all around show may have been The Chapel in San Francisco ! They were all great !!!

TT: The videos I saw looked amazing!! I’m really excited for you to play in Nashville. What did it feel like to have people show up to hear the songs that you had written in those barns and motel rooms however many years ago?

RLF: We look forward to Nashville and it felt good to know that people appreciated my old recordings and wanted to hear me perform them with my band mates. A bit surreal !

TT: I’ll bet! Are you working on any new music right now that we can look forward to?

RLF: Yes and there is new old recordings coming out next year !

TT: What did you do for work while you were recording these songs back then?

RLF: I was in school and I had summer jobs.

TT: And you were living in Georgia at this time right? What are some of your favorite bands and artists that influenced your work then and now?

RLF: I grew up in a small rural town in South Georgia. I live in Jacksonville, Fl. now. The Beatles and The Beach Boys and Bob Dylan were big influences. Now I like bands like Beach House, Wilco and Bon Iver. I’m not sure the bands now influence me but I like them a lot !

TT: Wilco and Beach House are great. Also, Jacksonville! Are you a football fan at all? How’d you feel about the Jags drafting Travis Hunter?

RLF: I’m a Georgia Bulldog fan and absolutely a Jaguars fan !!! I will have to see how the draft pick plays out. He sounds like a good pick but so have others in the past. I am also an Atlanta Braves fan.

TT: I hope he works out for yall, we’re hoping for the same up here in Nashville with our new QB haha. Well thanks for talking, I’m real excited to see you and Sun Child in June! It’s gonna be a great time!

RLF: Thank you and I enjoyed the interview ! See you in June !!!  RLF