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Alt-Nation: 12 Step Recovery Process for Coping with the Demise of Summer

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Alt-Nation: 12 Step Recovery Process for Coping with the Demise of Summer Alt-Nation: 12 Step Recovery Process for Coping with the Demise of Summer Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons – You’ve Got The Wrong Man (album release) It’s been nearly four years since the last Joe Fletcher release, White Lighter. In that time, Fletcher’s life has changed drastically. He quit his day job as a teacher to become a full-time musician, toured the country extensively, recently had his music featured on the HBO show “True Blood,” and moved to Nashville. How these changes affected his art is always difficult to quantify, but Fletcher’s new release You’ve Got The Wrong Man is more of a stripped-down folk record compared to his previous two. Recorded on a mobile unit over a period of months in Rhode Island, Georgia and Tennessee, most of the recordings consist of just Fletcher on acoustic guitar, which lends itself to a rawness that is both haunting and intimate. You’ve Got The Wrong Man kicks off with “Florence, Alabama” that comes across as an early Dylan-style tune. Whether it’s the upbeat folk on a tune like “Oceanside Motel,” the scraped to the bone rawness of “The Promise,” or the sea shanty blues of “I Promise (Reprise),” You’ve Got The Wrong Man is a collection of tunes about different characters at the crossroads of America. Echoes of Leadbelly, Hank Williams, acoustic Bruce Springsteen, and Woody Guthrie reverberate throughout. My favorite tune on the record is Fletcher’s cover of Toy Soldier’s “Heart in a Mousetrap” that he undresses to make it his own. From folk to outlaw country to blues, with You’ve Got The Wrong Man, Fletcher has succeeded in crafting a love letter to history of the roots of American music. I had the chance to talk to Joe Fletcher while he was playing a music festival in a remote area of Pennsylvania where he had to stand still in one spot to get any reception on his cell phone. We talked about the creation of You’ve Got The Wrong Man, life on the road and his thoughts on what is happening in music. Marc Clarkin: Was the style of a stripped-down folk record something you’ve always wanted to do? Joe Fletcher: At least for the last year or so. I really like records that are recorded that way. I play a lot of solo shows and those are equally as popular as the full band shows. I wanted to get those people something they could listen to like a record. I felt like these songs, once I started demoing, them sat fine on their own. The only other people who play on them are a drummer who plays on two tracks. We just wanted drums for those sing- along songs. I just threw a party to get the sing-along songs down. The only other people are on it are Dan Blakeslee and Danny Roman, who happened to be staying at my house when I recorded that song so I put them to work. MC: What were some of the artists, records or shows you’ve attended that have left the biggest impressions on you? JF: As far as rock ‘n’ roll band, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds has been my favorite live band for at least the last 10 years. They just encompass everything I like to see in a rock ‘n’ roll show. As far as solo acoustic kind of people, I’m obviously a big Bob Dylan fan. I’ve been to, like, 28 Bob Dylan shows. I’m a big Leonard Cohen fan and seeing him a few times in the last few years has been inspirational. There are so many of my friends, like Willy Mason, who is one of my favorite solo acoustic, man with a guitar. My friend Christopher Paul Spelling has been endless inspiration as far as a solo acoustic show when it comes to bringing energy and not just being a guy with a guitar pouring his heart out. I like people who are engaging. That is certainly what I strive for rather than some guy sitting on a stool. I like for there to still be some kind of show. MC: Over the years you’ve played in all kinds of bands from punk rock, rockabilly, to Americana. Does it seem weird to you when you see a young kid in their 20s gravitating to the Americana? JF: I don’t think so. I started playing in bands at a time that I was really into garage rock records. So that’s what my first bands sounded like. I was like 20 when I became part of my first band, Sinner’s Club. Garage rock was just what we all listened to and brought us together so that was the type of music we did. If I were to have started a band earlier, say when I was 16, it would have sounded like REM, U2 and maybe some Guns N’ Roses. It’s all what you’re listening to. I don’t think it has any bearing on age or where you live, which is another popular question. The why do you play this type of music if you are living in Rhode Island? It’s like what am I supposed to sound like, Aerosmith or Boston? What is my music heritage? It’s what you listen to and what you like that ends up influencing what you play no matter where you live or how old you are. When I see bands like Smith &Weeden from Providence, and we fit on a bill very well together, I think they are listening to cool shit a lot sooner that I was! I still love the garage rock that I loved when I was 21, but I don’t really seek out new bands in that genre anymore. I’m sure there are some great ones, but it’s not where I’m at musically. MC: Do you have any favorite or most sentimental track off the new record or anywhere in your catalog? JF: The most sentimental to me is “Every Heartbroken Man” off White Lighter. I play that at about 98 percent of the shows I play. Even if the room doesn’t need a slow song, I will force that one down their throats. It’s something about the way that song came together. Whether it’s the recorded version or playing it live, solo or with a band, I usually get at least one person afterward who will come up to me and ask about it. As far as the new record, I’m really glad the Brown Bird song (“Mabel Gray”) is on there. It’s important for people to know that it was recorded before Dave Lamb got sick. I had recorded that in February when he was very much on the mend. He was the first person to hear it other than the people who were there. He didn’t know I was recording it. I was recording it initially for a Brown Bird tribute album and asked his permission to put it on my record and he said, “Absolutely.” It’s a tribute to Dave. As far as a song I wrote, there is one called “The Wilsons” that I’m really proud of. I saw a headline on a newspaper in The New York Daily News while in line in a 7-11 about a house in Long Island exploding and meant check out the article. Then I got halfway down the street and realized I forgot to check it out and read why the house exploded. I decided to write my own song about why the house exploded. It starts with the line we don’t know why the house exploded because I didn’t know why the house exploded. I wrote the song to fill in the blanks. Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons and TJ Kelly (from The Silks) will play the Columbus Theatre on September 5. The Dictators NYC The Dictators NYC is essentially the legendary punk rock band The Dictators minus songwriter/bassist Andy Shernoff hence the NYC slapped on at the end. It’s been a long time since Dictators have come to Rhode Island to play their classics like “The Next Big Thing,” “Baby Let’s Twist” and “I Live For Cars and Girls.” For the 40-plus-year-old punk rockers, attendance at this show is what separates the ballers and got no game so I’m sitting at home complaining that I’m lame. Get up off the couch! The Dictators NYC, Neutral Nation, and We Own Land bring the punk rock to The Met Café on September 6. Rosie Flores Often described as raucous and rebellious, Rosie Flores is one of the most entertaining female singers and guitarist in town. From her beginnings in the late ’70s with the rockabilly band Screamin’ Sirens, Flores has crafted a pioneering career in the roots underground. Flores is touring behind a new album called Working Girl’s Guitar that shows she’s still shredding as good as ever! Rosie Flores will rock the Knickerbocker in Westerly on September 10th. Thee Fabulous Itchies 20 Year Anniversary Party It doesn’t seem like it’s possible that it has been 20 years since the Itchies started, but the calendar says otherwise. Regardless, let’s party! Come catch the elder statesmen of go-go, garage rockin’, soul thumpin’, rump shakin’ rock ‘n’ roll when the Itchies celebrate turning 20! Thee Fabulous Itchies 20th Anniversary Party will go down at Dusk in Providence on September 19.
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