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The Kernal plays tracks from farewellhello, and talks about “hasta la vista” flowers and playing in his father’s blazing red polyester suit.
The Kernal
Interview Recap
The Kernal talks about why he describes his music as “imaginary country.” He says it’s because the project draws from things from the 50’s and 60’s country scene that don’t exist anymore. He says that he can never be George Jones or Webb Pierce or Porter Wagoner but he draws inspiration from them. He heard a composer Béla Bartók whose music has been described as “imaginary folk music” and the kernel sees similar approaches in his album farewellhello.
The kernel sets up “Mind Control.” He says he lives in a small town between Memphis and Nashville that has succumbed to the control of Big Chains and this song is an imaginary tale of that.
[Calvin plays “Mind Control” by the Kernel from farewellhello.]
The Kernal talks growing up outside of Nashville in a small town called Pinewood “that was mostly cows.” The Kernal’s father played bass at the Grand Old Opry for about 28 years. In addition to playing in the house band, he played for many acts there. The Kernal tells the story of inheriting his father’s stage suit. It’s a blazing red polyester suit which was the rage in the 70’s. The Kernal decided to “let the suit be the inspiration for everything that I was going to do.” Problem is the Kernal is taller than his father was so he hopes the metaphor holds up as well as the suite does.
The Kernal says that the band was kinda shocked when he showed up at a photo shoot wearng the red suit. At first they said “what the hell do you think you’re doing?” but now they follow along with red suspenders and chambray shirts.
The Kernal sets up “Where We’re Standing.” The record is sold in a beer bottle and the idea is you have to break the beer bottle to get to it. That’s the “farewell” part and the “hello” part is the music. This opening track is supposed to be about looking ahead.
[Calvin plays “Where We’re Standing” by The Kernal from farewellhello.]
The Kernal talks about his various band projects and his singing style as “pretend like Waylon Jennings sang like a squirrel.” The Kernal talks about how he admires Kris Krsitofferson’s voice and Billy Joe Shaver’s voice. He always wants to sing lower like those guys.
The Kernal says that no one in the band has extensive backgrounds in country music. The band’s guitar player is into blues and metal. The bass player has more of a jazz background.
The Kernal says they are touring and he has a bunch of songs ready for the next album.
The Kernal sets up “Goodbye Flowers.” He was working in his garden one day working on the hastas and it reminded him of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s line in The Terminator, “Hasta la vista, baby.” That made him imagine flowers you could use to tell a girl good-bye.
[Calvin plays “Goodbye Flowers” by The Kernal, from farewellhello.]
The Kernal talks about how the album version of the song is much slower than when they play out live. They band continues to play the songs live while they are working on the next album.
Rotation 322
music set 1
Man Of The World / Alejandro Escovedo / Big Station / 3:31
Hat’s Off / Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys / Release Your Shrouds / 3:13
Ev’ry Single Day / Davey O. / Testing For Rust / 3:17
Mein Deutsches Motorrad / Corb Lund / Cabin Fever / 2:32
Suspicious Minds / Elvis Presley / I Am An Elvis Fan / 4:23
music set 2
T-Bone Shuffle / Brad Moore / That Old Texas Groove / 3:03
Honest Man / The Deluge / Elephant Graveyard / 4:37
Bottle Rocket / Johnny Pierre / Johnny Pierre – Prayers CD Burn / 2:56
music set 3
Suspicious Minds / Elvis Presley / I Am An Elvis Fan / 4:23
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The Americana Music Show is copyright 2012 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists.
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That Elvis Presley song fits in real nice with the other songs. Why, you could almost imagine him being from the South himself!