Bobby Long is trying to get a little rest.
"I'm in New York (City), just trying to chill out a little before going to South by Southwest," he says.
That's probably a good idea. Long is scheduled to appear eight times in two days at the Austin, Texas, event before returning for a tour of the eastern United States, immediately followed by a return to Texas and then Australia and Europe. His new album, "A Winter's Tale," and its single "Who Have You Been Loving" - along with some high-profile television appearances - are currently turning him into one of music's most-talked-about new artists.
A native of Southwest England, Long first began gaining notice in London while attending college. He moved to New York in 2010 while working on "A Winter's Tale."
"I love it," says Long. "I think I'm done with England for the time being in terms of living there. I love it and it's home, but New York seems like it's the center of everything - even if it's still cold when it seems like it should be warming up!"
There was already an American feel about Long's style before he moved. Listening to "A Winter's Tale," Long sounds as if he's steeped in American folk, country and early rock 'n' roll and, while singing, his accent could just as easily be identified with the American South as the British Isles.
"I'm into a wide range of music, but with this album, Liam (producer Liam Watson) kind of bonded over the George Joneses and Hank Williamses. It's a very raw record in terms of sound. It was all live. We wanted to record it in the way those guys would've recorded it."
The instruments, the playing styles and the recording equipment were more along the lines of what would've been used to record Ernest Tubb than Madonna.
"I like Woody Guthrie, Townes Van Zant, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, but I like an equal amount of new artists. But because this is my first album, I wanted to make sure it was a live, honest recording and use those older artists as the platform of what we were trying to do."
Lyrically, though, Long says he wasn't writing in the style at all:
"If you really want to close your eyes and listen to it and kind of pick up the extract, if you like country music, I think you'll like it. The drums, the harmonies, the six-string bass, the pedal steel ... it sounds like old-fashioned country music. But if you listen to all the elements, it sounds like two things colliding."
Long writes both songs and poetry, and the poetry seems to come out in his music. Some of the artists he respects most have the same the habits.
"I think I love Leonard Cohen more than I love my cat!" says Long with a chuckle.
He says he works hard at the art and craft of being a writer. Sometimes it's work. Sometimes it's inspiration. And there's no telling how an audience will interpret what he's created.
"You know, if I try to write a song as a joke - 'Well, this song is actually about dogs (peeing) on the lawn.' 'Really?' 'I got married to that song!' "
Long laughs.
He also hopes his own life retains a little bit of mystery. He doesn't so much care if what people write is accurate or not.
"Everything written about me is all right. I don't want to overextend myself and show 100 percent of my true nature to anyone. I think you get boring then. When everyone knew what was in the jungle, the jungle became slightly less special and interesting."
Source: Knoxville via musicbobbylong
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