Featured Act For March: Dustin Welch On Community, Music And The Tango In His Future

I'm pretty new to the Austin scene - the real scene, that is, not the mayhem we'll witness this week at SXSW.  So I was lucky to find myself at the Continental Club last November and by chance got to see a live show by Dustin Welch and his band. Man, he puts on a great show for a kid so young.

Since then, everyone I meet in the city mentions his name and what a great performer he is.  And they're all excited to hear his debut album, Whisky Priest, which is just about emerging. I reckoned that I should get a jump on Rolling Stone, and interview him right away ...


Photo by Ed Verosky

Indie Sounds: So how did Dustin Welch get his start in life and music?

Dustin Welch: I was born in an old plantation house in Franklin, TN outside of Nashville a couple years after my folks moved to town. My dad had been playing guitar in various bands around Oklahoma for years, and the same month my momma graduated from Oklahoma Uni, they got married and moved to Nashville.

Over the next few years, my dad (Kevin Welch) worked as a writer for the publishing company, Tree International. He soon established himself among the best in town along with a handful of others who, like him, went on to have careers of their own. His first record was released when I was about nine, and by then I was already picking up any instrument I could get my hands on, learning as many songs as possible. Where my dad used to read to me every night, now he had to show me a new tune of some kind. I'd work on it all the next day, and usually had it down by dinner, as long as I didn't spend all day watching CMT.

IS: When did you begin performing seriously?

Dustin: When I was about twelve, I got to know this girl who lived down the street from us named Cary Ann Hearst. I used to ride my bike or roller skate around the neighborhood and see her sitting out on the porch playing her gut string guitar. We had met once before peeking over the fence at each other while our folks were talking a couple years back, but my buddy Travis Nicholson finally took me over one day, 'cause another friend of ours down the street had told us that Cary had a big crush on him. She was in the backyard painting a doghouse, and took us inside so she could sing us a couple of songs she had written.

She was not much older, but had this voice you wouldn't ever forget after you'd heard it, and wrote with this natural born touch far beyond anything I still know how to compare it to. Man, from there on out I couldn't think about anything else. We put together a hippy band with other folks from the neighborhood, that we called the Groundlings, and would mainly play this pizza joint every month to all our high school buddies. She eventually moved to Charleston, SC, where she's currently kickin' ass all over the southeast coast on a regular basis.

After that, I kept playing and writing whatever I could and studying all the cool old bluegrass, blues, and folk music at my disposal, digging deeper and deeper. I went to work at the Bluebird Cafe, which is regarded as the most revered songwriters club, basically in the world. There, I was completely immersed in a world of writers. I learned a great deal, and figured out what worked and, especially, what didn't.

When I was about nineteen, there was this one night I was playing a coffee shop with a guy I worked in the kitchen with at the Bluebird, and Justin Townes Earle was in the audience. He got up and played a couple songs, and afterward we went back to a friend's place and played all night long. He knew some Mance Lipscomb, and I knew some Bukka White, and we both knew a bunch of Mississippi John Hurt. We also knew everything there was to know about Guy Clark, David Olney, Billy Joe Shaver, Tom House, Mark Germino, and anyone else brave enough to be listed among them. Ours fathers had been friends, but we had never met until that night, and felt ourselves to have some sort of parallel lives. I learned pretty quick, though, how crazy his upbringing had been.

I had already been playing banjo in this old timey band mostly up in Murfreesboro, where everyone else but me was going to college, along with my buddy, Travis, who I was talking about before, and our friend Cory Younts, who had been the drummer for the Groundlings, now playing mandolin and all of a sudden singing really deadly harmony. We called it the Swindlers, and did our best to live up to the name. Justin came in, and we added various other folks as time went on. Justin had already written a whole slew of songs he still does to this day, and we ended up eventually turning the band into his own, developing a unique blend of every form of American music that occurred in the past century.

IS: Then you went on tour ...

Dustin: When I was 26, I was playing slide guitar and banjo in the house band at the opening of the Townes Van Zandt documentary Be Here To Love Me, at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. The drummer, Ken Coomer, had recently been contacted by some friends in Los Angeles who managed a punk band called Scotch Greens, who were looking for a utility man. I had never really played anything like this before, mind you, but got in touch with these guys, and the next thing I knew I was in California rehearsing with them.

A week later we drove, in one leg, straight to Madison, WI, opening for Flogging Molly and did this almost every night for the next month, all over the country. I got back to LA, and within a week we were in Europe for another month opening for Reverend Horton Heat. After all this, I finally came back to Nashville and was a changed musician. We went out on the Warped Tour that summer, and crossed the country and back again, sleeping in the van and driving all night most of the time. We all decided there had to be a better way to make a living.


Photo by Rhonda

IS: When did you move to Austin?

Dustin: I got back to Nashville again, but didn't have anywhere to live anymore, and had lost interest in what the city had to offer me. I bummed around for a couple months, but became aware I needed to take myself out to Austin. We had been coming here for years, and one of my sisters had already moved out a couple of years back, so it seemed the natural thing to do.

I packed a few things and drove her back after Christmas. We pulled in New Year's Eve of '06/'07 and didn't go back to Nashville until we went to visit again for Christmas the next year. Within a few days of being in town, I was running sound at a local club downtown, called Momo's, and by the end of the week I was offered a weekly spot there, playing these original songs I had accumulated over the years.

IS: Tell us about your current band?

Dustin: After a couple months of this, I decided I might as well put together a band of my own, so I asked one of the bartenders to play rhythm guitar. His name was Drew Smith and he happened to have a badass band of his own, which I in turn began to play with.

There was another sound guy who was a bass player, Joe Beckham, and his girlfriend, Trisha Keefer, who was a violinist, so they got on board. Finally, a door guy named Joe Humel, who had just moved from New York, became our drummer. We called it the House Band because we were all employees.

My sister, Savannah, began singing with us, and a former boyfriend of hers, Kyle Ellison, began playing electric guitar. Kyle and I had spent a month together in his studio, back before my punk rock days, and he really had pushed my sonic boundaries further than my previous comfort zone had allowed. At that point, he had worked with guys like the Meat Puppets and Gibby Haynes, from the Butthole Surfers, and we worked on some stuff that gave me my first taste of the sound I was after. So, we kept the weekly gig, and I kept throwing more songs at them, and before we knew it, we had something special. Somewhere in there I became a front man for the first time in my life.

IS: And now what about the debut album, Whisky Priest?

Dustin: Among the new friends and regulars at our weekly performances was local producer, Mark Addison. Beginning that summer, whenever he had an open day in his studio, he'd have us come out and work on making a record. I'd had songs cut by other artists and bands, and played on numerous other albums of friends, but I'd never had my own record. Over the course of the next year, whenever it worked out, we'd go in and add to the batch.

I've always believed in the power of community, of working with your friends, of making a record in the sense of recording the event of time as it happens. We have this wonderful family of bands rotating around the same circle of places we work and are inspired by, so I wanted to involve as many of those folks as possible. Suzanna Choffel and Jeremy Nail play the female and male roles on a song called Empty Parking Lots, while I play the narrator. Drew, Jeremy Nail, Kacy Crowley, Dan Dyer and Micky Braun sang harmonies, and a whole slew of folks came out for gang vocal sessions.


Photo by John Grubbs/Rockslide Photography

We also had Bukka Allen on accordian and Brian Standefer on cello play on a track titled Two Horses. They have a studio of their own and among other things do a good amount of soundtrack work, which has really been the primary motivation of mine. I've tried to make a cinematic record that sounds as if it could have been a soundtrack, not necessarily to a film, but to how I identify with the world.

IS: So what's the plan to get the album out there?

Dustin: In the whole process of making this record it never crossed my mind what we would do once we actually had it made. I literally borrowed the money from my mom to get them printed up, and as of yet no one in the band, or from the studio, has been paid anything for their work. We're talking as grass roots as it comes. But, there's nothing that'll light a fire under your ass more than being in debt. I'm just trying to stand up strong and make it up as I go. This is such an interesting time to do something like this. There's no other market it can be compared with, and no specific model to follow.

Luckily, Austin is a hotbed of independent thought, and there's a fairly strong infrastructure in place to channel creative content through the right conduits. There are local independent record stores, radio stations, and press that will respond to anyone doing good work. The support system here is amazing, even in terms of city organizations providing things like affordable health care and housing,

Nationally, I have to narrow my focus to the right markets, because in order to tour, our expenses have to make sense. Then again, once you release an album this way, you never know where it'll end up. We could have a smash hit in Skogee, IL, and Chicago wouldn't even know we were there. But, I don't intend on touring Texas year round, like many successful bands can do. And let me be clear, if I thought I could get away with it, I would, and probably live a wonderful life. There is a sound associated with that sort of music, and a culture wrapped around it, and for some reason, I have always tried not to limit my identity and be consumed by my surroundings. I have no idea what my third album will sound like, and if I'm inspired to learn Spanish and make a tango record, I can always still do that.

IS: Where are you playing out live at SXSW, and more generally?

Dustin: Locking everything down for SXSW. Honestly, the festival can sometimes be more hassle than it's worth for local artists. Over the years it has become such an outside event, where the high-profile acts almost take away from the hometown flavor that made the thing so popular to begin with. However, it's a great opportunity for younger bands and industry folks alike to get a sense of the current market.

We'll be playing some, but not as much as in the years past, if I can help it. I'd rather enjoy seeing some of these wild bands that come halfway around world to be here. Got a bunch of band dates in town next month; our CD release at the Continental, and a few nights with the ArcAngels up there as well.

Me and the old man are gonna start doing a weekly gig down at the historic Gruene Hall, raising funds to fix up my grandad's old '66 Checker Marathon wagon. This thing has been in the shop a good 80% of the time since it was passed on to me seven years ago, and it's time we finally resurrect the 'Mighty Check' and put the finishing touches on it. More than anything, it'll give us a good excuse to do some pickin' together, which doesn't happen as often as we'd like these days.

IS: Apart from your band, are you involved in any other projects?

Dustin: I have always enjoyed the song swap, writer in the round, performance style. I've taken the experience of working with my dad in this way to take the chance and play with my buddies at certain listening room type venues. Primarily, Drew Smith and I will do this, because we both have worked in each others bands, but Jeremy Nail and I will get the chance once in a while, which is great because we try to write together quite a bit. It's a good chance to try the new material out before we pitch it to our respective bands.


Drew and Dustin.  Photo by Rhonda

Otherwise, I'll also do this same thing with guys like Micky Braun, George Devore, and Sean Faires and Jonny Burke from the DedRingers. I usually bill these shows calling ourselves The Ruthless Gondoliers, after a villain from an old movie I saw who wasn't really that bad of a guy.

IS: What Austin/local acts do you like to go see live, and where?

Dustin: I spoke of the community of artists around here in Austin. There's several younger bands doing really good work in a variety of arenas and styles. Among the many, those that come to mind are: Drew Smith, Jeremy Nail, Nathan Singleton, Suzanna Choffel, Micky and the Motorcars, Warren Hood, T-Bird and the Breaks, Goldcure and the Bellville Outfit. I am also fortunate enough to share a bill on occasion with the older, more established, folks such as: James McMurtry, Jon Dee Graham, Alejandro Escovado and Ray Wylie Hubbard. My favorite local act, however, is a fella named Sam Baker, who is flat out, by god, hands down, one of the most astonishing songwriters on the planet.

IS: Final question ... what's next?

Dustin: What's next? Hmmm ... Honestly, I can sit around and talk about all these plans in my head to you, but I have a hard time believing I'm even pulling off this much as it is. I am already thinking about the next record, which is about two-thirds written, but hasn't gone into production. And I got a feeling by the end of it, I'll make sure to include at least one tango.

MySpace: dustinwelchmusic