The cover of The Local Voice #180 newspaper, May 16-30, 2013, featuring Jeff Callaway. Photograph and artwork by Newt Rayburn.
Jeff Callaway has been a fixture on the Oxford music scene for more than two decades. But until recently, he’s mostly been known as a sideman. He’s the guy who is always sitting in with the Kudzu Kings on trombone, the go-to guy when anybody needs a horn flourish on an album or a special appearance in concert. He’s played with a number of short-lived jazz groups around town, and spanned genres by playing with everyone from The Neckbones to Dent May. But always as an accompanist.
Now that’s changing. His long-awaited debut solo release, By Landlord’s Request, is due out this summer. And he recently made his debut as a guitarist, vocalist, and bandleader with a series of performances entitled “Is Jeff Callaway Wasting His Life?”—a series that will culminate with its final performance at Proud Larry’s on May 17, 2013.
The show features Callaway on guitar and vocals, entrenched in the previously unfamiliar role as singer and songwriter—the show consists mostly of original tunes by Callaway, interspersed with a wide assortment of cover songs that range from “Bare Necessities” from The Jungle Book to Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome.” But the songs are not haphazardly chosen. Along with his originals, the covers are thematically linked to tell a story—one of the travails of a working musician and the struggles, doubt, and hard work that go into a life on stage and in the studio.
“The people that have come and stayed and listened have picked up on the thread,” says Callaway of the previous two performances. “It’s not just a bunch of songs. The whole show is a thread, a story, a collection of ideas as far as why we do this.”
One of the songs included is “Brian’s Song,” by long-time collaborators Kudzu Kings. The song’s lament of “crap on the radio” and contemplating giving up the musician’s life to sell insurance is indicative of the tone of the show.
The band for “Is Jeff Callaway Wasting His Life?” features Callaway on guitar and vocals (he plays trombone on just one song, cornet on just one more), plus Nick Spiller on guitar, ukulele, lap steel, and other stringed instruments, Jason Ball on bass guitar, and Ricky Burkhead on percussion. Vocal harmonies are also a hallmark of the group. The band will continue after the last performance of “Is Jeff Callaway Wasting His Life?” and a new band name will be announced at the Larry’s show.
Though Callaway is just now making his singer/songwriter debut, he’s been honing his songwriting chops over the past several years.
“Larry Brown had the seven-year thing,” says Callaway. “How long do you have to do a thing before you actually get to the point where you master it at an artistic level? I was already at a point on trombone where I knew I wasn’t on vocal and guitar. It took me longer than [seven years] to get it with guitar. It took me ten years to just not run people out of the room with my shitty guitar playing. But I’ve been writing songs since I moved back from Chicago in ‘92.”
There’s more than a tint of satire in the show, too. Songs by South Park creator Trey Parker feature prominently, including tunes from Team America and Parker’s lesser-known debut film Orgazmo.
“I think he is the great American songwriter of the 21st century,” says Callaway. “When you do that stuff you have to perform it straight. Just like you’re singing a Willie Nelson song. You’ve got to sell it and let the audience laugh. That’s been working in the show so far.”
As for By Landlord’s Request, the CD release has been a long time in the making. Two years ago, he released the first single from the forthcoming collection, a song called “Plastic People” which is available on iTunes and his website (jeffcallaway.net), and was featured on the late night radio show, Coast to Coast AM.
Songs from the stage show will be included on the album, which will also be released on vinyl. But it will also include tracks from Callaway’s late 1990s band, The Mo’tet. A bonus disc will provide a virtual history lesson of the past 20 years of Oxford music, as it will feature selections from Callaway’s guest appearances with other bands and his own side projects. That disc will include previously released and rare recordings by acts including Kudzu Kings, Sincere Ramblers, Enigma Jazz Project, Prohibition Jazz Band, The Neckbones, The Supernatural, and Afrissippi, among others. The bonus disc will be available only with the purchase of a physical CD or vinyl, though the album will also be available as a download release.
Following the Larrys’ show, the band will play the Summer Sunset Series in The Grove on June 16. Though the show will not be exactly the same, the spirit will live on in the new group. Callaway says he’ll add a few more satirical tunes, like songs from the folk satire A Mighty Wind and the country farce Walk Hard.
“We’re adapting to add a few more upbeat tunes too,” says Callaway. “Like a cover of ‘Down in Mississippi.’ And I have a version of ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ that I’ve sort of rewritten to be more biting.”
Article by Tom Speed. Photographs by Newt Rayburn.
This article is from The Local Voice #180, May 19–30, 2013. Access the digital edition PDF here.
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