The cover of The Local Voice #76 newspaper, March 19-April 2, 2009, featuring Jeff Callaway. Photograph and artwork by Newt Rayburn.
Order Jeff’s new CD now and you get a FREE bonus CD featuring his collaborations with other local legends including The Neckbones, Kudzu Kings, and more.
Due to his increasingly reclusive nature, Jeff Callaway (sometimes still referred to as “Jazzy Jeff,” or JJC) was extremely difficult to track down for an interview, but our crack staff here at TLV would not be denied. We secretly obtained a sample of Mr. Callaway’s DNA (don’t ask how!), cloned another version of our favorite hermit, and sent him deep into the Lafayette County countryside to find JJC’s secret compound/studio for this exclusive TLV interview. Yes, we’re that resourceful. Photographs by Newt Rayburn.
So what’s all this about a free CD?
I’m finishing up my first solo album called By Landlord’s Request. When the CD is finally released in stores, Amazon, iTunes, etc, it will be just one disc, probably priced between $13 and $15, but everyone who pre-orders the album will get a free promotional second disc featuring cuts of me playing with bands like The Kudzu Kings, Blue Mountain, The Neckbones, Taylor Grocery Band, The Sincere Ramblers, Billy Perry’s Enigma Jazz Project, Prohibition Jazz Band, some ‘30s style Big Band, some Marching Band stuff recorded at Ole Miss back in the early ‘80s, just a pretty insane variety of music. Right now, the second disc has seventeen cuts on it, over seventy minutes of music, so it’s quite the bargain, as well as a kind of documentation of the Oxford music scene of the past few decades. But the point I’m trying to get across to everybody is that the only way to get this second disc is to pre-order the CD. And I’m offering both discs right now for only $10, plus shipping and handling, available at www.bylandlordsrequest.com.
And John Hiatt? You did appear on Master of Disaster, right? How did you end up playing on a John Hiatt album anyway?
My buddy Jim Spake from Memphis recommended me to the album’s producer Jim Dickinson for the job. I had played with him on another friend’s album (KC Ray’s Down The River) that was recently featured by Chef Jeff during his appearance on The Today Show. That song will be on the CD too.
What was it like working with someone the caliber of John Hiatt?
I stayed as far away from him as possible. I caught this twelve-hour bug the night before the session, throwing up every hour on the hour from midnight to noon, then had to be at Ardent Studios in Memphis at three that afternoon, so I showed up looking like Death, played as best as I could, and kept my distance. I wanted to be remembered as “that trombone guy who was sick as Hell and still kicked ass” as opposed to “that schmuck who gave John Hiatt the flu.” It worked out OK, as the horn section sound he wanted was described to us as “a drunken Salvation Army band in the next room,” and I can do drunken Salvation Army trombone in my sleep, even with stomach cramps.
So what kind of music will we hear on the CD?
An extremely wide variety. The first CD will be split between original jazz tunes I wrote and recorded with The Mo’tet back in the ‘90s that never got released and more singer/songwriter/guitar type songs ranging in style from pop to country.
When did you start playing guitar?
My Dad gave me one for Christmas just before he passed away after hearing me make an off-handed comment about how it would be cool to learn how to play guitar one day. It was one of the most thoughtful, considerate things he ever did for me. I’m pretty sure I would have never bought one for myself. It just seemed, I don’t know, kind of unwieldy? I still have a hard time with it compared to trombone, meaning I have to work a lot harder at it, but I enjoy the difference. It’s also sort of ignited an interest in traditional American songwriting that wasn’t there before, I’ve got a ton of songs I’d have never written if I hadn’t learned the instrument. And besides, catching a polite buzz and beating on a guitar for hours on end is much cheaper and more enjoyable than therapy.
Who are the singer/songwriters you’re into?
Well first of all, anyone who’s really good at it inspires me. People like Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Paul Simon, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr, and Mississippi’s own Jimmy Rodgers are all shining examples to emulate, and I recently bought Theresa Andersson’s latest album [Hummingbird, Go!] when she last played Two Stick, and I’m completely knocked out not only by her excellent songwriting, but also her overwhelming performance skills. She’s awesome, and I’m Facebook friends with her, too.
Ah, so you Facebook? Any other notable friends?
Most of my Facebook “friends” are people I do actually know or play with, musicians from Jackson, Oxford, Memphis, etc, with a few notable exceptions like my favorite Superman writer of all time Elliot S! Maggin, Grammy-winning Jazz singer (and Jackson native) Cassandra Wilson and Delfayo Marsallis. I’m also friends with John Hodgman (who I met at a Thacker Show at The Lyric when I played with Dent May), but I got a note from him the other day saying his Facebook days were over, I think he’s moving on to Twitter or something. Bye John.
You mentioned Dent May. You’re on his new CD, playing both trombone and trumpet, is that hard to do?
In this case, it was pretty effortless. Dent knew exactly what he wanted, and I just copied what he sang. We knocked out four songs with lots of multiple parts in around four hours. I’ve never gotten that much done in a studio (well, technically a trailer in Taylor) that quickly or efficiently, it was great. That kid’s a pretty amazing musician, if you ask me. I just hope I get to tag along if he ever plays Conan or the Tonight Show or some cool gig like that.
What was John Hodgman like?
Super-cool dude, very smart, he’s lucky I didn’t talk his ear off when he mentioned somebody asked him to work on a new Dune screenplay, as I’m a frustrated screenwriter myself.
Dude, you re-wrote a Star Wars script?
Revenge of the Jedi: The Red Letter Edition, yep, that’s an example of what they call script-doctoring, where you leave big parts alone and only change what doesn’t work, so in my version, Ewoks are actually cool, Han Solo gets his balls back, Leia can use the Force, and Boba Fett not only doesn’t die with a crappy burp joke, he shows up and the end of the movie and blows up the Millennium Falcon.
And you did this why?
Because I feel very strongly that one shouldn’t criticize something unless you’ve got a better idea. That, and a comic artist friend bet me I couldn’t do it. I won the bet.
Let’s get back to By Landlord’s Request. When will the CD be ready?
Soon; I was hoping for an April 1 release, but I’m not sure it’ll be ready by then. It’s already been delayed several months due to some injuries that occurred during my forced relocation last summer that kept me from playing guitar for a while. But to paraphrase Slim Pickens from one of my favorite movies, Dr. Strangelove: “I’m gonna finish this album if it hare-lips everybody on Bear Creek!”
Do you get nervous during performances?
Never on trombone. I guess I’ve done it for so many years, I don’t even think about it. But the first time I played guitar on Thacker Mountain Radio was a different story. From the waist up, I was fine, but my legs were twitching like I was having a seizure, and about half-way though some part of my brain started screaming “What the Hell are you doing up here? Get back on the back row with your trombone where you belong!” Fortunately, I play guitar sitting down, so it wasn’t as noticeable as it might have been, and nobody except the people on the first two rows could really tell, and they all seemed to like it.
You seem to show up on Thacker Mountain Radio semi frequently, are you a part of the band or what?
I really like playing on Thacker, and those guys (The Yalobushwackers) are all good friends I enjoy playing with. I’m not a regular, but I guess I’ve got a kind of open invitation. Also, they may not realize it, but Thacker sometimes serves as my own personal, secret Science Fair laboratory for me to do some stuff for the first time. The first time I ever sang in public was on Thacker (when I did “I Wanna Be Like You”) and also the first time I played trumpet in public and sang (when we did “The Bear Necessities”), both songs from The Jungle Book. I somehow think it’s appropriate that someone with my . . . burliness, shall we say, should perform songs previously sung by gorillas and bears.
Actually, King Louie was an orangutan.
Don’t be a smart-ass.
In closing, what are your ultimate goals for the album?
Oh, you know, the same as everyone, multi-platinum sales, multiple Grammy nominations, international acclaim, that sort of thing.
You like to dream big, don’t you?
You have no idea.
This interview is from The Local Voice #76, March 19-April 2, 2009. Access the digital edition PDF here.
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