The Stringdusters' Jeremy Garrett Talks About The New Solo Album He Recorded In His RV

As a founding member of The Infamous Stringdusters, fiddler Jeremy Garrett has found himself a key component of the fastest rising bluegrass band in recent memory. After criss-crossing the country in a relentless drive to share their music formula for happiness, the Stringdusters’ astounding live performances have earned the band a rabid following. Garrett and his band mates hew close to the traditions and aesthetics established by Bill Monroe and his contemporaries while still finding space in the songs to explore and improvise.

When a bit of time opened up on the band’s touring schedule recently he decided to record the second in his series The RV Sessions, due next month. With a summer filled with packed shows, high profile slots already well under way and their own annual get down The Festy yet to come, it seemed like a good time to catch up with the fiery fiddler and get his perspective on the amazing life he’s living. Fresh home from an incredible experience playing the Lockn’ Festival, our own Rex Thomson caught up with Garrett as he recovered from his long weekend and rested up for the fun still to come before summer’s end. Check out their conversation below.

L4LM: After your band The Infamous Stringdusters received a Grammy nomination, how tempting was it to start introducing yourself as “Grammy nominated artist Jeremy Garrett?”

Jeremy Garrett: Well you know, it is tempting. Anytime you can gain some clout in this industry and you get a chance to step up, well that’s awesome, but I haven’t tried to utilize that too much really. Awards and all that stuff are great. Accolades can be like the pulse of your success, but I think the most important thing is how devoted you are to your artistry. No award is going to change that.

L4LM: Your band is reverent in their adherence to the traditions of bluegrass, with your floating arrangements and continual passing of the lead baton. What is it about the high and lonesome sound that elicits such dedication from you?

JG: It is pretty much interwoven into the fabric of my entire life. I’ve been playing bluegrass since I was really young. I started on the violin when I was three, and my dad was a bluegrass musician so I’ve always been around the Stanley Brothers sound, Bill Monroe all the way down through the different ages of bluegrass. There is just something about the integrity of bluegrass, the purity of the music, in my opinion is higher than most.

What I mean by that is…to play the tradition style of bluegrass you need to have the chops to back it up. In bluegrass music, you have to to hit all the notes, but also be ready to improvise at a moments notice. There are other music forms, like jazz, that are similar. There’s something I really respect in musicians…when I see people playing at the edge of their abilities.

L4LM: So you started at age three. That’s a very early age to decide what you want to do with your life, isn’t it?

JG: Yeah, when you’re three you don’t really know what you want. I was probably…definitely..urged on by my parents. The fiddle I am playing now is actually 102 years old. My dad actually acquired it when he was fifteen years old, but he never played it. He played the guitar. But we always had it around. It ended up being the fiddle that I had…in a way I had it before I was born.

L4LM: That is pretty wild.

JG: Yeah, it was always around. It was just kind of expected that that would be the instrument I gravitated to. This particular fiddle was too big for me back then when I started, I didn’t really start playing it until I was eleven or twelve years old. It just sat in the corner of the house and honestly, I was mesmerized by it. You don’t usually know what you want at that age but things like music, they become part of you, like talking, when you start that young. It’s just an extension of who I am and what I do.

L4LM: You bring up a worry of mine whenever I talk to musicians who tour with invaluable instruments like yours, with all the tales of theft and accidental destruction we’ve seen over the years. Where is the line between wanting to bring your best to a show and protecting a cherished piece of your life?

JG: There’s different arguments on that. Some people will buy a really nice instrument and they won’t want to take it on the road. I tell you though…if I couldn’t take it on the plane with me…and Southwest Air is really good about that, and it’s one that I prefer to go on, I don’t know what I would do. Most of the others have been gracious about letting me bring it on. I’ve had a few problems here and there. I literally won’t get on a plane of they try and make me check it.

I have a really good flight case, it’s like a coffin. I’ve had it for around twenty years now, and the thing is still solid as a brick. It takes really good care of my instrument. The thing has actually been down the Salmon River on a float trip in Idaho in three times now actually. I take care of the instrument, I keep it tuned and oiled.

Mostly, it’s a work tool. It’s my voice. I prefer to have one that is perfect for me, that fits me. The set up and response of the instrument is perfectly suited for me.

L4LM: As I said, it’s just a worry of mine.

JG: You don’t want to sacrifice your musical integrity because your road instrument can’t perform like your studio instrument does. You could probably find another one that can do the job well enough, but nothing is ever going to beat that one. At least for me anyway. I have this instrument I’ve always played…it’s so comfortable.

It’s like my voice, literally another part of my voice. It’s a part of me at this point. It’s very rare that I wouldn’t know where it is at all times. Usually it’s in some secure area onstage or backstage. I just try and be careful. I’ve been absent minded with it a few times but luckily it’s managed to stay out of harms way.

L4LM: Nikki Bluhm has made a regular habit out of joining you guys for shows. Are you looking to draft her into the band full time?
JG: She’s already just about an honorary member. We plan to be making music with her for a long time to come. She just fits right into our scene and our voice…she’s just so talented. It’s also great to have a female aspect to our band. We’re a bit heavy on testosterone sometimes, so it’s great to have that versatility sometimes.

So…whenever it works out that we are all in the same place at the same time, we find our way to the stage together one way or another.

Check out The Infamous Stringdusters being joined onstage during Jam Cruise for a rollicking “Not Fade Away” below:

L4LM: The atmosphere on tour buses can get pretty rough after a few weeks, so it has got to be refreshing to add some feminine energy to that mix.

AG: Yeah! Everybody behaves a little bit more.

L4LM: There was plenty of feminine energy on the last album from The Infamous Stringdusters, Ladies And Gentlemen. What was your thinking behind bringing in vocalists like Lee Ann Womack, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Abigail Washburn and more?

JG: It was an idea born out of the same spirit as our working with Nikki. We’ve played with some ladies in the past like Sara Watkins, Aofie O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz and we always enjoyed that lighter touch. Everyone in the band has written a song or two that has a lighter feel than the majority of our stuff and it suits the songs. Not that all the songs done by a female singer have to be lighter, it was just more of an aspect that wouldn’t necessarily fit with our usual style.

It was also time to try something different. We had all those great connections with these talented performers. We wrote a batch of songs we thought would fit and we reached out to some of the incredibly talented women we knew, and some we just wanted to work with. We’re pretty happy with the result.

L4LM: Speaking of new albums, you’re getting ready to release your second solo record, The RV Sessions Vol II in a few short weeks. Nervous?

JG: Not in the least. I’m more excited than anything. As an artist…throughout history…that’s what we do. We create and then release new work. What new work means in this modern era of the music industry is still up for debate though.

I still feel like, at least with the type of music I make, the circles that I run in and the era I came from that the album is the quintessential distillation of where you are as an artist. It can be a definition of your sound and an extension of the direction you are trying to explore in your music. I absolutely love playing with the Stringdusters and I get a lot of creativity out that way but as an artist I have a lot more I do than I do with the Stringdusters.

I play mandolin and guitar, I write a lot more songs than could ever be contained in our repertoire because we have five guys writing and singing. It can create a little bit of restlessness as an artist and I wanted to get that creativity out. The material on both RV Sessions albums are songs that I have written and love but weren’t necessarily going to be recorded by the Dusters anytime soon.

This new one that is just getting ready to come out is all instrumental. I’ve never done an instrumental record, even though I have played instrumental tunes all my life. I really respect instrumental music, and in my genre, bluegrass, it is pretty common to do an instrumental record…especially, say, fifteen years ago.

Players I love, like Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush and Bela Fleck, guys who have a lot of integrity and style have released incredible albums in that vein. So the RV Sessions Vol II is the culmination of my experience and thoughts on how to make that kind of record. Since I live in my RV and I travel around all the time I did all the recording actually IN my RV.

I have some nice recording gear I carry with me all the time. Whenever inspiration hits I can get it down, play all the parts.

L4LM: That is actually pretty smart. if you make your home your workplace you can get some pretty nice tax breaks.

JG: Yeah, there are benefits to it, that’s for sure. I love the RV life. You get to travel around and see the world. And if you have the gear you can actually get some pretty good work done along the way. I have a good amount of space. Sometimes I can just leave the gear set up and roll tape whenever I am feeling creative and get it all done.

L4LM: The album is instrumental, but you have a strong voice. Were you at all tempted to throw a vocal or two in there?

JG: Not really. I view my fiddle playing as an extension of my voice. I feel like people in my industry wisely worry about getting pigeonholed…getting known as so-and-so who does such-and-such. It’s got to spread yourself out and balance yourself out. Maybe you’re a song writer, maybe you’re a fiddle player. This time I wanted to explore the instrumental side of things and all the different things I can do.

L4LM: So you know all these amazing players and you decided to make an entire album by yourself.

JG: Yeah…I narrowed all the players down to myself. In this day and age it can be hard to get all the different players together in the same place at the same time. That, and studio fees in general can cost a lot of money and you don’t always sell a lot of records and make that back. And creatively I guess I just kinda knew what I wanted. I do plan on doing more of these Session albums with some guests in the future.

L4LM: Would you recommend the RV life to others…is that the case?

JG: Well…it is not for everyone. But if you’re a person who likes to travel I highly recommend it. My wife and I, we grew up together in Nashville and we were high school sweethearts. We’ve been married about twenty years now and we are getting ready to have our first baby in October, so we are excited about that.

L4LM: Congratulations!

JG: Thanks. We grew up in Nashville and about thirteen years ago we built a house and that was a great experience. Even though we aren’t there full time anymore I still go back and visit all the time. But the western part of the country speaks to me, the climate out here, the space and the vibe just feels right to me.

I wanted to be out here more but I couldn’t imagine selling my home in Nashville buying a new one anywhere. Thanks to my job I don’t really have to be in any particular city…I always travel to wherever I need to be. So my wife and I thought “Let’s just buy a RV and travel around.” That was two years ago and now we have been all around the United States and most of the national parks and a bunch of places in between.

L4LM: You just played at the Lockn’ festival a couple days ago. Did you manage to have any fun at all?

JG: Just a wee bit. That event is just awesome. Anytime we get to play with Keller Williams is welcome…and playing with Phil Lesh of course….all of the staff and team there killed it. It was just an amazing time for sure. Great crowd. When that stage spun around and all those people were waiting there smiling….that was really memorable. I’m still recovering from the experience, honestly.

L4LM: Well, thanks for taking time out of the healing process to chat with us!

JG: It was my pleasure. See you out there!