Guitarist extraordinaire Anders Osborne sat down with L4LM to talk all things music, between his days busking through his lengthy career and identification with the city of New Orleans. Osborne has a major tour on the way, but first, he’ll head down south for the 14th annual Jam Cruise this January (tickets available here). It’s all things Anders and we couldn’t be happier!

Read on for Rex Thomson’s exclusive interview with the one and only Anders Osborne!

L4LM: You have your longest tour in a while coming up…how excited are you to get back to the stages for a big stretch of time?

Anders Osborne. Very! I’ve been playing shows, sure, but this is the longest run I’ve signed up for in a while. We have new music to play, and lots of old friends and new faces we want to visit. My roots are in travelling, a big part of my life.

L4LM: Do you have any tips for travelling so long that you’d want to share?

AO: Remember to find some time for yourself. It can be fun, but it’s easy to get wiped out if you don’t pay attention.

L4LM: You busked around the world, literally playing guitar and singing for your supper. What was that experience like?

AO: Mainly, it was exciting. Every time you moved from one place to the next, you’d get nervous. I was young, y’know. But I think also I was probably naive enough, innocent enough to not realize some of the good that was happening, or the potential bad that COULD happen. (Chuckles)

I think, to be honest with you, it was a more survival thing. I was playing to make a little but of money so I could maybe get a salad, a cup of coffee and an orange or something. I didn’t pay much attention to details. I have cool memories, but the moving, that was just practical. You know…they have harvest, and when harvest is finished it’s getting cold, and you just move farther south. And the next thing you know…you’re in Africa…literally.

You just keep moving with the seasons, y’know? I didn’t know the languages, but I could pick up enough to get by. But ever since I was young, I understood the language of music. Everyone speaks that. So I was able to get by on just playing, singing and connecting with people that way. It taught me so much more than I expected. You have to see a little of the world to find you place in it, y’know?

L4LM: When I looked at the progression of countries you travelled through, I noticed how it echoed the progression of humanity during our “Hunter/Gatherer” periods.

AO: Well…I never thought of that. Wow. I wasn’t really looking to recreate any journey or anything like that, I just wanted to maybe find out who I was…and have an adventure. It did teach me that there’s more than one way to be…there are many roles we can live in and be.

L4LM: You’ve said you had a “Transformative Episode” when you first heard the music of Robert Johnson. Can you expand on that for us?

AO: The combination of the raspy recordings, his high pitched voice and non-distinct guitar playing style. His right hand was just doing these interesting triplets all the time…but I’m giving more detail than the actual first impression. The actual first impression…the combination of all these things felt like this really distant cry from way in the past. Something that was almost like he was trying to reach us…reach me anyway. That’s what it sounded like, listening to that recording the first time.

I was like “WHAT…what is going on?” Then you get curious, y’know? You get these recordings, and you realize, apparently, they released them, and that’s all he ever recorded. And that makes it all the more interesting and mysterious. Wow! There’s just one sitting of this dude. He sits down one time, he records, and that’s what they got. That’s really tough.

L4LM: He certainly made the most of that one recording session.

AO: He did, he did. And even now, they’re saying it isn’t right. That the recording was slightly sped up the entire time, that actually he doesn’t sing that high. Everything we learn, even that, is a wonderful, curious thing. When they tried it, the sound quality gets better. Slow the recording down, it changes. There’s so many things, it didn’t really feel like anything else.

I’ve never been particularly like a big blues fan, y’know, but I love the blues. But it wasn’t like the blues changed my life or anything like that. I’d say jazz was a much bigger influence in that sense. But Robert Johnson…particularly some of that Delta blues, definitely made a huge, huge impact on me. There’s a lot of jazz in me, a lot of Coltrane. But Johnson definitely helped teach me to listen.

L4LM: Onstage there are times when you seem to disappear inside yourself. Are you trying to shape what’s being played, or are you just embracing the moment?

AO: There is something powerful in letting yourself go. So much of the time we try and control ourselves, at least a little. When you give into the moment, you connect with something outside yourself, the music itself. The fans, they come to hear the music, to listen. It’s how they communicate, it’s their language.

L4LM: You’ve made your mark as a songwriter, both in your own material and for others. How hard is it to be as prolific as you are in that area?

AO:  In songwriting, you’re always trying to contribute something. I just want to bring something new, something from myself to the table, like all the others before me have. When I lived in Nashville, I worked on finding my voice. I guess I’ve worked my whole life trying to find my voice. That’s what a song writer does. I wanna make a listener feel what I’m feeling…at least I wanna try to do that. When you play live you have an instant reaction, you can see the music affect someone. When you write a song it’s like you’re crafting a message, a dream to send to folks you may never meet.

When I am writing for someone else, like in my Nashville days, I see how it is kinda simple to put a song together. The melody comes, the words come and it goes together fine. it’s a job, and you have to be able to do the job. But once you learn and understand the language, writing a song is like speaking a sentence. It’s just natural. I’m always going…there’s always songs going through my head, like, at all times.

Osborne and Warren Haynes – “Cortez The Killer”

L4LM: You may not technically be a native, but you are as New Orleans as anyone. What does your adopted hometown mean to you?

AO: It’s a matter of connection. Sometimes a place finds you, sometimes you find a place…and in my case both happened. The people here, the energy of this place…it speaks to me. I did have family there. I spent part of my teen years there, so it wasn’t from out of nowhere. i felt a connection from that. It’s a place for folks like me, artists are everywhere. There’s an exciting mix of old money, the working classes and…I think because it’s so isolated, you have to work together, to play together. It’s special here.

L4LM: The city is also known for its cuisine, and we heard you might be a good person to ask about local flavors to try.

AO: I would go to Gautreau’s, uptown. A friend of mine, Sue Zemanack, works there, and she is an OUTSTANDING high end chef. This is a nice, fancy…and I don’t mean Commander’s Palace, dress code-y kind of place. It’s a nice, uptown place…really good fine dining. And if you want neighborhood stuff, I would recommend something in my neighborhood. It’s called Liuzza’s By The track. They have great shrimp, Po Boys…all the traditional New Orleans fare. And it’s just a little corner bar, when I used to drink I would have cocktails there as well. It’s a cool place, I used to play there. Me, Jumpin’ Johnny, Johnny Sansone and all those cats. It’s a cool place right by the fairgrounds where Jazz Fest takes place.

L4LM: How excited are you to be back on Jam Cruise?

AO: I’m very excited. All my friends are there. It’s like a vacation, and work at the same time. As an artist, it’s the best experience playing you could hope for.

22 Musicians Tell Us Their Favorite Things About Jam Cruise

L4LM: I usually reach out to your fans for a couple of their thoughts and questions for you. Do you mind a couple more quick ones?

AO: Sure!

L4LM: “Do you sing in the shower, and if so do you sing your own songs?”

AO: I don’t do a lot of singing in the shower. (Laughs) But I do have a habit of working on a song every day, so I go around singing it to myself every day. As far as going back into my catalog and singing something, I don’t think that has ever happened. And yes, occasionally there will be a song that gets stuck on your mind a little bit.

L4LM: This is less than a question than an observation. When I posed the opportunity for questions, a lot of your female fans responded in a , let’s say, excited manner. Given your exposure on the Treme show, have you noticed yourself being overly popular among the ladies in the audience?

AO: (Laughs) I like this interview! Not sure I agree with you, but nice to hear!

L4LM: We appreciate your taking the time to talk with us, good luck with your tour!

AO: Thanks! Take care.