What are you listening to?
$ilkMoney’s I Don’t Give a Fuck About This Rap Shit, Imma Just Drop Until I Don’t Feel Like It Anymore; Bill Nace’s Through a Room and Evening Measures by Mike Gangloff. 

Your all-time favourite albums?
Three that really made a big impression on me are Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality, Jack Rose’s Two Originals Of… and Laurie Spiegel’s The Expanding Universe. The first one for my early life, mind-blowing listening experiences on the school bus, and the latter two for their ability to adapt traditional folk forms and motifs into modern compositional forms.

Musicians you most admire?
Sonny Sharrock, 17th-century Bohemian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Loren Mazzacane Connors. All these artists successfully transmute their emotions into their music and produce timeless work. 

Favourite new artists?
Tallulah Cloos (her North Carolina noise raga pieces), The [Jennifer] Powers/[Matthew] Rolin Duo records and Kahri 1k’s work. 

Memorable musical encounter?
A concert in a barn deep in Amish country where Meg Baird, Richard Bishop, Michael Hurley and Will Oldham played. Admission was free with complimentary beer and wine. Just a big farm party with Amish kids listening in the rafters. Hard to top that.

First album you ever bought?
Answering with total transparency, the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. 

Your hidden talent?
I’m pretty good at working a fryer.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?
A historian in Virginia history and folkways, or a market vegetable gardener. I think I’d always be a player though, just for the love of it.

Read the review of Daniel Bachman’s Almanac Behind

This interview originally appeared in the March 2023 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue – subscribe today