Following last month’s release of his acclaimed new record, The Dreamin’ Kind, singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim is ready to rock Thalia Hall this Wednesday, February 25. We talked with Slim about collaborating with members of Greta Van Fleet, his dream cover swap, and the incomparable joy of a voicemail from a Jewish grandmother.
The Dreamin’ Kind was produced by Greta Van Fleet bassist Sam Kiszka and leans into rock ‘n’ roll more than your previous work. Is this a direction you’ve been wanting to head in for a while?
Yes. In retrospect, perhaps it was manifestation. I don't know. But I would just sort of daydream about—I’ve got the most amazing band that’s been with me for many years, but we all live in separate places and have for a long time. We started in Brooklyn, New York, like 20 years ago, and now we all live in our different towns and cities around the country. And so I found myself dreaming away about meeting some cats in Nashville and just for fun, not even starting a band necessarily or even making a record, but just for fun, getting together in a room and plugging in loud guitars and making a big noise. And then Sam and Daniel (Wagner) befriended me, to my good fortune, and they just became real sweet friends. And their band, Greta Van Fleet, invited us to open up two or three shows for them.
And then as time went on, Sam and I talked about trying to write some stuff together, just getting together and seeing what happens. And then things started slowly but also quickly. It started sort of slow, and then they got busy or we got busy, and about a year later, I just came in with some ideas and it kind of lit a fire, and a bunch of the music just started to come together real quickly.
You recently celebrated six years of sobriety—congratulations. What was it like to come into this new record in this different state of life?
It was made when I probably had about five years sober, and I’d become a father. So the last record I made (Strawberry Mansion), I had just gotten clean. We had just had a terrible tornado devastate the part of Nashville that I live in, and then a global pandemic and the beginning of a lot of the social and political upheaval, if you will. And so all kinds of stuff was going on. And then this record, I found a love and started a family and was living as a sober man. So the environment around me couldn’t have been more different, I suppose.
I don’t think that much about that. I think you’re just kind of existing where you’re existing, right? So I wasn’t comparing and contrasting—although that’s true and a lie at the same time, because there is a focus and an energy and a presence that I found I’m able to achieve. And there’s a lot more space there that I’d like to achieve, but there is a more elevated sense of intention with a family and being sober around my creativity now. That’s really cool and exciting.
And I have to say, it’s a fantastic record. “On Fire” starts with a voicemail from your grandmother. What made you decide to include that on the album?
I’ve got this friend, Kenny Siegel, out in upstate New York, and we’ve done a lot of music together before this record. He was one of the only people that I’ve ever really gone to write with. He’s just been a longtime collaborator and soul brother. He is also an East Coast Jewish man like myself, and we’ve got a very similar sense of humor. And he has this voicemail that a buddy of his sent from his grandmother with this East Coast Jewish grandmother’s voice, which is very one-of-a-kind. And it is something like, “Hey, it’s Edna, and I’m calling to see what you’re doing on Saturday. We’re going out, just the girls.”
And I loved this so much. It reminded me of my grandma, Mae. My grandma Ruth is still alive, lives out in Nashville now. She’s 97. But Mae passed away some years ago. So I dug back in my voicemail, and as most people probably do, I’d saved funny or sentimental things from her in particular because she’s got such a distinct voice. And I found that, and it was clear that that should be the intro to that tune.
Another collaborator on “On Fire” is Jess Wolfe of Lucius, who contributes backing vocals. How did she get involved with that?
She’s been a dear friend, her and her husband, for a number of years. And she is a wizard in the studio. And that song—I knew I liked the song and I thought I had something, but I knew it was missing something. It was sort of on the nose in a way that wasn’t quite there for me. And so I gave her a call, and she came in to sing on it. And what she does is come into the studio and just lay down all of these different—basically an orchestra of vocal melodies and ideas—in about an hour or two. Then she’s like, “All right, I think you got it. Peace.” And she just killed it.
Another song I really like on the record is “Stealin’ Time,” which reminds me a lot of late-period Byrds. If you could participate in a cover exchange with any artist—you cover one of their songs and you select one of your songs for them to cover, who would you pick?
Lucinda (Williams) has been on my mind a lot lately. She just put out a new record, and I love it. I think because she’s still with us and still creating stuff that’s just so high quality—and her voice is everything I love about all of my favorites. It’s just so distinct and has so much character. I’ll go with Lucinda. But if I let myself get neurotic about it, it would be very hard to answer that question.
Do you have an idea of which song of hers you would pick and which song of yours you’d pick for her?
Man, I’ve dreamt of writing something that she or Mavis Staples would sing on. There’s an old song of mine called “Diamonds” that I’ve never really got as good as it could be on a record that I think would be amazing for Mavis.
“People Talkin’” is a Lucinda song that I adore, but she’s got so many. I’ve been loving her new record as well.
As a stand-up comic myself, I was intrigued to see that you’ve opened for comedians Jordan Klepper and Eugene Mirman. Which other comics would you to share a stage with?
There have been some comedians that have been very nice to me and that really like my stuff, and I think that’s because they’re very intelligent. Mirman had a show with this guy Bobby Tisdale on the Lower East Side many years ago. It was called Invite Them Up and had all of these incredible comedians when they were really young. And I got to be the musical guest at that a bunch of times, so that was one of my intros into that weird, wonderful world.
Klepper and I have become friends in the last year. He had me out on tour and then had us on The Daily Show, which was awesome. I’m a big fan of Ronny (Chieng), who’s also a correspondent on The Daily Show. I’m a big Conan fan, and Conan’s been really great to us. He’s had us on his TV show a handful of times.
Norm (MacDonald) is no longer with us—big Norm guy. George Carlin—I was watching a bunch of his stuff over the pandemic and found it extremely inspiring. I think a lot of people were using it for whatever side of things they fell on politically or socially. But he was like a guiding spirit on that Strawberry Mansion record, as well as some other things. But there’s probably a lot of stand-up stuff that I’m not too familiar with these days, to be honest with you. Do you have some favorites?
If you like really intelligent comedy, Gary Gulman.
I like intelligent comedy, and I also like the silliest, dumbest poop jokes.
Langhorne Slim appears at Thalia Hall, 1807 S Allport St, on Wednesday, February 25, at 8pm. Tickets (starting at $25) are available now. All ages.
