With a new album, Honky Tonk, just out to mark 40 years in the game, I sat down with Dan Wheetman of Marley’s Ghost to find out more about the band’s long, rich, and rewarding sonic story.
There aren’t many bands that get to celebrate such a milestone of 40 years in the game. Can you briefly tell me about how the band got started and what pathways brought you all together?
The genesis of the band is a St. Patrick’s Day gig in Thousand Oaks, California. Jon got the gig and needed a couple of people who could play traditional Irish music and dance music. He hired me and Michael (Phelan), and that was the start. But the connections go back much further. Jerry (Fletcher) and I went to school together in California. I’ve known him since he was 14. I met Ed (Littlefield Jr.) at a coffee house in San Mateo at the end of 1968, and he took me up into the mountains to a folk music camp, and that’s where I met Jon (Wilcox), who had come up from Los Angeles.
In ‘86, Jon had a gig at the first spring Strawberry Music Festival up in Yosemite, and Mike and I went with him, and they hired us back for the fall fest. Meanwhile, ‘86 was my last tour with John Denver, and it ended in Seattle, and that’s where Eddie was living at the time. I asked him to come to the gig. He had just built a little recording studio (Sage Arts) and told me I should come up and do a solo album, so after the tour was over, I went up to his place in Arlington, Washington, and called Jon and Mike to come and play on the album. Eddie sat in and never left.
Your new album is called Honky Tonk, which gives us a clue about what it might sound like. Can you talk us through what to expect when we drop the needle on it?
Our new album is a tribute to the country music of the ’50s and ’60s. We spent a lot of time choosing songs that represent that era. We tried to get a cross-section of hits plus songs by artists that we love that were hidden gems. With Larry Campbell producing, we tried to make it fresh and make it our own.
And as an album of standards, how hard was it to decide what to include and what to leave out?
There is a vast ocean of cool honky-tonk tunes to choose from. We picked songs we liked. After all, you’re gonna end up singing them for a long time. As I said, we did things off the beaten path as well as the standards.
There is much talk about the term ‘Americana’; as a Brit, I’m never quite sure what it means. How would you classify the term? Does ‘Marley’s Ghost’ sit in that genre, and has the term changed its meaning since you first started the band?
Marley‘s Ghost in my mind is the quintessential Americana band; we play most every style of traditional folk, rock, country, and blues, a cappella singing, fiddle tunes, and Ed plays bagpipes. When we started that term, “Americana” didn’t exist. Made it hard sometimes because bookers couldn’t pigeonhole the band.
Comparisons to The Band are never far away, particularly in your ability to evolve and yet stay true to a signature style. How is such a fine balance achieved?
From the very beginning, what made us a band/group of musicians that wanted to play together was the broad spectrum of music that we share, and I think everything grew out of that. The band dynamic has always been open. Anyone can bring a song, any song, any style, new, old, original, and we’ll take a look at it. Some work, some don’t, the ones that do end up in the set list.
Given that your sound looks to the music of the past as you head into the future, do you think people are rediscovering a sort of musical purity from way back when that the digital age can’t replicate?
Duke Ellington said there are two kinds of music, good music and bad music. We play a combination. What makes music good, in my humble opinion, is heart. The heart is what touches people. You only get heart from humans. If you can achieve that digitally, then your music speaks to someone… I just feel that blood and bone and breath and truth live more in people than in ones and zeros.
Will you be touring this album and, if so, where are you looking forward to playing – both favorite old haunts and new venues to try out?
Our manager, as we speak, is booking the rest of the year. We just played the Strawberry Music Festival in California, which was our second gig 40 years ago. There are a few old haunts we want to revisit this year.
And beyond this album, what does the future hold for you?
As long as these old guys hold out, we’ll keep playing. Music feeds the soul. We’re going into the studio in August to look at the next project. A moving target is harder to hit.
Thank you for taking the time to give me an insight into the world of Marley’s Ghost, and best of luck with everything.
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