On Moondog, Huber tells fifteen stories taking his listeners on experiences through life and travel as only a master song-smith can. Some songs make your toes tap, like the rowdy opening fiddle and mandolin licks on "Moondog," which kicked off the evening, and "Found Penny," another kick-up the heels kinda jam. Others like "Rivers of Smoke," and "Hardwired" tug more so at the heartstrings. The new material came across wonderfully live. Highlights included the epically sweeping "Northwoods Waltz," which makes references to Huber's time spent in northern Wisconsin from Wausau to old Title Town, and "After You," a warm and caring love song which is a standout number on Moondog.
Opening for Huber were the Driveway Thriftdwellers, a Milwaukee-based country-rock act. Driveway Thriftdwellers were a perfect accompaniment to Huber, as their songs are also very much narrative in nature, with great harmonies from lead singer Jon Knudson and his bandmates. Many numbers came off of their self-titled release from last year. "King of Milwaukee," was a set highlight and a contagiously infectious country track. This was my first time seeing the Driveway Thriftdwellers, but certainly won't be my last. They were stellar live and if they aren't on your radar, they should be.
Prior to the Anodyne show, MKE Rocks had a chance to connect with Joseph Huber to talk about his new record and recent west coast tour. Enjoy the interview with Huber below:
MKE Rocks: Moondog is by far your most prolific record to date with 15 songs and spanning nearly 74 minutes, tackling a wide variety of themes. What was it like to record Moondog? How was it similar or different than recording your last record, the 2016's outstanding The Suffering Stage?
Huber: I think some might call it prolific due to the length or number of songs. And I guess, regardless of what someone means, I won't be upset with someone using that word. I don't think it's ever been used in a negative sense. But, I still think it's all up to the listener if it truly strikes the right chord. It was initially meant to be 10 songs; more succinct; a more light-hearted turn away from the gravity of The Suffering Stage, but a certain unplanned gravity slowly crept in as it took longer and longer to finish the album and soon it simply had a mind of its own. After a while I had difficulty feeling a sense of agency in being able to control it; hear it; conceive of its wholeness and the only thing that became clear is that it was going to be the embodiment of a time-period that is perhaps as tumultuous and emotionally-exhausting as the record itself. At that point, I knew that if I didn't release all the songs I'd been working on, I would never look back and return to them again. Somehow expelling them seems more healthy.
MKE Rocks: You are an artist whose inspiration comes from so many points. However, throughout your work, themes of nature and your home state of Wisconsin are prevalent. How have your surroundings in Milwaukee and experiences growing up in New London and touring throughout the state impacted your songwriting?
Huber: The more you travel, the more you see how music is seemingly the expression of the natural world and geography that surrounds you; you see that people are an expression of a landscape. Culturally...sure, but also the nature of the climate; the plant-life; the topography. The wood that a guitar is made from; the bow-hair of a fiddle; the skin of a banjo: all at one time were all natural manifestations of the specific environment. I always joke about the time I went on a vacation in Hawaii and how my songwriting seemed so silly there. And it's true. It really does seem silly there! I had moments of extreme doubt thinking about how strange, unnecessary and misguided my songs seemed purely because of my natural surroundings. Then I came back to Wisconsin and the expressions seemed natural again. But it's not something that should cause doubt. It should actually make you appreciate that you are an individual expression of time and place. You then learn to appreciate other types of music now that you can see how they too are natural expressions of other times and places that are unique. So, in a sense, I do see my music as 'Wisconsin' music regardless of how much we travel or are influenced by other musicians and writers from all over the world which are now at our fingertips. Not in a limiting sense, just in a humble understanding that all things are "of a time" and "of a place."
I think the dichotomy of the places I've grown up, New London/Milwaukee, would perhaps be a fitting poetic device to understand the strange contradictions and absurd divisions of my own mind (not to simplify the nature of each place too much, but let's face it...the differences are real). I'm a solitary human by nature/who still loves living in the city; who is asocial in temperament/and yet loves the bustle surrounding him; whose songs revel in the expressions of the natural, untouched world/yet would never have learned to express myself without the influence of my education and immersion into the cultural variety of the city. But, perhaps that's what people have unconsciously felt and enjoyed in my music: an approachable esotericism, or cultivated simpleness (not simplicity...straight up simpleness).
MKE Rocks: What are you most proud of regarding Moondog?
Huber: I think its a lyrically strong album most of all. I truly think this is an album that one could sit down and simply read the lyrics without the music and have an experience that is worth-while in terms of either emotional catharsis or appreciation of clever word-play. I would hope that would be somewhat true of all my songs and albums, and I've tried to continue that line of thinking with Moondog and I believe, even if all else fails, I had succeeded in that sense.
MKE Rocks: You just are wrapping up a big tour to kick off Moondog's release, taking you throughout the west coast. How has this tour been received? Any highlights to share? Any new numbers that you are finding particularly fun to play on the road?
Huber: The tour was an absolute blast--more than I could've hoped for or imagined. Every ounce of laughter on this tour was needed and there was plenty of it to go around. And for that, I will forever be thankful. At every single show, there was someone who had been waiting too damn long to have us travel west. Some folks traveled four to five to six hours to see us. It was proof that I was at least doing something right somewhere...even at a small level. All of the new songs have been fun to play...even the ones that aren't necessarily "fun" songs as far as their theme. I've enjoyed playing "Hardwired" and "Rivers of Smoke" with Billy on the lap-steel, and also "Where You Said You Would Be" on the few occasions where we could bring it waaaayy down low and where it made sense to play.
MKE Rocks: This tour you are joined by your longtime collaborator, Eston Bennett on bass, and have also included a mandolinist as part of the live trio as well, which adds a whole new dimension to the sound. Moving forward, are you planning to continue touring with a mandolin player or are you going to bring the fiddle back or perhaps add both?
Huber: My ideal band would probably always included both mandolin and fiddle as most of my album's main hooks and licks are a combined effort of both. I've been playing with a number of talented folks, Kenny Leiser on fiddle, Pat Otto on mandolin, and Billy Cook on mandolin and lap steel and electric guitar. I love playing with all different folks and plan to probably play around with the live show with various folks for a while to come. We shall see where it lands yet. I can't quite say, I guess. I'm open.
**Special thanks to Jim Dier of Jim Dier Photography for the great pics of Joseph Huber and Driveway Thriftdwellers that appear in this post.
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