Don Chambers talks about Zebulon / tours with Drive-By Truckers
August 19th, 2008 by Chad Radford in Music news
Athens’ resident avant-guardian of psychedelic banjo and kling-klang country clatter and minimalism, Don Chambers is heading out on tour this month in support of his latest release, Zebulon (WARM). The album was produced by Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), Andy Baker (The Glands) and Brian Causey (Man…or Astroman?), and
features performances from Hood, Baker, Causey, Liz Durrett, Kevin Lane and Jay Gonzales (The Possibilities), and of course Don’s backing band, GOAT.
A recent e-mail from Team Clermont publicity quoted Chambers discussing the new record…
“I take a lot of notes when traveling, town names, street names, business names, signs and wonders all along the way. All this goes into a book to be visited later when I have forgotten the details and the directions. While touring south Georgia with the band I saw a sign for the town of Zebulon, in Pike’s County. Songwriting is like the guy giving you directions with way too many details, ‘now once you pass the sign with the bullet holes turn left at the Doolie Hill Trailer Park, you know they say ole Doolie he had a predilection for vegetables, well then hang a louie till you get bored and then look for the twisted oak tree with a pair of rotting converse sneakers hanging in em and then…”. You have no idea where he’s telling you to go. Hell, you forgot where you where going, but you’re fascinated with the rhythm of speech and details, your eyes are glazed over and you lose track of time. I like records that give you that kinda feeling, like your going somewhere and you not sure how you’ll get there, sometimes the music ends and you feel you have arrived, other times you’re sure you went somewhere but your not sure exactly where it was, but it definitely was traveling. These are adventure songs, instructional and subjective, throw out the map and drive, the joy is in the journey. Moses said the tribe of Zebulon would suck of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hidden in the sand. That’s what we are going for here, the pirate’s dream of buried treasure. Another Zebulon was Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr., for which the afore mentioned town and county was named. He was an American soldier and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. Oddly, he never actually made it to the top of the mountain now famously named after him. These songs came out of travel and adventure, being away from home and coming back. Feeling stuck and feeling like your floating, untethered and strange. Waiting to feel homesick, while you are living in the mercury present.”
Don Chambers + GOAT on tour:
August 21 – Flicker Theatre, Athens, Georgia
Sept. 12 – Georgia Theatre CD RELEASE SHOW with Liz Durrett, Athens, GA
Sept. 13 – Sky City, Augusta, GA
Sept. 15 – BAMA Theatre with Drive-By Truckers, Tuscaloosa, AL
Sept. 16 – The Bohemian, Greenville, SC
Sept. 17 – Headliners with Drive-By Truckers, Columbia, SC
Sept. 18 – Amos South with Drive-By Truckers, Charlotte, NC
Sept. 19 – Norva with Drive-By Truckers , Norfolk, Virginia
Sept. 27 – The Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA
Sept. 29 – Varsity with Drive-By Truckers, Baton Rouge, LA
Sept. 30 – Bottling Co. with Drive-By Truckers, Hattiesburg, MS
Oct. 1 – The Lyric with Drive-By Truckers, Oxford, MS
Oct. 2 – Mellow Mushroom, Tuscaloosa, AL
Oct. 4 – The Rocket, Asheville, NC
Nov. 15 – Zydeco with The Dexateens, Birmingham, AL
Click here to listen to “Highwater” ft. Patterson Hood, from Zebulon.
(photo by Jason Thrasher)
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