NAKED AND AFRAID
Folks,
You heard it here first (unless you didn’t). I’ve got a new record coming out on May 15 called “The Land That Time Forgot.” On Yep Roc Records. In fact, today’s the day we’re releasing the first single,“Marathon,” complete with a swanky video directed by Darrell Flowers and edited by Lauren Tabak which features some fancy footwork from me and Stephie as we trade punches.
Watch/stream “Marathon,” and pre-order the album here: https://ffm.to/landtimeforgot
What can I tell you? I can tell you this:
I wasn’t too pleased to learn that Jason Isbell is releasing his new record the very same day as mine.
So I sent a message to Jason and said, “I think it’s only fair that you change your release date.”
He replied and got straight to the point: “Chuck, you know I can’t do that.”
So I said, “You know Jason, I don’t know how this makes me feel. Actually I DO know how it makes me feel. It makes me feel like Amy Klobuchar. I mean I’m in the running and everything but I feel like people treat me as if I’m the person that runs the concession stand at a Little League game. I’m a serious artist, Jason!”
(As you can see, we’re on a first-name basis.)
Well, he calmed me down and reasoned, “Chuck, at least we will get people to the polls. I mean the record stores. And once they get in there they can vote however they like. It’s their country. Or their record collection as the case might be. Maybe they buy Jason Isbell, maybe they buy Chuck Klobuchar.”
That hurt a little, I won’t lie.
But on reflection I thought it sounded pretty reasonable. And reminded myself that Jason is younger and better looking and he probably knows a thing or three.
[DISCLAIMER: This interchange is as I recall it. Jason may not remember it this way. But it definitely happened.]
So, what about this new record? Rock ‘n’ roll has always been about hope and despair, falling apart and picking up the pieces, romance and heartbreak, whistling past the graveyard with a bad moon rising. And San Francisco is all of those things. A place of new beginnings and reinventing yourself married just lately to a bottomless pit of greed filled with robots with ironic haircuts.
When it came to recording, we were priced out of our home turf and ended up in a studio a few miles from the Vermont border where I could hear myself think – which was pretty f*cking scary! Recording with some rock and roll royalty who dressed like lumberjacks in a big old mansion that’s on the National Historic Register.
Musically speaking, this is a radical departure for me. I usually lean on the Rockpile by way of Highway 61 template more than Alison Krauss. But this record has a lot of acoustic energy. It’s a folk record even, in spots. All that with a heaping scoop of Stephanie Finch jump, jiving and harmonizing her way down that old fair lane.
klipschutz and I had a lot of lunches and arguments. You don’t want to know how sausage is made, I assume (though it’s actually kind of fascinating, but whatever). So what can I say about the first single “Marathon”? It’s seems kind of nostalgic. But it’s not. Once you get past the krautrock bassline and The Everly Brothers acoustics and the relentless groove of The Mission Express, it’s a song about Depression era dances with roots in the Salem Witch Trials and the anxiety of anyone today who’s short on rent again. The gig economy. Reality shows. Exploitation. Dance marathons of the Great Depression were the first reality shows. And like Pro Wrestling, blurred the line between theatre and reality. Okay, I’ll spare you any more MFA gibberish, I gotta run. I got the Discovery Channel on and Naked and Afraid is up next.
Again, watch/stream “Marathon,” and pre-order the album here: https://ffm.to/landtimeforgot
Oh, and we’ve got TOUR DATES too!
Over here and over there. Lots of them. Scroll down for more on that. Dig in with both hands.
Onwards,
-C
2/28/2020 DENVER, CO SWALLOW HILL/DANIELS HALL*
2/29/2020 FORT COLLINS, CO MAGIC RAT*
3/11/2020 TUCSON, AZ CLUB CONGRESS*
3/13/2020 AUSTIN, TX CONTINENTAL CLUB**
3/14/2020 AUSTIN, TX CONTINENTAL CLUB**
3/15/2020 FISCHER, TX DEVIL’S BACKBONE TAVERN**
3/19/2020 SPICEWOOD, TX LUCK REUNION**
3/20/2020 AUSTIN, TX LUCY’S SOUTH BY SOUTH AUSTIN FRIED CHICKEN REVIVAL**
3/21/2020 AUSTIN, TX BURGERMANIA IX AT HOTEL VEGAS**
5/2/2020 PIONEERTOWN, CA PAPPY & HARRIET’S**
5/3/2020 REDONDO BEACH, CA BEACHLIFE FESTIVAL**
5/8/2020 SEBASTOPOL, CA HOPMONK TAVERN**
5/9/2020 SACRAMENTO, CA HARLOW’S**
5/16/2020 BIG SUR, CA HIPNIC**
OVER THERE:
5/25/2020 BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND HARE & HOUNDS **
5/26/2020 BRISTOL, ENGLAND THE FLEECE **
5/27/2020 LEEDS, ENGLAND BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB **
5/28/2020 GLASGOW, SCOTLAND ST LUKES **
5/29/2020 BURY, ENGLAND THE MET **
5/30/2020 SUFFOLK, ENGLAND RED ROOSTER FESTIVAL **
6/1/2020 RAALTE,NETHERLANDS BLUES & RIBS FESTIVAL ** with Drive By Truckers
6/2/2020 LEFFINGE, BELGIUM DE ZWERVER**
6/3/2020 UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS EKKO **
6/4/2020 OSLO, NORWAY LOADED FESTIVAL ** with Dandy Warhols
6/6/2020 ZARAGOZA, SPAIN OASIS CLUB ** with Lucinda Williams
6/8/2020 BARCELONA, SPAIN SALA APOLO ** with Lucinda Williams
6/12/2020 NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND METRONOME **
6/13/2020 LONDON, ENGLAND LAFAYETTE **
CHUCK PROPHET SOLO*
CHUCK PROPHET & THE MISSION EXPRESS **
