Stepping Into the Spotlight
Jeff Plankenhorn transitions from sideman to solo artist
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| Courtesy Photo |
By Sean Claes
Jeff Plankenhorn may not ba
a household name, yet, but you’ve surely heard of some of the artists whom he
has been a guitarist. Joe Ely, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ruthie Foster, Bob
Schneider and Gavin Degraw have all hired Plankenhorn to bring his sideman
expertise on the six-string to their bands over the last 20 years.
In May of this year,
Plankenhorn released Sleeping Dogs and, although it it technically his
third solo album, it is the first-time in his career he is essentially stepping
out from the shadows as a solo artist.
In addition to being a
stellar in-demand musician, he’s known for creating his own signature
instrument - a dobro-meets-lap-steel guitar - that has been dubbed “The Plank.” In fact, in 2016, he released an album, Soulslide
to feature and promote this instrument.
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| Photo by Sean Claes |
Sean Claes: You are a
transplanted Texas by way of Ohio and Nashville, Tennessee. I heard you moved
to Austin through the urging of Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Jeff Plankenhorn: Ray Wylie
Hubbard and I met on the street in
Memphis at a Folk Alliance back in 1998. A writer friend from Detroit named Thom Jurek was walking with Ray and introduced us, and
that night I played a gig with Ray. I moved to Texas in January of 2000 at
Ray’s request. I had been living in Nashville, and he suggested I come and
visit and see what I thought.
Claes: You’ve got a long
history of playing sideman to such legends as Hubbard and Joe Ely. How did you
connect with them?
Plankenhorn: Almost every person I have played with over the
years on record or live, has been about one ‘degree of separation’ from Ray.
Whether it’s Joe Ely, Ruthie Foster, or Bob Schneider, I met them all through Ray and Ray encouraged
me to play with them all.
Claes: In May you released Sleeping
Dogs, your third album after Plank (2003) and SoulSlide
(2016). For the album you penned songs with Hubbard, Jon Dee Graham, Miles
Zuniga and Gabe Rhodes. How did this album come about?
Plankenhorn: The SoulSlide album was a vehicle for my
signature guitar dubbed, “The Plank” by my friends in the Austin community. Sleeping
Dogs is a chance for me to focus on the songs. I play a whole range of
instruments from piano to bass to various guitars to “The Plank” and really
used whatever the song called for.
We started recording the
album the day Tom Petty died, and I would say that changed everything. This somehow
became a roots rock and americana album. Not by design as much as inspiration.
Claes: For Sleeping
Dogs, you’re stepping out from behind the side-man gig and taking stage as
a solo artist. How has the transition from shadows to spotlight gone?
Plankenhorn: The transition is harder than most think. It’s
a whole different hat to don. Every single person I have played with has been
encouraging.
Not only did Ray Wylie sing
and co-write with me on this record, but Ruthie Foster and Malford Milligan on
the last. I’m writing with everyone from Gary Nicholson to David Grissom now.
That’s pretty amazing to me.
Seems like the only people
who aren’t as hip to me turning into a ‘front person’ are the occasional bitter
rock critic and a few booking agents and managers for the other acts I play
with. I can take it.
Claes: Your new single, “Tooth
and Nail,” is a duet with Hubbard.
Plankenhorn: I came to Ray with the idea of ‘Tooth and Nail’
and boy did he run with it. I wanted to write about “the grind.” I wanted to
drop a line or two in about my influences from Hayes Carll to Jaimee Harris (and her right arm tattoo of Townes). I guess at first it was about touring,
writing and being a musician.
Claes: It definitely has
that signature muddy bluesy stomp of a Hubbard tune.
Plankenhorn: It turned into more than that and an unmistakably
Ray song, with a few choice lines that I never could have written. When
recording we had the track pretty much done and Ray came to the studio to check
it out. I asked him to lay down a little greasy acoustic guitar and maybe a
vocal or two, but it was five minutes into recording I knew it had to be a
duet.
Scrappy Jud Newcome’s bass line on that tune is so groovy, I think he
may have been channeling his late friend George Reiff.
Claes: The title track from Sleeping Dogs is a great. Can you give us a note of where you were and the headspace you were in when you wrote this one?
Plankenhorn: I was inspired by the bass line to “Pressure
Drop” by Toots and
the Maytals. I wanted to write a song
about all the things I don’t do, but wish I did. I wanted to sing about
all the “Sleeping Dogs” I wanted to let lie - worrying about tomorrow, wearing
my heart on my sleeve, gossip, etc. etc. etc.
It worked, in that I feel
great every night singing it... and when audiences sing along, that’s the real
deal there. They get it, and they want to let it all go as much as I do.
Claes: How does your
writing process go?
Plankenhorn: Every song is completely different. I wrote the
beginnings to “I Don’t Know Anything” walking through the woods on Vancouver
Island (British Columbia, Canada). I wrote the music to “Love Is Love.” Scrappy
Jud, Miles Zuniga, and myself re-wrote “Holy Lightning” over
another song’s chord changes literally in the studio. I co-write at my place
and at friend’s home studios and kitchens. I write with a guitar, I write
without, I write lyrics first, music first, but whatever works. It does not
matter to me as long as you get a song you can get behind out of it!
During your performance at
Summer In The Park in San Marcos, you talked about the final track on Sleeping
Dogs, “Heaven on Earth.” Can you share the meaning behind the song?
I had a rhythm section
booked for the studio for a day. It was two fellas I have been fortunate enough
to play with for over ten years; Yoggie (Musgrove) and Brannen Temple. I only had one song ready to record, which is
not the best move because in the studio time is most certainly money. So I
wrote a song that morning before we went in, and I had a little iPhone
recording of what sounded like a gospel instrumental to me.
It really felt like a
“Sacred Steel” kind of tune, a la Aubrey Ghent or The Campbell Brothers (huge influences on my lap slide playing and
writing).
I was driving home through
the hill country listening to the rough mix, and I decided I would call it
“Heaven On Earth.” It was a beautiful drive and I was feeling grateful for the
journey of this new album. When I got home I struck up a conversation with my wife
Donyne, who is a horticulturalist and arborist about her love of nature and how
it had been influencing me in ways I never thought of. I grew up in a ‘steel
town’ in Ohio and never had the reverence she had, until now. She began
speaking of her favorite things in nature, and lyrics just started coming. The
next morning I went in and sang over the instrumental, and the song was born.
You never know when it’s gonna hit, but you better be ready when it does.
Claes: On July 27 you play
the Continental Club in Austin at midnight and July 29 you play Gruene Hall in
Gruene, Texas at 7p. What can folks expect at these shows?
Plankenhorn: July 27th I’ll be partnering with Austin
Pets Alive! (APA) and raising some
money for them at the Continental Club gig. I really wanted my first gig at The
Continental Club under my name to help a cause that I really believed in, and
my dog Oscar who is featured on the album artwork and tshirts is from APA!
Gruene Hall will be the
last big gig before I finally get up to Canada and Vancouver Island to see my
wife. I’ll have been on the road for 2 months on and off, so it will hopefully
have some stellar guests and be a great end to 3 months of touring my new
album.
Dave Scher will be playing guitar with me and also will be doing the
‘tweener’ sets on acoustic. I’m very fortunate to have him playing with myself
and Brannen Temple and Yoggie.
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| July 5, 2018 - San Marcos, Texas Summer in the Park.
Photo by Sean Claes
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Claes: What was the most
memorable show you’ve played?
Plankenhorn: All shows are memorable, I’m not just saying
that. I played an incredible band show in San Marcos in the park to hundreds of
folks, and then a few days later played to about 20 people for my first ever
solo in Lubbock at The Blue Light Cantina. I truly loved them both. Playing
with the musicians and songwriters I have over the years, it was instilled in
me to give your best every night, no matter who is there.
My favorite show? The next
one.
Claes: Having played with
so many folks over the years, have any interesting road stories you can tell?
Plankenhorn: Joe Ely once pulled off the road in Iowa to
take me to the Surf Ballroom, the place where Buddy
Holly was supposed to play the
night his plane crashed, just because I had never seen it. They opened the
doors for us.
Eliza Gilkyson 15 or 16 years ago pulled off to the side of
the road in California because I had told her I had never stepped foot in the
ocean. She took a little tobacco from a natural cigarette (I smoked back then)
and gave it to the ocean as an offering and said, “this is what native
americans do to show thankfulness.”
Plankenhorn: Yeah, having Patty
Griffin graciously accept to sing
on a song was a pretty big dream come true for me. Also, Scrappy Jud Newcomb
being co-producer and playing so much and co-writing on this album was more
than important, it was integral. He is absolutely brilliant, and I could not
have made one of these songs come out the way they did without his guidance,
grit, and soul. I would be remiss to not mention him in any interview having to
do with this album. He’s a real guru, almost as much as Ray Wylie has been over
the years.
Learn more about Jeff Plankenhorn, pick up Sleeping Dogs or see where he’s playing next at his website jeffplankenhorn.com.
Sean Claes is the owner of Austin's INsite Magazine and has been a freelance entertainment writer since 1996. This is week 35 in his "52 Weeks of Austin Musician Interview" series. See the others here: 52 Week Project
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