Jeff Mamett is an Americana singer/songwriter who sounds like Ernest Tubb meets Alan Jackson and George Strait.
He is a storyteller, influenced by writers such as Guy Clark, John Prine and Mark Twain. Jeff’s songs have an authentic, earthy quality, sprinkled with wry humor. They unfold like 3 1/2 minute movies with soundtracks that merge elements of American Roots music into what some have called a ‘modern western’ sound.
Jeff began performing at 13, working with older musicians, playing dances, bars and fraternity parties. After high school, he honed his skills hitting the road with club bands, grinding out 6 sets a night 6 nights a week before ending up in L.A. and then Nashville. There, he gained experience recording and touring with various artists.
Once he and his wife began to have children, Jeff made the decision to leave the road and the music industry to be a dad. The next 25 years would be spent in the cattle business.
In 2013, like Rip Van Winkle waking from his long sleep, Jeff began feeling the compulsion to begin playing again and songs began flowing from his imagination mingled with life experiences.
In this interview feature, I chat with Jeff about his forthcoming album release (Carry Me Back, available in September) as well as motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
It seems I’ve been called a storyteller, even before I started writing songs. Not in the sense of telling whoppers, although a bit of embellishment can add color, but rather in a way that someone could enjoy the story like they were there. I guess that’s why I admire Guy Clark, John Prine and Mark Twain so much.
While my musical influences and tastes are pretty broad, the music I create tends to be rooted in southwestern American country. That being said, I tend to experience the world in pictures and the music I create is shaped by the setting and emotion of the story to provide a soundtrack for the song to live in.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Music has been a major part of my life since childhood and a compulsion that has provided me great joy. Starting out playing with older musicians at 13 for dances, etc., I quickly became addicted. For the next 18 years, as a journeyman bass player, it was my main focus, taking me through grinding out six sets a night six nights a week with club bands, and eventually to L.A. and then Nashville where I gained experience recording and touring.
Life changed when I was faced with the choice of staying on the road, touring as a sideman with a well known act, or to be home and be a real dad to my children. Being a dad was the right choice and I went “cold turkey” as far as playing. I never did stop listening and seeking out cool new music. My interest in playing rekindled once the kids were off on their own. As I “woodshedded” to see what chops I could recover, the addiction took over. At that point, I began to discover writing and performing my own songs. The fulfillment I get from that is what keeps me going. It’s a wonderful feeling when people respond positively to one of my songs.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
I’d describe my first album as almost accidental. The new one, Carry Me Back, was deliberate.
My first album, Here’s Your Hat…, just kind of happened. It started out with ideas for songs coming to me randomly that I’d record with acoustic guitar and a vocal. Then, I’d start adding bass and electric guitar parts just to see how it might sound fleshed out. As the songs started sounding like they might have legs, I asked a few friends to add instruments that I don’t play. In the end, it was like – hey, there’s an album here.
I learned several things from that project:
- creating an album of my own music was doable; there were people that enjoyed what I created; I wanted and needed to collaborate with
- musicians whose musical vocabulary was beyond mine; and it showed me where to improve my writing and vocal performance.
The new album, Carry Me Back, is definitely different.
First, I set out to write songs specifically for this project. The goal was for each song to have a story, set within a fitting musical landscape. I’m always jotting down ideas on scraps of paper that I toss into a large envelope. When it comes time to sit down and write, I dump those scraps out and leaf through them till one pops out, looking like it might be where I want to go. It was important for the stories to resonate with some aspect of most folks’ own life experience. In most cases, the lyrics end up telling me where to go musically. Also, the music had to have a deep, “in the pocket” groove. I wrote more songs than I needed so we could select not only the best, but also a set that would fit together and in a way, tell it’s own story over the arc of the record.
Second, recognizing I needed a collaborator that “gets me”, I reached out to one of my dearest lifelong friends, Wayne Addleman, who plays steel with Trace Adkins. We share a lot of history together. Wayne has impeccable musical taste and I trust him 1000%. I was thrilled when he agreed to produce this album. We had a blast working together and adding one more chapter to our many adventures.
A mentor of mine offered me this advice early on – “You’re building a team. Don’t over-think it…..Leave something to serendipity. Find the most competent people you can….and trust them…..assume they’ll do what’s in the best interest of the project.”
Wayne put together an awesome team. He brought in John Richardson on drums, along with Brian Wooten and Brent Wilson on guitars from Trace’s band. Wayne played steel and all other things that “slide”. We had Tigar Bell on fiddle and mandolin, Chris Tuttle on accordion, with Mike Rogers and Marion Grace on background vocals. I played bass. The recording and mixing was done at Sound Kitchen Studio in Franklin, TN. Jesse Poe did the engineering and he and Wayne mixed the album. Mastering was by Jim Demain at Yesmaster Studio in Nashville.
Famous producer, Emory Gordy Jr. has a definition of serendipity that I love:
“Serendipity is looking for a needle in a hay-stack, and stumbling across the farmer’s voluptuous daughter….AND, she’s a world class French Chef !”
The free flow of creativity shared by all of our team sure brought Miss Serendipity into our midst.
The final result exceeded my wildest dreams. I hope it finds it’s way to folks who will enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I feel the biggest challenge is getting my music heard by people who would most likely enjoy it. There is just so much out there, it can be overwhelming for a person to sift through everything to find new stuff they like. The other big challenge, being independent, is trying to do a decent job wearing all the other hats in addition to artist, like marketer, booking agent, social media person, publicist, etc. that are needed to keep the ship afloat.
Technology is great in that it provides more channels to reach people with new music compared to the days when the major record companies controlled everything. Digital technology also has made delivering a quality product to the public much more affordable, whether it’s downloads, streaming or physical CD’s – compared with pressing vinyl and the downstream costs of getting terrestrial radio airplay and record store placement.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
I’m learning to do a better job engaging on facebook, and twitter, but my website is the best place to start. Here are the links:
- Website: www.jeffmamett.com (has EPK)
- Facebook: facebook.com/jeffmamett/
- Twitter: twitter.com/JeffMamett
- Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/jeff-mamett
The album is due out Sept. 21 and will be available on all the usual outlets: CDBaby, ITunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc. We’ll be offering some pre-order specials on the website starting Sept.7.
Anything else before we sign off?
There’s a lot of excellent music being made these days by people folks may not have heard of, but a bit of time spent searching usually turns up some gems. I’d like to thank you for all you do to promote and support those of us out here doing it on our own and for featuring my music on your forum.
