Kenny Roby

In the late 90s, Kenny Roby ushered in the alt-country wave that spread across the world with his band 6 String Drag. Since then he’s released a steady stream of records both with the band and on his own. We talked about his latest release, a gorgeous 16-track, deeply personal record called The Reservoir out August 7th on Royal Potato Family.

You recently relocated to Woodstock, is it an indefinite move?
Oh, there’s no such thing as permanently! I have a place up here now. I have my stuff and myself and my guitars at a place in Woodstock that I live at up here on my own. Who knows what the future means. This year has taught us that and me that for sure. Best-laid plans, you know. But I like it here and I’d like to stay.

I’d lived in Raleigh a long time. I love the Raleigh scene and the North Carolina Scene and the people there. But after traveling a lot I realized I was feeling a little bit claustrophobic in metropolitan areas. Raleigh’s gotten really big. I love visiting the city but I really wanted to be out near the woods and have some space. Just a change of pace and a change of scene. 

Woodstock reminds me of home in a lot of ways. I grew up in the foothills of the other Upstate, Upstate South Carolina. The scenery here is similar – same mountain range, similar vibe. I felt at home here but it was something new. And now it turns out it doesn’t really matter because you can’t play live anyway.

Are you constantly writing in between albums or do your songs come to you in bursts? What are you up to between album releases?
I think that I’m writing in bursts but then I look back at my iPhone demos or things I’ve hummed into a phone and realize I’m probably always writing. I think if I was laying in a bed and couldn’t move, heaven forbid, that I would still have songs churning in my head, even if I couldn’t play them or sing them or tell them to somebody. 

I might record something every year to a year and a half but then it doesn’t come out for a couple of years. The biggest gap between albums was when I released the Mercy Filter in 2006 and when Memories and Birds came out in 2013. In that time I concentrated on raising my kids and doing the family thing and working a regular job, but still writing here and there.

That was probably the least musically and artistically productive time in my life since I was a teenager, although some big personal growth was happening, which is still creative. So, not on the Bob Dylan Cycle but not on the Jimmie Dale Gilmore–I-went-off-into-the-woods-for-ten-years cycle yet either.

The lineup on this record is pretty amazing. What was it like playing with [Jeff Hill, John Shannon, Jesse Aycock, and Tony Leone]?
It was fantastic. They’re all so good at what they do and such great team players. They each have a lot to share and at the same time don’t mind not playing much when the song doesn’t call for it. They’re not ego-driven or stuck in their own ways. At the same time, they all have strengths and you want to let them shine. This was a pretty subdued record, but everybody’s part was really important. I think we all needed it.

It was very, for lack of a better word, healing, or cathartic. We needed to talk about Neal and laugh a little bit, share stories about him. It was probably the first time any of us had laughed in about six weeks after Neal died. Not to be too cliche, but we laughed some and we probably cried a little bit. Maybe not collectively but we had to process some anger, frustration. Everyone there was a friend of Neal’s and had worked with him in the past. That turned out to be a good thing.

I don’t know if that camaraderie comes across on the record but we definitely felt it playing the songs. And these were songs that Neal loved. All of us had a respect for that as well, to honor him and the music as well. 

I’m sure that as healing as it was it was also difficult going into the studio so soon after Neal passed.
There were definitely moments that were tough. I was in a pretty tough place when I wrote “Room 125” and Neal related when he heard it, I think when he was struggling with what he was struggling with. That one was really hard to make it through. I basically couldn’t do it again.

The only time that I really made it through the whole song was the one we kept. I think there’s even a recording of me saying, “That’s enough.” I had to catch my breath and walk out and be done with it. I would have sung it a different day, but [Producer] Dave [Schools] was like “No, that’s good, that’s the one.” I messed up a word here and there, but that’s not the point. We’re not trying to do math, we’re trying to get out of the way and let some things be.

A lot of your songs are character-based. How do you come up with them?
I did that more on my older stuff. This record is probably one of the most personal records I’ve done. I use some characters here and there, a little bit of other people’s experience with my perspective.

Sometimes I find that it’s easier to be honest and easier to hear honesty about the human condition through fiction than through a memoir. I think with fictional characters you can also speak more truth because it allows you to share a true emotion. It’s not hiding behind characters. It’s using them as puppets to say things that would be hard to say on your own. They’re me and aren’t me at the same time. 

So, I imagine that now isn’t the most ideal time to release a record but are there any unexpected upsides that you’re anticipating?
People seem to be stopping and really listening to the record. I don’t know if that’s because they have the time to do it now or if they’re in a state of reflection but they seem to be getting it.

I wouldn’t hope for this pandemic but if it’s going to happen then I hope that on a superficial level, the record is a nice escape for people. Or it’s something they can really get into and hear something that makes them reflect a bit. That might be a little heady but who knows. 

I think people need art now especially.
We probably need dance music and we probably need music that is reflective and has some depth to it that people can identify with. I would hope that people sit down and really listen to this record. Put it on their record player, their cd player, stream it, and just sit down with it like a book… or maybe a self-help book.
Roby laughs.

I wrote it for my own reasons. But, I think maybe we can give it some time. I didn’t write it to help anybody but people are welcome to take it and if they get something good out of it then of course.

The record is balances heavy emotion with a lot of optimism. How would you advise others to stay similarly balanced?
I don’t know if I have advice. For me, what’s helped is to try to just sit with things and feel them and be okay with where I am. I think that I finally learned to say to give myself permission to say, “Man, this sucks,” or, “I’m not in a place that I’m very comfortable with.”

Or on the other side of it to say, “Hey, I feel pretty good.” Give myself permission to be where I am and feel okay, too. And feel good about things and feel optimistic. I kind of seek the middle. Not too much excitement, not too much being down in the mud.

The bottom line is you’re still alive even if you get the shit beat out of yourself in a storm. There’s still a chance.

Do you have any plans for a socially distanced, outdoor show or a livestream to promote your release?
I don’t have any solid plans. I’m trying to get together some acoustic, social distanced, 20-30 people back yard or house concerts. Just sort of seeing how things unfold. Maybe I’ll start doing some live or recorded videos playing acoustic in some cool places, there’s so much beautiful scenery up here.

A few weeks ago, the band got back together at Applehead Recording, the studio in Woodstock where we made the record. We did some filming for the Woodstock Sessions and some video from that will be streaming soon.

For now, I’m leaving that space open for just other political or social stuff or for other bands who should have been touring. We can’t all be out there at once. I’ll wait for when it’s my time to do that kind of stuff when the record comes out.

What records have you been listening to to get through this time? 
I’ve been listening to Chet Baker a lot. It’s a little – talk about unrealistic- it’s a little romantic but I enjoy that. I’m a little bit of a hopeless romantic. I can listen to Chet Baker and smile and be completely in tears at the same time. 

I’ve been listening to Rusty Kershaw a lot, his record from 1972 and then the one from ‘91. I was listening to Jim Ford this morning, The Unissued Capitol Album. It’s really great stuff. Besides that just listening to some 30s-50s Blues. Been listening to George Jones a lot. I go on a George Jone kick about two or three times a year for about a week or so. I mean, one of the greatest singers ever. 

Sometimes I listen to stuff like Tinariwen where I don’t know what they’re saying because I don’t speak Tuareg. It’s nice to just listen to the music and take it in. That’s been about the last month or so. And sometimes I don’t listen to anything and just have some quiet.

The Reservoir is out on August 7th. Pre-order it here.

This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

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