One twang at a time

P aul Burch has been quietly offering salvation for those seeking the classic 1960s country music sound long gone from the airwaves. His mix of Texas swing, whip-smart lyrics and impeccable atmosphere make his records with the WPA Ballclub (and his work as drummer with Nashville alt-country orchestra Lambchop) some of the most enjoyable of the decade. We caught up with him in anticipation of his Chelsea’s appearance Feb 24.

What do you call the style of music you play: country, alt-country, neo-country? Is it country music at all?

I don’t think it’s for me to say. I’m a rock ’n’ roller who got very lucky. I heard lots of string band music, country music, rockabilly and R&B growing up. In many ways, I heard music the same way my favorite artists did—on the radio, through records, family friends—without a preamble or warning or magazine article to go by. But initially I heard John Lee Hooker and Hank Williams by putting the needle on the record and going “Wow. That’s really good.”

Who are some of your musical heroes?

Lately I think of artists who stayed great for their whole career like Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong and Bill Monroe. Anybody who made it to old age with the same positive attitude they started out with, I find inspirational. I’m still keen on a lot of artists who were like shooting stars: Clifford Brown, Jimmy Blanton, Charlie Christian and Jimi Hendrix, artists who left incredibly rich music and then just disappeared. You know people still give George Harrison a hard time for not being super hot but when he was 22, he was playing lead guitar on Revolver. What were you doing when you were 22?

Is there any hope for country music? Is the manufactured country-pop of Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith a blip on the radar? Will the spirit of it still always be around?

Sure there’s hope. The songs haven’t gone away. I think rock ’n’ rollers make the best country music and have for most of the last 25 years. Even Marty Stuart and Vince Gill are rock ’n’ rollers with a country heart. I think a healthy way to think of any form of music we regard as classic like “country” or jazz” is that it’s a state of mind more than a sound. Guys like Toby Keith and Kenny Chesney are just marketing phenomenon. No matter how many records they sell, the new stars won’t ever be “country” artists like Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. Kenny and Toby, etc., are something else and obviously it works for them. But those guys wouldn’t dare do a song swap with someone like Dolly or Emmylou and come out even. They are delusional if they think they are part of that club.

Paul Burch and the WPA Ballclub’s latest album is East to West on Bloodshot Records. He is appearing with Last Train Home at 10 p.m. Feb. 24 at Chelsea’s.