Essential 8 with Joe Troop
1. Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you?
- I have had many musical mentors through the years. But I would say that one of the artists that most influenced me is a double bassist I worked with for 6 years in Buenos Aires, Diego Sánchez. He taught me a lot about restraint and patience as we crafted our music together. I learned that beauty is something you work towards, and that even if something isn't fully improvised, beautifully arranging music is in itself a form of prolonged improvisation.
2. With (please choose a song), what was the “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?
- Of all the songs I’ve written, “The Rise of Dreama Caldwell” is the song I am most proud of. In the four or five day fully-committed writing process, I had many “a-ha” moments. Like when I found the harmony for the chorus, or discovering that “bail” and “debt” could indeed rhyme somehow. My biggest “a-ha” moment came in a soul-crushing search for a synonym of “to demand” that sounded better than said word. When “to exact” came to me, I almost shat myself.
3. What’s the story behind your album’s title?
- It’s lifted from the lyrics of “Love Along the Way,” the album’s “hit” single. “I’ll hold your hand if you hold mine. Life on earth is borrowed time. And as long as we’re living, we ought to strive to love along the way.” “Borrowed Time” really speaks to the pandemic era, the ephemeral nature of life.
4. Why did you choose to anchor the album with the songs you did?
- These songs were the best expression of where I was at the time of the recording. Together they helped me sublimate the first year of the pandemic and all I lived.
5. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
From my lived experiences and the people I come across that impact me.
6. When/where do you do your best writing?
There is no way to predict when something will come to me. Often it is while driving or hiking, sometimes late at night while about to sleep, occasionally when really hammered. LOL.
- I have had many musical mentors through the years. But I would say that one of the artists that most influenced me is a double bassist I worked with for 6 years in Buenos Aires, Diego Sánchez. He taught me a lot about restraint and patience as we crafted our music together. I learned that beauty is something you work towards, and that even if something isn't fully improvised, beautifully arranging music is in itself a form of prolonged improvisation.
2. With (please choose a song), what was the “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?
- Of all the songs I’ve written, “The Rise of Dreama Caldwell” is the song I am most proud of. In the four or five day fully-committed writing process, I had many “a-ha” moments. Like when I found the harmony for the chorus, or discovering that “bail” and “debt” could indeed rhyme somehow. My biggest “a-ha” moment came in a soul-crushing search for a synonym of “to demand” that sounded better than said word. When “to exact” came to me, I almost shat myself.
3. What’s the story behind your album’s title?
- It’s lifted from the lyrics of “Love Along the Way,” the album’s “hit” single. “I’ll hold your hand if you hold mine. Life on earth is borrowed time. And as long as we’re living, we ought to strive to love along the way.” “Borrowed Time” really speaks to the pandemic era, the ephemeral nature of life.
4. Why did you choose to anchor the album with the songs you did?
- These songs were the best expression of where I was at the time of the recording. Together they helped me sublimate the first year of the pandemic and all I lived.
5. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
From my lived experiences and the people I come across that impact me.
6. When/where do you do your best writing?
There is no way to predict when something will come to me. Often it is while driving or hiking, sometimes late at night while about to sleep, occasionally when really hammered. LOL.
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5. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
From my lived experiences and the people I come across that impact me. 6. When/where do you do your best writing? There is no way to predict when something will come to me. Often it is while driving or hiking, sometimes late at night while about to sleep, occasionally when really hammered. LOL. |
GRAMMY-nominated bandleader for Che Apalache, Troop didn’t stop even for a second as COVID ravaged a whole year’s worth of performance dates. Instead he took to the rural roads of North Carolina and the American South, pushing to get out the vote among rural progressives and interviewing those most affected by Trump’s horrific policies.
After a year learning direct action from stalwart progressive organizers, he’s channeling that energy into his first proper solo album. Borrowed Time, out August 20 on Free Dirt Records, may feature big names like Béla Fleck (who produced Che Apalache’s GRAMMY-nominated album), Abigail Washburn, Tim O’Brien, and Charlie Hunter, but the powerful songwriting speaks for itself and is designed to push listeners out of their comfort zones.
This is the kind of activism that got Pete Seeger blacklisted, and Troop’s no stranger to controversy, having been chased off stages and threatened for his radical songs. But as an openly gay man growing up playing bluegrass in the South, Troop never had a choice, he had to stand up for what he believed in, no matter the consequences. With Borrowed Time, Troop is doing much more than just bringing together a group of great musicians to embody songs of protest, he’s building on his community of activists and organizers to tell his own story and the stories of those whose voices have been pushed down.
Listen to Joe Troop's latest album Borrowed Time here..
After a year learning direct action from stalwart progressive organizers, he’s channeling that energy into his first proper solo album. Borrowed Time, out August 20 on Free Dirt Records, may feature big names like Béla Fleck (who produced Che Apalache’s GRAMMY-nominated album), Abigail Washburn, Tim O’Brien, and Charlie Hunter, but the powerful songwriting speaks for itself and is designed to push listeners out of their comfort zones.
This is the kind of activism that got Pete Seeger blacklisted, and Troop’s no stranger to controversy, having been chased off stages and threatened for his radical songs. But as an openly gay man growing up playing bluegrass in the South, Troop never had a choice, he had to stand up for what he believed in, no matter the consequences. With Borrowed Time, Troop is doing much more than just bringing together a group of great musicians to embody songs of protest, he’s building on his community of activists and organizers to tell his own story and the stories of those whose voices have been pushed down.
Listen to Joe Troop's latest album Borrowed Time here..