The new record from JrSOAPbox is out now. JrSOAPbox lives in the small town of Powell, Missouri, just across the Arkansas line, and last week he came to the Carver Center for Public Radio to talk about the record “Stones” and to talk about growing up listening to family and neighbors play music for fun.
JrSOAPbox: That's what my dad did on the weekends with all their friends, did, just got together and played music with each other real.
Kyle Kellams: What would they play? Just whatever they knew?
JrSOAPbox: They would play anything. My dad, he came up from Texas. He was back to lander and him and mom came up from Austin when Austin started getting big. And so he loved bluegrass, but not many in his circle played real bluegrass. And so he wasn't as picky as a lot of bluegrassers he was. He just wanted to play music.
Kellams: And was this in the Powell, Missouri, area?
JrSOAPbox: Yes.
Kellams: So you grew up there?
JrSOAPbox: I grew up there. I lived there my whole life. Well, not I moved away, but yeah.
Kellams: So you're listening to live music produced by your dad and his friends. I guess you just probably thought everybody played music.
JrSOAPbox: I thought that's what people did when they were hanging out. Yeah. I thought that's what social interactions were. You brought food and you played music with each other. I can remember when I did move out West, trying to find people that just wanted to play music and not have a band, and it was impossible, and it blew my mind.
Kellams: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up that distinction, because I think so many of us think when you say play music, it's to be a band. But this was no, no social.
JrSOAPbox: Mhm. I'm an adamant believer that everyone should play music. And if I was going to get on my soapbox, I would say there's a problem in what I've seen in this country where people think they need to be performance level to play music. And I think that's a negative impact or a negative thing that people believe. I think we should all just play music for the fun of it.
Kellams: What I'm listening to your music. There's obviously some country folk influences. But there's influences from other things too.
JrSOAPbox: Oh yeah. I like music, I like all kinds of music. I just like good music. There was a lot of country bluegrass influence in this area growing up, but I was always an indie rock kid. I wanted to move to the northwest whenever I was in high school and rock out.
Kellams: So as you're hearing your dad and his friends play music and then you're getting the three chords, are you also buying music? Are you also hearing music?
JrSOAPbox: Oh, records. Yeah. So about that same time, my brothers both went to school in Alaska. And so they really found a lot of that music that was really big to me. Really young. A lot of stuff that, like Modest Mouse when no one knew who they were, they found them in Alaska and they brought that home, and Built to Spill was just the pinnacle achievement of music as a kid for me. And I got a really young influence on all that for being in this area. I can remember when no one knew who those bands were.
Kellams: Right. Well, the record that's coming out. Tell me about it.
JrSOAPbox: So I go to a music festival every year, the Walnut Valley Music Festival, and we play a lot of music with each other. And that's what the whole premise of the festival is, is campgrounds and meeting people and playing music with them. And I met these two guys, John Depue and Peter Oviatt, and been playing with them a lot the last two years. And I've known this bass player, Brody Wellman. He's had a bunch of musical projects and known him for a long time. And after last Winfield, we just had such a good time. I knew Peter had a studio in New Mexico and I called him up and I said, can we just spend a weekend and put some songs out? And they were all willing to do it and I was flattered.
[Music]
JrSOAPbox: On this I sent them, I think, 10 or 12 songs. And I said, we have a weekend. Let's get as many of them as we can do. Prioritize what you would like to do. And Peter really took that by the reins and he was like, let's work on these five. And I thought five was ambitious for a weekend. And we just went in there and started playing them. And those guys were just so good. Someone would play something and they would hear it. And the next time we'd play through it, they would be mimicking it. And they played so well off of each other that I didn't have to really do anything but bring songs.
Kellams: What is that like in the moment for you?
JrSOAPbox: It's amazing because like I said, they're just very gifted individuals. And I feel like a stonemason from Southwest Missouri, not really a musician. I feel like more of a writer than a musician.
Kellams: Do you mind playing a song? Is this going to be one from the new album?
JrSOAPbox: This is one from the new album. Yep.
Kellams: All right.
JrSOAPbox: All right.
[Live performance]
Kellams: That's terrific. Thank you so much. That is fantastic.
JrSOAPbox: Thank you.
Kellams: There's a depth to that song. I mean, that strikes me as one that maybe it's cathartic to hear. Is it cathartic to write?
JrSOAPbox: I never know. I'm a, I think, a different kind of songwriter than most every other songwriter I write or I talk to about writing. I just, I sit down and if it doesn't just come out of me all in a breath, it's not a song worth messing with. And sometimes like that song, I go back and listen. I'm like, oh, whoa, I said that. Okay, but so I don't know, the writing process to me is don't get in my own way.
Kellams: Right. Well, that's sometimes harder said than done.
JrSOAPbox: It is very hard, harder. It's very easy to second guess yourself.
Kellams: Yes. You've had people cover your songs.
JrSOAPbox: I have, yes. I've had Shannon Morse has recorded two of my songs, and she just makes them sound so amazing. And I'm so privileged to have her do that. There's a fella in France named Greg Weiss who's got multiple projects and he does a handful of my songs that he's recorded and put out. And yeah, that's pretty cool.
Kellams: Very cool.
JrSOAPbox: It's very flattering.
Kellams: Yeah. You've got a hat on that says Powell Store Music.
JrSOAPbox: Yeah, I bought a last year, I bought a 1912 general store and it's sat without anybody doing anything in it for probably 20 years. And I've been cleaning it out and I built the stage outside and I've been doing just free community shows in Powell. Powell used to be a really big music community. Albert Brumley was from there. And so they used to have big festivals out there. And so I'm kind of trying to bring music back to Powell, and we've just been doing free shows out there.
September fifth we've got a guy, he's in his mid 70s. He's from Georgia, moved out to San Francisco in 1970, lived on a commune in Canada. And he has 55 years of accumulated art. And we are filling the Powell store with his art. And we have three bands. Kim Kutina, That Breeze Though and Tragic Prelude. And it's all free. Just open to the public.
Kellams: How do you find the Powell store?
JrSOAPbox: If you find Powell, you'll find the Powell store.
Kellams: That's awesome. You mentioned that you left for a while. You went west?
JrSOAPbox: Yes.
Kellams: Was that for college or?
JrSOAPbox: No. I actually went to the UofA, but I went out there just to be out west when both my brothers went to school in Alaska. So I've just always loved the northwest and I just went out there to live and work. I got a job trimming trees and just starved as long as I could out there until I came home.
Kellams: But you wanted to come back.
JrSOAPbox: I love it here. Yeah. I absolutely love the Ozarks. I think they're just the greatest place in the world. I love the people. I love the environment. I love the creeks.
Kellams: Yeah. All right. Let's tell people the name of the album where they can find it.
JrSOAPbox: The name of the album is JrSOAPbox. The name of the album is Stones, and it'll be on all streaming platforms on Aug. 26.
Kellams: Thanks so much for coming in.
JrSOAPbox: Thank you so much for having me.
Kellams: Come back.
JrSOAPbox: Oh thank you, I hope so.
JrSOAPbox. His new record is out today. Right now it's called Stones. He visited the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio last week.
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