Jim Lauderdale embodies a rare juxtaposition within himself. He is an artist who appears calm and still on the surface, while always carrying a steady flow of creative movement within, much like the practice of tai chi he maintains in his life.
Just this year, Lauderdale has already released two albums, toured steadily, maintained a weekly residency in Nashville and is working on another release he hopes to have out in the fall.
“It takes kind of a balance and it’s a lifelong thing,” says Lauderdale of his way of life and commitment to songwriting. “To try to make your work so that you’re productive with it and that it doesn’t drive you crazy or totally wear you out. To dig down deep inside of yourself and kind of dance with everything.”
Last year, Lauderdale performed in Houston with a full band, something he hadn’t done in Houston for about fifteen years prior to his show last fall. He and his band The Game Changers will return to The Continental Club on Thursday, June 4. The Game Changers will open the show before joining Lauderdale for his set.
“I am really looking forward to coming back to the Continental Club. We had a blast last time. What a perfect room that is.”
Just a month apart from each other, Lauderdale released Country Super Hits Volume 2 and The Birds Know, a bluegrass project with The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys earlier this year. The two albums are distinct but both carry the Lauderdale touch in their thoughtful lyrics and heartfelt melodies.
The Birds Know reflects Lauderdale’s long love of bluegrass, a sound that is woven into the culture in his home state of North Carolina and seems to be in the water there and the surrounding region. He describes going to his first bluegrass festival at the age of 14 with a bunch of college students at Union Grove, a festival that helped strengthen the connection between hippie culture and Appalachian music.
“I discovered years later that a lot of people went to that festival not in the same year but six years earlier; Jerry Garcia and David Grisman and a bunch of folks. It was a real touchstone for people to go to.”
For The Birds Know, he teamed up with Tennesseans The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys after seeing them at MerleFest about five years ago. “I love traditional bluegrass and those guys reminded me of a combination of The Stanley Brothers and Jimmy Martin. I was just real taken with them and sat in with them and I just made up my mind that I’d really like to record with these guys.”
And record they did. Lauderdale and the boys churned out a beautiful collection of bluegrass songs that capture the warm yet lonesome sound of the genre.
“This record pretty much was written just for this project. I’m real slow and it went quicker than usual for me to write everything,” says Lauderdale, crediting the band for being great players. “I’ve done this before with writing for different bands or different musicians that I knew I wanted to have on a record so I like that challenge.”
In his songs, Lauderdale always has a way of addressing the facts of life that are as old as time while weaving in themes of modern life. In his song “We Look at Things in Different Ways” Lauderdale evokes a conversation which could easily be about a couple in love or just about anybody these days.
“I just felt like in this time right now we are so divided. You could be having a great conversation with somebody and think wow, this is really good and then if one of you brings up a topic,mainly political, that can totally wreck a relationship. It’s heartbreaking to me that this is happening and we have to get beyond those differences because everybody is different.”
It is this openness toward others that has long made Lauderdale such a compelling artist. A friendly, hippy-like cowboy with an infectious positivity, he embodies a ‘the more the merrier’ spirit that runs throughout his songs.
True to form, Lauderdale took his time allowing 20 years to pass between Country Super Hits Volume 1 and Country Super Hits Volume 2. For the collection, Lauderdale pretended that he had a greatest hits from other albums, grouping songs together by how they fit with one another though they are all previously unreleased.
On Country Super Hits Volume 2, Lauderdale showcases his guitar playing and his band while exploring traditional country themes of heartbreak, bad luck and trouble with a modern flair.
“As a writer we have to think of different ways to say things or say something different so that we are not repeating ourselves or repeating whatever is already out there. That’s always a good challenge for me,” he says.
Finding the balance between being present and channeling into the energies that bring songs to life is a huge part of Lauderdale’s process and closely tied to his practice of tai chi.
He recalls seeing a magazine back in the 90s while working in Los Angeles. In it he saw an advertisement for a workshop in Oregon and he decided to go. This began his lifelong interest in the art and lifestyle philosophy.
“Believe me, I face my daily ups and downs and get the world’s stress but it helps me to deal with it and manage it. It’s a lifelong process because the stuff in our world will never stop it will never be peaceful outside unfortunately and we are not always peaceful inside. I feel like a constant beginner with this stuff all the time and I realize how far I’ve got to go with it. It’s just baby steps I feel like I’m making.”
Jim Lauderdale and The Game Changers will perform on Thursday June 4, 8 p.m. at The Continental Club, 3700 Main. For more information visit continentalclub.com or jimlauderdalemusic.com
