Turntable Tuesday

Turntable Tuesday! Will Kimbrough’s “Spring Break.”

October 27, 2020

It’s Turntable Tuesday…because life is too short not to listen to great music! Turn that TV OFF and listen to some music on your local speaker! Crank it up and dance the night away!

I want to encourage you to listen to my podcast this week for a one hour conversation with Will Kimbrough as we explore the making of his new solo album “Spring Break” track by track. As I said on my podcast I feel this is the best yet of Will’s entire solo collection which is now at ten solo albums as I count them. This week on the companion blog I also want to show you some photos of the brand new Will Kimbrough album that just released last Friday and a few more things.

Shown on one of my 100 year old piano stools this week…Hot off the press in stunning sea foam green vinyl…it’s Will Kimbrough’s newest creation “Spring Break.”

If you want to listen to my companion podcast you can listen here or subscribe for free on any of the streaming services you use. My podcast is easily searchable on Amazon Music, Apple Music, Google, Spotify, Tuned-in Radio and many others by searching “Andrew Talbert.”Listen in for my conversation with Will Kimbrough!

Will Kimbrough is a Nashville based, Alabama born prolific writer and recording artist, a member of the band Willie Sugarcapps, the band DADDY with Tommy Womack, an occasional member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, The Wild Elephants with Marshall Chapman, and Emmylou Harris’ Red Dirt Boys. If the COVID-19 virus had not come into the year of 2020 Will would have been on the beach stage this week in Key West along with all of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band as well as playing a set of his music but then again if we had not had a virus pandemic maybe this album would have not happened this year if ever. I look at this album as a gift delivered in what has been a tough year for us all.

Will has written songs which were recorded by Jimmy Buffett, Little Feat, Todd Snider, Jack Ingram, the Americana supergroup Hard Working Americans, Gretchen Peters, and many others. When I say Will has written songs for these people I am not just adding a name on this list to name drop credits. One year in Key West I asked Will to perform all the songs he written or co-written for Jimmy Buffett and he filled a most of a 90 minute set. Yes it was awesome. Todd Snider has been playing weekly shows online as recent as last Sunday and Todd will not go a show without telling stories of songs either written by Will or co-written with him. Will won’t brag on himself but I will sing his praises as I really relate to the title of the first track on this fabulous new Will Kimbrough album “My Sin is Pride.”

The back cover of the album featuring a photo taken by his daughter Sadie Kimbrough. Will is seen in his Nashville front yard with his trusty vintage Gibson acoustic and the mirror ball that hung from the front porch during his weekly “Pollenfest” live streams through the pandemic of 2020.

Will’s production credits include Jimmy Buffett, Todd Snider, and Shemekia Copeland to mention just a few. Shemekia’s ninth album, “Uncivil War” was released last Friday on the same day as this new album from Will and includes stellar guests Jason Isbell, Steve “the Colonel” Cropper, delta blues sensation Christone”Kingfish”Ingram, as well as fourteen time Grammy winner and three time CMA musician of the year dobro superstar Jerry Douglas. I should also mention mandolin-master Sam Bush is on this new Shemekia Copeland album. Bear in mind this is only a sampling of Will’s production work and I could keep on talking for a long while about all the music he has produced. I have said to close friends that I know a lot of musicians in many genres of music but I don’t know any other musician that is harder working than Will Kimbrough. Will not only has many musical gifts, ability to construct lyrical masterpieces with ease, and  is a very active music producer, but I will personally tell you and many of you know he is a great guy. It makes my day anytime I get the opportunity to have a conversation with Will about all things in life and music. Don’t miss the podcast this week!

(Above) The track listing from the album cover. As Will explains on the podcast there is a definite sequencing to this record. Once you listen to the podcast and the record you can really hear the flow. This is an album you will want to take some time and listen to over and over. Some of these songs have been previously recorded on records Will either played on or produced but there are also some new and very relevant to 2020 songs in this collection as well. Here on “Spring Break” the songs all sound very new and they really shine with his approach.
What is not to like about surf green or as some guitar enthusiasts call it “sea foam green” The story of the color selection and some other “pressing” details are on the podcast. When you see this color on a guitar you know it is time to rock.

I am not going to elaborate on the album here as I want you to go listen to the stories in Will’s own words on my podcast interview. Each track has a story. I will give you a small snippet of something he said on the podcast as he elaborated about track two ‘The Late Great John Prine Blues.” “The first time I saw John Prine live it was 1978 and I was just about to turn fourteen years old. I saw Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, and Keith Sykes in the Mobile Alabama Municipal Auditorium. It was about $2 to get in. There were about 500 people there in an 8000 seat arena. It changed my life.”

A 35 mm photo of John Prine taken in 1978 on the same tour (without Jerry Jeff and Keith Sykes here) as Will described in his story. This photo was taken in Greensboro, North Carolina on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Photo by Andrew Talbert.

I will open the podcast with a sound bite from the new “Home Remedy” which from the moment I heard this song my thoughts were this is where “Nashville meets Topanga Canyon.” The chords and the harmonica key take you right from Will’s studio “Kimbrough’s Super Service” in Nashville to the hills of California and you can hear all the tones in the song from the 1960’s and 1970’s that came from those geographical areas. Will can play anything with strings on it and his virtuosity really shines on this record. When you listen remember he played every instrument on this album. The podcast will end with a sample of “Philadelphia, Mississippi.” Not only is this a great song with a great story I have a personal connection to that place as I lived 15 minutes from Philadelphia, Mississippi during my high school years. Those images are burned into my memory.

There are so many stories in this one hour podcast so go subscribe or download the podcast from your favorite streaming platform and listen when you can. Be sure to go buy the vinyl which is now on sale in your local record shops across the country. The album is also available at https://www.willkimbrough.com/ You can buy the cd or downloads as well but you know that sea foam green 180 gram vinyl is calling your name. You may even want the new album T-shirt!

That’s all for this Turntable Tuesday. I want to thank Will Kimbrough for taking the time to tell us all about the recording of this album and the tracks on the record. Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.

A photo from 2011 in Key West after a show.
Will Kimbrough and Andrew Talbert.
Will Kimbrough and Marshall Chapman on stage in Key West joined by Coral Reefer Band leader Michael Utley (right). Nashville recording engineer Casey Wood is on drums with Zebadiah Briskovich on bass.