From the first lilting notes of Star Thistle’s “Home Ground,” you know you’re in for something special. And if that world-toussled, road-worn voice sounds familiar, it’s because you probably heard his work under the name Uncle Sinner back on Episode 155 of the Adobe & Teardrops podcast. Of the song, Star writes that it’s about “staying in a bad relationship because you fuck up on your own; trying to find solace in familiar places.” The enigimatic Canadian opened up a bit more for our 5 rounds, where his encyclopedic knowledge of folk music is on full display.
Who are some of your musical influences?
I grew up listening to people like Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell. The contemporary songwriters I like these days are people like Gregory Alan Isakov, Adrienne Lenker, Sam Beam, Amelia Curran and Jason Isbell.
When I was 17-22 or so I listened to Ferron a lot, especially her nearly impossible to find self-titled first album and her “Not a Still Life” live album, neither of which are on Spotify. She had the courage to be an openly Lesbian songwriter, starting in the 1970s. She made her own record label so that she could do whatever she wanted and be open about her sexuality. She’s from the west coast of Canada and I don’t know how well known she is in the US but I learned a lot from listening to her. I don’t add this to be pandering or anything, but really songs like “Lost and Found” and Borderlines” on the album owe a debt to her and I wanted to acknowledge it.
Explain the album title.
I have been writing songs for over 25 years, so I thought these were the best ones. The idea is that these are the best I can do, even if they aren’t that great. Most are more recent songs, but some go back a ways, which gave me time to think about what worked in them and what didn’t work and tweak them accordingly. For a while I thought about calling it Greatest Hits Volume 2 (sort of an in-joke, as Bob Dylan stuck unreleased songs on his Greatest Hits Volume 2), but I decided it might come across as egotistical.
What is the overarching theme of the album?
They’re all very personal songs about beauty and pain. Sometimes there’s this pattern of singing about pain for the first couple of verses and then near the end there’s a glimmer of hope. A lot of that hope seems tied up in other people, which is not the healthiest tendency. Compiling the songs made me more aware of that.
Do you write music or lyrics first?
things take a long time to incubate, so the idea generally starts first. Some of them are an expression of insight into myself and my history, others describe an emotional state (current or past). Then I typically write down lyrics and I let the melody run from the internal rhythm of the lyrics.
Name a perfect song and why you feel that way.
I think my favourite song is “I Dream a Highway” by Gillian Welch. I tend to favour really long songs like that–“The Trapeze Swinger” by Iron & Wine is a close second. “I Dream a Highway” is perfect because it captures a mood and you can just immerse yourself in it even if you don’t logically understand every line. The music is tasteful, the harmonies other-wordly. By obtaining a glimpse of someone else’s world, I end up experiencing a life beyond my own. The song thus offers a way of transcending both time and space.