When it comes to this singer-songwriter, you can hear the influences of Bob Dylan, John Prine, David Bowie, and Leonard Cohen… and it sounds phenomenal.
Equally wistful as he is wise, and “less afraid to offend people” now more than ever, Roger Street Friedman is a modern country rocker with a retro twist and a hopeful complexion. His appreciation for jam sessions and his eye for a good time makes him a kindred spirit – one we throughly enjoyed talking to about this brand new year and brand new album cycle – the highly anticipated Long Shadows cycle. During this, he brings a trustworthy Americana voice to an often hopeless, frequently floundering, and occasionally jaded nation.
Long Shadows, out in just two weeks, is folksy and roots-y in its 10 songs, but carries itself with a stage-demanding energy. It’s narrative based, which makes sense as Friedman has storytelling in his bones. He depicts himself as an observer, an intimate journeyman living in the now and reflecting on such with as much angst as you can expect in this social climate, but also with comfort and honesty. You can’t ask for more from an existential creative who writes lyrics like, “It’s 1:00 am and here I am with the proceeds of a slim tip-jar, enough to cover a meal or two, new strings for an old guitar. My boots clatter down the sidewalk; now he’s sleeping on a subway grate / Feels like we’re all homeless souls, no matter in which bed we lay.”
I have been listening to Long Shadows, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in that record and that world, so from one New Yorker to another, thank you.
Oh, wow. Thank you. That makes me really happy. I really appreciate that as it was actually a real joy to make the record. It labor of love and everybody who came in to work on it was just really into it. My prerequisite for anybody when they got into the studio is to just have a good time [Laughs]. I wasn’t really too worried, either, everyone is a highly accomplished musician, so I knew that with whoever came in, we were gonna have a good time and make good music. I didn’t want it to be stressful at all. You know, if we didn’t get it in one take, we could do it in 10 takes; it didn’t matter. I think that really comes through in the tracks: everybody had a good time.
There’s a rawness to this record, but quite a comfortable, easy-going flow. I don’t know if you spent a lot of time on the order of the tracklist, but it flows well. I do love a complete and concise album, cover-to-cover especially, and I just think that these tracks are in such a superb order, and I wanted to commend you – and your team of musicians and friends – for such.
Thank you! I’m right there with you! I really love sitting down with a whole album and listening to it start-to-finish and reading the lyrics just like the old days [Laughs]. That’s one of the joys of discovering new music – being able to do that.
I did spend a lot of time on the sequence, thinking about it and everything, but it almost felt like this was the only possible sequence to me. It was like, “Of course! This one has to go here!” It wasn’t hard, it was just like letting them happen. I love the fact that it opens with “Rolling” and ends with “Lo and Behold.” Thank you for saying that.
Going from “Just How It Feels” to “The Land Of The Leaf Blower And The Mighty SUV” sounds like an A side and a B side, although the way that the narrative and the feeling of all these songs go hand-in-hand with each other is amazing. “Rolling In Again” is also such an amazing opener. It sets the tone so perfectly while “Lo and Behold” is a quintessential closing track. I’m rambling, and so many songs stand out, but in regard to that opener and closer, they hold their own in a really clear and observant and harmonious way.
I agree. Thank you. I’m very proud of this record. I think it took about 10 months start to finish, and it was just a joy to work on. Although, some of the songs definitely grew out of a sense of despair, such as “I Think We Know” and “Slow Blind, which is about depression and anxiety and somebody I love very much who was going through a real struggle. They are doing much better now.
I am glad to hear that, Roger.
When you said raw, I think it is. This is a deeply personal record. Sometimes when you’re in the midst of writing and recording, you don’t give it that much thought. I’m just kind of immersed in the process during it, but now with some reflection, I hear how it is a very personal record, but it also explores universal themes that I think we all feel, especially in this post-pandemic political turmoil and division. A song like “Give It All Away for Free” is really about isolation and loneliness and how we’re all kind of disconnected from each other. “Without a Fight” is kind of an ode to the struggle of being a songwriter and an artist and how hard it is [Laughs], but also how it saved my life in a lot of ways. It’s kind of a dichotomy there; I’m still not going down, I’m still running for my life in this music world and in whatever kind of business this is, but I’m still gonna do it. It’s a struggle, but like this record, it’s personal. I find that it’s also universal, though, so I’m glad you dig it.
Oh, I do. I love that you used the word universal, because, you know, I think there really is a very timeless quality to these songs. “Without a Fight,” musically, with the fiddles and everything, feels very cinematic in a way. It is a well-rounded coming-of-age song, while “Give It All Away” is just vocally an evocative piece of music. You really nail that one. “I Think We Know” is just melody-driven in the best way. Do you have a favorite song on the record?
They’re all my children [Laughs], but “Give It All Away for Free” is definitely up there. I really like the vocal performance on that one, too, but also the arrangement I’m particularly proud of it, and it was the first time I really played mandolin on a track. I used the mandolin to create all the little fills that happened In between the lines of the chorus. Then I harmonized all those with guitar and fiddle and accordion and stuff, so it was a real journey production-wise. Sometimes I really love “Lo and Behold,” though, because, lyrically, there are a couple of lines in there… I don’t know where they came from, but they’re really good. “The dawn approaches like a prayer, the darkness infused with streaks of light, just like the hope contained in the new, but newborns cry as if it had been sanctified with a wisp of the divine.” To describe the dawn coming as a way to say that there’s always hope… it is very hopeful.
There’s an elegance to that, but you are definitely right that each song here holds onto a new set of sounds and has its own characteristics. As dark as some moments are, like on “The Land Of The Leaf Blower And The Mighty SUV,” there is also relatable moments of levity and light, as well.
Yes, […]. I love “Leaf Blower” because I feel like there was an evolution in my songwriting there. The little bit of the backstory is that after working with Larry Campbell on the last two records, I got much more interested in having actual parts for the acoustic guitar, because I used to just kind of write on the guitar and maybe there were little musical interludes and always a few melodic things happening. On “Leaf Blower,” I really wanted to make the acoustic guitar part important and prominent, and that’s why that cool little riff happens at the very beginning and throughout. I added a lot of the instrumentation and embellishments, too, like the flute part and the string part that follows that riff.
That was one thing, and the other is when I listened to that song, like you said, there’s a levity to it, there’s like a duality there. You got it exactly right, because the song really is describing this idyllic life in the suburbs where nobody has anything to worry about, but everyone is watching these flat screen TVs with this sinister fear-mongering going on. It was kind of inspired after George Floyd’s death. There were some marches out near where we live and people were up in arms because people were marching through their town. It was totally peaceful, the marches, and everything was completely fine. so I was kind of poking fun at all these people who live in the safest place with very low crime and not much to worry about, being up in arms while the people who really need to worry are people like George Floyd or people in the inner city where they’re being victimized much more often. There’s kind of like a duality to the music on this song. There is this light, happy part with the flute and everything. Then there’s the b-section that gets a little bit darker. John Prine was a big influence of mine. I’ve never felt like I’ve approached a John Prine-esque song so much as this one. There’s one on my first album called “Fiberglass Buddha,” and that’s a total ode to him, but this one almost seems like John Prine, because the lyrics have a certain irony to them that I think he would’ve liked [Laughs].
I hear that, and there is a pointed aspect to that that I think a true songwriter like John Prine would really be captivated by.
Yeah. I wish he was still with us.
It feels like this album is Roger Street Friedman coming into his own in a way, without fear, while taking a look at the human experience through a soulful, albeit nuanced lens. There is more timelessness than ever in your music, as well, and as I said when we started this conversation, I think this is your most concise record to date. Every song has a place record, each with its own story and worth.
That’s amazing. I think you hit the nail on the head, as I’m not creating this for anybody and I’m not thinking about who the audience is. I’m not doing this for the business part of it and as much as I would love if people like it and respond to it, I made this album for myself and I make music that I think is meaningful and important on topics that I feel passionate about. […] I didn’t worry about the audience, because if what I made is real and true and honest, then the people who are paying attention will get it.
FOR MORE ON ROGER STREET FRIEDMAN, VIIST HIS WEBSITE! MAKE SURE TO STREAM LONG SHADOWS ON JANUARY 24!
