ALL THINGS “NEW” ABOUT GRADY!

A few years ago, our native Canadian Gordie Johnson moved south to Texas for a change of scenery leaving behind his career as vocalist/guitarist for the blues rock band Big Sugar along with his name. Now known instead as “Grady” Johnson, he has been spending his time with his new band also named Grady, while staying connected to his homeland by producing Canadian artists. Jeff Jodrey recently spoke with Mr. Johnson about his new album, new drummer, new label, new home and a new version of the Tragically Hip classic “Boots or Hearts”.

Good As Dead is Grady’s third studio album and first with drummer Nina “the Queena” Singh. Where and what was the recording process experience? It happened pretty rapidly. We worked in the same studio that we did our last two records, Pedernales (owned by Willie Nelson), down in Spicewood, Texas. It was like making the record at home. You couldn’t be in a more comfortable place to work. We had been playing most of the tunes in rehearsals and on gigs too, so we had a pretty clear mandate of what we needed to accomplish.

How did Nina “The Queena” Singh make her way into Grady? Our previous drummer had some health problems and wasn’t able to tour anymore. That all happened kind of suddenly, and we had to re-think the whole thing. Obviously, when you’re a three-piece band, you can’t have any followers up there, everyone has to take care of their department cause it’s so stripped down. The new drummer would really have an impact on the personality of the band, so we chose very carefully. She just walked into the audition and walked out with the job. I had absolutely no interest in hearing anybody else’s playing after that.

What is a standout moment for you on the album? “Whiskey River” is a standout moment for all of us. We played the riff about twenty times, and it just got heavier and heavier as we did it. Then the three of us went out on the floor around a microphone and sang it about twenty times, and we just edited the best three takes together. What a lot of fun that was. I was producing a record for Tim Chaisson from Prince Edward Island, and while he was in town I got him to play fiddle on that tune as well. He and I sat in front of one microphone and did the verses together. I was really happy with how that whole creative idea came together.

That song must knock everybody’s socks off when you play it live. Yeah, that song’s become a staple in the set. We do it every night. It really tears the place down.

How did a cover of Tragically Hip’s “Boots or Hearts” make its way on the album? We never really gave it too much thought. We were doing little bits of extra stuff we thought might come in handy for b-sides, the Internet, or vinyl. Big Ben brought that song in one day and suggested we do this Tragically Hip tune. So I listened to it, wrote out the words, we played it once, recorded it, mixed it, and it was done. We just did it the one time. I don’t think we spent twenty minutes on it.

LISTEN NOW!
Artist: Grady
Track: Boots Or Hearts

You have one of the heaviest, most saturated guitar tones I’ve heard. Can you share the secret behind it? My hands are dirty! I don’t have an effects rack, or any effects pedals, or anything like that. It’s just the guitar hitting the amp really hard. I play with a lot of aggression, and turn up really loud.

Did you play the Lap Steel guitar on “Alberta Bones”? Isn’t that an awesome pedal steel solo? That’s Ethan Shaw from a band called Chili Cold Blood here in Austin. They play guitar, pedal steel and drums. We just absolutely love them, and love to do shows together. Ethan’s done a lot of session work for me over the years, and we’ve even covered a few Chili Cold Blood songs.

How often does an acoustic guitar find it’s way into your hands? I don’t really write on an electric guitar ever. I play a banjo or an acoustic guitar and sit in my den, or up on my hill under an oak tree and write that way. I have forty electric guitars, and one acoustic. That’s the one that I write everything on.

Throughout your career, you have been on various labels, as well as releasing independent albums. What was it about the Winnipeg based label C12 that made it a company you wanted to be involved with? I think it was attitude, really. The people that run the label had way more enthusiasm than everyone else and they had more ideas about how to get things done. The record industry is in a slump these days, and this attitude seems to permeate the entire thing. The C12 people would say “Well, we’re going to have trouble doing this, so we’re going to do this instead.” as opposed to “Well, that’s going to be hard” all the time. You hear about how hard everything is all the time. I was like, singing and playing guitar at the same time is hard, you know? (Laughs) raising small children is hard (laughs). You’re just trying to sell records, not save lives or anything. C12 just had a great attitude, and knew how they wanted to do things.

What made you decide to relocate to Texas a few years ago? I’ve always taken a lot of inspiration from that place. I would go down every year anyway to hear music, enjoy the warm weather and the culture, especially Mexican culture. I’ve actually worked in Mexico several times during my career, and I have a real affinity for it. As an artist you have to have some creative input as well as output. I felt like I had gone through a long period of intense creative output, where I wasn’t replenishing my inspiration. So, I wanted to go to a place where I felt free, empowered and inspired all the time by my surroundings. Not just by music, but by non-related things, such as the landscape, the culture, the language and the food. And it worked.

Aside from Grady you keep yourself busy producing other artists, many of whom are Canadian, what are some highlights to date from that side of your portfolio? Well, I just love working with Joel Plaskett. I get a great deal of inspiration being around someone that’s such a visionary and such a talent. I’ve done a few records for Gov’t Mule, who are friends of mine from over the years, so we always enjoy working together. It’s very rewarding.

Who can we expect to see you producing for or collaborating with in the near future? I’ve recently been writing songs with the Trews, although we’ve been writing together for years. We’ve written songs together for all of their records. In fact, they co-wrote “Annie Lee” on Good As Dead. It was nice to finally keep one for myself (laughs). We’ve got a really nice catalogue of stuff that we’ve done together, and hopefully we’ll continue to do that.

Does producing Canadians keep you away from your new home in Texas for long periods of time? A lot of times the guys will want to fly down to see me, especially during the Canadian winters when it’s pretty easy to coax Canadian writers to come down and sit in a hammock in the shade of a big oak tree, drink some Mexican beer and write some songs. Sounds pretty tough doesn’t it? (Laughs)

*Jeff Jodrey lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with his wife and family. When he isn’t writing, performing, recording or teaching guitar, he can be found flying helicopters or interviewing great Canadian artists for the Tuesday Guide.

** PHOTO OF “GRADY” JOHNSON BY ALLEN MCEACHERN PHOTOGRAPHY