Jim Lauderdale at the Ryman
There are dozens of ways you might know Jim Lauderdale. He’s a seasoned songwriter with decades of cuts by country standard-bearers like George Strait, Patty Loveless and Vince Gill. He’s released 29 albums of his own, the latest of which is London Southern, a collection of soulful tunes inspired by the currents of musical traditions flowing back and forth between the U.S. and the U.K. He’s also earned a reputation as a superb collaborator, and he won a Grammy with bluegrass icon Ralph Stanley for their 2002 LP Lost in the Pines.
Between all of these projects, he’s also somehow found time to become one of Americana’s most recognizable personalities. Most weeks, he hosts the Americana-centric showcase Music City Roots, broadcast live on WMOT-FM 89.5 from The Factory at Franklin. With his longtime friend and musical partner Buddy Miller, he co-hosts SiriusXM satellite radio’s twice-weekly The Buddy & Jim Show. And every year since 2003, he’s been master of ceremonies for the Americana Honors and Awards Show — including 2016, when he was presented with the WagonMaster Award, a lifetime-achievement honor recognizing his dazzling array of contributions.
Lauderdale returns to host this year’s Honors and Awards Show, on Sept. 13 at the Ryman. His omnipresence raises a question: Besides the obvious benefits of increased visibility for his own work and getting to perform with legends like Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris, John Prine and Levon Helm, what does Lauderdale get out of the being the host with the most? Speaking with the Scene during a week that includes performing on Conan, hosting Music City Roots and preparing for a string of tour and studio dates, he explains that hosting helps keep him connected to new ideas and new talent in the continuously expanding Americana world.
“As long as Nashville is here, there’s never going to be a shortage of great new stuff coming down the pike,” says Lauderdale. “I feel like, at least inside, that I’m like one of those new guys coming along, and I’m still going for my break. And for trying to write that next song that is going to make a difference. And so when I meet somebody that’s new — or that’s maybe been here doing this, but I hadn’t met them before — I really feel like, ‘Hey, we’re the same.’ ”
That desire to keep things fresh and vital informs the way Lauderdale makes his own records. Though he enjoys co-writing sessions — a process he says tends to be faster for him than writing alone — he’ll sometimes go into the studio with little else besides a handful of melodies. He’ll work those into musical arrangements with the players assembled for the session before he writes the lyrics. It may seem backward to some, but Lauderdale has a logic. One aspect is that the pressure keeps him from working an idea to death. But writing and recording this way also allows him to respond in the moment to his environment and to the strengths of the musicians.
The bulk of London Southern was recorded in England in 2013 with ace players whom Lauderdale had known in the ’90s, when they were members of Nick Lowe’s band and Lauderdale was touring in support of Lowe. Before the sessions, Lauderdale played three shows in the U.K. He had one song finished before he left for the tour, completed another after a gig in Glasgow, and came up with melodies to begin three more while walking around Liverpool. He didn’t finish all of his lyrics at the sessions, but he brought the finished tracks back to Nashville, where he co-wrote with John Oates and soul legend Dan Penn, among others.
“It was inspiring for me to just be in that atmosphere,” says Lauderdale, “to kind of get into the rhythm of things over there, and to just hear people talk. I walked up and down the street where the Cavern Club was, and just kind of tried to get into a zone. Like, OK, The Beatles walked up and down this same street.”
Though he’s currently touring in support of London Southern, Lauderdale constantly has projects on the boil. One of those happens to be from the days when he was kicking around Nashville as a recent college graduate. During a five-month stay here in 1979, he got to know bluegrass legend Roland White, who helped the budding songwriter record an LP (which includes guitar solos by a hotshot named Marty Stuart). Failing to land a deal to release the album, Lauderdale moved on. The master tape disappeared, and Lauderdale considered it lost forever. A few months ago, however, White uncovered a copy of the tape, and what would have been Lauderdale’s first album is expected to be released early next year as his 30th.
At the same time, Lauderdale is deep into making another new album. He’s recorded 12 tracks in Nashville with players from his live band, including Dave Racine, Tommy Hanam, Jay Weaver and Craig Smith. Country singer Lillie Mae also recorded a duet during those sessions. At the end of August, Lauderdale scheduled time at Memphis’ Royal Studios with Luther and Cody Dickinson and a group of Memphis musicians to cut more songs for the same album — based on five or six melodies he’d come up with, and whatever ideas struck him during a weekend tour leading up to the session.
But before either of those projects is released, Lauderdale looks forward to testing even more new material at monthly gigs he’s booked at The Station Inn and American Legion Post 82. Some of it may be very fresh indeed.
“I like to challenge myself and go, ‘I’m supposed to be on the stage in an hour,’ ” he says. “ ‘Hey, fellas. Look, just bear with me, but go over this. Let me teach you something we might do if I can finish these lyrics in time.’ ”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article indicated that Lauderdale did not host the Americana Honors and Awards in 2016, the year he received the WagonMaster award. He was also the host that year.
