Peter Rowan
interview by Susannah Tantemsapya
Peter Rowan was my very first interview for 'Sup last year. In fact, he was my first interview that I have ever done in my entire life. He and The Two High String Band (Bryn and Billy Bright) played at the Cat’s Cradle on October 7. This trio based out of Austin, Tex. put so much soul into the crowd that night. It was very special to see Peter again and catch up with what he’s been doing the past year.
I just found out about your new album The New Freedom Bell recorded in the Czech Republic. How long were you in Europe and how did you end up in the Czech Republic?
The band I recorded with Druha Trava had come over here quite a lot playing bluegrass music. When they were just forming their band, it was during the time of communist rule in Czechoslovakia. They started playing bluegrass as a kind of freedom music. I began to find out about them after 1989 when they started coming over here. It had been 10 years and I thought it would be nice to do an album with them with freedom as a theme. They have quite a few albums; they are very popular out there and they invited me to come play with them. I kind of took on a lot of tunes like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Guy Clark and my own tunes just for the album. The tune "New Freedom Bell" is an old bluegrass tune.
With more and more international influence, where do you see your music going and yourself as an artist?
I want to do something that is really American which means I think it’s world music by virtue of being in the world. My dream is to have a live show that has a really developed cultural diversity in it. My next recording will be something very rooted, but I can’t really say. I travel around the world, but I’m an American artist. You get out there and start playing in other cultures in Japan and stuff like that, you start learning their language and learning their rhythms. There’s something that starts to be missing and they don’t want you necessarily to become like them. They want you to be more the "other." They want you to be American. I don’t know what being an American is, that’s the problem. In the Czech Republic, they love you because you’re an American. Making a record over there makes perfect sense. I feel there is a sense that you have to be a world musician now instead of being simply an American artist. The big question for me is what is an American artist? My music will continue to reflect other cultures, but I do feel there’s minimal simplicity that can be stated in a uniquely American way. Not as multi-meolodied as bluegrass is; it’s something much simpler; something down in the blues and early country music. It’s what I think of as reggae rhythms kind of mixed in there. Now I’m giving away all my secrets (laughs).
Your music spans from the roots of bluegrass, but it is also categorized as rockabilly, tex-mex, hippie rock, Celtic, etc. How would you describe it?
It’s just my way of absorbing and being part of music that I like to use those influences. I think now . . . like this guitar is teaching me so much. It’s just a way of playing this guitar that has those influences there. It doesn’t have to be spelled out. It’s our second night together Bryn, Billy and me . . . they have the spirit. They’ll just take on the material and pick out a song they’ve never played. That energy is contagious to people. (People) think it’s a "hippie jam," it’s not. It’s a kind of a "go for it" attitude. Of course the Grateful Dead had that and I played with Jerry and Old & In The Way, so there’s that association. People put out a lot of words to try to describe stuff. If we could describe it, we probably wouldn’t go out there and try to make music. This band is unique in that this it’s the first time I’ve ever had a bass player, a soloist (a second instrument playing rhythm and soloing). Usually I’ll play with blistering soloists like Mark O’Connor, Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas. This is nice because these folks live in Austin. The whole Texas grassroots thing going on down there . . . there’s a lot of people that no one’s ever heard of that are really interesting. I like being part of that scene. We’re working on grooves as opposed to a style like bluegrass. When you get into grooves, reggae’s going to creep up in there. Reggae to me is not a style; it’s an approach to hearing more rhythmic permutations.
Last year when I interviewed you, you were talking about the Buddha songs and the "Buddhaverse." Can you define yourself in a certain religion or do you take values from different facets?
It’s not cool to say that you’re very religious. You are supposed to be someone that draws on everything now days. I actually study Buddhism; I have a Buddhist teacher. I’ve had several and most of them have come out of Tibet between 1959-69 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. They came to San Francisco and it’s been quite amazing to come in contact with some of the older generation of monks. There’s a whole spiritual direction; it’s not political in essence. As soon as you walk into the world and take your music, there are political permutations. The teachers that I met radiated this warmth. They were not worldly people. My first teacher had been in retreat for 12 years and had come to lead younger students (monks) on retreats. His senior Llama asked him to go to the West to teach. In his late 60’s until late 80’s he taught in West and started centers (a lot in Europe). In terms of techniques and style of meditation, I studied from them. "Buddhism" (pause) it’s like "oh you study an –ism;" it’s only that by reference for me. It’s the natural way that people are; everyone wants to be openhearted. The reason it is called "Buddha" is it’s the bud, the awakening, it’s the opening of the lotus flower of the mind and heart. That’s an endless process so when people agree that’s the way to go, there’s good feeling. There was a great audience tonight, really open. Sometimes I can actually finish writing songs if I play for an audience like that.
You are compared to Bill Monroe; you used to play with him. Now people are saying that you are starting to look like him. How do you respond to this notion of "filling his shoes?"
I’m not playing bluegrass per se. This trio is basically a bluegrass trio. I’m not trying to fill Bill Monroe’s shoes. What I have learned from him is that to pursue the poetic inspiration in songs and never give up. I’ve picked up his style, etc., but I’m really not like Bill Monroe as a person. Bill, I love him. I think Bill appreciated the fact that I went out and played my own. I can never say that it was my music, but I wrote songs and used bluegrass pickers to carry the music and open it up. At this point, I’m just enjoying bluegrass. Of course there’s this guitar, I’m not playing mandolin, I’m not playing my little guitar, I’m playing this giant, powerful 1935 D-18. The strings are really stiff and it has all kinds of percussive sounds. In essence, I’m back playing guitar the way that I started playing with Bill Monroe. All these years I’ve been playing a smaller guitar for song writing. If I’m touching base with my bluegrass roots, it’s by virtue of pursuing the poetry of the songs. The flexibility of the style is what I like and to carry forward with reggae; it fits. So I guess I am a "hippie eclectic" (laughs). "Reggabilly."
[tapes available]