St. Paul and the Broken Bones

Welcome to maybe my favorite moment of my entire professional career.

I loved this so much.

Yeah, when we started talking to him, as you guys will hear when we start rolling the tape, I thought I was gonna have to separate Brad and Paul.

Even though it was over the phone, it was a little fanboyish.

I was tongue kissing the microphone.

I love St. Paul and the Broken Bones so much, as you will hear.

But the reason I love this so much is I had a conversation with a campmate of ours.

We were talking, if you know anything about our camp, our camp is called Camp Nut Butter.

We've had the same dozen people camp with us for a long, long time.

And one of our campmates, the guy that did all the graphics for the What Podcast, his name's Nick Turner,

me and him almost share a brain when it comes musically.

We could not be more tied to each other.

He calls me up out of the blue the other day and he says, man, I just had...

Well, he talked to me, man, I was just having this conversation, man.

He was talking about how around the office they were saying, I wonder who's the most genuine, loving artist that's out there today.

Who's just a genuine, good dude?

And he said, you know what I thought about, man, I bet Paul Janeway's a really great dude.

And I told him, I was like, man, I just got off the phone with him.

There is no pretense with him. He's not faking it. He is legit, maybe the nicest man I have ever talked to.

He's awfully nice. And only because I mentioned it when I talked to him, just for people who don't know,

I'm the entertainment writer here for the Times Free Press.

So I've done many, many interviews over a lot of years.

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi are sincerely nice, normal people, as is Warren Haynes.

But you're right, Paul, as you guys will hear in this interview, was so much fun, so funny, and just so genuine.

And I've talked to him now three or four times again because of the job, and he's always been that way.

Really?

Yeah, the first time we spoke, he was just sort of taken off.

And he was just completely humbled and surprised that people were showing up, writing tickets.

And I think you hear that a little bit in our conversation with him.

But he's obviously, I mean, from touring with the Stones to being on the David Letterman show,

one of the greatest moments when we talk about that.

But yeah, just a super, super nice guy and so much fun to see.

This is going to be a little different of an episode.

We're going to break this up into two parts because he was so kind and generous with his time.

He talked to us for like 48 minutes.

And mainly because I think that it's just so good.

I don't really want to edit much of it.

I just want to play it.

So we thought the best idea was to break it up into two parts, the first part being today and the next week we'll do part two.

Part two will explain what he says at the end of the podcast because he gets into some breaking news in next week's podcast.

And I hope he doesn't break it before we do, because if we wait a week, we might we might blow it.

That's true. That's true.

But the reason why we want to talk to Paul today is because not only do we love him and not only love the band, but this is a great Bonnarooo story.

He is an absolute great Bonnarooo story because he, like Trevor from Moon Taxi, loved this festival so much and it's meant so much to him.

And playing the festival was a moment for him that he never thought that he would actually get.

Yeah. And you and I were both there.

I remember that moment very clearly of them performing in that tent.

It was this. This tent.

An afternoon show. Thursday. Thursday evening.

It was so hot. So hot.

But you could just see on his face.

This was a moment for him.

He has some great stories that you guys are going to hear.

I can't wait.

I haven't laughed that hard in an interview in a long, long time.

We asked you a few weeks ago for your Bonnarooo stories.

This might be the best Bonnarooo story I've ever heard.

If anyone out there can top his, I'm not sure that I want to hear it.

All right. Let's do it. Paul Janeway from St. Paul and the Broken Bones.

This week's featured guest on the What Podcast, a Bonnarooo podcast for Bonnarooians by Bonnarooians.

Let's do it.

Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul. How are you, sir?

I'm good. How are you doing?

I'm doing so great. It is such an honor to talk to you.

I could not be a bigger fan of yours.

Meeting you, even Bonnarooo, years and years ago, your very first ever Bonnarooo.

I was like a kid in a candy store.

And I just remember everybody on my on my Instagram when I took the photo with you back there in the media compound.

They all said two things.

It was A, who is that?

And B, why is he holding a jar of honey?

And I said, just wait, just wait until you find out about St. Paul and the Broken Bones.

And that then turned into me following you guys around and seeing you guys 12 times in a year.

12 times in a year.

Wow. Wow.

I couldn't be a bigger fan. I love you guys a lot.

Oh, good. That's good to hear.

Hi, Paul. Barry Courter here as well.

I'm a big fan, but I'm going to have to try to keep Brad at bay here.

I'm fanboying for a second.

A little bit of a fanboy.

Allow me to fanboy.

Hey, I'd rather be talking to someone that's a fan of ours than like, who the hell are these guys?

Absolutely.

Well, I'll tell you, the first time I was walking off the stage at Bonnarooo two years ago, three years ago,

and Billy Joel was walking onto the stage.

And I don't know, there was a whole line of us walking off the stage,

and Billy Joel was by himself as he walked up onto the stage.

And I said, oh my God, there's Billy Joel.

And I stopped dead in my tracks and I looked at him, I said, Billy Joel, great work.

That's all I got.

I then realized at that moment, I had nothing to say to Billy Joel.

I had absolutely no material because I'm not that big of a fan.

But I could talk to Paul Janeway all day if I could.

Oh, good. Yeah, well, I've had that problem too because I didn't grow up with a lot of music.

And I've talked to people and been like, hey, yeah.

You.

I got to imagine, did you grow up with music that you could even maybe meet the artist?

Because I feel as though you and I...

Not really.

Exactly. I feel like you and I have a kindred spirit because my selection at home is 60s soul.

Whether it be Otis Clay or Otis Redding or Syl Johnson, those are the guys I listen to.

And those guys ain't playing Bonnarooo very often.

No, no, no, no, it is weird.

Because the good thing is like, though, when I get to meet like Booker T and Steve Cropper and those guys,

that's when I'm like, that's when I'm like a kid in the candy store.

Who have you met that you fanboyed over?

Actually, you know, the most starstruck I've ever been, I'm actually a huge professional wrestling fan.

And I sat next to Jerry the King Lawler.

Jerry Lawler. That's awesome.

I'm a legend and I could not talk to him. My wife started crying laughing.

I've met Elton John, the Rolling Stones, all these people, and I could not talk to Jerry the King Lawler.

I one time followed Booker T in an airport by accident, though, because we were on the same flight.

And his band actually came out to one of our shows in Australia.

And that was pretty...

I have to say, I'm surprised that we've gone this far and Brad has not mentioned David Letterman.

Oh, yeah.

Brad is... talk about fanboy.

Well, he's my hero in life. If not for Dave Letterman, I would not be doing anything that I'm doing or the person that I am today.

He is my absolute hero in every regard, in every piece of entertainment.

He's the guy that changed not only comedy, but he changed television, he changed entertainment.

The fact that you guys got such a big break from Letterman, I mean, I wasn't going to bring it up, Barry,

but if you really want to talk about Dave, I can talk about Dave.

I'm wondering if I'm going to get to speak during this whole conversation.

That was pretty remarkable because they had told us that he was a fan of ours,

and I just kind of shrugged it off his lip service.

And you know what I mean? Because like, oh, such a big fan.

Yeah, says that to everybody, right?

Yeah, exactly. Says that to everybody.

And then they were like, look, he is a really big fan.

Like, he could ask for an encore. He rarely does, but it is possible.

Would y'all be okay with that? We were like, of course, so.

So then he goes into that long rant before the show, before our performance.

And I was just like, surely they're going to cut this out.

Surely. And they didn't. And it became a thing.

And we, you know, it was a, it was really quite remarkable.

For people out there listening who haven't seen it, Google it.

It's one of the most remarkable late night television moments I've ever seen because they just.

So.

Oh.

Give him a little bit more.

Give him a little bit more.

I

Went 20 some odd years without missing an episode of Dave. I watched him every single night for 20 some real sickness

He had I know it's pretty crazy, but I'll tell you the only time I ever remember him doing something like that

That was back in the late night days with James Brown and James Brown did late night

That was the only time I remember him saying to somebody and I need you to keep going do it again

Keep it going. It was it was it was it was one of those things where our career was doing pretty good

I mean, but the record cycle as you know kind of kind of winding down and we were like, okay

We were getting ready to start to write the next record

And then that happened and it like took us another level we were like it made change it did it change our career

There's something about and and I hope that I can talk to you maybe as somebody who maybe little out-of-body

Experience with you for a second

but it's like Paul on stage is a different is a different human being and it's ironic that you are such a fan of pro wrestling

because it is almost like a

Character that you're doing on stage that is just infectious. Yeah, I mean it's when you hit the zone

It's a different animal my I like to say it's my hour and a half of therapy

Let me go back because Paul you and I this is probably our fourth or fifth

conversation, which is one of the things I love about my job is sort of

Discovering maybe a new band or seeing a band at the beginning and then sort of following them on the arc

So to speak the first time I think we talked was after Scenic City Roots show that you did here at track 29

Is that yeah the video from that you were right around the same time the Alabama Shakes played there and both videos became huge

Sort of sensations is like where did these people come from and then you were back?

I don't remember which one but you've been back for River Bend. You've been back for two or three other things

But we also talked at Bonnarooo. You told me a great story, which is one of the reasons we wanted to talk to you

You actually worked

Bonnarooo, right didn't you volunteer? I did I

Voluntary was I'd actually the first time I went slept in my car. I spent I'd spent I was working at a tanning bed

What? I'm the most untanned person on the planet

You're like a freshly peeled apple. Yeah

You know, I think Radiohead was playing was the first year Radiohead played and I was working at a tanning bed because I didn't

Have a car so I had to drive I had to walk through the closest thing to go off it and so I spent my

spent my whole month paycheck on a Bonnarooo ticket to go see radio and I was and I slept in my car and it was

That was terrible. So the year that Jay-Z and Stevie Wonder played

God that was my favorite year of Bonnarooo history

Yeah, I couldn't afford a ticket and you know the whole the whole thing that they dangle is like hey you can work security

Yeah, we'll pay you like minimum wage, but guess what you do a 12-hour shift and you get 12 hours off

You're like this sounds amazing

Amazing deal. It's not an amazing deal

That 12 hours off is pretty good

The 12 sure but but when I got sun poison on Thursday

On my leg. I was like, this is awful. So what it's funny though, like so the first night

I was so tired. I can't go see it, but Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z were playing and I was like, I was like, alright

I'm gonna go. I gotta go see that. So I just do you wonder he gets off Jay-Z's about to go on

I'm trying to get close and I

I feel something warm running down my back and I turn around and there is a giant

Man who was on some sort of drugs peeing on my back. Oh my god. I

Am NOT kidding

And I turn around and I just I was like what's going on right now

Now but it's like what is my life come to and then I turn back around and the guys already like shot out and I

Was like, you know what? I've got some poison. This is awful. I'm gonna watch Jay-Z with pee on my back and that's what I did

The delicate touch of Paul Janeway when a man is peeing on him. He turns around he says hey, so what's going on here?

Yeah

What was your post what did you actually have to do at Bonnaroo what was your job I was there there was like a

VIP with a VIP like I was at the door or at the gate

You're a door gate and it was right and so there's two things I had to do, you know check credentials and then also

Also make sure that hippies did not stay in the road because there's trucks going

You know 40 miles an hour back there and some people just like man just chill out. I'm like you're gonna die

That was right around the same year. The guy got hit by the porta potty cleanup truck wasn't it? That's my point

And so and so what was so

Magical for me. I even get like kind of emotional thinking about it because doing that and

Bonnaroo being so close to Birmingham and me, you know what I mean?

Like spending all my money on a Bonnaroo ticket and then in 2014 getting to play it

it was honestly like I I there are a few points in my life or

professionally and in this that I vividly remember and

That's one of them because it was just it felt like a dream. It felt like I can't I remember being a

Patron and sitting and going I think I sing better than they do

Then having a moment and then being on stage. I just tried to soak it in all day

Brad and I mentioned last week talking about you coming on that

2014 and the fact that you guys came out about 15 minutes early to do a soundcheck and he and I both

Commented we remember you standing in the middle of the stage staring out at the crowd just sort of smiling taking it all in

Yeah, as you just said, yeah, it's still I mean still to this

I you know

It's like you have a few moments in in your career and in this that you go it could stop

Right after this and I would have accomplished everything I initially went out to accomplish

I it was a dream. I never I mean it was that's why you know, Bonnarooo will always have that special place

If we

I

Don't want to put words in your mouth, but like I said you and I have talked before and I just love this whole

Progression of things you were actually thinking you were gonna become a pastor writer a preacher

While you were working at the tanning bed

But that was the goal well before that that was the goal

Okay, the tanning bed era is not a not a good time in my life. I was

Before that time that's really what I wanted to be I wanted to be a preacher

I wanted to be a pastor like this whole idea of

Playing music for a living was not something I ever thought I was going to do like this isn't for me

Doing this is not a dream dream dream that I've accomplished. It's a realization

They're like, oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing

I'm feeling like this is what I'm supposed to be doing but I want it

I mean my whole goal from like when I was like eight till about probably

21 was I wanted to be a preacher and that's that was my work towards that I would speak in church when I was

Like 12 or 13 learned how to work a crowd

And I thought that's what I wanted to do another place for me and Paul almost run parallel tracks

I don't know if Barry even you even know this Barry my best friends in the world doesn't even know this

Do you know when I was 16? I won a preaching competition. I did I was going to wow

I was going to be a preacher and I realized that it wasn't the message that I was giving it was the power of a

Crowd that I had that I liked so much about it

And I wonder like when was that moment for you? Was it had you already had a band?

Did you just take some guys from from the church band? When did it when did it make that turn?

Well, I always played music in church, but I never really thought I actually had it

I actually had a pastor or a preacher who was kind of a mentor and he kind of I think it was his idea of

Humbling me because he could tell I really was attracted to being on stage and and that kind of thing

he always kind of said, you know, hey, you're not that good of a singer and you're not that good of this and and

So I always I still it's really bizarre

I still to this day struggle with even though I did this your living struggling going. I'm not good enough

Did you figure out later that he was probably trying to keep you?

He wanted to be the front singer. He was trying to keep you down

Part of it and I so it took me a really long time to gain any sort of confidence to play in front of people

So I started you know, once I kind of was like, alright, that's pretty sure thing

Not really for me, you know, I was kind of understanding like I love the performance aspect of it

I still playing guitar and writing songs and singing so I'd go to I'd go to open mic nights in Birmingham

that's some you know, some bar somewhere and I'd say hey, you know, da da da da and

They I started being like man. I'm getting a reaction out of these people. So there's something to this

I'm doing something right and so then I finally was like, well, maybe I should record it

And so I started, you know

I'd take I had this old camcorder that I would just place on the on the bathtub and I would just sit up not not

Naked on the toilet, but I'd be I'd sit on the toilet and play my guitar and sing and that's out here back and

Man, that's obvious. That's how it's like I figured out

All right, I start writing songs that way and then uh, I got in a band because I just needed friends

I didn't have any friends and and that's that's how I ended up

Well, you're not gonna meet a lot of people at the tanning bed. That's for sure Paul. No, well

I was there was I was always an old lady that would come out in her underwear like

And you're just like, all right

That's how I met Jesse. He's the bass player in this band and we've

Man, it's been it's been almost a decade now. We're we've been best friends since then and he's he really truly is the reason

this band exists because he he heard something in me that I wasn't confident enough about and he was like man

We got to push and and he if it weren't for he knew everybody and if it weren't for him this wouldn't have happened

What good is a life

With no dark

What good is a king without a cross

Oh, but now I wanna feel suffering

Is there ever a way

Is there ever a way

Let me sing

Let me sing

By your hand

I

Had a conversation so before I

Get a little bit OCD. I get obsessive with with artists and before I followed you guys around the country for about a year and a half

I

Did the same thing with the Alabama Shakes because I fell deeply in love with Brittany Howard and I love that band so much

And they still to this day my favorite band of all time

I had a conversation because I saw them maybe 15 times in a year

I had a conversation one night with with Ben Tanner who's the keyboardist for the Alabama Shakes. This is maybe 2013

Right, I made 2012 right after boys and girls was released or something like that

I can't exactly the timeline because he was the only one of the band that would talk to me

So I would just I was without police right? I was just I was just shooting the shit with him for a little bit

And he's like I was like, so what are you doing? What do you do when you're not doing this band thing?

He's like well, you know, I've got this project that I'm doing right now

It might be the best thing I've ever done in my career and I'm like, oh cool. What is it?

He's like well, I'm producing this album for this band called st. Paul and the broken bones cool and I said no

Okay, sure

See you later and then turns out yeah, that's cool. He's got you got half the city you got half the city ready

Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I mean it's it's all incestuous in Alabama. There's something that happened somewhere in 2010

2011 2012 with Alabama music culture and it just blew up. It's like a band that came out of Alabama couldn't fail

Yeah, it was you guys and and the shakes and the secret sisters all sort of hit

We had yeah, yeah, yeah John Paul the Civil Wars you've had, you know, you've had Jason Jason is right? Yeah

Yeah, I mean it's uh, I think what's bizarre

For me, it was one of those things where I for me this is just me personally like I I'm a competitive person

We were working on this stuff and then the shakes showed up and we were like, oh shit

This is this is like yeah. All right

You're just like man cuz you know, I know those guys those folks are I love those people and but permit for me

It's like man

so we you know, we kind of just so we we had we'd all kind of known each other and

Bro and his guitar players from Muscle Shoals and and for me, I just this state is too small

I just pull for everybody, you know what I mean? Like it's not I'm competitive, but it's a it's a friendly competition

You know like when they make a great record

I want to make a great or when you know what I mean when I hear all these musicians and I want them to I want

Them to succeed and so what's bizarre is that we had known being we weren't sure Ben was playing

We had heard that Ben, you know Ben kind of said he you know

Cuz Ben was he was kind of a not a later he was later edition playing keys

He was not part of the original shakes lineup. That's he's not yeah

And so he was like he was doing that and and we were like, you know

They were starting to record label him and John Paul and a guy named will trap start single lock record

and we were just like you want to

Give us money and we record a record. Hell. Yeah

We didn't know I mean nobody nobody cares

about him and and he did and it changed our lives and it changed Ben's life

You

Go make see of noise

How did that process change because obviously you change producers and you try it you try to do a little bit different and try

And grow as an artist what was that?

What was the change the big change for you at least artists wise from one album to the next?

I started making money. I mean, that's one thing and which was difficult

because I was I was I was so used to making minimum wage and

For me over a decade now, I have money and I have people caring about what we do. Um, I almost quit

to be honest with you after after half the city because I was just I

Was just so I didn't I didn't like I didn't like have money. It was just so weird for me

I was trying to figure out what I need to do with my life and

It's not what you know, my wife my first man I went back to school and I was gonna be an accountant

You know, I went back to school late my wife or later and and she didn't sign up for that and

And I almost quit but for me it was one of those things

I was like I have to kind of keep pushing forward, you know

Because if I just if we just like we make half the city too, I think I would have been done

You made one of the best albums of the decade and then afterwards you said

I don't know if I can make any money on this

That was the problem it may be incredibly uncomfortable

You know, it made me just feel like I was stealing

It happened pretty quick, right? It happened quick exactly. So you start going. All right. What kind of artists are we going to be?

You

You can start to see those changes though in Sea of Noise

Like I don't know a song that you guys made half the city that had at least to me the the societal

Impact and an acknowledgement of whatever is happening in the world. Like is it me?

I think is it me is the best song you guys have ever written. I actually I actually kind of I think that or I'll be your woman

It's just so different than anything else that you guys have written because it is it is about something that is outside of you

It's about society and it is boy you could you can pull whatever sort of threads of current-day

Politics out of that song right into right and I think that was the point is to so for me

So I'm going through this identity crisis and I read a book by Bryan Stevenson called just mercy

And it's a beautiful book about a thing called the equal justice initiative that started in

Montgomery, Alabama and started in state Alabama and it moved me to a way that I was like I have to work through this

I have to work through this southern identity in these modern times and I don't I don't I don't think I am NOT a

Philosophy major I am NOT an expert at a lot of things

So for me it was a situation where you ask a lot of questions and not give a lot of answers

And that's what that's that song songs all over that record or that way and it was a risk

It was a risk for us because I didn't want to alienate anybody

But at the same time I had to do it it had to like if I I we're actually getting done

We're actually like I think we'll be done with the like with the photo

You know the cover and all that stuff and in about a couple weeks with the new record

It's so interesting talking to like we're we're we're on Colombia now, and it's so interesting talking to them about the commercial

like half the city was commercially more successful than

Sea of noise and see the noise was critically more successful than half the city they talk about you know

Oh, you know sales and all this kind of stuff and I see a noise has done well

It's not done as well as half the city

But for us and I have to tell them this constantly we don't exist as a band of see a noise does not come out

If we don't go through that process

And and now I feel incredibly liberated and like it's weird

but that was a

Having hindsight now with that record that was a very difficult record to get through because I mean some of the guys are just like

Oh my god

We're about to commit career suicide kind of tackling societal thing where half the city was not that it was kind of a heartbreak

You know let's dance record gums how they smoke behind dogwood trees all the bars closed

Oh how that breeze smells like honey fall a bee is it is it home or is it me?

Oh

Jesus is stuck inside my TV screen

Given all the answers but never hold

Me here wants to fall away and I can't find no peace is it hey is it home or is it me?

Oh, I feel like a cotton rose

Oh between my toes precious like I see

Next week part two of our conversation with Paul Jane away from st. Paul in the broken bones. This is the what podcast that's Barry

I'm Brad. I just love him so much. I just want to be his best friend. Wasn't that fun?

I just like he's my Oprah. Yeah, I just he's just got that thing that I want to be around all the time

He does I loved I loved your comment about him looking like a peeled apple

That's what mom used to call me so I can relate so next week this is what we're gonna do next week

It's gonna be part two of this conversation with Paul

So not only does he break news in the conversation that we had that will play next week, but he also has some

Big news about the show at Bonnaroo you ask him a great question about what's the new show going to be like right?

He gets into that and I wanted to mention too

We've threatened to do this for a while and I think this would be a good time is what we hope to call some of you

guys

Listeners that have reached out and said you'd be willing and happy to and so we'll set up some times to have you guys call

And we'll record those and we'll probably run some of those next week

Yeah

If you'd like to be featured on the podcast drop us a comment the what podcast comm leave us a your your comment

And we'll try and get in touch with you this week. Yeah, you want to do that

I think that'd be a lot of fun. You know I brag about it to you all the time

I think we're now in 26 countries. Oh, it's okay 26. Yeah, you're starting to sound like bazzy. Are you know the numbers?

I just think that's so cool. I love looking at the stats and the emails and I mean, you know

We didn't know where this was gonna go. Honestly

It's because it's it's not because we don't like a pat on the back

It's because the people that interact with us they love Bonnarooo. Yeah, yeah some reason it all ties us together

It's like being a nam. Yeah, you know, it's like just no event

Yeah, the comments are great. I mean the one we got the other day somebody said they don't think they'll ever again

Experience anything like 90,000 people singing. Hey Jude. It was a great moment, which was unbelievable

Yeah, and I don't remember I think it was Randy who said it but absolutely as soon as I saw that I was like

Yep, that was right back took me right back. You speak the language I can talk to you

I told him we woke up that next morning

Sat in sitting around the camp at Camp Nut Butter and just talked about it

We literally had a guy at camp after the Paul McCartney show

He packed his stuff up and left because he said plop more I can do here

I don't need to see anything else this weekend. Yeah, literally just left. I'm done. I'm done

And so are we we are done as well. Give us your comments at the what podcast calm you can find Barry on Twitter

What's your Twitter handle their Barry Barry JC?

All right

I'm at Brad stinks the what podcast calm or the what underscore podcast on Twitter will talk to you and Paul again next week on the what?

Everybody mat is

Fire they what are they what will you see the what which bands this year that matter, hey?

with Brad Steiner and Barry Courter.