It Ain’t the Same: Jack Klatt’s Gamble Pays Off
It Ain’t the Same: Jack Klatt’s Gamble Pays Off
by Jon Stout
Country-folk artist Jack Klatt has already had an eventful life as a young musician. Finding his direction by traveling the globe while taking inspiration from various genres, Klatt is now known for melding the sounds of early country and AM radio pop with a contemporary vision relevant to today’s listening audience.
Following the September release of his newest album, It Ain’t The Same, Klatt is making a stop at the Southgate House Revival in Newport, Kentucky on November 20 (presented in coordination with JBM Productions). We had the opportunity to chat with him about his upcoming stop and his experiences as a musician.
There’s also a chance for you to win tickets: check out our Facebook page for more information on that.
Although Klatt makes music with a timeless quality that harkens back to “classic country,” early rock and folk, his musical path began quite differently. Klatt originally cut his teeth learning to play guitar by playing along to punk bands like Rancid, The Clash and Social Distortion. Then, when he was 20 he went on a spiritual music journey that began with a move from the twin cities to California.
“I traded in my Marshall half stack for a Martin guitar, and everything else I could fit on my back. There was never much of a difference between punk rock and folk music to me except time and technology really,” Klatt explains.
While limited to the acoustic guitar while living the bohemian lifestyle of a traveling troubadour, Klatt began taking inspiration from American masters, such as Woody Guthrie, Eddie Cochrane, Hank Williams and Marty Robbins. This led him to a brief phase of “country purism,” which was reflected in his earlier recordings.
For his newest album, Klatt decided to step partially out of the confines of classic country to embrace his early rock ‘n’ roll influences once again. Not only did Klatt approach It Ain’t The Same with stylistic difference, he also was able to spend more time in the studio, honing in on the tones and sounds that he wanted.
“All of my previous recordings have been done completely live, either solo, or with a band that I had been regularly touring with,” Klatt explains. “For It Ain't the Same I put together a band that had never existed before we got into the studio. In retrospect it was a bit of a gamble.”
The gamble paid off as Klatt and his hired guns were able to experiment with the compositions more thoroughly and expand upon arrangements.
“We eased into the arrangements and allowed time to experiment with different grooves,” Klatt continues.
Although one might expect that spending more time in the studio would lead to a bloated, contemporary production, Klatt dispels this notion:
“It's not like we went crazy producing the sound, but we had enough resources to add some frosting on top of the cake.”
Klatt is excited to bring his new self described “top notch” backing band with him to the Southgate House Revival.
“My buddy JJ Tourville (of the Deslondes) will be playing pedal steel and electric guitars along with Chris Bierden (on bass) and Lars-Erik Larson (on drums). We will be performing all the songs off the new record as well as some old ones.”
After finishing his current tour, Klatt will return to his home state of Minnesota to spend the winter writing and possibly recording once again. This downtime will be brief, however, as he’ll be touring the UK in January and visiting the West Coast in the spring.
As for further into the future, Klatt mainly keeps things realistic.
“Making music is a strange job, and I'm ultimately happy just having a sustainable career recording and touring.”
JBM Promotions and Southgate House Revival present Jack Klatt on November 20 at 8 pm. Opening the evening will be Nicholas Clay. You can keep up with all Jack Klatt related events by visiting his website at https://www.jackklatt.com/.