Bye. Bye. Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed.
I'm Fedden. This week, we got John Neff from
Japan Cakes, Bloodkin, Slightly Famous Somebody,
The Star Room Boys, and then, of course, two
different time periods as a member of the Drive
-By Truckers, who, if you didn't know... were
the musical guest on Stephen Colbert last night
with Jason Isbell reunited with them, promoting
the reissue of the definitive Decoration Day.
John Neff played on several songs on Decoration
Day. Jason Neesmith, who was on the podcast earlier
this season, he mastered the live recording of
that release. Jay Gonzalez was on last season.
I've actually... I've been trying to interview
John since, and we finally got together back
in October. Now Japan Cakes, they've got a reissue
that just came out last month. They've got a
reunion show planned at the 40 Watt next year.
There's ticket links in the description of this
episode. John has probably played with more people
that I have interviewed than anybody else. Anyway,
here's my interview with John Neff. I had a great
time talking to him. Check out the Definitive
Decoration Day and all of his other projects.
There's links in the description. Hey, bud. It's
Marty. Hey, Marty. Yeah. Yeah, you do have some
dachshund in you, don't you? I'm thinking dachshund
lab. Yeah, that's what it looks like. My mom
had... Dachshund Chihuahua mix for a long time.
That was like the yappiest dog I've ever met.
My last dog was Chihuahua and I think Basenji
because he did this singing thing. You know what
Basenji's singing? Yeah. I worked at a museum
that had, actually it's a lot like the animal
park that y 'all have here with all the rescue
animals and stuff. Very similar. because it's
all native rescue animals. They had red wolves,
but they would also have a music fest every year.
Whenever they would have the music fest, the
wolves would just howl and sing along, basically.
That's interesting. I guess it's not as bad as
fireworks for animals. Oh, for sure. Yeah, they
don't do that out there at all. Actually, Marty
and Doug, my last dog, both love band practice.
Nice. Sit in the room, soak it up. My cats like
to watch concerts. I'll watch a concert film,
and I'll just sit there and watch it. I don't
know if it's the lights or what. Anyway, I'm
here with John Neff. I could sit here and list
all of the music projects that you've been a
part of over the years, but that would take up
the whole interview. So I'll stick to just a
few that I know of right now. Currently, you're
in Bloodkin. And you're also working on the rock
opera with Slightly Famous Somebodies. You've
been part of that recording process and on that
record. And then you were also, at two different
points in time, a member of the Drive -By Truckers.
You've also been in dozens of Athens bands, dozens
of bands. You played with the Allman Brothers
at one point. I sat on one song. Okay. I'll take
it. Yeah, you should take it. You've done a lot
of different things. Played on Potato Hole with
Booker T. Played on Scene of the Crime with Betty
LeVette. I love those records. Anyway, so I don't
necessarily want to just sit here and talk about
all your credits, but people can read about that.
But I'll just sit here. The question I ask everybody
to start with is, what's the first song that
you remember loving as a kid? Oh, gosh. i really
like bad bad leroy brown yeah i like puff the
magic dragon a lot love the beatles we had rubber
soul sergeant pepper and a few others in the
house and bob dylan's nashville skyline which
had some great pedal steel from pete drake yeah
but it would be years before i would appreciate
that what do you think it was about those songs
that drew you in initially was it like the lyrics
or was it The feel, or do you have any idea?
I don't know. Just the whole vibe, the whole
thing. Yeah, yeah. So you had a pretty musical
household growing up? I mean, my sisters, yeah,
my mom had a lot of records. My dad had a few.
My sisters loved music. They sang. They and my
mother would sing around the house, and the three
of them sang in church. my sister sharon played
the flute and my other sister debbie played the
clarinet and that's about it we had a i had a
guitar that someone gave my dad and it had four
strings on it and i messed around with it until
they were all broken and then a few years later
i got one of my own and so did you want to start
playing music like pretty pretty immediately
when you like started to appreciate it too yeah
sure yeah so what was like the process of getting
that first, the guitar that, you know, didn't
have broken strings. What kind of motivated that?
Do you remember? I just, my parents got me one
for Christmas. It was a Yamaha acoustic guitar.
Yeah. So I, I played that and played in bands
in Savannah and eventually my sister was dating
William Tonks, who she eventually married. And
he played in a band called Redneck Grease Deluxe.
Yeah. And they had a steel player named Dave
Phillips. He left the band to move to New Orleans.
And I had a lap steel. I was working at a furniture
store and a guy sold me. It's actually, where
is that thing? I have the exact, where did I
just put it? Oh, it's this one. Yeah. This guy
I worked with named Will Hughes sold this to
me for a hundred bucks. And so I messed around
with it and I played it in a band called The
Stretchmarks. There's this fun band of SCAD students.
And so anyway, I took the plunge and I traded.
I knew someone in town who had a student model
pedal steel. So I bought that from him on Halloween
of 94. And then I moved to Athens the day after
Christmas of 94 and started playing with Redneck
Grease. And did you move to Athens to play with
them? That was my reason, but it was just to
play music, to move to Athens and play a bunch
of music. Yeah. And was it just like the reputation,
or had you visited, or had you spent a lot of
time here already before moving here? I'd come
up to visit several times, and it's Athens, REM,
B52. So what was the scene kind of like when
you first came in? Because our REM had already
blown up at that point. So what was going on?
What kind of music was being played? What were
you playing in? There were a ton of bands when
I moved to town. The town was a lot different.
I don't know how many bands there are now, but
there were a lot then. So I played with Redneck
Grease, and I think maybe Redneck Grease did
a show where we're on the same bill as the Starroom
Boys. And I met those guys, and they asked me
to play with them. So I started doing that. And
I played at a place called the High Hat with,
I think I sat in with my brother -in -law, William.
He was in a band called Hot Burritos. And so
I played with them and I met Patterson. Patterson
Hood was running sound at the High Hat. Yeah.
And he was, he asked if I wanted to do some playing.
So we did. And had he already, was this already
after, I know he hadn't like necessarily formed
the band, but he had already, he had like the
concept for the band before he even. and the
name for the band before he even had the players
necessarily. Was that what he had in mind, do
you think? I don't know if he already had the
name in mind, but the Drive -By Truckers hadn't
started playing shows together. And Cooley was
still in Birmingham. So they used to have a band
called Adam's House Cat. So Adam, the bass player,
Matt, the drummer, and Patterson and I. Is there
anyone else? Oh, and Barry Sell played mandolin
a little bit at the beginning. We would get together,
and we played a few shows before Cooley came
to town, too, under the name Drive -By Truckers.
Interesting. So have you ever been one to write
songs, really, or are you strictly more of a
player? I'm just more of a player. I mess around
with some little instrumental things, and I've
recorded some stuff, but I haven't released any
of it. I don't know. I'm just weird about my
own stuff. a lot of stress for some reason i
make it i think is this what i sound like yeah
i waited too long to put out my stuff there's
too much expectation or just for myself yeah
sometimes it's nice to just have things that
are just for you especially when you share so
much of yourself already so at that point were
you guys starting to tour immediately or were
you really only playing in the area let's Fast
forward, by the time Cooley moved to town, are
you already starting to tour right away? Yeah.
We would go up and play at Richmond, Virginia.
That was the big place. That's where we met Wes.
And he was in a band called Dirt Bowl. Yeah.
We played some shows with them. And we really
liked the scene up there. And let's see. We'd
go down to Florida and play Gainesville. We played
Wilmington once or twice. Atlanta, we played
the Star Bar a bunch. Both the Drive -By Truckers
and the Star Boys played the Star Bar a lot.
And that was when they had this festival called
Bubba Palooza. And we were friends with all those
people. And Greg Smalley, who ended up passing
away, that's who Patterson wrote The Living Bubba
about. Yeah. Yeah. And that was a fest that happened
every year. They talk a lot about it. documentary
the secret to a happy ending oh okay yeah if
people want more like firsthand accounts from
some of the people that were putting it on there's
some stuff in there but what do you remember
about touring at that time especially i'm thinking
about all the technological advances that we
have now that just make like traveling easier
in general but what were some of the biggest
challenges y 'all had on the road early on and
not just like money but logistical problems and
things like that This was my fault, but there
was one night, and it was the first time we went
to New York, and it was after a show, and I was,
anyway, I ended up talking to this girl, and
we split. Went to another bar, and I didn't get
back until late. The band was all already packed
up, and they were driving around looking for
me, because no one had cell phones. Right, yeah.
And those guys were pissed. Yeah, yeah. Understandably.
Were you getting hotels back then, or were you
all sleeping in the van? How was that going?
Gosh, where would we have stayed on that trip?
Oh, yeah, there was a friend from Athens who
had just moved to Brooklyn, and I think we slept
on his floor. Yeah, that's how it would have
had to have been. Places in New York are so small.
It's like living in a closet. So at that point,
were you playing with any other bands other than
the Starroom Boys, or were you pretty much all
in on the truckers at that point? It was the
two of those bands, and I had to make a call
at one point, and I went with the Star Envoys.
So that's how my first stint with the Truggers
ended. Gotcha. Yeah. And you have lived in Athens
ever since. I have, yeah. Yeah. What are some
of the big things you've noticed change over
the years, both good and bad? Just all the construction,
the student housing. In the summer, You could
walk down the middle of the street downtown.
It was so dead. Yeah. All that's changed. I think
a lot of that had to do with when the university
went from the quarter system to the semester
system. Yeah. They require them to take a certain
number of credits in the summer now, I think.
That's good for the city, too, I think. One thing
I've talked about a lot on this podcast is AthFest
and how they've always had it in the summer.
because it was like a lifeline for a lot of downtown
businesses that really struggled through the
summer. So were you touring with the Starman
Boys at that point then? So what was that like?
Were you doing long tours, short tours? Our second
record was on a label based in Missouri. So we
would go out that way and we would play Louisiana
a lot. And I loved that. That was just a whole
new cool thing for me going out there. Like smaller
areas, like rural areas? Yeah, we played this
little place called St. Francisville where there
was a bed and breakfast and they would put us
up. We'd each get our own little cabin and they'd
feed us great, of course. You get fed great everywhere.
In the South. Yeah, in the South. But in Louisiana,
especially. Yeah, I bet. In Shreveport, Lafayette,
Baton Rouge, New Orleans, of course. It was just
so cool going down there and turning the radio
on and hearing that Cajun music and rolling your
windows down. Yeah, I just love it. So let's
back up a little bit with your personal playing.
So you get your first lap steel guitar. And what
point is this? This is like the mid -90s? Yeah.
At what point did you feel like you had really
gotten somewhere with it versus guitar and decided
to mainly focus on lap and pedal steel? Gosh,
I don't think I'm by any means a great player.
Back then, I was terrible, but when you're in
your mid -20s and you're just trying to do it,
I think people are just really happy to see.
a young person playing some weird thing like
that, trying to do it. And those bands I played
with, I think it was really cool of them to let
me go out on the road and just learn as I went.
So you feel like you were learning as you were
touring? Absolutely. Interesting. Were you doing
things to intentionally push yourself? Or was
just playing in the band doing that? There's
all the playing and, yeah, just practicing a
lot at home and playing with as many people as
I could. And I got some VHS instructional videotapes.
Did you take lessons as a kid? Did your parents
put you in lessons when they got you that Yamaha?
I didn't, no. Okay, so you were pretty much self
-taught. Yeah. There was a jazz guy in Savannah
that I got with twice named Buddy Owens. Really
sweet. great guy and we just got together and
he showed me some things on guitar but that was
before I got the pedal steel so one thing that
that I've I talked to Jason Neesmith about was
just the intense focus that that pedal steel
requires what do you think was your like ability
to do that because I feel like that in and of
itself the ability to focus and stay so present
is pretty unique Especially like a rock musician,
not that it's unheard of or anything like that,
but I think there's such precision required that
it really does require a different level of focus.
Yeah, I don't know. I have a shorter attention
span than most, I think. But as far as that went,
I just loved it. I just made myself do it just
because I just love the sound of it. You hyper
-focus on it. And as far as looking like you're,
you see a steel player and they're rarely like
looking around and smiling. They're usually focused
on what they're doing. Yeah, I think I've taken
photos of you that you didn't even know I was
taking. Oh, totally. Like right up. So at what
point did you, tell me what happens with the
Starving Boys because I don't think that's a
story a lot of people know. Where does that go?
You guys are touring. We put out two records
and then Dave, The singers, he said he just didn't
want to do it anymore. So we split up. Yeah.
And I'm not even sure what year it was. It was
like 2002, maybe. Okay. Yeah. And that's the
time that you start to play with the truckers
a little bit again, right? No, that wasn't until
I played. You played on some of the Decoration
Day sessions. I did. I played on four or five
songs on Decoration Day. And then they asked
me to play with them up. No, out in Colorado
for a New Year's Eve, two or three shows, run
at the Fox. So that was at the end of 2005. Okay.
Yeah, that was like right when I think around
the time I first saw y 'all. Okay. And then they
took one trip to Europe without me because I
guess it had already been planned and they didn't
have money to take me. So they did that without
me, and then I played everything else from then
until when I split and whenever that was, the
end of 2012. Yeah, that sounds right. So let's
talk about this Booker T record. You said it
was a highlight for you. Can you just tell me
how we all approached to do that? What was it
like working with Booker T? The label that put
out the Betty LeVette record, That's right, that
was first, right? It was Antti, yeah. And the
guy, I'm not remembering his last name, but his
name was Andy, Andy from Antti. He thought it
would be a good idea to pair us with Booker because
he wanted to put out a Booker record. So Booker
didn't know anything about the band, really,
other than they were a rock band and someone
else suggested it. And he was real open to doing
it. So I brought the pedal steel in, and I set
it up, and then I thought, oh, I should probably
talk to him about this, because he thinks he's
getting a rock band, and I have this pedal steel
here. So I said, Booker, just so you know, I
have this pedal steel, and we don't have to use
it if you don't want, but it's just here. I play
it with the truckers, and he said, he was like,
oh, okay. Thank you for letting me know. And
I did get to play on one song. That was cool.
Yeah. I mean, he was just such a cool guy and
that was just, the guy just has so much class
and grace. And y 'all did a 10 show tour with
him too, right? Something like that. I don't
know how many shows it was, but it was something
like that. And we went to Australia with him.
Right. And the record won a Grammy. Yeah. Best
instrumental album. Yeah. Yeah. I still listen
to that record pretty regularly. Yeah. It's so
cool. And I did get to catch. the reunion show
that was done like new year's eve of 2011 or
something like that and that was like alabama
shakes opened okay yeah it was but their record
hadn't even come out and the next summer i saw
patterson open for them so they played the classic
center they played the big room at the classic
center like the big conference center thing yeah
yeah they they've blown up what Can you talk
about the Betty LeVette record a little bit and
just how that went down? Okay. I'm sorry. I think
something's ringing. Is it driving you crazy?
Do you hear that ring? I hear it a little bit,
but we have these lab mics. It shouldn't get
picked up. Sorry, you can cut that out. No, I
feel like that's natural. If it's bothering you,
we can figure it out. If it's not bothering you,
then it's fine. I don't think it's getting picked
up. Okay, okay. Just because these just don't
tend to pick up anything. Okay, let's start over.
No, you're good. You're good. I think that actually
speaks to just how much you are locked into sounds
and paying attention to things. So the Betty
LeVette record. First of all, she was one of
these soul singers who had not really gotten
the recognition that she deserved. Had been lost
to just playing clubs. and never really got discovered
i think of people like sharon jones is a similar
story sure and and so y 'all were brought in
to do this record that i feel like finally gave
her a lot of the recognition she deserved and
the treatment that she had been should have gotten
like her whole career so how did y 'all even
get approached for that that because i feel like
it's not the first thing you think of right And
I don't know how that came about. Yeah. And I
had studio time booked with a band that I'd been
with already called Japan Cakes, an instrumental
band. And we were working on two records at the
same time. One was a cover of My Bloody Valentine's
Loveless, which was just released on vinyl. Oh,
nice. Recently, yeah. And then... a record of
our own material called Waking Hours. Yeah, I
think it was Waking Hours. And so I had to be
in the studio for that. And I told Patterson,
I said, I'm sorry, I can't get there when you
guys get there. So they were in the studio at
Fame in Florence, Alabama. So they were there
for like three days before I got there. And they
had three or four songs they'd already cut. And
yeah, I showed it with the pedal steel and she
didn't, she was like, I had to show it to her.
And she was like, oh, okay. And then she didn't
know what it was. She knew what it was, but she
just wasn't, she wasn't sure how it was going
to be used within her music. Yeah. And we did
this George Jones song. I'm not sure who wrote
this song. Pick up the pieces. It's on that record.
And she had a thing in mind. She said, okay,
can you do this thing? Can you go now? And it
is, if you play steel or even if you don't play
steel, it is like one of those licks that is,
I don't want to say cliched, but it is like very
common. So I was like, oh, I know exactly what
you're talking about. So I did that and she was
happy. And it was, yeah, we had a great time.
Sometimes things are cliche for a reason. Exactly.
No, you're right. Because people talk about that
in these steel guitar forums. Don't play these
cliched licks. But I'm like, that's what people
want to hear. Sometimes, yeah. Right. Yeah. So
let's talk about Japan Cakes, because that's
been a band that you've been a part of for a
really long time. They're still somewhat active,
right? No, they're not. But it's funny that,
I guess I brought them up, but we haven't played
together in over 20 years. Oh, really? But now
we have a show at the 40 Watt in May 7th. Wow.
KinderCore is doing, the label is doing, a three
-night 30th anniversary weekend celebration for
the whole weekend at the 40 Watt. And they asked
us to play, so we're going to do it. That sounds
awesome. I'll be there. Great. Yeah, no, I'll
be there for that. That sounds great. Talk about
the origins of that band. You haven't played
together in 20 years, but I feel like you've
still consistently put out. When they were released
in 2016? You're right. I guess I forgot about
that. And that record is different than other
Japan Cakes records, even though it's called
Japan Cakes. But it has singing on it. Yes. Yeah,
it does. So it's different. And I don't know.
Yeah. It's cool. And the girl who sang on it
did a great job. And yeah, it's a cool record.
Sorry, I forgot about that. No, that was a cool
record. I don't know how you keep track of half
of the things you play on at this point. You
do a lot of studio work. Yeah. You do a lot of
session work. Yeah. That's your bread and butter
these days, I would say. Yeah, I do a lot of
that. And I started, during the pandemic, I was
finally forced to learn how to do it from home.
My friend Bo Beddingfield, someone else. I know
Bo. I played in the White Owls with him in his
band. It was really sweet. During the pandemic
on my birthday, he upgraded his interface. So
he put his old one in my mailbox. Oh, nice. With
a microphone. And then he, more importantly,
he talked me through getting it set up, learning
to do it. And it's been great. I have it set
up in my bedroom. I work on stuff all the time.
Yeah. Yeah. In some bands, you're known as Pajama
Neff. Right. Is there anything you want to say?
Is there anything you want to address about that?
I feel like you've been talked a lot about on
this podcast and I want to give you a chance
to respond. Jonathan came up with that. Yeah,
I like it. There was a song we listened to. I
went to Nucci Space and we recorded it and I
thought, we were just listening to it afterwards
and I thought, I could do that better. I said,
let me give that a try from home. And he just
said, yeah, sit at home and smoke a J in your
pajamas and do it. And I said, Okay, sure. So
I guess that's where that came from. He's so
funny, man. He's so silly. Jonathan is like one
of the silliest people I know. I love him so
much. He's so fun. What's it been like working
with him on this? I feel like he's, I don't know
what he's going through right now, but it's like
all of a sudden he's writing and recording a
rock opera. He and Laura, he seems super active
and what's the word I'm looking for? productive
right now in many facets. He's on this Hulu show
that just came out. Oh, is he? I didn't know
about this. Yeah, he's on the number one show
on Hulu right now. Really? Yeah. What is it?
Murdoch, Death and the Family. Oh, okay. Yeah,
yeah. He plays a reporter named Jerry. It's not
like a huge part. He's a pretty significant part
of the story. Cool. He's doing this rock opera.
I also feel like there's still another Slightly
Famous Somebody's record that hasn't been...
I don't know if it morphed into this rock opera.
I don't know. I'm not sure. I know I'd already
played on a few songs before. The last one was
like 11 minutes long. And it sounds very rock
opera. Yeah. He sent me some early mixes here
and there. I'm loving it. It's cool. I like that
kind of stuff, too. I'm a big musicals guy. Is
that something that you've ever been into before?
A musical theater or anything like that? Not
particularly. Do you ever play in any... I can
think of several musicals where my friends' bands
have ended up playing in the band for the instrument.
For the orchestra or whatever, is that anything
you've ever grown up? Were you involved in that
kind of stuff? Not really, no. So did you start
performing with bands pretty much exclusively?
Yeah. You seem like such a calm, collected individual.
Is that true on the inside? Gosh, I don't know.
Maybe not necessarily. Like I said, I think I
have a short attention span. Yeah. Is anxiety
or depression anything? you've ever had to struggle
with? I have my ups and downs, just like most
people. Yeah. Not severe depression. Not anything
that like severely has impacted your life. Yeah.
I always think it's interesting when, when such,
so many artists, like it comes from a dark place.
And so I think it's interesting when it doesn't.
Do you think that it does to a degree? It may.
I don't know. I haven't seen a therapist yet.
I plan to at some point, so maybe it'll all come
out. Yeah, I think that when you have that creative
outlet, that usually makes things a lot better.
Absolutely. It can be a preventative care in
a lot of ways. My brother pointed that out recently.
He was like, you're really lucky to be able to
just sit around and play music. And I was like,
you're right. It really does help. It's therapeutic.
At what point did you realize that you were going
to be able to make a living doing this and not
have to have a nine to five or work at a furniture
store anymore? Since I've lived in Athens, I've
had jobs on and off. I delivered water for a
long time. There was my second year, my second
stint with the drive -by truckers, which lasted
about seven years. I didn't work then. I didn't
have another job. But when I quit, I quit and
then I had the band with Shauna for a little
while. And then we needed money. So I got the
same job back, delivering water that I'd had
previously. And it's been, I guess it's been
four or five years, maybe four years, since I've
had a job. Sounds like that coincides with your
ability to record remotely, too. Definitely.
Part of it was, yeah, I had this really not a
very good job for about a little less than a
year, auto parts courier. And I'm just driving
around doing it. And I just thought, wait a second.
I should just really try to really make an effort
to make a little bit more money with playing
music. Because if you work 40 hours and go home,
I don't feel like sitting down and playing music.
Agreed. Yeah, no. Yeah. I can't, like, work 40
hours and then want to go write a comedy set,
perform it, and then do a podcast, travel and
do a podcast. Right. Yeah. J. Rodney Walson told
me, if you have a backup plan, like, you're going
to do it. So don't have a backup plan. That's
funny because David Barbie's dad told him that.
He said, if you want to play music for a living,
make sure you don't have a backup plan. I think
it's the best advice I've ever heard. And my
parents, they worried. They worried for me. They
worried about me. So I never heard that from
them. When did you make the decision that it
was going to be something you were going to pursue
to do full time? Not just it sounds like you
reach a turning point a few years ago to put
a more conscious effort to get back to where
you were in terms of not having to do other things.
But at what point were you like, I want to be
I want to be a musician when I grow up or whatever?
Man, I don't know. I didn't do very well in school.
I didn't have anything to fall back on. I don't
know. I just kept doing it. It sounds like you
probably didn't want to pay much attention in
school. Things that you wanted to pay attention
to weren't there. Absolutely, yeah. I just talked
to Danny Bedrosian from Parliament Funkadelic.
Oh, yeah. When he was 11 years old, He told his
mom he wanted to be the keyboardist for Parliament
Funkadelic. Wow. And then he went and did it.
Wow, that's amazing. It's a mind -blowing story,
it really is. But I think about that, and it's
like, he didn't have a backup plan. He never
even thought differently. That was what he was
going to do. When did you first start feeling...
okay i'm like i'm good enough at this to die
and i know that you don't think you're that good
but everybody else disagrees so you're just gonna
have to accept that you you said something earlier
i'm not that great i'm and i literally laughed
it when i was a kid i wasn't i didn't play the
piano but if there was a piano and there was
a melody i could figure out how to play it i
couldn't just play it without just cold but but
i could just tap some keys and oh there it is
You have an innate musical scale understanding
or whatever. Or just a little bit of an ear.
And then, so among my friends, then I had a little
bit of a better ear than most people. And then
I played music in Savannah. And then I moved
to Athens. And then it's different. Everyone
came from all these other places. And there are
all these really talented people. And in that
pool. of musicians uh maybe wasn't i did maybe
didn't stand out i just kept doing it i also
think if you want to get better like then you
play with people that are better than sure whether
it's music or football or whatever like tennis
yeah yeah okay that's where i've heard that yeah
yeah but i think there's i think that's very
true yeah because it and i've experienced that
with comedians like when we're all when there's
a little bit of a competitive edge to what we're
doing like friendly sure but it makes us all
step up and get better and get better Athens
is such a unique place I think though because
it doesn't feel super competitive in that way
it feels more like universal support sure what
do you think kept you here all these years I
mean I think there's a lot of things that people
who live here and people who have spent a lot
of time here think of as obvious. But I don't
think it is very obvious to the rest of the country
what is so appealing about this place. Gosh,
for me, my sisters live here with their families
and we're pretty close. My friends, I have some
friends I'm pretty close with. And then I have
this house, so I'm dug in with this. Yeah, I
hear you. This is a cool place, man. Thanks.
I can tell you've put yourself into it for a
long time. Thanks. I'm not a handy person, but
I did do these floors myself. Oh, wow. Yeah.
I never would have guessed these were. Yeah,
these are really nice. The camera can't see them,
but that's fine. That's the most involved thing
I've ever done as far as watching YouTube videos.
Yeah, yeah. And when was the last time you toured?
I know you play some shows with Bloodkin out
of town, but it doesn't seem like it's extended
tours. Not yet. Let's see. A year and a half,
two years ago, I went to Europe with the Pinkstones.
That's right. I quit playing with them about
a year and a half ago. Yeah. It's mostly one
-offs these days with the people I'm playing
with. Do you prefer it that way? Yeah. I have
a dog and I like being home. Yeah. I don't think
Jonathan called you pajama enough for no reason
at all. That's true. So where do you see yourself
going with? Do you have goals or do you just
do what you have the tools to do? I just do it.
I don't have goals. Yeah, I think having goals
is... No, a lot of people laugh at that idea,
but I actually think that's... a lot more reasonable
and you end up being a lot happier if you just
do what you can do with the tools that you have
and right what what were some of the like the
highlights of going on some of these world tours
what do you have any memories any stories you
want to you want to share oh god i'm sure i'm
sure there's some crazy stuff that happened but
i don't i'm not trying to violate the code of
the road either right i don't know Playing with
Booker was pretty great. Getting to play Red
Rocks was cool. Playing the Ryman. I played Levon's
Barn with Levon. I stood right behind him when
he played his set. We played drums and sang.
I was right behind him just watching him. That's
amazing. Yeah, and then Jay and I were asked
if we wanted to get up and sing on the wait and
play guitar. They handed us a couple of acoustic
guitars. So technically, I was on stage strumming
a guitar and singing on the weight with Levon
Helm. That's crazy. And Donald Fagan was playing
piano. Wow. It was cool. Yeah. There are a few
other things like that, but those kinds of things
are pretty cool, pretty memorable. Is there anything
in particular you miss about being on the road?
Some people love it, some people hate it. I love
a lot of it. I love going to see a place I've
never been to. I don't know. It's a little annoying
when someone says, like a fan says, oh, I don't
see you anymore. I wish I saw you. And I was
like, I'm doing all this stuff here. I'm playing
all these records. You can check me out on these
things. But I understand how that works. Yeah.
I also don't understand people that I am coming.
I do come here and see a lot of shows of a lot
of people that I like that don't necessarily.
And like Taylor Hollingsworth. Didn't start touring
at all until a year ago. Two years ago. He would
only play in Birmingham. So if you wanted to
go see him, you had to just go. And I think that
more people should turn Athens into a destination.
Beyond just things like AthFest or Drive -By
Truckers Homecoming or whatever even. I think
just coming for a random weekend. Because some
of the coolest things, you just wander into a
bar and you see some of them. like best musicians
in the world playing covers or originals or both.
And it really is a magical place. And I think
you got to what I think is so special about it
beyond anything is it's the people. Events like
the Rumpus and AvFest, like the ability for an
entire community to come together with a common
goal. make compromises and not everybody gets
everything they want, but everybody works together
and makes these things happen. And that doesn't
happen in very many. I don't want to say it doesn't
happen anywhere else. It doesn't happen very
many places. It's really special. It is. Yeah.
And I don't blame you for just wanting to play
here. I really don't. I get it. What projects
have you been working on in the studio that people
can check out? What are some of the more recent
things that you've been working on? that you
think people people that want to hear more john
neff oh i've been doing this for this recording
project with jay gonzalez oh yeah called jay
and the boulevardians okay yeah yeah and all
that stuff is most of it is on youtube i've yeah
yeah i've been listening to some of that and
jay's been on the podcast too oh yeah and and
he's also playing with eric bachman right now
which is crazy it's that's what this town is
like though i was talking to to mary joyce from
aft fest and i talked to sam lipkin from flagpole
who's on the booking committee for aft fest and
like one of the questions i asked her was like
how do you make sure that all the bands don't
like the bands that have overlapping members
aren't playing at the same time like when you
have a hundred bands playing I imagine just scheduling
your bands is a logistical nightmare. Right.
I played three shows in one day on this past.
You were there. Yes, I was. Yeah, I was at all
three. Yeah, so Troy. Kimberly Morgan, Bloodken,
and Slightly Famous Somebodies. That's right.
Yeah. Or Bad Ends. It was Bad Ends, not Bloodken.
Not Bloodken, yeah. Bloodken didn't play at this
year. That's right. Which was a first. Right.
So. Troy Aubrey, who puts on AthFest, I think
he was conscious of when he knew when he was
involved in the scheduling. Yeah. Because he
knew I played in all three of those bands. And
you ended up playing the first half with Slightly
Famous Somebodies. And I looked at John and was
like, man, Neft just quit in the middle of it.
Got to do it sometime. Yeah. So what do you like
about playing live? versus playing in the studio
is there which you like better your studio is
your bedroom now yeah that's pretty sweet it's
different they're just so different especially
since i'm set up down there now and having it
at my house is different than recording going
to a studio and then both are great but man i've
really liked doing it home recently because i
can listen to a song and put something down and
the next day I'll wake up and think of another
part that I didn't think of before. And I've
just had some good results doing. You get to
spend a little bit more time with it. Give it
a little room to breathe. Yeah. And you're not
bound by the fact that you're in a studio that's
costing hundreds of dollars an hour or whatever.
Exactly. Yeah. I can see that. That would be
in that being really. So what do you like to
do for fun, John? I know you love to live crew.
In fact, you might be the biggest 2 Live Crew
fan I know. 2 Live Crew? Yeah, yeah. I play tennis
a little bit. I'm not very good, but I play.
And I have a ping pong table in the basement.
Oh, cool. Yeah, and I've got Marty. I like hanging
out with him. Yeah, he's pretty good company.
Yeah. Yeah, what's up, dude? So, yeah, aside
from that, it's pretty much music. Yeah. Yeah.
You like to get out in nature a lot. You live
out in it. Yeah, and I... And when I moved out
here, I was just outside all the time. I was
doing gardening stuff and little yard projects.
Anyway, I have this thing called Alpha Gal that
I got from Tick Bites. Because I would find ticks
on myself all the time, and I just wouldn't think
anything of it. And then I found out I have this
thing that was caused by a tick bite. Ticks are
so bad. The thing that makes you allergic to
certain meats? To red meat. Yeah. And red meat
means pork, too. It means beef and pork. Oh,
wow. So it's not just that pork. It's the other
white meat thing. It's just a marketing ploy.
Right. Yeah. So anyway, it's all poultry and
fish and, yeah, as far as meat goes. Can we talk
a little bit more about this? I'd love to just
spread a little bit of awareness about this disease.
Maybe more people would. Get checked with ticks.
I only know a little bit about it. I think a
lot of people don't realize it because it's the
only food allergy that doesn't have an immediate
reaction. It takes three to five hours usually.
And for me, it causes hives. Interesting. That's
terrible. Right. So I thought when I started
getting it, I thought that I was getting like...
poison ivy or something from working in the yard
i didn't realize what it was and hunters get
it a lot because they're out in the woods so
that's ironic yeah i mean it's unfortunate but
i do love irony sure how has that affected your
day -to -day life has it or have you just made
some dietary adjustments and yeah carry an epi
pen yeah what are the like first signs of And
remind me the name of the disease again. Alpha
-gal. Alpha -gal. Alpha -gal. Okay. And gal stands
for galactose, I think. Okay. Yeah. And what
are some of the early signs? Is it literally
just the symptoms of the allergy or are there
some other signals that you might get when you
first contract it? Okay. This is really complicated.
I don't know if you want me to go into it. Absolutely.
If you're down to it, I'm all about it. Okay.
Well, it was a new, it was a new thing when I
got it and not very much was known about it,
but I was cleaning the gutters on my roof, standing
on my roof and I got bit by two fire ants and
I had a severe anaphylactic reaction. Oh my goodness.
And yeah, I was living with Shauna at the time
and she drove me to the emergency room. And so
I thought that, yeah, I'm allergic to fire ants.
And then there was this guy who's a doctor, he's
an ENT, who lives in Atlanta. He's a music fan,
and he was at a show at the 40 Watt, and he knew
about what had happened. And he said, so how
are you feeling these days? And I said, pretty
good, but I get a lot of rashes. I think I get
poison ivy or something. And then the next day
I get a text from him. He said, you should get
checked for this thing called alpha -gal. So
I did. And I have it. That's wild. Yeah. Do you
know how he knew about it? He's an ENT. Oh, right.
He's an ENT, yeah. So, anyway, I'm seeing an
allergist in Athens for this. He's now retired.
But I told him, I said, I have a gut feeling
that my reaction to these fire ants are related
to alpha -gal. I found out I had both the same
summer. And I just feel like they must be related.
He said, no, they're not related. He said, you
have alpha gal and then you're allergic to fire
ants. And then there have been studies that have
linked the two. So I've also been in the hospital
with anaphylaxis two other times. One was from
a wasp sting and one was from a hornet sting.
Oh, man. And so I'm just allergic to all the
stinging, biting bugs. So you don't spend as
much time outside anymore. Until, like, everything's
overgrown. I just want it gets cooler and the
bugs start to go away. I've been out in the yard
recently. We're in October now. Do you think
that's part of the reason that you, like, don't
want to tour as much and you want to stick closer
to home? I feel like that would be a lot scarier
when you're hundreds of miles from home than
when you're... Right. I don't know. Not necessarily.
Yeah. Yeah. I really appreciate you like sharing
information about that. I think that's one of
those things. I feel like 20 years ago, people
didn't know much about Lyme disease and that
was, but ticks are really scary. Yeah. And what
are, what do you want to promote? You've got
the new Japan, the Japan cakes record, the cover
of my bloody Valentine covers is coming out on
vinyl. What else is going on? I hear that Strollin'
Bones, which is an imprint of New West, it's
George Fontaine Sr.'s personal label, is putting
out the Starroom Boys records. Oh, hell yeah.
Next year. That's awesome. Yeah, we don't, I
don't know if there's a date yet, but it's supposed,
yeah. If he says it's coming out, then I believe
him sometime next year. Yeah, that should be
cool. That's awesome. And, of course, you were
on several songs on Decoration Day, which is
the complete Decoration Day. November 14th, I
think, is coming out. Was it November? I thought
it was December. Maybe it is. I don't know. I
pre -ordered it, so it'll get there when it gets
there. Were you on that show at the Flickr Bar,
too, then, right? Which one? The one that's the
bonus disc. Were you on that show? I don't think
so. Okay. Yeah. I think that's before I got back
with him. Fair. I also do this thing with Mike
Mills. I actually do two different things with
him. So I'm still doing that. We didn't discuss
that. I would love to hear more about that too,
real quick. Like I said, you have so many things
going on. It's really hard. I don't know how
you keep track of it. So what are these projects
with Mike Mills? One is called the Concerto.
That's short for the Concerto with Rock Band.
Concerto for Rock Band with Strings. And it features
Bobby McDuffie, the classical violinist. He and
Mike went to school and church together in Macon
when they were kids. And Mike went on to be an
REM. And Robert went on to become a star in the
classical world. And he has... The McDuffie Center
for Strings at Mercer. Okay, yeah. So they had
talked about doing a project together for years,
and that's what this is. Mike wrote a 30, 35
-minute piece of original music, and I just play
guitar in that band. And it features Bobby on
violin. Okay, so there's that. And then we also
do this other thing with the same group, plus
Chuck LaBelle. And it's called A Night of Georgia
Music. And so Georgia music, it's covers. And
it's anything. It could be any song about Georgia
or a Georgia artist. So we do some Allman Brothers
and REM and B -52s. And we do Georgia On My Mind
and Midnight Train to Georgia. We play a James
Brown tune. Gladys Knight played in my city last
night. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, awesome. I was here.
Oh, wow. Yeah. It's wild. Yeah. I didn't really
know she was still out doing it, but I think
she's 86 years old. She must be. Wow. That's
so cool. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. She really, yeah.
She's a beast. Yeah. That sounds real. Y 'all
play live pretty frequently, or is that? It's
usually, okay, the concerto thing usually plays
a few shows a year. Our next one is in Macon
in mid -November. Okay, cool. And the Night of
Georgia Music thing has a show in Florida. I
think it's a private thing in South Florida in
January of next year. Cool, cool. Yeah. And,
you know, that doesn't happen as often because
Chuck, he's a busy guy. Yeah. And Mike stays
super busy, too. He does. Even though REM doesn't
really do anything. He's got the baseball project.
He's got all these. And this new thing with,
it's called Howl Owl Howl. I've heard a little
bit about this. A little bit, yeah. The name
sticks. Right. So it's with, oh my God. It's
with Darius Rucker. Yeah. Steve, the guy who
used to play drums for the Black Crows. Steve
Gorman? I think that's his name, yeah. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. And Mike played me about four songs,
and it's really cool. That sounds cool. I know
Darius was having some issues with his voice
recently on tour, so I hope he's figured that
out. I heard something about that. He had to
just stop. He was literally just like, I can't
sing. He had to cancel the show. This is back
in July, though, so I think he's probably figured
it out by now. I think so, too. I heard something
about that, and I feel like it was resolved in
some way. Do you have any idea when this project
with Jay Gonzalez is going to be released? This
project, it's really weird because it's so cool.
The guy who writes the lyrics' name is Grady
Thrasher, and he's a retired lawyer, and he finances
this project, and he doesn't feel the need for
it to be a public thing. He made some copies
of the record that he gave us, and he gave us
some to give to friends, but it's not. we don't
really do shows or those videos are on YouTube
for anyone to watch, but I'll put links in the
description. Okay. Great. But it's almost like
it's not, his goal isn't to get it out to the
world. Yeah. I feel like Jay gets involved with
a lot of projects that it's like, man, let's
just make some music and we'll, we'll put it
out. We don't have to like make it this. thing
that has to be more than let's make a record
or let's make some music john it's been really
fucking awesome talking to you man i really appreciate
it is there anything else you want to you want
to mention i thought i could think of yeah man
uh this has been awesome awesome thank you so
much hey thank you yeah yeah yeah of course yeah
that was my interview with john neff uh i i can't
believe i uh get to do this stuff Thank y 'all
so much for listening. Hit that subscribe button.
Still so many of y 'all not subscribed but listening.
I really appreciate you listening. But next week
we got Jim Kimo West, Grammy Award winning guitar
player for Weird Al Yankovic. So go ahead and
hit subscribe so you don't miss that. We'll see
you next week. That'll be the season finale for
2025. We got some cool stuff coming next year,
too. Don't worry. Take us out of here, Sloan.