Tim O'Reagan: Just another new beginning
Thursday 22 June @ 02:28:00 |
 by Andrea Myers
There are many different ways to refer to Tim O’Reagan: Ex-member of the Leatherwoods. Ex-Jayhawk. Ex-working stiff drummer. But for all the things he is not, O’Reagan is quietly preparing to unleash an album that showcases all of the things he has become: singer-songwriter, guitar player, and most importantly: frontman.
“That's kind of a big question for me right now,” he explains, on the phone from his home in the Twin Cities. “What kind of a “frontman” I should be? And it's still a big mystery to me. I think it's something I'm just going to have to go do, and see what happens, and take notes as I go along.”
For Jayhawks fans, it may be difficult to adjust to the idea of the individual members of the group branching off to pursue independent projects. But O’Reagan doesn’t seem to be phased by the band’s current hiatus. “The official word on the Jayhawks, is that there is no Jayhawks,” O’Reagan replies readily when asked. “That's the Tim O'Reagan official word,” he jokes, hinting that the other members of the group may have different opinions of the band’s status.
He narrates his introduction to the band in a similarly nonchalant manner. “I knew those guys just from hanging around the Uptown area and the Uptown Bar. Then I heard that they were recording a new release; they had released the Tomorrow the Green Grass record and were looking for another drummer. And so I called 'em up. I said ‘I'm available.’” Though he downplays his interactions with the band, it is clear that lead singer Gary Louris and his bandmates saw something special in O’Reagan; even on their first album with the new drummer, Sound of Lies, they gave him the opportunity to write and perform his own song, and his track “Bottomless Cup” ended up being one of the best on the record.
The first track on his self-titled solo debut, “These Things,” begins gently, with the delicate sigh of a French accordion that seems to breathe in relief. If O’Reagan was worried about his self-titled solo debut, it certainly doesn’t come across in the recording; from start to finish, the record plays like a dream. O’Reagan’s high voice floats about and pulls the songs together with a common feeling of imagination and wonderment. “These Things,” despite its sad undertones of loneliness and lost love, sounds at first listen to be a joyful proclamation, and the lighthearted nature of the music dances ironically with sad themes throughout the record.
There’s no denying the vivid Beatles influences that are present on the album, specifically with his decidedly vintage melodies and introspective lyrics, but it seems that O’Reagan’s biggest muse for the record was…himself. The entire album recalls both the Leatherwoods album Topeka Oratorio and his work on the last Jayhawks album, but the sound has developed into something so smoothed out and pretty that is blurs the lines between country, pop, folk and sweet, purified rock.
Think George Harrison jamming with the Shins. Or better yet, Elliot Smith dancing a soft shuffle with John Lennon and O'Reagan's Leatherwoods partner, Todd Newman. And many of O'Reagan's local musical friends pitched in to help him with the recording process. Minneapolitan guitar tech John Woodland was brought in to help O'Reagan co-produce the record, and, though he wrote most of the parts himself, he brought in new musicians to contribute their ideas, including Jayhawks alumni Louris, Perlman, Mark Olson and Karen Grotberg, former Son Volt bass player Jim Boquist, and bassist James “Hutch” Hutchinson from Bonnie Raitt's band.
The recoding occurred over an extended period of time, “between 2004 and 2005, he says. “It really ended around the beginning of this year as far as finishing the record. We took a leisurely pace, since we had the rehearsal space, and I had the time to do it. I stretched it out as long as I could…I would write a song, and sort of let it sit.”
O'Reagan also takes a relaxed approach to the songwriting process. “Typically my process is that I have something to begin with, whether it's the lyrics, a phrase that I like, or a stanza, and then I start in the morning with a pot of coffee, and I start screwing around with it, hoping and waiting for something to come together with the words and the sound,” he explains. “Sometimes it happens really quick, and usually that means it's a good song...if it gets stagnant I'll have somebody come in and have them play.”
“I try to make it all happen on my own, and sometimes it doesn't, and that's usually when I try to get help. But next time, if there is a next time, I think I'm going to try to bring the help in sooner. Make it more of a collaboration.” Though the future of the Jayhawks is looking grim, O'Reagan says that he would be open to working on recording projects in the future with his musical friends, including Todd Newman, who was spotted playing his first show in years at the Hexagon last month. “I'm open to anything at the moment,” he says.
Newman and O'Reagan migrated from Topeka, Kan. to Minneapolis together in the early nineties to pursue their musical inclinations. “He was aware of what was going on underground,” O'Reagan says of Newman. “And I was more of like a working stiff drummer. So I was hanging around him, and he was turning me on to things. He was tuned in to what was happening in Minneapolis and the whole Replacements scene. So he said this was the place. We were mostly just drinking buddies, and he was sort of doing his own thing. Basically, he turned me on to the whole world of more underground music, and more vital music, and writing your own songs.” The duo formed The Leatherwoods in Minneapolis and released one terrific record that was produced by Paul Westerberg, and then after four years together Joe Henry recruited O'Reagan for some shows and sessions and O'Reagan began his musical relationship with the Jayhawks.
Now in his first solo endeavor, O'Reagan ruminates over whether he will be accepted on his own, not only as the lead vocalist, but also as a performer that has come out from behind his drumkit and moved to the front of the stage. “That's the big question, isn't it?” he asks rhetorically. “That's the question I ask myself every morning when I wake up. What's going to happen when I'm really out there? It really hasn't started yet, the record's not out yet, and only a handful of people have heard it. I really, still, am going on hope; hope and prayer,” he says, sounding nervous and excited at the same time. But judging from his impressive musical resume and even more impressive debut recording, O'Reagan won't have to worry much longer.
Tim O'Reagan's new album, “Tim O'Reagan,” will be released on June 26, and he will be at the Electric Fetus for an in-store performance on June 30. More information at http://www.timoreagan.com.
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