FOLK ON FOLK: AN INTERVIEW WITH PETE RUTTLE

It’s a Thursday morning in the beginning of spring, and Binghamton songwriter Pete Ruttle walks in my back door. He has a haircut appointment in an hour, and a new album called The Great Divide that he’s releasing this month. The editor of Carousel texted me late last night, while I was on the road, and asked me if I wanted to do the interview. ‘Hell yes’ my smart phone responds. I’ve known Pete forever. I lived with him for a few years, and I’ve been playing music with him for just as long. I set him up on a stool and put some mics in front of him. He holds his guitar throughout the whole interview, even though I gave him a guitar stand. He, ever so slightly, fingerpicks while he talks. Every few minutes he checks the time. Hair appointment:

JOSEPH ALSTON: The album is called The Great Divide. Why?

PETE RUTTLE: Well, all the songs that are on it are songs that I wrote over the span of three years that I didn’t use on other projects. And a lot of the themes of the songs are about people I met and spent time with, friendships, experiences over that time; it seemed to make sense to call it that.

JA: Oh wow, I didn’t realize the songs spanned that much of a time period! Your last album, Night Songs, was released-- it’s not three years old, is it?

PR: It is. Yeah.

JA: Oh. Crazy! Um… Well, I love the title! I, uhh--

PR: Listen, Joe. If your gonna interview me, do your homework.

JA: Well, it’s not the New York Times, buddy. Gimme a break. I was asked to do this interview a day ago, so--

PR: I lived with you for five years!

JA: It seems like a couple of common phrases pop up throughout the album. Do you think there is a common thread behind all of the songs? A thread that ties the album together?

PR: Yeah, there is a common thread… about traveling and experiencing new things. I know I sing about listening to the radio a lot, which is something I grew up with, and that’s not really prevalent these days. There is a big shift in what people listen to and how they listen to it. And also, not talking about the content, but the way we recorded it: we tried to make it a very organic sound. And the songs that I picked, I feel like they fit together, just in the style that they’re written; chord structure and everything. It was meant to be a very tight package… and to fit together like a puzzle.

JA: Radio. That reminds me of your Dad being a DJ during your formative years. I’m thinking that probably played a part?

PR: Oh yeah, definitely. I gained a lot of musical experience from him. Our basement was always filled with a thousand records… we had guitars and whatnot down there, and that’s how I was introduced to the musical world.

JA: Captain Ruttle.

PR: Yup.

JA: What inspires you as a songwriter?

PR: Umm… I think the biggest thing that inspires me to write songs is it helped me out as a form of personal expression. Where I can’t express myself in-- other ways-- day to day conversations. It allows me to channel things that I’m feeling or thinking, and lets me get them out.

JA: That is an interesting thing about you, because having known you for so long, I know you as a very sarcastic person. Then I listen to your music, your songs, and they’re heartfelt and as direct to that emotional state as it can get. Not to say you don’t have your heartfelt moments, but you’re pretty sarcastic. [Insert slightly uncomfortable laughter here.] Yeah, that’s interesting. Cool. This is going great.

PR: Oh, yeah.

JA: Moving right along: you’ve collaborated with Joe Kollar at Yellowbike Studio [in Chenango Bridge, NY] for the last two albums. For those of you who don’t know Joe, you actually probably do. He plays banjo, drums, sings and writes for the band Driftwood. He also owns and runs Yellowbike Studio. He also plays in your other band, Pete, the Lutheran Skirts. I know you love working with him. Tell me about the process the two of you have. What makes it unique and keeps you going back to it?

PR: It’s just really easy to work with Joe. We’ve been friends and been around each other’s music for a long time. Neither of us have a tendency to want to control what’s going on in the studio. We work very freely with each other. We take into account what each of us has to offer, and usually it works out for the best. And if it doesn’t, we cut each other down. Harshly. But it does work. And, you know, it took a year to record the album, but we actually only got together 18 days. We actually accomplished a lot over a short time, but it was just about being available to do it.

JA: That’s a really unique way to record an album. I think that really aids in the process, because you keep building up the ideas.

PR: Yeah, and you come in fresh. You have time in between. ‘Cuz you get a little weird when you listen to the same couple measures over and over again… I don’t have the biggest attention span.

JA: No kidding. So the album also features Joey Arcuri, also from Driftwood, on standup bass. Tell me about the arrangement process between the three of you. How does the song go from what you write by yourself to what we hear on the album?

PR: Very naturally. I had a lot of time traveling on the road with Driftwood, so they were very familiar with my songs. I just told them to play whatever they wanted. Joey just always plays the most sweetest lines. I never really told them what to do. And actually, through the recording process, the songs changed dramatically. We had a rule that we only wanted to record three takes, and we only broke that rule on three songs. But even in just those three takes it would morph into the end result. And I was happy with what they chose to do. I think that’s why everybody had a lot of fun doing it, because you go in and do what you feel, and then you move on. Because it’s not the last song or album I’m going to record. So just do it naturally, how you feel, and then move on.

JA: You guys learned the songs on the road, but not really playing a lot of shows, right?

PR: Yeah. We’d play in hotel rooms, hanging out at peoples’ houses.

JA: Which is cool: it’s like a free form rehearsal. It’s interesting, because the way you guys make albums is very different than most recording artists. And I commend you for that.

PR: Thank you, sir.

JA: Who was your first musical crush?

PR: My first? I always loved Tom Petty. I love the way he wrote prolifically. I like that style. And the only other style of music I was really always into was classical. I sang in a choir for ten to twelve years. You know: Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart. Very cool stuff.

JA: So combine Brahms and Tom Petty, and you get Pete Ruttle.

PR: Well, there was other stuff in between. Too many to list.

JA: Do you think there is a Binghamton music scene?

PR: Absolutely. And it has changed dramatically over the last ten years. Most of the music around here ten years ago was just cover bands-- not to detract from that talent, but there has been a shift to appreciating original music. I remember, it was impossible to get a show and play original music and expect to get paid for it. Now people are really into it. It’s growing, and people come out and support and appreciate it. I do, too.

JA: Me, too. Okay, last question: just in the past few months, we have lost David Bowie, Merle Haggard, and Prince. What musician have you never seen but would spend your rent to go see?

PR: Alive or dead?

JA: Let's say alive. Tricky question. Do you want to say dead?

PR: Yeah, say dead, ‘cuz I would want to go see Frank Zappa.

JA: Nice. You know you can still go see his son, Dweezil, do Zappa plays Zappa?

PR: It’s good, but-- it’s not the same thing.

The album is amazing. The songs fall in the vein of Nick Drake or Neil Young, and it’s obvious that sound engineer and banjo player Joe Kollar spent time listening to The Tallest Man on Earth to get some of his production ideas. Picture an herbal morning, with a three hour drive ahead, through a slight West Virginia rain, in late summer. Ruttle’s lyric-writing is literary, moody and heady, yet the hooks hook; I’ve caught myself humming the melodies in the shower and when I’m driving. Joey Arcuri’s bass playing is damn near classical in his note choices; choosing color tones instead of the roots of the chords adds a complexity to the arrangements that doesn’t burden the ear. The album is lush. With a constant mixture of Ruttle’s National dobro, Kollar’s deft and floating banjo, and a beautiful big body electric Gretsch guitar, the whole picture is wrapped in a light reverb. All with a slight but constant underbelly of percussion, to give it a backbone. The songs paint a picture of a confident man willing to be unsure of himself. It is by far the most mature work Pete Ruttle has output yet. Arcuri is a beast of a bass player, and Kollar is proving that Yellowbike Studio is well on its way to developing its own unique sound and style of making records.

The Great Divide will be released locally and online on Friday, May, 13th. A celebratory release party is planned for that evening at Atomic Tom’s, 196 State Street, Binghamton, NY. Doors open at 7pm, and there’s a $10 door charge. Pete, Joe and Joey will play at 8pm. The Lutheran Skirts will follow and likely play well into the night. The album is marked at $15, and will be available starting 5/13 at peteruttlemusic.com. If you can’t make it to the release, you can see Pete perform at Cyber Cafe West (176 Main St. Binghamton) on Wednesday, May 18th at 8pm, and almost every Friday at 5:30pm at the Old Union Hotel (246 Clinton St. Binghamton). Binghamton music lives.

(For an audio recording of the unabridged version of this interview, as well as a take of Pete Ruttle performing the song ‘On the Run’ live in the studio, check out carouselrag.com.)