 Credit: Greg Giannukos
Nashville duo Whiskey Wolves of the West - Tim Jones (vocals, guitar) and Leroy Powell (vocals, guitar, bass, pedal steel, clavinet, keys, harmonica) - is set to unleash its debut album, Country Roots, on March 2. A sonic fusion of country, roots, rock, and blues Country Roots is a seven-track collection of genre-defying tunes that flow loosely over a base of solid, accessible songwriting. In advance of the release, Tim Jones dives into his Essential 8 and talks about mentor and friend Jack Tempchin, relays a story about Steve Earle and Diet Dr. Pepper, weighs in on drinking at gigs, and much more.
Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you? I met Jack Tempchin at his Monday night residency Big Mondays with Jack and Friends at The Joint shortly after I moved to Los Angeles in 2001. At first, I wondered who is this guy playing all these Eagles and Glenn Frey covers and then, "Ah ha!" I met him again at a Durango Songwriters conference, and then he started popping by the Hotel Cafe where I hosted a Sunday night residency and he owned a house a few blocks away. He was impressed that I had seen so many of his residency shows and knew so much of his back story, and he let me hang around more and we became really close and wrote songs and my band would back him up. Jack is all California and he educated me on so many things songwriting-wise, but more importantly on life in general. We would stay up late in pursuit of the song. Craving something more. The mind never stops growing. Most importantly, he taught me that true joy onstage and off can't be faked, and why would you want to? No one wants to see you pretend to be happy. So you have to find that someplace other than in another person's eyes. Midnight Jack. Forever dreamer. All time friend. With "Alexandria," what was the “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect? I played a demo for my wife, and I said, "That line, 'All you ever gave me was enough rope to hang from.' Leroy wrote it, and I'm not sure..." And before I could get my second guessing out, she said, "That's my favorite part!" What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician? Don't say the first thing on your mind and don't have to have the last word. 
Who would you love to collaborate with? Jessi Alexander. I've seen her at the Bluebird and other places quite a few times, and I love her writing and the way she talks about writing. I don't love a lot of the versions of her songs that are huge, but I love how effortlessly out-of-this-world-good her voice is, and the way she sings them blows me away. Is drinking at gigs a positive or a negative? I've got a million stories of both, but I like to be in a head space where I am unconcerned about what anyone is thinking (including myself). I can certainly get there without the aid of any alcohol or medicine, but a couple drinks help to quiet the voices sometime. Five or six make the voices get louder. Favorite (or first) concert you have ever attended? My brother and I really wanted to see Men at Work when we were kids in the '80s, and my dad couldn't tolerate that, but he kind of liked Billy Joel. That was acceptable to my brother (I did whatever he thought was cool), so we went to see The Nylon Curtain tour, I believe. I was only 6 or 7 at the time. They did "Good Night Saigon," with the helicopter sound at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, and it just blew my mind. I bought The Stranger first, because some guy at the record store said it was on that, and then The Nylon Curtain. That probably started my obsession with reading liner notes. Have you met any of your heroes? If so, how did it go? I met Steve Earle at a Hotel Cafe Tour show at SXSW (in 2007, I think?) that I was playing and also helping stage manage. It was Tom Morello all-stars including him, Perry Farrell, Slash, Les Claypool, and a host of others. I was pretty whacked out at the time, and Steve was sober (I imagine), and I got all fanboy on him for a bit. Finally I said, "Is there anything I can get you?" which really was why I was supposed to be there. He said, "Yeah, I'd really love a Diet Dr Pepper," so I ran around the venue but they didn't have any. Eventually, I found a bodega across the street and bought him one, and I ran it back, all out of breath, thinking he'd be so stoked. He was just pissed and said, "Took long enough." I can't really blame him, it probably had. Is there a professional “bucket list” item you would love to check off? Between Leroy and me, we've pretty much done or seen it all at some point, but I've never played Radio City Music Hall. Would be nice to sell that out a couple times. Leroy would probably chime in here and say, "Oh yeah, done that." Website Insta
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