In mid-2014, Rebecca Dawkins and Tim O’Donnell, of The Nouveaux Honkies, hoisted anchor and set sail in their rebuilt RV journeying from South Florida to the Rockies, the Great Lakes, and Cape Cod, before returning south for the winter. It’s been somewhere around 150 thousand miles, 600 shows, and at least one million smiles that have influenced The Nouveaux Honkies and their latest recording, Loud in Here, which was released March 2, 2018.
Recorded at The Zone in the Hill Country of Dripping Springs, Texas, Loud in Here is a culmination of the bonds they have made across the country with the community and the land. Featureing special guests including Bill Kirchen, Ephraim Owens, Nate Rowe, Chris Gage, Lloyd Maines, Pat Manske and Tim Buppert, the record spans a full emotional gauntlet from humor and quirky duets to innovative ballads and tender moments of reflection. Here, the duo answer their Essential 8 and talk about songwriting, meeting their heroes, John Prine, and more. Where do you draw your inspiration from when writing? TIM: Most of the writing that I feel is worthy is spontaneous. I admire writers that can be given a topic and write. For me, I feel when I do that I am trying too hard. I think most great songs have been written forever and they are given to a vessel. Einstein kinda time travel stuff. Some people are way more receptive than others. With any song, was there an ah-ha moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect? TIM: Writing songs is easy. Finishing songs is hard. I could rewrite the same song forever because I constantly change how I feel about the topic and that’s why it’s important just to put it down. It’s never an ‘Ah-ha’ moment for me; it’s just putting a moment in time out there and letting it be in that moment. If I didn’t approach it that way I would still be writing the same song and it would never be finished. Is there a story behind the title of your album? TIM: “Loud In Here” is the story about when Rebecca and I first met. It was the year Florida got pummeled by four hurricanes. I had electricity for three days in September. Rebecca had moved to Florida from South Carolina. I had a business that got pummeled, a relationship on the rocks, and a great friend and musical mentor, Tommy De Stefano who was bitten by a brown recluse spider and sent to the hospital. I wasn’t playing music at the time, but my buddy Hawk was putting a fundraiser together to help him with his hospital bills. Tommy ended up dying from complications from the bite. Oh, and for the record, Rebecca did have toilet paper hanging off of her right Doc Marten the first night I met her. It's all in the song! What’s the best advice you have gotten from another musician? TIM: I have a big bag of licks as a guitarist. My buddy Jerry Tillman asked me if I could play the melody of all these songs I know. Not rephrased or wanked, just the basic melody. That made me look at every song from it melodic perspective. Changed the way I played everything. What’s the best advice to give to a musician first starting out? TIM: Learn from everybody. And 90 percent of your learning will be not what to do if you take the time to learn from everybody. Have you met any of your heroes, and how did it go? TIM: That’s a scary one because we all have a preconceived notion of how cool the folks we look up to will be. A few of my heroes I have met have been turds, but for the most part, most them have been genuine, and we have become pretty good friends. We have been blessed to have some of these moments. Is there a professional bucket list item you would love to check off? TIM: Rebecca wants to hug John Prine which means I want to see Rebecca hug John Prine. What are your must-have albums on the road? TIM: Anything Dylan, everything Howlin’ Wolf, and Jerry Reed stuff when we wanna wonder what the hell is going on. I love the Steel Pulse “Earth Crisis” record. Rebecca always gravitates to anything They Might Be Giants and T-Bone Walker Imperial Recordings. Website/Facebook/Twitter/Purchase
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