Riding in a van on yet another adventure, Browan Lollar traverses this country several times a year with his band mates in St. Paul and The Broken Bones. Their new album, “Half The City,” is scheduled for release on February 18 to rave reviews with an extensive tour extending over the entire year.
The first big tinges of stardom have begun to wash over the band, yet they remain completely grounded. Their kind, congenial nature is just as much a part of the music as the soul that radiates from their harmonious explosion of sound. Recently we caught up with Lollar to discuss influences, art, and the heart of rock and roll.
For Lollar, the journey into music began long ago. His several years with Jason Isbell and The Four Hundred Unit seasoned him to the road. With St. Paul, from the beginning the fit was perfect.
“I always wanted to be in a soul band, but you can’t start a soul band without a singer,” Lollar said. “There has to be a singer. All the great soul bands are made around great singers.”
“I went to the studio and played on a couple of tracks that Jesse and Paul were working on, and that was the first time I heard Paul’s voice. After that, I was like, I definitely want to be involved in this.”
To listen to St. Paul and The Broken Bones new album, you would think the show would be a sit down and have your mind blown kind of show. Quite to the contrary, this sextet is ready for a full on Motown dance revue.
“When we were in the studio, we had an approach where we were just trying to capture the songs the way they were and the way we played them,” Lollar said. “We talked about it the other day, and I think that there may be seven or eight overdubs on the whole record.
“The record is really just us live in the studio. The live show is really more about us communicating with the audience and feeding off the energy that they are throwing back at us. Live, I’d say it’s way more energetic.”
Lollar has been a touring musician for the better part of a decade. His roots are firmly sunk into the world of music. Even so, this next year has him excited. “I feel really lucky to play in some of these venues again. Some of these venues are places I never thought that I would be able to play in again.”
“In Jason’s band, The Four Hundred Unit, we worked a long time, built up these venues and really felt like a comradery thing when we would go back and see the crowd grow a little bit.
“With St. Paul and The Broken Bones, honestly, it’s strange. You really feel confident in what you’re doing. People are talking about you and you don’t even have an album out yet,” Lollar said. “Our album doesn’t even come out til February 18 and we are already bumping up to theaters. It feels really good.
“With this band it’s kind of neat, because the second Paul opens his voice, everybody’s jaw drops and just because you aren’t expecting that sound to come out of him. It has become this little game in new cities when people don’t know what to expect. People flash you, and not the kind of people you want to flash you,” he laughed. “Guys have flashed us. I’ve seen people turn around and try to dance and fall and bust their ass and leave because they are so embarrassed. I’d say a fight is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. A fight breaks out and you’re not sure if you should keep playing because their attention is on the fight.”
Kind of like The Blues Brothers? “Yeah, chicken wire…”
Lollar, a true artist, is both a musician and a wonderful painter. His pieces grip you and leave you staring without words to articulate. When off the road, you can find him hard at work on his next masterpiece.
“One kind of serves the other for me. I know other artists and musicians who overlap and they find a way to paint on the road, but I can’t do that,” he said. “When I’m the road, it is music. When I go home, it is painting. One inspires the other a lot, too.
“There are a lot of parallels between the art and music you are doing. I am glad to have both. I am afraid that I would get burned out on one or the other if I didn’t have both. I see things on the road a lot. I keep a notebook with me and I will write it down. I will brainstorm by myself with my headphones on.
“Lately the paintings have been getting bigger and bigger too and it makes it harder for me to get things done while I am at home, because you have to flush out the idea. I really like contrast in my paintings. I’ve been wanting to go more in that direction in the future, even more rustic looking and beat up.
“Once I get the background done, I’ll take my painting outside and throw it on the ground and slide it across. Ill beat up the canvas and throw things at it, come in and seal it up and paint something else on top of it that is a little more precise and colorful, just because I like that juxtaposition,” he said.
“It comes from a part of me that sees my music equipment getting beat up, and I kind of like it. It gives it more personality. When you beat up a painting, it gives it more personality.”
My first experience with St Paul and The Broken Bones was on a trip to Chattanooga. My friend Niles jumped into a car with me and off we went to jump out of a plane and watch some rock and roll via Fly Golden Eagle.
While there, we heard The Whigs and St. Paul were playing at Rhythm and Blues. Deciding to give the trip one more night, we were blown away! We met a girl at a bar while eating lunch and convinced her to come with us skydiving. This forced the skydiving company to find an extra person for a tandem jump and bumped us to the bigger plane.
Later that night, at the show, the instructor who was called in for the additional jumper tripped over another man’s foot in the bathroom at the concert, who as it turned out was his college roommate with whom he had lost touch.
If we hadn’t stayed, hadn’t asked our new friend to jump, hadn’t become friends with our instructors, hadn’t invited them to the show…music truly does bring people together.
“That was forever ago. I think that might have been out very first trek out of Alabama,” Lollar said. “I can’t believe you were there. There weren’t very many people there. I love the Whigs! The Whigs rock! “A lot of crazy things have happened for this band, things we never would expect. We got to open for Betty LaVette. She is a soul icon.
“We’ve got a lot of things coming up. They’re on the schedule and we really can’t believe we are doing them. We can’t talk about them yet, but will when our album releases. We’re looking forward to them happening because they are so ridiculous.”
St.Paul and The Broken Bones will be in Knoxville at The Bijou Theater on February 26, 2014. Tickets are available at https://stpaulandthebrokenbones.com/. Go see this and prepare to dance your shoes off of your feet.
