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Aaron Lee Tasjan: 'I Approach Life As A Student'

Curtis Wayne Millard

Singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan performs Friday, Nov. 1, at Wichita's Orpheum Theatre, opening for the Marcus King Band.

The Ohio-born musician released a new edition of his 2018 album, Karma for Cheap, earlier this year. Titled Karma For Cheap: Reincarnated, the collection offers stripped-down versions of songs that appeared on its predecessor, allowing listeners to hear the emotionally charged tracks more or less how they were conceived.

In addition, Tasjan produced the critically acclaimed Live the Love Beautiful from veteran rock band Drivin' N Cryin' (a band that he once played in), a record that celebrates the brilliance of frontman Kevin Kinney's inestimable prowess as a songwriter and performer.

Having left Ohio for New York in his late teens, Tasjan formed the band Semi Precious Weapons, working with producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, Thin Lizzy) before joining the legendary glam rock outfit New York Dolls for a brief stint. He eventually left the Big Apple for Nashville, where he has recorded and released a series of well-received albums and collaborated with fellow troubadour Lilly Hiatt, including a cover version of Tom Petty's "Walls," issued on Jack White's Third Man imprint.

Interview highlights

How does an opening slot differ from a headlining gig?

You're playing for somebody else's audience. You have to go up there and be yourself. If you start thinking about what they want to hear, you're doing yourself and them a disservice. I just go up there like I always do. I just be up there and be who I am and let the songs speak for themselves.

Earlier this year you issued Karma for Cheap: Reincarnated, which features different versions of songs that appeared on your 2018 album, Karma for Cheap.

That record is probably more of a representation of how the songs began than how they ended up. Karma For Cheap was a difficult record to record. I went through three different producers on that album. I just listened to it for the first time since it came out just a few weeks ago, and I love where we got to but it certainly wasn't easy. I can hear a lot of the pressure that I put on myself in that record. It's probably not audible to the listener.

A lot of those songs started with me playing the acoustic guitar or piano around the house and it represents that as well as what those songs came to mean to me personally. A lot of times you have to get out and play songs to understand where they were coming from. A lot of them were messages to myself. I was having a tough time when I was writing a lot of those songs. I needed to send myself some positive messages. It's worked.

What's cool is the meaning that the songs have taken on in the live setting. It's really cool to get up there and be vulnerable and then talk to people in the merch line after. I think they feel like they can have a more vulnerable exchange with me. I've stood in a lot of merch lines waiting to buy records from artists [and] I've rarely heard the kinds of conversations I seem to be having with people after the show.

Sometimes it gets pretty personal. I respect that relationship I'm building with people who listen to my music.

Are you ever surprised by the songs that people embrace. You wrote it, recorded it, but then somebody comes along and has this reaction that you weren't expecting?

I was playing in Dallas the other night and there was an older couple at the show. They looked like they were probably in their 70s or so. They came up to me and said, "We really love your music and you've expanded our horizons." They're big Guy Clark fans, and they heard a Guy Clark cover that Lilly Hiatt and I did together, a version of "Dublin Blues" that came out on Third Man a couple of years ago.

They really loved the electric version of Karma For Cheap and for some reason "The Truth Is So Hard To Believe" was their favorite song. I made a conscious decision to make a tried-and-true rock ‘n' roll record and to have this couple in Dallas say they loved one of the louder, more brash songs on the record kind of surprised me.

You also produced this wonderful record from Drivin' N Cryin' this year.

Thank you.

That was out of gratitude to Kevin Kinney in a way?

I don't know if I could ever really repay Kevin. He's done so much for me. I can't quantify it. I'd forget something. He stuck his neck out for me so many times. There were a lot of moments during the making of that record where I said, "Man, I am really, really grateful to be here right now, doing this." Before I even knew Kevin I was a fan of his. I think he's one of the great American songwriters. I think sometimes just being a rock band can overshadow the depth and talent of a songwriter. But I really believe he's a great songwriter. I'd stand on Steve Earle's coffee table in Townes Van Zandt's cowboy boots and say that.

You've worked as a sideman. What do you learn in those experiences?

I approach life as a student. The few times that I feel that I've gotten myself into trouble in the context of being a musician is when I've thought I have things figured out. It's a lot easier on the mind and body and spirit to approach from a place of, "What else do I have to learn?"

Jedd Beaudoin is the host of Strange Currency. Follow him on Twitter @JeddBeaudoin. To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Jedd Beaudoin is host/producer of the nationally syndicated program Strange Currency. He created and host the podcast Into Music, which examines musical mentorship and creative approaches to the composition, recording and performance of songs. As a music journalist, his work has appeared in PopMatters, Vox, No Depression and Keyboard Magazine.