Oh, no, it says no more banjo. No, I wrote banjo. That's a buffer sticker I got today. I was like, well, I hate bluegrass music.
Hello, welcome to WNC original music episode 134, the carbonaceous asteroid episode. I'm using this kind of reserved monotone, creepy tone. You might call it because I'm on the verge of losing my voice or just diving headfirst into a coughing fit at any moment. So this is one way to help prevent that.
But don't let that tone fool you into thinking I'm not excited to have this week's guest, Jesse Frisselle. Jesse's returning to the podcast after about a year, oh two years since he was here last since we did the interview anyway. Always fun hanging out and talking to Jesse. He's got a new album out called Back to Carolina and it is really a great, great album.
You'll hear us talking about it a lot. That's what we're going to talk about in this episode and his part two episode. But it's a really interesting mix of some bluegrass overtones, some Americana and some mixture of that and even some rock and original country sounds. He does a great job of blending all those and making each song sound a little more interesting than the next.
You can find it just search Back to Carolina on all the streaming services or you can go to jessiefressel.herenow.com slash back dash to dash carolina. We'll have these links in the podcast show notes and if you want to just search Jesse Fressel online it's Jesse J E S S E. Fressel is F R I Z S E L L S Z before S as in Buzz Saul and Zest. I made that up myself I'm pretty proud of it.
And now here is Jesse Fresselle. She up and he left me alone with that reason a bull call. Now I'm still the whole world about that evil girl and how she did me wrong. Well it's your turn to cry baby I've had my feel no I won't be on you jimbo.
If you think that I'm just gonna dance you here well well I've got some news for you. You can't hurt me you can't hurt me no more. Well you didn't have a care when you got gone. And if you did well it sure didn't show no communication your permanent vacation unless comes on my phone I gave you all I had thought she'd always have my back.
You act like a queen now it's your turn to see that love don't work like that. Well it's your turn to cry baby I've had my feel no I won't be on you jimbo. If you think that I just gonna dance you here well well I've got some news for you. You can't hurt me you can't hurt me no more.
Well it's your turn to cry baby I've had my feel no I won't be on you jimbo. If you think that I'm just gonna dance you here well well I've got some news for you. You can't hurt me no more. Blue out with your friends, drops and play pretend.
Just know not your fool here's one last course for you because I know you're listening. Well it's your turn to cry baby I've had my feel no I won't be on you jimbo. And if you think that I'm just gonna dance you here well I've got some news for you. You can't hurt me you can't hurt me no you can't hurt me you can't hurt me no you can't hurt me you can't hurt me no more.
You played most of the band you're on this? I did yeah I uh I guess a little recap of the whole record is I wanted to kind of dive down that kind of root sea kind of mountain music thing that's been going around here for a long time and got really inspired by a local artist to do it and just kind of dove into bluegrass for the first time in my life and wanted to do My attempt at a bluegrass record which is kind of bluegrass you kind of saw in Ratteries still some pop and country elements in there But I think I got just enough of that in there to where it's bluegrass ish right yeah bluegrass tinged influence But yes, it's a really good mix and you know some of it goes like the needle goes one way on some and the other way on some So it's a good mix. It's not like uh 10 banjo versions of AC DC songs, you know that all sounds Well, I mean I'm working on that now yeah But um, but yeah sometimes you hear those that like somebody doing a Bluegrass album and it's like they just took all their songs banjo mandolin on everything sounds You know back. It still sounds good.
I'm not gonna mention any names, but uh, I'm writing it down and showing you right now Okay, but uh, yeah, there was a there was a variety in here where like some of them are 10 bluegrass some of them are 90 Bluegrass yeah, yeah, so keep your interest there every time one goes off you're like how much bluegrass is the next one gonna be I'm cool. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so no more of the song.
Yeah. No more. Yeah, that's my uh, that's that would be my f u I am some of this record. I think uh, I like to sneak one of those in there on everything I do Rosalinde Gage.
It was um Uh set this town on fire. Yeah, um and for this album it's no more. It's kind of like It's that part of a like post relationship where you finally get to that point where you wake up one day And you don't care what that person thinks about you more you finally reached that point, you know It's a good turning point because it kind of takes yeah it takes their power away It gives you some it gives you confidence helps you move on Um, and that song was the last track I recorded for this album And uh, I needed I like to do 10 at least 10 songs So I was stumped. I was going through my phone for ideas.
Nothing was coming to me And I got that chorus. I was just still running on guitar and it popped up In like five minutes and I wrote and recorded that entire song in one day And I wanted to have like a really really traditional bluegrass guitar solo to it So, uh, my uncle he plays guitar and artist pile band and he's a very uh, well established bluegrass figure At least in my opinion. He wouldn't say that but he's phenomenal to watch. What's his name?
Um, uh, jerry lotta. Oh, yeah Yeah, and uh, I texted him and he just happened to be like 10 minutes down the road And he's like, yeah, I'll swing by and cut it and he came by it was maybe the third take he did was the one we used And it's phenomenal solo. Yeah, so you recorded this at your at your house right here, man, right where i'm sitting. Oh, yeah Cool, my little home studio set up behind us here.
Yeah, nice all these songs recorded there Yes, sir. Yeah, I bet I passed by there while somewhere being recorded sometime I bet you have. Yeah, I've seen your uh, your, um, creepy shots from outside my house Yeah, I just want to say why we're here in person that needs to stop wrong. Right.
Well, let's get out of hand I saw when uh that picture I had with uh, like the deer crossing your yard there Yeah, they really like they had just come out of your house Like like what kind of party is he having there in the middle of the day? We harbor deer here sometimes, yeah I don't think you know what you do When you give me that goddamn attitude I know I have made mistakes But you get this that everything Why do you get this that everything Maybe we're not all right Maybe i'm drunk tonight Maybe we talk about this tomorrow Now can't be let it go I don't know who you are You're taking this way too far No, I want to give you a Well, you gotta be so hard to love You get like this, I can't get to you Nothing I can't say, nothing I can't do You put up your arms so high You don't wanna try them, why should I? Don't wanna try them, why should I? Maybe we're not all right Maybe i'm drunk tonight Maybe we talk about this tomorrow Now can't be let it go I don't know who you are You're taking this way too far No, I don't want to give you a Well, you gotta be so hard to love You're listening to the goddamn dragon You're telling me to get that thing, right?
You're making it go You're making it through Maybe we're not all right Maybe i'm drunk tonight Maybe we talk about this tomorrow Now can't we let it go I don't know who you are You're taking this way too far I want to give you a Well, you gotta be so hard to love It's about me, it's about you And I didn't want you to know And now the cat's out in the bag, so No, it's not me I'm gonna say that about every song Because three of them are about you So, oh, you're gonna get one eventually, right? I guess it's like If you're in a relationship where You feel like you're the one doing all the work Or you're the one putting in more effort And the other party's not really Receiving that or on board with that Or you just kind of feel like You're fighting this fight by yourself Maybe the other person's not completely invested in it That's kind of the concept of that One of my favorite lines is that Maybe we're not all right Maybe i'm drunk tonight Maybe we can talk about this tomorrow For now can we let it go? I really I like that line of mouth That was pretty cool A little hook and a little twist in there, yeah So you're playing everything on this play, man? Man's room?
No, I don't every song I can probably get you a better list later I'm playing majority of banjo and manland on most of the record on hard to love I've got a buddy of mine and Nashville playing banjo and manland on that one Oh, okay. I was gonna say that's when we're gonna say that I can't argue I was gonna say that before I knew it was though, so Fair enough, well, yeah No, I can't argue with it No, just on this one the manland that's when we're the manland kind of jumped out But you probably i'm guessing that you put it more prominently because it wasn't you playing That's exactly Yeah, yeah, and that's I mean not based on the quality i'm saying You might have heard yourself playing good on one of those songs You're like no, I'm not going to show off here, but we might be able to show off a little bit Yeah, so your man knows music, you know how to mix stuff, right? Right a little bit as musicians we always like we're a little bit more judgmental of our own work So we're like gonna bury that down a little bit right here. Yeah, everybody else Yeah, yeah, yeah, and where that like where that lead where that lead vocals should go is just drives everybody crazy Oh, yeah, yeah too low too loud It's a hard part about because I mixed everything myself here And uh for me getting that the lead vocal volume the hardest part for me hardest part for me Hardest part for me I think you could put I think you know you see ads online for like mixing services and stuff I think you could you could become a specialist just that send me your mix instrumental and your solo vocal And I would you know, I'm just a specialist that yeah getting the vocal just right Yeah, for sure if it was just right yeah, well, maybe I'll start that It's like hours of time to know you're right Ron's next and of course, uh, this song has cursing and I just want people to know that, you know Well, I guess in the podcast.
I've already heard it. I don't know how my own podcast works Oh, it comes in just hot and heavy right from the get go. Yeah, yeah Good job. Thank you, buddy I was gonna ask you have you ever tried to sell any of your songs like send them to potion houses or anything like that Man, I've got a long history story with trying to sell songs I'll give you the real short thing is I mean a buddy of mine.
We're um, The really big in the song right in in our 20s and we ended up getting connected with a couple of people in Nashville And we spent all of our weekends for a few years just driving back and forth to Nashville We're written hotels staying down there waking up and then going to show patient our songs And it got to the point where we couldn't afford hotel rooms anymore So we wake up early. Yeah drive five hours to Nashville do our meeting drive five hours back home uh and um Nashville is a is a uh I've got a love hate relationship in Nashville. I love the town man. It's it's so cool out there Um, but getting that little we got a very little behind the scenes peak How the industry works and it was it you know, we're nowhere we got nowhere near being where it wanted to be But the little bit we saw was just so it was disheartening to see kind of how the gears turned down.
Yeah Be down and get around for too long now And this job gets me played but it ain't getting me out of here In fact, it's getting me nowhere Every day feels like an uphill climb. I'm running out of patience. I'm running out of time It all plans that I made They're fading I think I'm just it out too late to come Between the margaritas and the senior leaders. I've been to become one It's great enough to leave it all behind I go I've been gone just it out too, Mexico You're ready, and by the morning light It's on boot tonight.
I travel pretty light Whatever else I need I'm sure I can find when I get there Tell the neighbors to hold my name If I'm not back in a couple months they can burn it all the hell I won't mind By then I wonder if it'll care I think I'm just it out too late to come Between the margaritas and the senior leaders. I've been to become one It's great enough to leave it all behind I know I think I'm just it out too, Mexico I think I'm just it out too, Mexico Between the margaritas and the senior leaders. I've been never coming home It's great enough to leave it all behind I know I think I'm just it out too, Mexico And if you need me I'll be on the beach No try to take the car because I'll be out of the reach Every place I know here I can feed my soul I think I'm just it out too, Mexico The only place I know to feed my soul I think I'm just it out too, Mexico Yeah, so never been I always wanted to go I've heard it's nice Yeah, I always wanted to go You don't need a reason to live like um No, no, I thought we were just doing the James Taylor song Mexico I got you now, I'm tracking No, it's uh Kind of like having to have an FU song I enjoy having a uh I get a way song And it's just a um It's just it was kind of a writing exercise Because I mean generally When I write songs they're personal to me They're about my exact experiences things that I've been through You know with this particular record there's Probably three songs that are not directly about me about people that I know or stories that I've heard And this is what was an exercise I'm trying to write Outside of my own personal experiences from different things And it's kind of quirky just getaway song uh Between the moderate as a senior readers I may never come home Thought that was pretty cool, but yeah, it's just this you know If you would have to summarize it Basic uh guy's tired of job guy is fed up with Uh the day daily grind and just wants to get away to mexico and uh get drunk on the beach I love that a lot of these songs have like really tight harmonies you're doing those harmonies too Yes, okay. Nice job.
It took me forever. Yeah, I'm not I'm not great at dialing those in for tight Uh and so uh it's it's it I make him leave the house because while I'm singing these in the spare bedroom I can only imagine what it sounds like if you can't hear the musical context around it Right of me for harmony and like you gotta leave So I'm gonna sing these songs Does she ever comment on what she hears coming from your music room? Yeah, she does. Yeah, she does The biggest question I get is oh who's that song about?
Okay So she's not so much worried about weird sounds is um who's got black hair that you're talking about that kind of thing Is like I don't think that mean you had that particular memory so you can't do a lab right now Maybe I'm a firefighter. We've never been in mexico Is she there now that she could comment on here some more? She is not here right now. That would be great.
Yeah. Yeah. You're the way in Yeah, and they're like 45 minutes later. She's still talking about and not let me tell you something That's pretty good impression of her.
I think I just creeped into the shot right here like let me tell you something More from jesse frissell in just a few moments want to remind you that you can um check the show notes for links So is music but really all you have to do is google frissell f r i z s e l l Z before s as in both solvents s get that in your head It's uh, it's gonna catch on I think uh, but you can search jesse frissell on google and he's really the only person It's gonna show up when you search that it's andry feldsten and this is my song hold on to me for my new stp Sound repeats available worldwide on all streaming platforms. Thanks for supporting local music and thanks for listening to wnc original music Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts just search wnc original music That's also something you can just search on google and it's pretty much the only thing that's going to show up there except Sometimes some different arrangements of those words And then follow us on facebook and instagram for extras from the podcast and information about more information about the artists that you hear on the podcast Corrections and clarifications from last week's episode with blake horn's to be bob a ganoush Is a dish similar to hummus but instead of using chickpeas that uses roasted eggplant and bob a rally as a song by the hoo So we were both right This is nick mac and you're listening to wnc original music Are you gonna put it put together a band and like like uh toward this whole record or um, that's my next step That's what I want to do. Um, you know, did the solo unplug that thing for so long. Love it still love it um plan to do more that, but I really want to put together a tight knit band and um Go play some like legit shows um And push push a lot of material and a lot of the old stuff too.
I'm still in love with that sound and probably gonna lean back towards that After this I just love like I said that still guitar Um, just the emotion it has and uh if I could find a great still guitar player Um, I know a couple bass players a couple guitar players. Uh, I'd love to assemble some kind of band and go play some shows around here I feel like from next step. Yeah, that was this kind of music is going to be like popular with so many people Um, because you can go so many places. I mean you can go to the depot with marshall and play Yeah, or you know the orange peel or you know, you go anywhere you want to array here Yeah, yeah, with like a basic, you know, I did the bluegrass trio Um, then I released rose program in gay, which is ironic I didn't really have the desire to dive down that hole at the moment It just kind of unfolded that way with the people I had and um something like that super cool Because like you said you can take it anywhere.
Yeah, you're you're without a drumroom without a big rig or gear so small You can go in a car. Yeah, and uh that music is so accessible where we are that uh, yeah, you can play anywhere around here So that's what I would love to do is put something out like that and go jam you can go bus with this I'll play scalday long I'm getting bad thinking Getting back to drinking like before And I've been losing faith and losing track of the days since you walked out that door Nobody is saying you were around The road is that you left out I heard it's cold this time of year. Oh, there's all those things you hear Pouring down the table bay and all the lives in between If you ever get to miss out on what you left behind you Come back to carolining I always knew you were a gypsy Baby, I was born to be a brand new name Getting gypsy probably watching work through the way children they play Nobody he's saying even days your momma said I should just forget your name All those things you hear we ever get to miss out on what you left behind you Come back to carolining Get to miss out on what you left behind you Get to miss out on what you left behind you Come back to carolining A title track for the for the record are the kids still saying record now or is it album? You know I say both because I'm a literalist and so a record anything is a record you've made a record of your music Like these are records.
These are my records. Some of my paper some of my recordings, you know, that's sort of thing and an album Literally is a collection of individual pieces. So a cb is an album A 10 songs released on the internet at once as a group as an album That's the way I think of it. I think you'd have to get all the way down to vinyl for me to Honestly, like yeah, okay.
I know exactly. I know what people mean when they say that It's just a way of me being a super literal annoyingly. So no, I like it. So uh, yeah on this non-vinyl Come back to carolining.
Yeah, it's not Yes anti-vinyl. Yeah, that was a title track and uh probably one of the most personal songs on there Well, maybe second second most personal song on there and it kind of stemmed from the idea Uh, listen to a lot of this bluegrass music that's been inspiring me lately. I don't have a carolining song Like I need a carolining song. So I was kind of tossing that idea around and then I want to say the chorus probably came first the whole comeback to carolining hook and then um With that kind of writing this These verses around there's this x who in theory has left town and normally knows where she is You're kind of in a way dis in places she might be You know that with the whole chorus being um I hear new england's cold this time of year in california in this school is all those things to hear Um, you just kind of I've kind of went to like the furthest corners of the map just kind of this and stuff and It's almost like an answer song or an inverse song to california girls.
Oh nice. Yeah, nice man I never thought about that. But yeah, I wish that i could be california girls run right but you just want one california girl One carolining. Come back here.
Yeah, i mean are we making the video for it right now? What if you take david lee ross video for california girls and just girls run it backwards put you know, that's what i think Okay, would it be copyrights on that? I don't think so. I mean backwards and flip it not actually take the video.
I mean like you make your own video, but it's kind of bad Oh, yeah, you can do that Video backwards now see now. This is funny. You bring this up because I had to type up a new biography recently for um my music profiles, huh? And I forget the exact line, but I was literally sitting the couch like three or four nights ago And uh, I was tapping up homage and I looked at him.
I was like h or no h So we and I forgot it was we had to google it, but uh, that's funny that you should mention that right I like you could tell me you could tell me it's spelled o-m-a-g-e, but you say homage, you know, and I would just say yeah, you're probably right. I don't know You know, I agree. Yeah, who knows? They might change it by the time we finish who knows it?
This song, um in case you forgot we're talking about coming back to carolina, um, but uh, it there is there's not piano in there, is there? There is there is okay. All right. I thought I hear some piano But I could hear this almost like as a just straight piano tune like if you play this live sometime and you had a piano there You just said I'm just gonna do piano with this I agree.
That would be amazing. The problem is uh, I can't play it. Oh, okay Who's playing piano? Well, it's me but uh through the magic of recording software Oh, yeah, but like I can play I can play notes.
No, if I see them I can't remember them that great So if I need to track like, you know, that song is just hitting the the root notes or the root keys I guess just like look it up and play that oh, yeah, I can I can learn it long to play it, right? There's no way I could retain that to actually perform the song. Oh, okay. That makes sense.
Yeah, yeah, know what you mean Yeah, I'm learning recording you can do enough like you can get through this part Stop it and then play this part. That sort of thing. Yeah, yeah Well, that's just that just gives you a good idea Um, get you an excuse to do your little lounge app where you get your own piano player And then you're like laying across the piano on top singing the song I mean, that's your video for this right here. I've made your video and for this one too That's all I really wanted wrong.
I'll play a little piano. I could play I could already score It's come on with you playing piano and me laying across it is is literally what success looks like to me I will do I would we'll make this video for real. We just need a little baby Maybe some where that somebody will let you lay on That's what's going to sit now. Can we send that out right now if there's a listener that has a piano?
Yeah, if you have piano and great lighting, right? And you don't care about the the top of it. It's got a strong legs. I don't have a chewy.
You're good 190, right? Dude, you nailed it. Yeah, and that's and that's why you're creepy. That's why you're you're like that Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah It never worked.
We always had one foot out the door Baby, I'm going one more ride Maybe don't you let me go because I won't let you down you're running circles all around my head I won't do forever if you If I walk a million miles just to show you that it's true I won't do forever if you and I So maybe you could stick around baby what you think about that I won't give my world to you show you that my love's true No, ever with you and I'd walk a million miles just to show you that it's true I won't do forever if you and I Forever with you, I might be one of the very first happy songs ever written. Yeah, they're pretty rare for me It's not that I'm a unhappy guy. It's just I find it a lot easier to write about sad stuff But it's it's song about finding that one person you want to spend the rest of your life with and it's kind of a snapshot in time Just right before the messy divorce and you decide who gets the dog right? There's like a foreboding about it.
Exactly. It's like too happy. Yeah, you know something to go wrong It's like if you're watching a movie and somebody says I got my whole life ahead of me You know they do not have their whole life ahead of them. But your last scenes coming up.
Yeah last day of retirement on the force for last day before retirement Already got the plane tickets. It's I think I thought that was before and you might share this being a songwriter as you are I'm sure am sure something. Hey, I've heard something and I know it's good. Oh, yeah, that's true downflator.
Thank you plagiarizing No, it's uh, I find it a lot easier to It's like right and sing about Things that mean a lot to me then to talk about them directly. Yeah, especially as an artist you feel like You there's a certain part of you where you don't want to give everything away I don't know if that if that brings to anybody else but for me, it's like I want to tell my story I want to express how I feel but I also don't want to like pull the curtain back too far and be too exposed right right Yes, you want to get the feeling of the thing you're thinking but not tell everybody on this date I did this thing and this thing happened to me then that's where I think yeah, exactly That does two things it keeps you it keeps you me guarded or In fact exposing myself completely it also allows the listener to take you know Be able to relate more the song if they don't know the entire backstory day by day Yeah, it kind of leaves kind of leaves then to feel them like maybe this is about I've been through experience like this and they can relate themselves and then That bonds the song that I have with a lot of my favorite artists Yeah, it gives them room to personalize it makes it specific enough that it's real but gives them room to personalize it in their head Exactly, I'm just restating what you just said I'm better than me though. It was an homage to what you said You're better with words. Yeah, I got a dictionary right here a Yeah, there he goes Okay, thanks again to Jesse for being on the podcast don't forget to go and look for his new album back to carolina out now Just search Jesse for zell you remember how to remember it's uh Fr izz SEL See before s you know the rest available on all the download and streaming sites.
It's a really good album I really really encourage you to give it a listen the whole thing you've heard five of the best 10 songs on it tonight And once again, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast wnc original music wherever you get your podcasts or go to wnc original music calm For some suggestions there for the closing song tonight. I've got the song from ag wilso He's from sylvan ocarolina mowontown and he released his first ep meet me at the crossroads tonight earlier this year Here's ag wilso have a good week I Tender no next day community egg tonight cry Somebody be your savior step forward this dead hand. I'll be the one to take God is my witness I take this man. I never said trying to run this old town Just right about day Beating down door.
I just my wish I get him for sure I was in my house found him in a cave. He wasn't willing to say to his surprise He saw fire in the biggest eyes something so cold deep with a endless stone The demo stood up the greet his next victim little did he know what was about what you gonna do Well, what you gonna say? See jakin in them boop boy. You just came we all knew he wasn't winning this fight Rack up with back again.
She's in that we knew yet. See who this face Usually uh, these these cards put a lot of uh memory, but I just know it's only have three hours left All right, let's pick this up