Rising country crooner Logan Ledger recently released the first two singles from his eponymous debut album, produced by T Bone Burnett and due in October. Starlight and Imagining Raindrops form a resounding introduction for the California native, who works in an aesthetic best described as Country Noir.
Starlight, with its cosmic country meets Bakersfield vibe, straddles the line between Buck Owens and Dick Dale, while Imagining Raindrops is a wistful, classic ballad full of sorrow and warbling pedal steel. Ledger sings both like a modern George Jones with an appreciation for Chris Isaaks stylish, brooding moods. Its the darkest shade of blue.
T Bone Burnett has been incredible at establishing a specific and unique mood for albums. The albums hes produced, theres often a shared sonic palette where that atmosphere and feeling carries through from beginning to end.
Absolutely. Theres songs that Ive written that didnt make the album for precisely that reason. They just didnt fit. This album is very dark. Its spooky and mysterious. Hes good at that.
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Often, when you think of a country album being dark, you think of it as being Southern Gothic in nature. Its almost weighted with a thickness in the air. In your music though, theres a darkness, but its much more of a sleek noir feel.
Totally. I think lyrically is where theres a major difference. Maybe its Western Gothic.
How much of that is advised and shaped by growing up in California? It feels like theres a lot of influence from the Bakersfield Sound.
Yeah, Bakersfield was always about electric instruments and danceable rhythms. It was more Western music. If you look at the Fifties, the differences between Western and country music were more apparent. Country was more in line with the likes of Roy Acuff. It was a hillbilly country thing with no drums. Western was more Bob Wills and Speedy West with electric guitars and is danceable. Now that distinction is almost meaningless. I guess Ernest Tubb kind of brought Western vibes into the mainstream version of country music in that era.
Some of those other California sounds and scenes have bled into the mix too though. Theres some surf rock and a touch of the cosmic deserty tones of Joshua Tree that add another texture. Has that been by design?
I guess on some level it is a conscious decision because Im wanting to create something new. Surf rock is so sonically similar to Western. Its the same twangy guitars. It feels like its the common denominator. Electric Fender guitars. Thats not really difficult to merge. When I was younger, I learned a lot of surf rock instrumentals. Its a part of my vocabulary. I wanted to also incorporate some of the San Francisco psychedelia. Its not super apparent, but in there subtly.
Youve mentioned how a song like Starlight has a minimalist approach, something youve called hillbilly haikus. Does that also come from being inspired by Fifties country music?
Yeah. Most of my favorite writers from the Fifties and Sixties, they were all really minimal lyricists. If you think of a lot of Willie Nelson songs, like Crazy, Funny How Time Slips Away, and so on, theyre all lyrically minimal, but incredibly profound. They hit you. A song like Crazy is universally applicable. Its not even really a country song. Its just a great pop song. That whole era, those writers were trying to create international hits on some level. Like the songs Hank Cochran wrote for Patsy Cline. Theyre all two verses and a chorus. Ive always been fascinated by that. You get so many singers-songwriters wholl write these long rambling songs. Ive always been the opposite of that.
That minimalist approach also lends itself to your being able to sing these songs like a crooner.
Thats absolutely true. If you get too wordy, you cant really sing the syllables. Every note has to be a syllable instead of being able to be like George Jones and elongate a word.
This relates back to the Country Noir aspects. Do you think it also adds to the lonesomeness and melancholic feelings in your songwriting?
So much of country music is in the delivery. Its how you can mimic crying or put pain in every note. Its one of my favorite aspects of the great country singers the stylistic aspects of the genre. They were able to bend notes and have different vocal runs. The guy who kind of took that to another level was Lefty Frizzell, right? He made singing into this arcane art form. Other guys like George Jones, Merle [Haggard], whoever, they were highly influenced by Lefty.