Meet a Musician: Jeff Wall
Jeff Wall says the label singer/songwriter/storyteller best describes his music
Jeff Wall at one point thought about becoming a preacher.
But, as he puts it, he’s a “Semi-Agnostic Snake-Handling Pentecostal Buddhist who says the F-word a lot.”
Still, Wall, who was raised in the Church of the Christ, does think Christianity offers many good lessons for how to lead one’s life — namely the need to be kind to one another. In one of his most popular songs, he urges don’t be a jerk.
Except he doesn’t use the word “jerk.”
“That’s the part I felt called to preach and spread — the message of acceptance and love,” he said. “I once saw on the back of a church that we were attending, ‘God is Love’ in big 3-foot high letters. If God is love, that must mean that love is God. So when you’re showing love to other people, you’re doing God’s work ... And I think that continuing to be an a****** is a bigger sin than anything else.”
In a recent interview, the 59-year-old Wall, who performs under the name Bigdumbhick, spoke about songwriting as therapy, his days in the Navy and offering up the full monty at a show in South Carolina.
How did you get started as a musician?
“I grew up all around the Nashville area. A lot of the people I went to school with, their parents were either touring musicians or session musicians. The music business was everywhere in the late ‘60s to mid-'70s.
In 1980, I ended up leaving to join the Navy. I was sitting off the coast of Beirut in ‘82, and a couple of my shipmates brought guitars. I had taken a few lessons when I was 12, and I picked one up to see if I could remember any chords, and I don’t think I’ve set one down since.
I did 20 years in the Navy, and I took a guitar with me everywhere I went. I’d go find street musicians to jam with in whatever port we’d pull into.
In my mid-50s I started trying to write my own songs. There’s a guy in Winston named Steve Wishnevsky, who has a company (producing handcrafted stringed instruments) called Wishbass. He used to do the Winston-Salem Shuffle, where people would come in and do original songs, and they’d choose three people out of the audience to be judges. I got tricked into entering that once, and kept doing it. But, it forced me to write songs. I called some friends up in Nashville that I grew up with who were professional songwriters, and they told me to buy this book by (country music singer and songwriter) Tom T. Hall, and I’ve been writing ever since.”
What were some of the more interesting experiences you’ve had playing with street musicians?
“I was in Bari, Italy, and found a CD store. I like hitting CD stores overseas, because you see stuff there you don’t see in stores here, even by U.S. artists. Anyway, I picked up a Django Reinhardt CD, and I ended up meeting this little old man in a park and came to find out he had seen Django Reinhardt in Paris in the late ‘40s. He ended up grabbing a guitar, I start playing on a mandolin, and we’re playing “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
Another time, we were in Croatia, there was a guy with an old Roy Rogers guitar, one of the old Sears Roebuck things. A bomb had fallen on his house during the Kosovo-Yugoslavia (conflict), he broke his toe, and came to Croatia to seek medical treatment. And we sat out on the street all night playing a bunch of old folk tunes.
I quit drinking a long time ago, so I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in hitting the bars and getting hammered. So, I always went looking for music stuff.”
Who are some of your inspirations?
“Well, there are inspirations and there are influences. I don’t sound anything like any of my influences, the people that I really dig on. There used to be a bass player in the Marshall Tucker Band named Tommy Caldwell, and I remember seeing him when I was 17 years old and thinking that’s what I want to do, even though I don’t play bass.
There’s also a guy named J.J. Cale, who I really, really love. And it sounds so simple, but it’s complicated. He’s layering guitars, he’s got all these studio tricks. But the main thing I like about him is that he’s always about the groove, the rhythm. And, I’m a big fan of rhythm and rhythm guitar.
There’s also Tony Rice, Clarence White, who are bluegrass guys. Bill Monroe, of course. I’m a huge Muddy Waters fan. I love James Brown.”
How would you describe your music?
“I’m a singer/songwriter/storyteller. I tried to get a gig somewhere once, and they said we prefer people who play more than they talk, which I thought was funny.
I don’t sound like anybody else that I know of. I don’t write the same type of songs most people do. I write irreverent gospel songs. I write a lot of tongue-in-cheek stuff, a lot of humor stuff, a lot of real serious dark stuff. I wrote about getting old ... I can make you laugh, but then I’ll turn around and drop something real serious and dark on you.
Billy Joe Shaver once said that songwriting is the cheapest form of therapy that there is. I think he was right.”
What’s your creative process like?
“I wish I could figure that out. There’s times I’ll tell myself, "You know you haven’t written anything in a while, why not?" And I start trying to be more receptive to ideas, whether it’s reading, listening to music, watching the news or just watching other people. Usually, though, what ends up happening is I’ll get a phrase stuck in my head, and it’ll be there a while, and I’ll just keep picking at it until something comes out.
Only once or twice have I come up with a song where I did the melody before the words. I’m more lyrics-oriented. I’m much more interested in the lyrics than the melody.
I got “The Songwriter’s Handbook” by Tom T. Hall, and it basically gives you six or seven rules to learn how to write songs. It tells you to start with nursery rhymes and to write parodies, but mainly to listen, and open your eyes up to what’s going on around you. If I allow myself to be receptive, things will come. For me, the process is to be open and willing to find out what’s there, and maybe give myself some quiet time and a little bit of meditation.”
Do you ever sing karaoke or sing in the shower, and, if so, what do you sing?
“I don’t sing karaoke. Most stuff, I can’t sing in the original key anyway. I don’t sing in the shower, either, because I get up at 4:30 in the morning, and everybody else in the house is asleep, and I don’t want to get shot.
I sing in the car. Either I’ll sing along to something, or I’m singing to stuff in my head.”
If you could open for any artist, who would it be and why?
“Well, my problem is most of them are dead. It would have been John Prine (who died in April of complications from COVID-19). That would have been the pinnacle. Also, Jerry Jeff Walker (who died in October of complications from throat cancer). I taught myself to play guitar by listening to John Prine records and Jerry Jeff Walker records. So, both of them passing this year has been a gut punch.”
What’s the funniest or weirdest thing that has happened at one of your shows?
“I played a nudist resort last month. I was looking for places to play that were outdoors. I did a Google search, and some of the places that popped up were nudist resorts. I thought that these people would be pretty open-minded. So, I sent query letters to the three closest ones, all within a couple of hundred miles from here. And one of them wrote back saying they would pay my asking price and put me up for the night.
I told my wife, “I got this gig in South Carolina and they’re going to put us up in a cabin.” And she says, “I’m in.” I say, “Well, there’s something you need to know.” And she says, “You had me at cabin.” But, I’m like, “It’s at a nudist resort.” And she says, “Well, let your freak flag fly. I’m just going for the cabin. I’m not going to get naked.”
Well, I went, and figured when in Rome, do as the Romans do, and I found out I was the first performer they ever had who actually played naked. And, it’s weird for about the first 10 minutes or so, but then your whole mindset changes, and you quit noticing people are naked.
The bad part about it is naked people have no cash to tip you with. I also sell T-shirts at shows. But naked people don’t need a lot of T-shirts. And I didn’t make much money in the tip jar. But it was a very accepting crowd, wonderful people, and I hope to go back there and play again sometime.”
What’s next for you?
“I was in Tennessee about a month or two ago, and I walked into a music store and I saw this little guitar, a Martin 000-15, and while the guy was packaging it up, he said he had a beat up Martin D-18. And I was like, “Dude, bring that other guitar back, this is the one I’ve got to have.” So, I ended up buying this 1954 D18, and I need to play it as much as I can. And I want to play right now, but my wife wants me to do chores.
Seriously, though, I want to get out and play. I’m wanting to record an album with a full band, instead of just me with a guitar. I’m thinking if I do something with a band, I might be able to get some more people to listen to what it is I’m doing.”
— As told to Robert C. Lopez, roberto.lopez79@gmail.com