0:00

My name is Greg Vandy. In the

0:02

Roadhouse, very pleased to welcome Margo

0:04

Sooker to KXP. That's a

0:06

great welcome. It

0:13

takes two to tie

0:16

up a line

0:19

only sometimes. You

0:32

can get a good fire

0:34

to burn through the night

0:36

if the wind's right. I've

0:39

been looking at the answers, trying

0:42

to find the in-between. I've

0:47

been watching it all from this

0:49

porch, unraveling.

0:58

When you get

1:00

lonely, I

1:02

will remember

1:05

how it hurt me

1:08

when I was a

1:10

beggar, a

1:13

beggar for your love. You

1:28

can get a good feel

1:32

for where you

1:36

belong only

1:39

sometimes. You

1:49

can get a good line to

1:51

hold up your song if the

1:53

rhyme's right. I've

1:57

been looking at the edges, trying to

1:59

find the in-between. in between.

2:04

It shows on your face, the

2:06

lower with me. Nothing,

2:11

when you get lonely. I

2:16

will remember how

2:18

it happened when

2:20

I was a boy. Before

2:27

you left. I

2:57

will remember how it happened when I was a boy. I

3:05

will remember how it

3:07

happened when I

3:09

was a boy.

3:11

I will remember how it happened when I was a boy.

3:42

I will remember how it happened when I was a boy. I'm

4:05

looking for a low end dream. Got

4:08

miles before me miles even. Looking

4:12

for my low end dream.

4:17

Looking for a

4:20

low end dream. I'm

4:23

looking for a low end dream.

4:27

Looking for a low end

4:29

dream. Looking

4:32

for a low end dream.

4:37

Looking for my low end dream. Got

4:56

trouble coming over to be my

4:59

low end dream. Looking

5:03

for my low end dream.

5:10

Looking for my low

5:12

end dream. Looking

5:15

for my low end dream.

5:19

Looking

5:22

for a low end dream. Looking

5:33

for my low end dream. Looking

5:39

for a low end dream. Looking

5:43

for a low end dream. Looking

5:48

for a low end dream. Marco.

6:04

Stoker K E X P in

6:06

studio free to have you. Think.

6:09

You'd be here. So

6:12

great and fine. You look at my band and

6:14

see everybody and. Fun

6:16

to play, In. A circle with

6:18

full band. this one's called to had to

6:21

be. A

6:43

long. Way

6:47

in or. Movies.

7:01

Oh. Oh.

7:07

No. You're.

7:25

Not of not. wrong

8:00

I hope you have a good

8:04

one. If

8:07

you hurt strong, if you're under

8:12

the line, you're in the best of your best. I'll

8:19

be home if you feel it. I'll

8:23

be home if you feel it. It

8:29

keeps me going, and the days

8:31

that I can change, they might

8:33

hurt myself. But

8:37

it's just, it's

8:40

not me. But

8:43

think of me, I know what I

8:45

do to help you. I

8:48

cross my mind when you tell me

8:50

someone I was born. I'm

8:54

gonna be there, I'm gonna make

8:56

you faster. Yeah,

8:59

baby, how do

9:01

I make you change me? I'm

9:28

gonna go with the middle. I'm

9:50

gonna get up

9:52

at 8am, prep

9:54

the coffee down again,

9:57

Fill me up all just in

9:59

time. He

10:06

was my own home.

10:08

Themselves. In

10:11

Halo ha. Ha!

11:01

Ah ha. ha

12:00

I'm not that kind

12:02

anymore Everyone

12:06

I knew was the

12:08

middle I think

12:10

I'm feeling wide All

12:14

of the days I've

12:16

said no more than I

12:19

do I'm

12:32

not that kind anymore Everyone

12:34

I knew was

12:37

the middle I'm

12:42

not that kind anymore Everyone

12:48

I knew was the middle I'm not that

12:50

kind anymore I'm

12:56

not that kind anymore I

13:26

knew I was the middle I

13:33

knew I was good I

13:39

knew you were the middle

13:43

I knew I was the middle I

13:51

knew I was the middle As

14:00

is, the troops have all played together. Yeah,

14:03

this is your studio band? Yeah, it's a

14:05

mix. Yeah, yeah. you ever Rodin for people

14:07

who can get out and then you

14:09

have his bandmates directly with here locally and

14:11

a level of people in the room. Yes

14:14

well Jerry is a his on the road

14:16

dogs so he is he's and out on

14:18

the road with me. I don't know how

14:21

many they say that this year but it

14:23

felt like a lot in a recovered recovered

14:25

some ground for sir and other yes it

14:27

is kind of a great mass up of

14:30

the studio players like rather than Sarah and

14:32

any all coming together. For yeah

14:34

yeah and the record before this one

14:36

was equally gray. But not everyone new

14:38

viewers and Ray was poor real as

14:40

a new the up on Twenty Twenty

14:43

one else one of my top ten

14:45

record says that years well and I

14:47

feel like the gross does your audience

14:49

Between the first record in the sector

14:51

redder record has been a significant I

14:53

think people are beginning to catch on.

14:55

It is a with. Yeah, I

14:58

mean it's. Yeah. It certainly

15:00

feels that way and. The.

15:02

When I think of Alec the girls I guess is

15:04

something I see to see as as the people that

15:06

come back to my So's again and again you know

15:08

and. And son have new music

15:10

to put out for for some of those

15:13

dedicated fans. In other they're the ones that

15:15

are there every time I play an hour.

15:17

That's really sweet to see that because it

15:19

it's kind of proof that what you're doing

15:21

is working and you notice a small connections

15:23

and changing one person's life is more important

15:25

than like entertaining. A million people react.

15:28

I guess we should go over the songs

15:30

Ls were was because with the middle son

15:32

the leaves records and the has to be

15:34

was cause a hit song offer for real

15:36

and than lovin Trails I think was the

15:38

for single on this new record. Arrivals allow

15:40

the lead single Astana yeah leave everybody up

15:42

the hill Visited once as a beggar for

15:45

your love was the first on also off

15:47

of the new album and a says a

15:49

lot that the new Home So good Like

15:51

I could have put three more songs on

15:53

that I love from this new album on

15:55

there. Are things Greg?

15:57

Yeah, complain a lot. I

16:00

guess we should mention the the Sarah Goon

16:02

your drummer is also the producer of their

16:04

first He records and are really want to

16:06

talk about you know how Sarah came into

16:08

your life has producer and as a friend

16:10

and. Her has it all

16:12

go down. Hard to fix

16:14

their again. Story

16:17

or another. The story there. I

16:19

mean. I. I

16:21

have some honestly like. I

16:24

knew she was about to my mind that

16:26

I was living in the North Wales and

16:28

Anna know I, I'd never matters seen her

16:30

out of so anything, the ice on each

16:32

video of her performance and it was absolutely

16:34

I think we're on the Space Needle. For

16:37

it's like you're playing electric guitar and

16:39

singing up to me. Oh I was

16:42

here and when they reopen and he opened up

16:44

the new. The gathering space actually.

16:47

Thought that's when I was put that the only

16:49

time I've done that of like a wire that

16:51

I plan to, but are those are split works

16:53

on? Religious. I

16:56

really her spirit really comes

16:58

through her music and armor.

17:00

And then like thousand one thing I really

17:02

was drawn to was is how her personality

17:05

comes through her work on. And.

17:08

Then also just hearing her arrangements you know

17:10

is like manager I love the germs on

17:12

this records and then you know come to

17:14

find out see play drums on her record.

17:16

So so and then it. At that point

17:19

it was like a no brainer. Yeah and

17:21

we have a mutual friend bart that and

17:23

and his he was like hey I think

17:25

is this. Person. Wants you to

17:27

produce them and I was like okay and and

17:30

then I'm leno see this as whoop. But we

17:32

first had a conversation on the phone and and

17:34

I was like. The seas hilaire like she's

17:36

hilarious, as like my little sisters will they.

17:38

We dislike connected so that's a big. Thing

17:41

over the phone and then. Like some music

17:43

just I just instantly got it in

17:45

of my other way. She plays like

17:47

voice a as like let's do this

17:49

on and. Are you know I sound

17:51

Rebecca the help me kind. of figure

17:53

out the rhythm she wanted me

17:55

to play bass years or drums

17:58

some source assists the sweeter This

18:00

story, I just

18:02

feel like I've known Margot my whole life and

18:04

it's just really sweet. You

18:07

mentioned Bart Butterbud because I was going to go to

18:09

him because I believe at the time before, back

18:12

in 2020, you were living in Enterprise, Oregon. I

18:14

was, yeah. Bart

18:16

has a little thing going on there, a

18:19

studio recording at the OK

18:21

Hotel or the OK

18:23

Theater. The OK Theater, yeah. He's

18:26

been recording there so much. There's

18:28

so many people going to Bart in

18:31

Enterprise. I'm curious as to why you

18:33

just said stay in Enterprise with Bart and do that

18:35

with him. Yeah. It's

18:37

very simple to that end. Enterprise

18:39

is also a destination recording studio. The

18:42

OK is a destination and if you're

18:44

living in Enterprise, it's not a destination

18:46

anymore. I wanted to go to the

18:48

big city, so we went to Vancouver. Is

18:52

that where you recorded? I was going to ask where

18:54

you did record the records here. In

18:57

Vancouver, Washington. Yeah, at

18:59

Bocce. I see. OK. And

19:02

John Morgan asked you as our engineer and he

19:05

mixed the records. Yeah. They

19:07

sound great. Really good. Thank

19:10

you. And Jenny, of course, I just

19:12

have to say, bringing Jenny in

19:14

for the studio, like her piano part, Oregon,

19:18

accordion. I mean, I don't know. It's

19:21

such a treat to play with her. People may

19:23

know Jenny from the band Decemberus, I

19:25

believe. Yeah. Did you have

19:27

a Baldwin piano in the studio? It's a

19:29

Yamaha upright, but the upright, I think, sounds good on the

19:31

record because it has a little bit more honky tonk. Yeah.

19:34

Yeah. I do like that

19:37

sound. Yeah. Yeah. Marco,

19:39

let's talk about lifestyle and your whole thing.

19:41

It's so interesting to me. I was reading

19:43

a bunch about you and moving on each

19:46

other for quite a bit. But you know,

19:49

you've kind of moved around a lot and

19:51

you're currently in Goldendale, Washington. Yeah. That

19:54

was, I think, after you were living in Enterprise, Oregon.

19:56

These places are rural places.

20:00

And you've married

20:02

Forrest who, you know,

20:04

I'm a big fan. And you guys

20:06

have this thing where you have a lifestyle

20:09

that has music in it, right? Like you

20:11

guys have a, what would you call it?

20:15

A farm lifestyle. I know Forrest

20:17

is an official freelance cowboy, right?

20:19

Yeah. And you live on a sheep

20:21

farm. We live on a sheep ranch right now, which is

20:23

great. And we have

20:25

someone watching our animals while we're gone. And when

20:27

I get home this, like, I'm going to go

20:30

home today and then I'll tap in and like

20:32

feed her animals because she's going to be coming

20:34

to the city to get off the ranch

20:36

for a while. So, I mean, that's

20:38

a really nice symbiosis that happens. And

20:41

there's a lot of that of just helping your neighbor. But

20:45

yeah, I'm not really, I

20:48

did travel around a lot before I decided

20:50

to settle down. You know, I really was

20:52

itinerant and I would, I'd go home to

20:54

my parents' house in the Bay area and

20:56

kind of regroup and, you

20:58

know, and then I'd leave again for three months and live out

21:00

of my van. And I mean,

21:02

you know, Montana, South Carolina, just

21:04

kind of bopping, bopping all around and

21:06

just kind of chasing the muse, you

21:09

know. Right. And I wanted to get into

21:11

that. You've been kind of to a lot

21:13

of places. You grew up in Santa Clara,

21:15

Silicon Valley sort of area. You started really

21:18

young playing music and trying to, you

21:20

know, sort of perform in that environment.

21:22

But then you said enough of this

21:24

place. I want to go somewhere far

21:26

away, right? Yeah. And you went

21:28

to Spain. I did. I

21:31

ended up going to Spain and I was

21:33

so excited. Well, I ended up in the

21:35

Basque Country, which is kind of off the beaten track

21:38

trail. Off the beaten track or whatever is

21:41

yonder. I mean,

21:44

I didn't know that what I would find,

21:46

but by the time, so

21:48

I moved to Bilbao and within three

21:50

weeks I joined a neighborhood band and

21:53

they were playing like Credence Clearwater, and they were playing

21:55

like a lot of the other revival songs and Neil

21:57

Young, Bob Dylan. It was just such an easy,

21:59

you know, I was like. I know these songs, I know the chords,

22:02

you know? And so they let me join their

22:04

band and then I joined another band and then

22:06

I joined another band and the venues I was

22:08

playing went from corner cafes

22:11

and then we were playing venues. And

22:13

then something really special was

22:16

the Lucinda Williams tribute band that I

22:18

joined called the Drunken Angels. And

22:22

that was so formative. And that was my

22:24

first big gig was this, I

22:27

think it's probably a 300 cap room or something

22:29

in Bilbao, you know, and we were rehearsing for

22:31

months beforehand and the whole repertoire, you have to

22:33

learn, you know, you're learning

22:35

someone else's songs and you can't really invent

22:37

the lyrics when you're

22:39

paying tribute to someone. And so

22:42

yeah, there's lots of practice and I just learned

22:44

so much like playing with these bands because these

22:46

guys over there, they're

22:52

so sweet, they're all dads and it was just

22:54

like a really sweet band to play in. And

22:57

I just learned a lot, I learned so much.

23:00

And Bilbao precipitation was

23:02

like the first song I ever heard, you

23:04

do, it's just kind of before, before these

23:06

albums you had the song out there and

23:09

I think the thing was like, wow, that

23:11

voice, that person has a voice, you

23:13

know, in that song. And I imagine

23:15

you wrote that song there. I

23:17

sure did. Or did you write it and you

23:19

came back thinking about that place? No, oh, that

23:21

one came from like sitting in a rainy

23:24

little room in Bilbao. And

23:26

I remember in those days, I

23:28

was teaching English lessons, teaching guitar

23:30

lessons and I was so fortunate to

23:32

be able to do that. Just spend, I think

23:35

it was like nine months I was

23:37

over there. After I'd spent nine months

23:39

there before studying, I

23:41

moved back and was just kind of gigging.

23:45

And I just had this little

23:47

apartment and I would watch Neil

23:50

Young Unplugged on YouTube, that

23:52

beautiful video session. So

23:55

every time I hear the song Unknown

23:58

Legend, it just like. kills

24:00

me, the nostalgia of being in this

24:02

little tiny apartment room and just being

24:04

so in love with music and so

24:07

just obsessed, you know? In this way

24:09

that like young, in the

24:12

way that only a hungry young artist can

24:14

really feel sometimes.

24:17

And I don't know, actually, I shouldn't say that. But

24:20

for me, that was my experience. Like that fire,

24:22

I'm not, it hasn't died, but

24:24

it's kind of changed routes, you know, a little

24:27

bit, just that intensity, you

24:30

know? And I mean, anyone, you know,

24:32

Jeremy has been there through the years of touring

24:34

and everything in Forest too. As a songwriter, he

24:36

understands that, just the like

24:40

the intensity. And

24:42

you were there in Spain because it was a

24:44

foreign steady situation as you were enrolled

24:47

in Clemson, which I didn't know. And that

24:49

really surprised me how you got to South

24:52

Carolina, you were enrolled there to go to

24:54

school. And you were, I

24:56

think, an anthropology student or major from South

24:58

Carolina. I was just like Lucinda, I

25:01

studied cultural anthropology. And

25:03

then you came back from Spain and

25:05

it was like, it wasn't like the

25:07

same. It wasn't like, sort of playing

25:09

out and getting together with people and

25:11

getting gigs wasn't the same as Spain

25:13

at all. And yeah, there was a

25:16

lot less corner bars. Yeah.

25:18

But you wrote, did you, you wrote a song

25:20

recently called I Red MacCaroline Carolina, which is on

25:23

the new album. Oh yeah. And I would imagine

25:25

that's about the days in Clemson. Yeah,

25:27

absolutely. And those,

25:30

like, I definitely, moving out there,

25:32

you know, I was like following the work of Gillian

25:34

Welch and Dave Rawlings and Old Crow Medicine

25:37

show. Jason Isbell at the time was

25:39

like in the Southeast, you know, and it was

25:41

kind of a heyday for that kind of music.

25:43

And I was very drawn to that. And

25:46

then like, I'd go to these like, just

25:48

down the road from Clemson's campus, there'd be

25:50

these like bluegrass barbecue joints where you just

25:52

roll in and there's bluegrass bands and you

25:54

get your meat in three. And then there's

25:56

just like a big vat of Barry Cobbler

25:58

and it's a total. free-for-all and

26:00

it's like I

26:03

don't know like it's imagine like everybody

26:05

wants like the in the inner well

26:07

you know you've got like the inner like the inner

26:09

cobbler and then you like some people want the outer

26:11

edge that's more like I have

26:14

no idea what you're talking about yeah

26:16

so your your songwriting is really great

26:26

I think that's one of the things that I hear

26:28

most from fans and from people I know is like

26:30

you know not only is it the voice and the

26:32

band and sort of I guess the the

26:34

organic natural feel of the music but the songs

26:36

are great well thanks and I think what everyone

26:38

wants to know is like how do you write

26:41

a song um where

26:44

do these songs come from a lot of them

26:47

are personal yeah they

26:49

come from a very well I

26:51

write a lot of songs you know I need solitude and

26:53

I need to like really I need

26:55

to really go to kind of a place in

26:57

my mind where I actually

27:01

don't know

27:03

what will come out or I don't know what voice I'm trying

27:05

to use but

27:07

something that I'm learning as

27:10

I get older is just

27:13

like trusting that and there's time

27:15

to write songs and there's time to tell

27:17

stories I remember like reading about

27:19

Lucinda Williams and the song Pineyola which

27:21

is like a song about suicide and

27:23

she's like it took me 40 years

27:25

to write that song and

27:27

like just sitting with something like that and you just say

27:29

like it's you can take the time to like

27:32

let songs breathe and it's

27:34

like when you go down into the well you don't know what's coming

27:36

up that's kind of what I'm

27:38

getting at and I feel a

27:41

lot more free especially this year I just

27:45

feel really supported by my band

27:47

and by the opportunities I have

27:50

to kind of keep working out that and staying true

27:52

to the craft and really

27:54

being present and I

27:57

think your subconscious knows what songs

28:00

should be sung more than your

28:03

brain would know. Like your, I don't know,

28:06

like your, maybe the heart knows better

28:08

than the brain what songs

28:10

will be magic and what songs will help

28:12

others and what songs, like it's that, it's

28:15

kind of this deeper wisdom than surface level,

28:17

you know? That's at least

28:19

how I approach it. And then maybe

28:21

I use the format that

28:23

I borrow from country music where you have

28:26

like a rhyme scheme and it's metered and

28:28

I'm just, I do love that, I love

28:30

a metered, like the

28:32

way I love poetry that rhymes, I like

28:35

bringing that into song because

28:37

it's just like, it gets the job done, you

28:39

know? There's like a start and a

28:41

finish and you fit the puzzle pieces together. But

28:45

yeah, I try to let my heart do

28:48

all the talking. I'm

28:50

glad you brought up literature because one article that

28:53

I did read about you that I love was

28:55

the Justin Taylor piece that was in Oxford American,

28:57

which is like my favorite magazine. And

29:00

he mentioned your, you know, you love literature,

29:02

you love to read and you, he mentioned

29:04

about reading a lot of these writers of

29:06

the American West, right? And how that possibly

29:09

might come into play with your

29:11

songwriting, how that can maybe inspire

29:13

you. Yeah, I

29:15

do love reading and I'm just

29:18

getting started like learning, you

29:21

know, I'm just, I've been pulling on a thread and that

29:23

thread has kind of, that's kind of how my, like

29:26

how the Valley of Hearts Delight kind of came

29:28

together and I'm just uncovering a lot of information.

29:30

And it's one thing to,

29:33

like being from the West, there's

29:36

like, you can

29:38

take in the landscape and immediately have

29:40

these overwhelming feelings of wonder. And you

29:43

know, you go stand in the redwood forest and it's

29:45

just like, holy cow. And,

29:49

but then there's like the ways

29:51

that humans have interrupted the inherent like

29:54

goodness of like

29:57

the land and people who lived there

29:59

before. Indigene. people. There's so much to

30:01

learn about your place in the world and

30:03

when you start pulling that thread you

30:06

have to rebuild around

30:09

that you know that understanding. Or

30:11

like where you come from it's really

30:13

changed where you're from. Oh

30:15

yeah. From Santa Clara area of

30:18

California. Yeah and like yes

30:20

exactly and there's

30:22

a book I'm reading right now about

30:26

the history of California and it just talks about

30:29

how the like the

30:31

like the European

30:33

immigrants it was like it just

30:35

like the building up of California it just

30:38

careened from extremes you know it was just

30:40

like the gold and then

30:42

it was this and that and that like

30:44

it's like boomer bust and that is how

30:47

I feel about Silicon Valley as well and

30:50

like other parts of

30:52

the California economy and it's

30:54

a you know California's economy is like a

30:56

behemoth. So

30:58

I don't know I don't know it's funny I don't know I

31:00

just have a lot of you

31:03

know you don't get to learn about a place when you're in

31:06

it. You don't learn the same

31:08

way as when you leave and get that perspective. So

31:10

once I kind of got hip to that like leaving

31:13

and seeing it from the outside that really

31:15

helped me and also like I grew up

31:17

religious I grew up with certain worldviews that

31:19

it really helps to step away and kind

31:21

of see it from another angle. One of the

31:23

things I love about your sound and

31:25

and where the songs are coming from or where

31:27

you come from is also looking

31:30

at the visuals of the

31:32

albums and the photo shoots you've had

31:34

promoting these last two albums. I'm not

31:36

sure I should have researched who the

31:38

photographers are but the one

31:40

for Pajorio where it's

31:43

like an old wooden grandstand that

31:45

a horse racetrack is what it looks like

31:47

and those are just so beautiful looking they're

31:49

really cast is what you are and what

31:51

the sound of the record is and

31:53

then the latest one for Valley of Hearts to

31:55

Life seems to me like on top of

31:58

the Columbia Gorge. I think I've maybe been in

32:00

those areas before. So yeah, that

32:02

one is on the album cover of Value Hearts

32:04

Delight. You can look down and see

32:06

the John Day Dam. And

32:09

yeah, so that's like the Columbia Hills up there.

32:12

And it's taken from this road, like you

32:15

access up there through like a power line,

32:17

like the wind turbines, they have like the

32:19

service road that goes along that ridge there.

32:22

And the rancher that Forest works

32:24

for sometimes and that

32:26

I, like I'm

32:28

friends with the rancher, Diamond D and

32:30

well, like his bowls are just out

32:33

running out under the

32:35

wind turbines, you know, that's where they live

32:37

during the winter. And

32:40

so I love that too,

32:42

kind of that just imagery of like, just

32:48

like combined worlds, you know, it's

32:52

just interesting to like turbine. And then

32:54

there'll be people working on them and

32:56

they're like belaying down from this wind

32:58

turbine. And there's just the bowls running

33:00

around. Yeah. Well, they're very beautiful

33:02

pictures. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Jen

33:04

Borscht is my photographer and she lives

33:06

in Yakima. She's from there. And so

33:08

she's got an eye for like that

33:10

for the rural Northwest for sure. She's

33:13

always showing me like back, you know, back roads

33:15

of that, of her, her

33:18

area, like up near Yakima. Yeah. The

33:20

Eastern half of our States, Washington and Oregon

33:22

are beautiful. And I feel like not many

33:24

people know how beautiful it

33:26

is or they don't venture much across to

33:28

get to the other side. Well, Jenny spends

33:30

a lot of time in fossil. Yes.

33:32

Cool. I don't know where it is.

33:35

I do not. Yeah. Okay.

33:38

Yeah. Well, I feel like

33:40

we could talk for hours. I feel like we

33:42

kind of should all move to the room and

33:44

sit down on some couches and just discuss this.

33:46

This seems much more natural than this,

33:48

but it was, you know, I'm a

33:50

big fan. And I think you got everything going

33:52

for you. You're a real natural performer,

33:55

songwriter, people love you when they see you on stage.

33:57

And I think there's going to be a lot

33:59

of good things. that for you and the band.

34:01

Well I work with the right people. Yeah.

34:06

You're the best, Margot. Well

34:09

Margot Silker, thank you so much for coming

34:12

in to KEXP today and we'll see

34:14

you down the road. Thanks Greg, it's our

34:16

pleasure. My name is Greg Vandy, this is

34:18

KEXP.