Blitzen Trapper is a folk group with some grit around its edges but a warm, genuine center. Staff writer Charlie Shelton talked to band leader Eric Earley about the band’s new record’s sound and what drives Earley to make music.
DIVERSIONS: How is the latest record VII different from previous albums?
ERIC EARLEY: I think in certain ways the songwriting is different, there is a lot of jams, samples and what-not. I think lyrically there is a lot more storytelling, stuff like that.
DIVE: Blitzen Trapper has put out a long list of records and EPs. How has the music evolved in the process, and what has been your evolution as a musician?
EE: I guess it is different for every record, really. It all depends on what I am listening to and what I am interested in trying or feeling at the time. I mean, some things don’t change as you shake things off; the goal is to tell stories with songs always with a cinematic feeling to it.
DIVE: What do you see as the foundation to all the music?
EE: It is just songs, it is just songwriting. I just write a song and then treat it all how it should be treated.
DIVE: From where are these songs blossoming?
EE: A lot of places, my life or the stories around me. They just seem to come from my own life.
DIVE: But most of the songs are based in storytelling?
EE: Yeah, quite a bit of them. There is definitely a narrative feeling to it. I think it just comes from listening to a lot of folk music and stuff like that.
DIVE: The album cover of VII is a cartoon character from train to train. Do you consider yourself a rambler in a picture like this?
EE: Yeah, when I am on tour I definitely feel like that, especially over the years. I never see myself as that but I become that I guess.
DIVE: Blitzen Trapper seems to have a nuance that cherishes a lot in its music. What do you cherish the most?
EE: A lot of things. I appreciate my friends and the guys in the band a lot with the amount of years we have been with each other and played together. I also appreciate where I come from, it’s a great place.
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