early james brings out his new album ‘medium raw’
The album lives up to its name, presenting its brace of smart, playful, and often fiercely rocking original songs to intimate life with a stunningly vital sound that thrives on its lived-in, real-world ambiance. After recording his first two albums at Easy Eye Sound Studios, producer Dan Auerbach felt like Medium Raw needed to come together in a fresh setting. The album is released today (january 10th) via Easy eye sound.
“I wanted to try to find that power of when I first saw him, when it was just him and his guitar,” Auerbach says. “After working with him a couple of times in the studio, I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to do it in the same kind of way. The comforts and luxuries of the studio, where you’re able to hear everything and make adjustments and changes, wasn’t right for this project. Some of my favorite albums are those Arhoolie records produced by Chris Strachwitz that were recorded in houses, by Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins. I felt like we might get better results if we did it in a house.”
The house in question, known as “Honky Chateau,” was an old Nashville property owned by photographer and artist Buddy Jackson. Over 100 years old, the house has plaster on the walls, plastered ceilings, old wallpaper and big oak floors. James, Auerbach and crew brought in all the recording gear themselves – including an old 50’s Universal Audio tube console which was originally built by FAME Studios’ Rick Hall. Mixing consoles were set up in an upstairs bedroom. James and the players on the album – longtime bassist Adrian Marmolejo, drummer Jeff Clemens and percussionist Sam Bacco – were all set up in different rooms downstairs. James notes that pretty much everything you hear on Medium Raw was, as its title suggests, cut “au naturel.”
“There are just two overdubs, on ‘Rag Doll’ and ‘Nothing Surprises Me Anymore,’” he says. “We had intended to get a violin solo on ‘Nothing Surprises Me Anymore,’ and Dan said, ‘Ah, I came up with something.’ On the trio tracks, it was a challenge. Jeff Clemens, who drummed, was two rooms away — I couldn’t see him. We didn’t have in-ear monitors, and it was the first time for him hearing any of those songs. I love his drumming with G. Love (& Special Sauce) and Kenny Vaughan so much. You can hear Jeff kind of tiptoeing through it, and it makes the song move in a really cool way. It’s not hyper-polished, but it has Jeff’s confidence, and you can’t teach that.”
“James’ little Princeton amp was right behind him, there were no baffles or anything, and so when he was soloing it was all bleeding into his vocal mic,” explains Auerbach. “We had these beautiful microphones sucking up the soul of the house. It sounded fucking amazing. When you have headphones on, you can hear that room. You can even see the room when you close your eyes.”
