For Nashville-born, Richmond-based songwriter Benjamin Shepherd, it’s substance above all else.
That conviction took root during a formative period in which he was embedded in New York City’s anti-folk scene, a movement that reacted to (and against) singer-songwriters who seemed to focus more on the singing than the writing. The epicenter was a weekly open mic that would last deep into the night, with dozens of other dedicated wordsmiths looking on. Shepherd describes quite the musical crucible: “Do you have something to say? Are you being honest? Are you being truthful? And not just in [what] you say but in how you’re saying it… It’s easy to get caught up in what you think people want from you, and at least on that scene, it just didn’t fly.”
That honesty was front-and-center on his 2014 album, “Eleven For The Road,” a collection of first-take live tracks cut at Montrose Recording during a visit to Richmond ahead of his move back to Virginia after living in New York. Produced by Palm Palm guitarist Charlie Glenn, the session was when he first met Montrose owner Adrian Olsen; he’d continue collaborating with both, including on “This Was Supposed to Be Temporary,” an eight-song folk-rock album he’ll release on Friday, April 7.
The album’s latest single, “Love Is Not Enough,” gives a glimpse of how honesty manifests personally. The song offers a stark depiction of moving past the honeymoon phase of a relationship, starting with an image of alcohol-fueled good times and the frank reckoning that sets in as love matures: “Go on and put me to the test, tell me something real / I’m inclined to let you know exactly how I feel.”
“You realize you can’t just get by on charm forever,” Shepherd says. “You’re going to have to do some work and be real.”
Style Weekly: What inspired the opening of “Love Is Not Enough”? Was the boozy footbridge walk a real experience?
Benjamin Shepherd: I met my wife when I was living in a house with some friends in Byrd Park. She lived like a block away, and we used to walk over that footbridge there that crosses [Interstate] 195 — it kind of dumps you off by Lamplighter [Coffee Roasters] … That was still at the very beginning of my relationship with the woman I’m married to now, and we were still getting hammered every weekend and partying a lot. By the time I wrote that song, we had sort of settled down a little bit in our behavior, and I also was deep enough in this relationship where I was like, “We can’t really get by on feelings alone. We’re going to have to do some work to make this work. We’re going to have to try.”
When did you start recording “This Was Supposed to Be Temporary”?
We did most of the initial tracking in a weekend at Montrose Recording in Northside a few months before COVID hit, and then got the chance to do maybe one overdub session, and then I couldn’t do anything for over a year. By that time, I was like, “I gotta keep working on this,” but it was fits and starts…
“Love Is Not Enough” is one that we re-tracked. We scrapped what we had done from the initial session and re-tracked it, a good chunk of it at my apartment. I was living at this apartment on Mulberry Street right near Bamboo [Cafe] at the time, and I did a bunch of tracking there because it was easier than trying to schedule a studio … It’s been cooking for way too long, but I think it turned out well, and I’ve got a whole other record ready to go just waiting to be recorded.
What is your home setup like?
At the time, it was really basic. I was just recording onto my computer in my living room because it was me, my now-wife and my buddy living in a two bedroom apartment, and there was no spare space [for] a proper recording setup. Now I live out in Varina and I’ve got a garage that I’ve busted my ass converting into a studio space, so this next one I’m going to record entirely out there … I’m going to probably do as much of it myself as I can, but I hope we have other people on it, too. I haven’t done a proper home recording ever, and I finally have the space to do it.
It’s so interesting to think of a home recording being the “proper” one, given how studios were considered the industry standard for so long.
The three LPs that I have out were all done at Montrose, which is a really hi-fi facility, and I’m kind of ready to go back to doing this mid-fi, low-fi thing, because I think it works for my songs. I love working with Adrian [Olsen]. I love working over there, but I’m looking forward to the change, to go back to mid-fi, a little dirtier for this next one. Even now if I listen to “This Was Supposed to Be Temporary,” I can’t remember what was tracked in Montrose and what was tracked at my house. It’s not evident to my ear, because Adrian mixed it really well, for one thing. But that’s just the nature of digital recording, too — the files are the files. You can take them anywhere …
On “Love Is Not Enough,” I had some weird, off-hand guest spots. Alan Parker, who [collaborates with] Spacebomb [Studios] and who played the pedal steel on “Love Is Not Enough…” he’s a wizard. When I approached him about doing this, he was like, “Yeah, I just got this pedal steel. I’m not really familiar with it.” But I thought that would be cool, because I knew he was really, really good at guitar, and I thought it would be cool to have someone play a pedal steel who wasn’t really used to the instrument. It wasn’t going to sound like a typical country part, and it doesn’t.
Benjamin Shepherd’s new album, “This Was Supposed to Be Temporary,” is out Friday, April 7. To preorder it, and to hear “Love Is Not Enough,” visit benjaminshepherd.bandcamp.com. Shepherd will headline a release show on Saturday, April 8 at Gallery5. Cal Folger Day and Landon Elliott will also perform. Doors open at 7 p.m. and music starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance ($13 at the door) and can be purchased at gallery5arts.org.
