By Al Kaufman
Jeremy Aggers has one of those soothing voices that works better than Xanax. It's a sweet voice that resembles the folk-rock renderings of David Wilcox or James Taylor. Just put him in the player and everything is okay. His voice is a bubble bath after a long day at work. On his last CD, What It Comes Down To, he showed off his mellifluous tones, but also demonstrated that he can be topical ("Mrs. O'Leary's Cow") and also downright bluesy, as he does on "The Leather Strap."
Aggers, a native North Carolinian who currently calls Atlanta home and has a day job at the famous Manuel's Tavern, will be recording a live CD at Atlanta's 800 East Studios January 15. The show will also air on a Comcast Bands on Demand springtime episode. The studio is small and can only hold about 40 people, so Aggers will be performing two shows, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., to try to accommodate more people. It will also afford him the chance to choose the best take of a particular song that he wants on the new CD.
Aggers spent some time talking about the new CD, working at Manuel's, and his newfound passion for vinyl.
What made you decide to make your next album a live one?
There are two different reasons, I think. I'm not the fastest writer. I put out enough to keep me happy, but I have to put into the equation the audience and people who want to hear new stuff. So I've been writing at my pace [laughs], and I wanted to put something out that would encompass some old stuff and some new stuff, sort of give people a taste of what we've been working on. Rob [Evans, manager] actually came up with the idea to do the live thing in the studio. I thought it was a good idea because it killed a few birds with one stone. It gives the audience something to listen to and gives us something to concentrate on, and it gives the label a little too – for demos and stuff like that – that they can listen to, and judge [laughs].
You're releasing 300 copies on vinyl.
Yeah, we're going to do a vinyl release with digital download because it's a market that we at least want to test out.
Do you still have your old LPs?
Yeah, I mean I just recently started collecting them honestly. When I first moved to Atlanta in 2006 I got a record player from a friend. And that was around the time when labels started releasing records with the digital download pretty much guaranteed, which I just really like. So lately when I buy I'll look for vinyl first and if it's not I'll get a digital. The vinyl always comes with the downloads now. It's the best way to buy. And I want to see if anyone will appreciate that. And if not, it will be a nice collector's item [laughs[.
Besides the digital downloads that come with it, what do you appreciate about the vinyl?
When I grew up my dad's entire music collection was on vinyl, but I won't say that it was expansive. He taught me a few things to buy and a few things not to buy. He had Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Doobie Brothers, but he also had Chuck Mangione and things that are just a little out of my realm as far as musical tastes or even realization. And I always grew up listening to those "beep, turn the page" stories. My dad bought me the whole Star Wars series on 7-inch. So I had this little introduction to vinyl. I always had an appreciation because of the warmth of it and it was just a lot similar to the tape recordings of the '70s. I think it's obvious. I mean, I'm no audiophile. I don't have a very good ear for sound; even recording and everything I have to ask for 50 opinions, but it's definitely the warmth. And to have a live recording on vinyl; I don't have to many of those. There are lots floating out there, but I'd like to see how it sounds. It's sort of a walking the plank kind of thing, but we'll see.
How long have you been working at Manuel's?
I started there in April of 2006.
I would imagine you can get a lot of writing inspiration from the people who hang there.
Yeah, absolutely. It's a bit of a writer's dream to just float around all these different people, and some of the folks that have been coming here for 40 years, if not the entire time it's been open. You still get a regular who tells you, "Yeah, I was here the first year you guys were open and I was 12 years old."
You just shot your new video there, "Other People's Things."
Yeah, that was cool. Mike Bond [from Peachtree One] shot that and did a really awesome job. I didn't really know what to expect. He had helped us out with a little web cast for a house show last year. He works for Comcast and does Bands on Demand. He talked about getting us on that and we started planning out the studio show and he wanted to do the Bands on Demand video there, but he said in the meantime why don't we do something for your website? We wanted to do a little litmus test to see what he was capable of, which it turns out is a lot. I think he caught the place with the camera in a good way. I think Manuel may have been proud. I don't think he was very big on live music in his establishment. We shot it at 8 a.m. in the morning before they opened.
The people who are in the video, are they Manuel regulars?
Brian, the owner, is in a couple of different shots. He's behind the bar when we're pointing a couple of things out on the wall. That was pretty much when I was showing Rob, my manager, and Mike, the videographer, around the wall and the history of the place. Of course there's plenty of stuff that Brian knows because Brian is Manuel's youngest son. So that was just sort of candid stuff that Mike caught. I thought the video was really beautiful the first time I saw it.
Jeremy Aggers and his band are recording live shows are at 800 East Studios Friday, January 15. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.. $14. Get tickets here.
