'What makes a good song good? A performance that is undeniable - or a story. Preferably both.'

Most important things first - Foghorn Leghorn is Dan Bairds favorite cartoon character. And by the way, yes, this year two Dan albums will see the light of day. One live Dan Baird and Friends CD and one Yayhoos studio album. With Dan at home for some time in February 2005, DanBaird.net decided to bother him with some questions about past, present and future. And indeed, some silly ones too.

When we start with the past, which seems logical at times, one can ask what music Dan Baird listened to when he was seventeen. 'It was 1970, Dan says. 'Stones, Hendrix, Cream, Dylan, also The Byrds' "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" was a big deal. "Maggie May" was next year, but the AM radio was what we had, so top 40 was always around. And that forced "Mr. Hip big guitars only" to listen to a lot of r&b, which I didn't think was cool. Years later, "Mr. Hip" sure is glad they were playing stax-volt and Motown an I got my face rubbed in it. Thank you.'

Get outta there
About 20 years later, Dan fired himself from the band that made him big. At what point did Baird decide to leave the Georgia Satellites? 'Like all splits', Baird continues, 'they do not happen all at once like the movies. They are a slow deteriation of love, interest, and all the things that make inter-personal relations go. I was no longer able to care what happened to the band, and at that point, myself, career wise. There were difficult relations inside the band, but there always are in every band, family, business, love relationship. Let's not blame it on that. The situation that was there was non-engaging. I was bored, and was beginning to dislike everybody - my fault, not theirs. A little voice goes "this is turning into a job, so stop wasting your and everyone else's time and life, and get the hell outta here". So I did. Very shortly after I heard "the voice".'

Move to Nashville
After quitting the Sats, Dan moved to Kentucky, and afterwards to Nashville. But his rural dream didn't come true. Says Dan: 'Actually, I first moved to Nashville in 1989, so I could be with my new gal who lived here. Atlanta was getting stale. I had lived there my whole life and was feeling uncomfortable in the "only fish in a very small pond" world. The Black Crowes would have taken care of that within months, but I was ready right then. I knew Nashville would be OK when Roy Acuff could walk into a breakfast joint and the waitress said "Hey Roy, same ol' thing?". We decided to look for a house and ended up 60 miles north in Kentucky on a piece of land with a log house. At the time it was ideal. Then after two years, when reality set in, it wasn't, back to Nashville to the house I'm in now.'

Proud
In the Discography everyone can see that Dan wrote a lot of songs. Some together with others, and some by himself. There must be songs that Baird is especially proud of to have written? 'The songs that I'm most proud of are, in the order that I remember them, no big deal: "Younger Face", "All Over But The Cryin'", "6 Years Gone", "Nights Of Mystery", "Julie and Lucky" and "Another Chance". I know that "Keep Your Hands" has been very good to me, but that song wrote itself. These others had to be written.' When asked whether he considers a lot of the especially good songs melancholic, Baird responds: 'I don't think so, but it does lend an air of legitimacy to the tunes. Comedy doesn't win acadamy awards, drama does.'

A good song
And now that we're discussing songwriting, what makes a good song a good song to Dan Baird? 'One of two things: A perfomance that is undeniable, like The Beatles "Twist And Shout", Ray Charles "What'd I Say?", Zep "Immigrant Song", Humble Pie "I Don't Need No Doctor, Nirvana "Teen Spirit" - you get the picture. But this is hard to do. You need to be gifted first, so for the rest of us - Story. "Promised Land", "Dixie Chicken", "Lola", "Johnny 99", "I'm So Lonesome I

Could Cry".Then sometimes you get both: "Johnny B.Goode", "Like A Rolling Stone","The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down", "Every Picture Tells A Story", "Suspicious Minds". These lists could go on forever, and I know I'm leaving out favorites, but these are the ones my poor brain could think of quick. We, as human, identify with a certain time frame, 17-25 years old, that we are very expansive and vulnerable. These songs that we hear in this time frame become the soundtrack to our lives, and this also makes them "good".'

Inspiration and hard work
Dan wrote some good songs, even hits, together with Terry Anderson. 'We work well together', says Dan. Songwriting is sometimes easy, and sometimes a hard job. Baird believes in both inspiration and hard work when writing a song: 'Inspiration is easiest and best, if that don't work, hard work is all you have left.' Baird still writes new songs, but 'Yayhoos is about it for new songs. Don't understand it, but there you go. Yes, a new Yayhoos studio cd is in the works. The last one took six years to come out, we'll be done way quicker than that this time. Roscoe (Eric Ambel, GH) is out with Steve Earle, so when that's done we'll get busy again.' Another interesting fact is that there will be a live album, recorded during the last 'From the Heart of the Georgia Satellites: Dan Baird & Friends' tour in Europe. Promising and exciting news! 'It's being mixed now', Dan tells us. 'Jake Newland is doing it. Just got the first set of roughs. Wow.'

Sleeping Beauties
From a list that was noted by someone a while ago, it appeared that there are a few songs more that Dan has written but which we've never heard. Amongst them are "Honkey Tonk Heart", "I'm Alright, I'm OK", "Licker in the Cornflake", "Nancy Sinatra", "Ring Around the Moon" and "Carry Your Picture". Are those Sleeping Beauties waiting to be kissed awake or does Dan really want them to sleep? 'Now that's a hard question', Dan comments. 'Licker should never see the light of day, but me and Terry laughed our butts off with that one. It's just nasty for no reason. "Carry Your Picture" is such a ballad, I don't know if I could pull it off. There's some reason those songs are hard to find, but "Ring Around The Moon" is available from Bill Lloyd somewhere. "Nancy Sinatra" is with the Bottle Rockets. Otherwise sleep…'

Keith
Dan Baird has performed live a lot in Europe, the last few years. So the interviewer has had the pleasure of attending at multiple occasions. A very remarkable character during those gigs is bass player Keith Christopher. Dan and him go way back. Baird: 'Keith is one of the most soulful, talented humans on this planet. When he brings it, you better be ready. It took years for me and him to understand and get along with each other. We are of opposite temperaments, but this is very useful in a creative endeavor. Keith is a wildfire and I'm a boring old fart, but steady. It works.'

Future
At the end of the interview, we have some time for other interesting questions. Like, name a band which we'd never thought Dan would like. Dan: 'But now do I? Hmmh..... don't know. I find it hard to write off bands or singers, but when I do, they don't make a comeback with me.
There are songs which I do not want to like, but I do. Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" is a big one there.' And on another note, with either angry rappers or sexy chicks who can't even sing dominating the big music channels and charts, one could ask if there is a future for Dan's music. 'As in lots of $$$. I don't think so. As in I am going to have to do good shows and an audience will come, yes.' And to conclude, who's Dan's favorite cartoon character? 'Foghorn Leghorn.'

Gerben Holwerda
15 February 2005