I just read that PR Newman stands for “punk rock Randy Newman.” I love this because Spencer Garland’s songs very rarely have loud power chord guitars or plodding piano chords yet to prank your audience is a very Randy Newman and punk thing to do. In addition to having killer songs, Spencer is a gifted multi hyphenate musician (keyboard, guitar, singer, engineer, mixer.) I spent July ‘19 on tour watching him play a PR Newman set and then get up and be part of Matthew Logan Vasquez’s band. He’s a killer player.
I love his 2019 full length, Turnout, (especially the song ‘Go To Hell’ which ended up on every playlist I made that year), and am excited for his latest, Grey Area, which comes out January 10th, 2025, and includes ‘Live in ‘68’ on it. If you haven’t heard the confession that inspired this yet, give that a listen first.
WL: We know the story that inspired this song, but what exactly is 'Live In 68' about ?
PR Newman: Live in 68, as told by your confessor, was a short but simple story of a man who ditched his plans to see a Grateful Dead concert. As he was hitch hiking to the concert, he was picked up by two girls, and to paraphrase the story, “the rest was history”. So I took it as my responsibility to fill in the gaps in the story, as well as follow this character later as he looks for the live album of the concert he missed, only to finally find out that the concert he missed wasn’t that great and to realize that the Grateful Dead wasn’t that great either, and they were all too high all the time anyway.
WL: What normally inspires your writing and what usually comes first, theme, words, or music ?
PR Newman: Its a mixture. I used to be predominately a music first, lyrics after kinda guy. But then I started touring as a solo artist (couldn’t afford to bring a band), and I realized my songs were incomplete or not that well structured for solo acoustic and vocal performances. So from about 2017 on, I started writing the lyrics with only maybe a melody or simple “vibe in mind”, and then added the music later, with the goal of creating a catalog of more “songs”, meaning they could stand on their own regardless of the instrumentation. I’ve liked that a lot better, although, maybe im starting to miss getting a little weird and long winded like my former songs.
WL: What are your thoughts on The Grateful Dead?
PR Newman: Short and sweet 3 minute versions of their hits are great , album versions. Live version, wouldn’t touch it. Can’t stand it, or the culture around it. Little bears and tie die, omg go away. Sorry to my Dead head friends, I love you but not Phil or Jerry.
WL: Why did you leave Austin and how has it affected your relationship with your music ?
PR Newman: I left Austin for a few reasons. First and foremost, it got too expensive. Second, I couldn’t stand the Tesla bros moving in and the fetishization of the culture while simultaneously undermining its existence. Not the heat though, I still love the heat, and Georgia’s still plenty hot and humid for me. Also, the city is so poorly managed, neoliberal’s running it bow down to cultural demands but still let investors buy up the whole city and never invest in any public infrastructure or crack down on any developers. Same shit in a lot of places, but I really just was just not worth the price anymore.
I don’t persue music professionally as I once did, but living somewhere cheaper, and MUCH slower (Savannah GA), has allowed me to shake off some jadedness I had built up in Austin and find a childlike wonder in creating music again. It's not necessarily tied to where I live, just that I felt like I needed to escape the atmosphere that had become so synonymous with music life. Now I make what ever music, any style, on my own time, and I find I’m more prolific and experimental when I don’t have intrusive thoughts about the viability of the music I’m creating, and I’m just having fun. Most importantly, if art reflects life, and a musicians life is ALL MUSIC ALL THE TIME, then there becomes a feedback loop of making art about being an artist that makes art about being an artist about being an artist. When it’s easy living and there’s no “rise and grind” atmosphere, I actually live my life, and then my music reflects actual life, not just speculation. God I hate songs about being on the road or being a musician.
Live in ‘68
I went crate digging, just the other day
There was something I wanted to play
A concert I missed
Two worlds that can’t exist
The rest I’d rather not say
I don’t need Live in ’73, Workingman’s Dead,
American Beauty
Two Worlds, Thumbs Up, Must be fate
I need Live in 68’
So i found a man who says that he can
Help me to track this one down
Well i shouldn’t have said, “Well I ain’t a Dead Head”
Soon as I did, I got kicked out the store
Still got the ticket, the whole thing not the stub
Still never been to that club
CHORUS
I finally found, Live in ’68, and you know
That it wasn’t that great
I meant what I said, I ain’t a Dead Head,
That one guy was too high all the time
CHORUS
Enjoy this a few times over the holidays.
xoxo
WL
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