Interviews (252)

• March 28, 2025
• Colleen Johnson
• 163
• 0

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(photo credit: Sasha Pedro)

As someone who grew up on country and bluegrass, thanks to my Midwest upbringing, it’s not always the easiest genre to find a good representation of here in Boston. But lucky for you, Boston resident Max Wareham released his debut full-length album, “DAGGOMIT,” in late February, and is about to play a slew of album release shows next week! I recommend checking out his gig at Lily P’s Fried Chicken in Cambridge this Tuesday, April 1st!

For now, you can find my chat below with Max while he was headed back to the Boston area from West Virginia, where he had been working on his second book! Max shared about everything from the creative process behind his new album to a breakdown on curating the album and much more! You can get a taste of the album below, and definitely don’t sleep on Max Wareham!

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NES: I know you’re talking to me from the road right now. Where are you headed today? 

Max Wareham: I’m coming up from West Virginia. I’m working on a book with a banjo player who lives down there. So I spent the whole week down there with him. And I’m trying to make it to Western Mass. ETA is a little after nine, so I’m keeping it between the lines here, seeing how far I can take it. 

NES: Yeah, being careful is definitely the priority first. I know from looking back that you have already put out a book. Will this be your second book, or have you done another one? 

Max: Yeah, this will be the second book. 

NES: How has that experience been? Have you wanted to write another book for a while? 

Max: Yeah, I was actually working on a book about Jerry Garcia’s banjo playing. In addition to being the legend he was with The Grateful Dead, he also played bluegrass banjo and had a great style. I started working on the book, and this banjo player down South in West Virginia called me and asked if I wanted to work on a book with him. And no one was asking me to write the book about Jerry, so I sort of put that on hold, and yeah, it’s such an interesting and just scintillating process to listen to people’s stories. And try to sift through their stories for some of the common threads about the music, and try to share that with other people. Try to translate it and put it in verses that everybody understands and share it. Yeah, it’s great. 

NES: Perfect. Then, when I was reading about the inspiration behind your album—congratulations—I know the album was officially out today. 

Max: Yeah! It is release day, thank you. 

NES: Of course! Maybe how does that feel, how are the emotions today? I’m sure you’ve been working on it for so long, I’m sure it’s been finished for a little bit but how are you feeling? 

Max: It feels really good to share it. It feels really, really good to share it. It’s been a year and a half in the making. It’s been a pretty mammoth effort. It’s funny, yeah. On the one hand, it feels incredible to share it; it’s just been a lot of anticipation building up for me.

On the other hand, it’s sort of like, “Oh, I’ve been listening to this music for a year. It doesn’t feel new to me.” And so to get to share it and see all this feedback, it’s just like a nice little gift. I don’t actually feel like I’ve done anything, because I’m so used to the music at this point. But no, it’s a happy day for sure. 

NES: And with the intricacy of this album, “DAGGAMIT,” I know there were so many moving parts. How did the writing/recording process come about for this? Were there songs you’ve been sitting on for a while? I’m sure you worked on some in the studio with Peter Rowan, who produced the LP. I know you tour with him as well. How did it all kind of fall into place?
Max: It is sort of a mixed bag. I actually had a couple of songs that I had written about ten years earlier. I brought them to Peter, and he sort of stripped them apart, put them back together, cut a verse, or added a few different lines here and there. And that was really kind of a fun way to co-write. Then some of the material, I wrote actually in the studio. And that was fun too, because it was so fresh. No one had heard it before. I just played through it once, and everyone knew what to do at that point. So yeah, it was sort of a mixed bag of older material getting spruced up and more in-the-moment material as well. 

NES: From looking up his history, Peter Rowan’s, I know you play in his touring band, but he’s been playing bluegrass since the early sixties. And is still here, still doing it. Have you written with him before? How was it to sort of work with him in the studio? I know you’ve written albums before like under different names, but how was it to be with him in the studio on this album? 

Max: It was great. I studied jazz before getting into the banjo. And jazz was, as you know, very improvised and storied music. And Peter takes that approach to bluegrass, and from playing in his bands for years, I’m very used to not even knowing what song I’m playing/how it starts. So we were able to bring songs initially to the studio, and you know what, I don’t actually like a lot of contemporary bluegrass. To me, a lot of it becomes very cookie-cutter. I mean, I have admiration and respect for anybody who’s doing it at a sort of base level. It’s hard to do, so I respect everyone doing it. But on a personal aesthetic level, I like to listen to older bluegrass because to me it’s a little more full of life. People are taking more chances, so I think Peter’s guidance brings some spontaneity and vitality to the studio for this record. 

NES: And then I know from looking at, I’ve been listening to it today. I know a lot of it is instrumental, but you have those moments where you have Peter on the track and Laura Orshaw. It’s about half and half of you singing on the tracks for the record. Were those songs written in the same session, were they the songs from ten years ago? Maybe why those songs in particular. 

Max: Well, I wanted to include some songs, because I don’t think people want to listen to a strictly banjo instrumental album these days (laughs). It’s something that was actually pretty common back in the 50s/60s. It was easier to make albums back then. There was a lot more funding in the record industry. So they could just churn them out. So they’d say, “Oh yeah, let’s do an album of all banjo songs.” So yeah, in 2025, I just kind of wanted to keep the music high into the voice. To me, the voice singing in bluegrass is at the core of the music. Sort of the soul of that has to do with singing. It can get a little heavy if it’s all instrumental. It keeps it sort of down to earth. And one of the songs there is written by a fiddler, Laura Orshaw, and I love her singing. I wanted to feature her, and of course, I wanted to feature Peter’s singing. So yeah, that’s sort of how the balance of songs with the instrumental tunes ended up in there. 

NES: And then, I know you have the album release shows. They are a little bit away, about a month out. It’s crazy to think it’s already almost March. You have some festivals announced, of course. You have one in Vermont and one in Connecticut. I’m sure you can’t say much, but maybe some hopes or goals for you as an artist in these next few months? You’ll be able to play these songs live, and you’ll see them come to life. 

Max: Well, I hope that the album does have life. I’m really looking forward to playing the album live. It will be with my new band,  the National Bluegrass Team. And they’re really, really good musicians. They’re really inspiring me to stretch out and grow in directions that I might not have done otherwise. I feel like, having done this album, I feel like it’s very much a traditional bluegrass album. I feel like part of doing it was to prove to myself and probably to others too, that I had the roots and a lot of respect for the tradition. And the individuality is enough to make something that doesn’t necessarily sound like your average contemporary bluegrass. Having done that, now I’m really wanting to incorporate more avant-garde ideas into the music. And so I’m excited to take this material, from the album, to the band, The National Bluegrass Team, that I’m working with. Challenge each other, not necessarily display it like it sounded on the record, but see where we can take it. Try to go out further, the course of the horizon, to see what’s out there musically. 

NES: Then to kind of wrap it up, I  definitely feel there’s been a resurgence in bluegrass acts being booked a lot in the venues like The Sinclair, and Paradise, and that kind of thing. Lots of shows booked. Maybe artists in particular that you’re enjoying, like maybe newer artists that you’ve found that you think people should check out, or friends. 

Max: Well, the fiddler who played on the album, Laura Orshaw, she’s just starting a duo with her partner, Josh Rinkel. They’re a duo called First Far West. They’re really great. I really love both of their music. They also straddle an interesting line between tradition and seeking more creative expressions. I’m really inspired by a friend of mine who lives in Arlington (MA), actually, a guy called Stash Wyslouch. He’s a guitarist. You’ve got to look him up. He plays music that’s totally bonkers. He can play bluegrass and old-time, but he also just plays the most out there guitar stuff I’ve ever heard. He has a really great way of finding that outness within bluegrass. It’s truly inspiring. 

But you know, I don’t listen to a lot of contemporary bluegrass music. I mostly listen to old-timers, and I’m a huge fan of Hawaiian music. I listen to Hawaiian music and jazz all the time. I love 50’s/60’s jazz. I love classical music, it’s sort of all over the map. But I would listen to Laura, Josh, and Stash. I’ll let you know if anyone else comes to mind, just music that I really like. I will add the fiddler, Jason Carter, who played for a long time in the Del McCoury Band. He’s doing a duo now, with another fiddler, Michael Cleveland, and they play these crazy fast fiddle tunes in harmony. It’s incredible, the virtuosity is so awe-inspiring; it’s very beautiful. I’m following them, and I really like what they’re doing. If it’s not out yet, they’re putting an album out shortly. (Carter & Cleveland, out March 14th). 

NES: I’ll check it all out. And that makes sense, I’ve interviewed metal-core musicians who don’t even listen to metal. They listen to blues. People assume that just because you play a certain genre, that’s the only music you like. 

Max: Yeah, that guy Stash I mentioned, he played metal guitar before getting into bluegrass guitar. He brings a lot of that energy. One of the gratifying things about doing this is being able to incorporate the different styles and different things, not being beholden to anything.

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Max will be playing several album release shows next week, including one at Lily P’s Fried Chicken in Cambridge on April 1st! All information about these shows can be found here!