The Spencer Cullum Jr. Interview
Born and raised in Romford, East London and now a fellow Tennessean, Spencer Cullum Jr. is a natural who’s style blends that of the late Bert Jansch and the wonderful Canterbury scene of the 1960s and 70s. His most recent project, "The Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection” sprawls across poetic landscapes and express rich interest in enlightening folk melodies and stellar compositions. It was a pleasure speaking to Cullum about picking up the pedal steel, moving across the world to pursue his love and passion for music, putting out an incredible body of work and what lies ahead for the Coin Collection project this April.
Tell me about growing up in London, England. What was your childhood like? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more specifically the pedal steel guitar? Was this something that was relevant around your household growing up? What is it about the pedal steel that fascinates you the most?
I’m from a market town called Romford in East London. My dad was a beer delivery lorry (truck) driver for the pubs around London so I was always involved around old pubs growing up, either playing music in them, or socializing, and my mum is a painter and influenced me artistically. She’d always be playing Talking Heads, or Leonard Cohen whilst painting. I got into the pedal steel guitar after hearing the stones song ‘Torn and Frayed’. After discovering what that sound was around the age of 19/20 I was hooked and tried to find every old pop or rock and roll record with Pedal steel in it. That lead me to finding out about steel player BJ Cole. I went to see him at a show in London and asked if he could teach me and help me out with it, we’ve been good friends ever since.
Do you have any siblings? What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your first show and when did it dawn on you that you wanted to be a musician yourself?
I have a brother Jeff, who lives in Nashville, we both would play in bands together and I would steal from his great record collection growing up. He played bass guitar and we’d tour a lot together. I also have a half brother Gary, who still lives in London and is also a Lorry (truck) driver carrying on The 18 wheeler Cullum tradition. Romford wasn’t the most pleasant town, a lot of nightclubs and fights but there was a great little scene where everyone would gather in the local pub of bands and music fans. Mostly consisting of the one record shop employees and people at the local music college. My first show was The Stones, Voodoo Lounge tour. It was so over the top and I loved it as a 11 year old kid trying to learn the guitar. I think just being around friends that loved music and that used it as a escapism made me want to be a musician, or just work in music of some sort.
What led to the decision to move to Nashville, TN? Tell me about putting together Steelism with your friend Jeremy Fetzer. How did you guys initially meet? You guys released a few records from 2012-1017 that included titles such as, “The Intoxicating Sounds of Pedal Steel and Guitar”, “615 to Fame”, and “Ism”.
I was touring with a band in the states then came back and lived in Whitechapel, London for a while. I started playing and touring with Caitlin Rose in Europe and that’s how I met Jeremy Fetzer. I figured there’d be more work playing steel in Nashville so I made the move around then. Steelism came about from boredom at soundchecks, we’d write instrumental compositions whilst playing Pete Drake and Booker T and the MG covers. So after a long tour we decided to record and make a thing of it.
Can you tell me about writing and recording some of these projects and what you guys, overall, wanted to achieve and express with these works? 2021 saw the release of your debut album “Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection” on YK Records. How did the deal with them come about? Tell me about writing and recording this record and what the overall vision for this album and songs such as “The Dusty Floor”, “The Tree” and “To Be Blinkered”. How did
I think with Steelism we wanted to write compositional pieces that we were hugely influenced by that were becoming a big part of our personal sound when we played our instruments. Jeremy was listening to David AxelRod, Ennio Morricone and I was really into Red Rhodes and Speedy West so it was all a exciting and fun way to recreate that in our own homage to them Coin Collection came about from being on tour straight for a while and being a little home sick from UK. I felt a-bit lost in America in my identity. I wanted to write music and feel out of my depth with something I’d never really done before, which was singing and composing songs and putting together a band, instead of being a sideman. I grew up near Canterbury and have been a huge fan of that scene i.e Gong, Matching Mole, Soft Machine, Caravan and I wanted to make music in that world that I grew up on. It felt really exciting and natural and still does. Michael Eades at YK records (who’s a wonderful champion of the Nashville music scene) put out the 1st record.
You had a number of people join you to bring this album to life including Erin Rae, Austin Hoke, Luke Reynolds, the great James Wallace and so many more! How did you go about scouting folks to join in on this album? What are some of your favorite memories of writing that record?
I think what made me put Coin Collection together was realizing there’s a great little scene in Nashville of people that want to create that kind of music. My first idea of doing Coin Collection was Playing Bert Jansch and Red Rhodes songs with Sean Thompson at a venue called Fond Object (RIP) in Nashville. Then hearing Erin Rae play there and working with Luke Reynold and James Wallace. They were all so encouraging and excited to be part of it. It renewed my love of Nashville and the music scene. The label that took over from YK records was Full Time Hobby in London. They came across my record and reached out and they are putting out my second record in April. They have been really supportive and I was a fan of the label before I was signed to them from bands such as Tunng, Dana Gavanski and Squirrel Flower. Nigel and Charlie who run the label have a great taste in music and work really hard, I mean Nigel went to see Ivor Cutler back in the day… What more can you ask for! I don’t think there was much pressure to change much from the last record, but to maybe have an conscience decision on what ‘I’ sound like other than wearing my influences on my sleeve too much.
What have you been up to more recently? Are you currently working on any new projects for the Spring/Summer? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
Well, Coin Collection 2 is out 14th April and I’m going on tour in UK/EU and Ireland with Sean Thompson and Rich Ruth and am also playing Green Man festival in wales in the summer. Other than that thank you so much for having me and interviewing me Dakota.
