There were four of us sitting there on the lawn behind Alumni as the sun went down: me, my brother, my cousin, and a rock star.
Michael Glabicki, lead singer of Rusted Root, leaned back against the brick wall like he was just as at home right there on the grass as he is onstage wailing away on his guitar.
I made sure that my brother Andy and cousin Tyler joined us-budding musicians who practically clutch their guitars like teddy bears as they sleep. I figured they might get a kick out of meeting the guy who makes the band tick.
“Were you always planning to be a musician?”
He answered right away, “No. I was really into drawing and doing visual arts and painting. When I got out of high school, though, I went to Nicaragua for three weeks, and the war was happening. It was very political, a real revolution-type atmosphere, and all the artists were on the streets doing their art and poetry and music. I got really jazzed about that. I came back and tried going to college for a year, but I dropped out, and then formed the band.”
I flipped to my next question and looked over at Andy and Tyler. There were two mosquitos biting each of them-they could have been sucked dry, though, and I don’t think they would’ve even noticed.
“Do you write a song to send a message or as your own personal catharsis?”
“…My own personal catharsis. It’s the only thing I really know how to do. When I write on the acoustic guitar, I use it as a meditational tool. I just keep repeating lines and chords…[I] let the sounds come out and they eventually turn into words. And then the words become thoughts and the thoughts start to come together into stories or vivid pictures…And then you go, ‘Well, that was weird, what did that mean?’ And then you figure that out over time.”
“Your new album, Welcome to My Party, has a pop-ier sound. Is this the new trend?”
“No. I think we made it because that’s what we wanted to make at the time. My personal feeling right now is that I want to make a record that’s a little more experimental and start breaking some new ground again like we did in the beginning…we don’t even talk about doing another record now. It’s just all in the moment for us.”
“Any advice for college students who are budding musicians?”
“Um. No.”
We all burst out laughing. “Okay,” I said, “Would you care to elaborate on that ‘No’?”
He smiled, “I always think of this story Johnny Cash tells when Roy Orbison went up to him one time and wanted advice ’cause he was just getting started. Johnny Cash said ‘Well, you sing a lot in a falsetto voice-why don’t you sing in a low voice like this (Michael lowers his voice appropriately-we all laugh.).’ And if Roy Orbison had listen to him his career would never have gotten off the ground.
It’s like that. Music is like life-there’s so many experiences and so many paths. Nobody can show you your path…”
I couldn’t help but wonder if someday it would be Andy and Tyler leaning back against the faded brick wall telling some future Fairfield student about the time they met Michael Glabicki.
That’s what was so interesting about talking to him: the man who wanted to offer no advice left the three of us feeling more inspired than some of the preachiest people I have ever known.
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