Two Lane Blacktop

At first glance Jordie Lane seems like a Nashville kind of guy. His music is laced with a rich alternative-country seam and many of his musical heroes have passed through that notorious US city on their way to stardom. But if Lane has a spiritual home in the US it isn't the glittering country musical capital; it's somewhere a hell of a lot more peaceful. “I think LA is,” he admits. “Actually, scrub that, it's Joshua Tree. It's just so simple and peaceful even though most of it is just on the edge of the highway and it looks like a dirty highway on the way to Vegas. You go out into the park and it's the only time that I can start to wind down and get into a real relaxed state and a more connected state. It sounds cheesy but more connected with myself and the universe.”

Joshua Tree is a national park about two hours from east of LA. It was at Joshua Tree that Lane found the inspiration to begin work on his second album, last year's acclaimed Blood Thinner, and once again Joshua Tree has worked its magic on Lane to provide impetus for album number three. In the early stages of recording the new album, he's released a new single, Fool For Love, that's bringing him home for an East Coast tour.

“Nashville just felt like big, car-guzzling highways. I just haven't spent as much time there, I guess. It feels like a better place to go for just little bursts.

“It is very industry. There's a lot of pop, hip hop and garage rock because Jack White is based there. That's bringing a whole bunch of that scene with it. East Nashville is one of the trendiest neighbourhoods I've seen in America. Even on top of like Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's kind of like a rebellion against the westside, showbiz, glitter, country showbiz Hall Of Fame.

“I feel like it's competitive in Nashville. I don't feel like Los Angeles is like that. I mean it is, but I don't think with music. LA's more based around the film industry so I kind of feel like I'm on the outskirts of that and I can just look in and observe and do my thing. Where I've been living in LA is on the outskirts of town so it's like living in the hills. It's really nice.”

Despite the grievances a lot of visitors to LA have with the place, Lane is definitely a fan. “I just love that it's a city built on hopes and dreams and anything is possible but then the reality is that three quarters of the people there are either not in the film industry and are just working their day job anyway and then the rest of the people have been trying for so long and they're still trying despite the fact that maybe it's not going to work out for them. I love that because people are so open minded. Some people can't stand the fact that they think it might be fake and that people are just being nice on the surface. I guess because I still feel like I'm looking from the outside in that I just love it all.

“When I travelled through Europe, if I didn't reach out to people not a single person would reach out to me in a day and that can be scary and tiring. Whereas in America you just have so many strange experiences because people are just so friendly or very forthcoming with their feelings: 'Oh you're from Down Under? That's amazing'. So many people who haven't travelled, which is most of the people over there, think it's amazing that you've come all this way. You do feel like this little special visiting animal at the zoo and I guess the trick for me is to not feel like I'm locked in that metaphorical cage. It's nearly two years that I've been living out of a suitcase.”

These days Lane spends just as much time in America as he does in Australia and the Melbourne singer/songwriter says he is beginning to feelvery much like the wandering minstrel. “I've really missed Melbourne. I did a tour with Lanie Lane around the country and flew out of Sydney to Nashville and Canada and did all of that and flew back through Sydney straight to Hobart and started the Billy Bragg tour. So the last three months or so I didn't step foot in Melbourne. So when I had the one day with Billy Bragg in Melbourne and the one day to stay with my folks, I got really homesick… But it's the first time I've felt like that in five years.”

Not that the singer is complaining. He has, after all, just spent a fortnight on the road with a UK songwriting legend. “I knew it would be good,” he gleams. “I'd heard around the traps that he was a good guy. Billy was like really down to earth. On the first day from across the big hall he's like, 'Hey you there, support act, come over here',” Lane says, putting on a pretty impressive thick English working-class accent. “He's like, 'I really respect what you do. And that's why I've got you on the tour. We're going to have fun. I heard The Moody Blues only gave you 12-minutes on stage. That's okay. What do ya' say guys? We'll give him ten.' They were just smart arses from the start. They were really generous, the whole crew. They were very good at their jobs. He just went out there every night and just smashed it.”

Bragg was right. Lane did have a lot of fun. It didn't hurt that Bragg was happy to not only get Lane out on stage to sing with him during his set, but Bragg also popped up at the mic for a song during Lane's set at the last show in Perth.

“He heard that I'd done the Gram Parsons play and we were just talking backstage and he said, 'We should do that song Sin City.' Then I was doing my soundcheck at the second show and I hear this other guitar and he walks out and he's like, 'A'righ? Sing it.' And we very quickly worked out harmonies and arrangements and sung it in the bathroom a millon times. He wanted it to be perfect. And we did it every night for the next six shows.

“Then on the final night I'm doing a song called Reason To Believe by Tim Harden. Billy talked about how he got to sing that song and Sin City with Emmylou Harris and Joan Baez, and he came out and did Reason To Believe during my support set. He gave me a hug at the end and he was like, “When are you coming to England?”

And so it seems Lane might be missing Melbourne for a little while longer...

Jordie Lane will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 29 November – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
November 30 – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Saturday 1 December – Baby Black Café, Bacchus Marsh
Sunday 2 December – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Wednesday 12 December – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
Thursday 13 December – Drill Hall, Mullumbimby
Friday 14 December – Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle
Saturday 15 December – Notes Live, Sydney
Sunday 16 December – Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba