Phil Haynes Does Americana with Free Country

Phil Haynes with Cymbals
Phil Haynes

It’s only been a little over a month since the first time that I interviewed Phil Haynes. We talked almost an hour both times and didn’t cover any of the same material. Last month we talked about his new No Fast Food double live In Concert album with Dave Liebman and Drew Gress. This time we talked about another new release this time by another of his projects Free Country.

Free Country is a quartet with guitar, bass, cello and drums that takes americana to new realms with intricate arrangements and sophisticated improvisation. The new album Something Beatles is installment 2.5 of what Phil envisions as a trilogy. The first album Free Country is all music from before 1900. The second How the West Was Won was about America coming of age. The third album will be recorded during the upcoming tour and will be titled 60-69.

We talked about Phil’s take on americana, how the project took shape, “why” the Beatles, Corner Store Jazz and recording the groups second album in New York shortly after 9/11.

Free Country’s music is available at: www.cornerstorejazz.com

Phil Haynes web site: www.philhaynes.com/