Culture
Tim O’Brien talks about ‘Cup of Sugar’ and performing at Todd Burge’s 2023 Birthday Bash
By: Emily Votaw
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PARKERSBURG, West Virginia (WOUB) – Sixty some years ago a very young Tim O’Brien realized something very important about himself when he saw Doc Watson perform on TV.
Right then and there he realized he was going to devote his life to making that kind of music – whatever you want to call it (and folks call it a lot of different things): “old-time,” “bluegrass,” “folk.”
That’s precisely what he did. It’s been a long and fruitful journey for the musician – one which has included not one but two Grammy awards.
Awards are one thing, but often artistic legitimacy is another – and O’Brien’s got both. For example, he was in his 20s when he co-founded Hot Rize, a bluegrass band that furthered the musical evolution of the genre itself by staying true its rigorous technical conventions while emphasizing its blues and swing roots.
O’Brien has collaborated with many noteworthy musicians over the years. Some of the more recent include garage-rocker/Nashville producer Dan Auerbach, alternative country heavyweight Sturgill Simpson – and, importantly for our purposes – none other than Parkersburg’s own Todd Burge.
That’s why O’Brien returns to West Virginia Saturday to perform with his musical partner and wife, Jan Fabricius, at Burge’s Birthday Bash benefit for the Parkersburg Art Center.
The musicians have known each other for a while – O’Brien recalls meeting Burge in Morgantown sometime in the aughts.
“I think he was opening a show for me at a club there,” O’Brien says. “He was a nice fella, and I enjoyed his music – so when he asked me to do some recording with him, I did.”
The two have worked together many times over the years, and their collaboration has resulted in a number of projects. It’s worth noting that one of the earliest was Burge’s 2012 album Building Characters – a record which also enlisted the talents of producer/musician Don Dixon, renowned for his work on R.E.M.’s strong early career releases Murmur and Reckoning.
Cup of Sugar
O’Brien released his 22nd solo album, Cup of Sugar, in June.
He says that “[…]one way of describing this Cup of Sugar record is it sounds more like me than ever.”
“I’m just sort of letting it hang out as opposed to, oh, ‘I’m supposed to be a bluegrass musician’ or this or that and the other thing,” he says. “I’m just expressing what I see and hear and feel and trying to make music out of it, which is actually quite enjoyable – it’s a new way through it. I love it.”
O’Brien says his last record, 2021’s He Walked On, was more “political,” at least in the conventional sense.
“I’m just sort of letting it hang out as opposed to, oh, ‘I’m supposed to be a bluegrass musician’ or this or that and the other thing. I’m just expressing what I see and hear and feel and trying to make music out of it, which is actually quite enjoyable – it’s a new way through it. I love it.” – Tim O’Brien on Cup of Sugar
“This one is about just trying to be nice to my neighbors, even if I don’t agree with them politics-wise,” he said.
Take one look at Cup of Sugar’s track listing and you’ll notice a lot of the songs mention “non-human” animals – like bears, horses, fish.
Are the songs about those animals? They are. Much the same way that the much-performed/recorded traditional blues song Boll Weevil is “about” a family of destructive boll weevils, looking for a home.
So, suffice to say, the kid who found so much inspiration in that Doc Watson performance all those years ago would be proud. O’Brien is working within the context of that same music he fell in love with so long ago.
However you want to define the songs on Cup of Sugar, O’Brien says the record exemplifies a kind of musical amalgamation he’s been trying for since he started making music.
“My music has always been fairly eclectic,” O’Brien said. “It’s hard to pigeonhole. It’s hard to define what it is I’m into, but after all these recordings, I feel like I’m better at integrating all those disparate elements into something that’s unified. It’s only taken me 50 years.”
Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius perform Saturday with Todd Burge and Larry Groce for Todd Burge’s Birthday Bash benefit for the Parkersburg Arts Center. Find more information on the event at this link.