SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Andrew Combs got a guitar from his cousin Greg when he was 14 years old, and the Texan has been writing and performing music ever since. He's just released his sixth album, "Dream Pictures."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GENUINE AND PURE")
ANDREW COMBS: (Singing) Genuine and pure. That's how I remember her. Genuine and pure. That's how I remember her.
SIMON: Andrew Combs is now on a current tour of the British Isles, and he joins us from Kilkenny, Ireland. Mr. Combs, thanks so much for being with us.
COMBS: It's my pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GENUINE AND PURE")
COMBS: (Singing) Pleasure gives, and pain, it takes.
SIMON: That guitar your cousin Greg gave you - what did that set off in you?
COMBS: Oh, a spark to tell stories, I think, and to express myself in a way I hadn't been able to do before.
SIMON: You grew up in Texas and then went to New Orleans to study. But like a lot of people, I guess you got hit by Hurricane Katrina, didn't you?
COMBS: Yeah. I was there for about five days, and then the storm came. And, yeah, we got out of town pretty quickly.
SIMON: And you never moved back?
COMBS: No. There was something in me that decided it was sort of an omen. I had always wanted to go to Nashville, and I felt like I might find more kindred spirits there. And I took it as a sign. I went back home to Dallas for a semester and then eventually made my way up to Tennessee.
SIMON: Let's hear a little of one of your first songs on the album, "Eventide."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVENTIDE")
COMBS: (Singing) Eventide, the time of plenty. No crushing blows, no bended knees. We froze our tongues with our emotions. Woke up when world falls asleep.
This, I like to think of as sort of the thesis statement of the record. It's an ode to my wife and our life that we've created. And I wrote most of these songs in the evening after the kids had gone to bed. And it's the time of day where my wife and I can each be ourselves, not just parents, you know? And we get to connect with each other and then do our own thing. I tend to go to our garage and paint or write.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVENTIDE")
COMBS: (Singing) My mind, my heart.
It's an ode to that sort of golden hour of the day.
SIMON: Boy, there's a song in this album about heartbreak.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAVY THE HEART")
COMBS: (Singing) High in a cloud, a fraudulent thing, you sleep on the sound.
SIMON: What are the challenges in writing songs about love, coming together, finding love, letting go of it?
COMBS: I call those songs low-stakes songwriting 'cause I've been doing that for all my life. Those are the sad songs. The falling out of love songs are what I've always gravitated towards. It's taken me a long time, and it's taken me coming to a happier place in my life to be able to look back on those times of turmoil with a bit more of a clear head.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAVY THE HEART")
COMBS: (Singing) A wink in the eye, and I know...
You know, I have a lot of people who come up to me at the end of the show and say, hey, are you OK?
SIMON: (Laughter).
COMBS: And I am. I am OK. I'm definitely in the happiest place in my life. I just feel like I have a better grasp on when I was younger, and, for lack of better words, I was just a dumb 20-something-year-old.
SIMON: What are some of the things you've done that have nothing to do with music to become a working musician?
COMBS: Well, I still have a part-time job 'cause this industry is hard.
SIMON: What's that part-time job?
COMBS: I work in a warehouse for a clothing company in Nashville, and they take good care of us songwriters. You know, everyone in Nashville is a songwriter or a musician, so it's a rotating cast of characters who are in and out of tours and sessions.
SIMON: So it sounds fascinating. I'm trying to imagine all these songwriters, like, you know, trying out lyrics on each other between...
COMBS: (Laughter).
SIMON: ...Stacking stuff.
COMBS: Well, it's not that romantic.
SIMON: It will be in the musical, but go ahead. Yeah.
COMBS: (Laughter) Yeah. It's a job, but it's nice.
SIMON: I gather you worked in what we'll call the restaurant-hospitality industry in a few different jobs.
COMBS: Yeah, I've worked in bakeries. I've worked in front-of-house, back-of-house restaurants. I did it from 15 to 25, and then I swore I'd never do it again. But those were good life lessons, I think. You learn about other people who come from other walks of life. In particular, in Texas, it was predominantly Hispanic people who worked in the kitchen and - you know, learned their customs, learned their food, learned the way they interacted and what they loved. And I always found that exciting, being around new people that were different from me.
SIMON: You got a song on this album that I gather comes from some of those experiences.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TABLE FOR BLUE")
COMBS: (Singing) She sits at the table, but she hardly eats. Sad eyes, expensive wine.
SIMON: It's a beautiful song. Something you saw?
COMBS: It's not, like, a distinct memory I have. It's a longing song. And I've seen plenty of lonely people at restaurants and been lonely at a restaurant myself.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TABLE FOR BLUE")
COMBS: (Singing) Dirty dishes in my hand.
SIMON: Are you working towards a day where you're going to be doing just music and not music and warehousing?
COMBS: I would love that, of course. But I would love it to be on my own terms and be there for my children. So we'll see. And I don't mind it either way, so I'm happy where I am.
SIMON: Andrew Combs - his new album, "Dream Pictures," speaking with us from Kilkenny, Ireland. Thank you so much for being with us.
COMBS: Been an honor. Thank you, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TABLE FOR BLUE")
COMBS: (Singing) Only a few still linger. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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