Q&A with Russell Moore, lead vocalist of IIIrd Tyme Out

Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Russell Moore, the lead vocalist of the bluegrass group IIIrd Tyme Out, about the key to the group’s longevity as they enter their 20th year together, the vocalists who inspire him and how he avoids waking up with ulcers.

Casey Phillips: 2011 marks IIIrd Tyme Out's 20th anniversary as a band. How does it feel, looking back on your career?

Russell Moore: Well, actually, it's pretty awesome. Whenever you go into a new venture and start a new business or band, you never know what the outcome will be, how long it will last or how well you'll be received. I honestly couldn't have asked for anything more. It has exceeded all expectations that we ever had when we started out back in 1991.

We've had very few turnovers in the group, which is a blessing in itself, as far as band members. We have one guy who started his 18th year last July - Steve Dilling, our banjo player. We have a couple others who have been here 15 or 16 years. We've been together a long time, and it's been a great ride.

CP: What is the key to the longevity and solidity of the lineup?

RM: Not any one thing, but I think the chemistry between all of us, the ones who have been here so long, helps to draw us together. As far as music tastes, they're sort of the same. We think along the same lines.

The fact that we're able to do the songs that we enjoy performing instead of trying to play to a particular market allows us to be ourselves. That's worked well for us. The audience digs what we do. It's varied. Our music is everything from traditional bluegrass to a little bit of Texas swing or gospel and some good instrumentals and traditional country and even the more progressive elements of acoustic music. We love it all, so we throw it all in the pot. (Laughs.) That keeps us interested, as a group and as musicians. Because it's been accepted as well as it has, that keeps us together as a band.

CP: Does anything other than the fact that you're still together surprise you about where the band is now?

RM: Yes and no. Most groups, after they've been in the business 20 years or more, have made it to a point where they've peaked out and maybe come down a little bit and leveled off. That's where they spend the rest of their careers.

About three years ago, we had some personnel change, and for whatever reason, it was the chemistry of the five of us on stage right now that sparked a new chemistry with our fans and sparked interest with new audiences because of going with a different record label and getting some backing from them that we didn't have a few years prior to that.

It's always a great thing. It's almost like a second chance, a rebirth. We're riding a second wave, I guess you'd say. Most groups don't get a chance to do that. That's kind of surprising, in that sense. The loyalty that our fans, or even bluegrass fans in general, give to artists who have proved themselves and have stayed there for years and aren't going anywhere, that hasn't changed, and that doesn't surprise me, either.

CP: Looking ahead to 2011, what are your expectations? I know you're working on a new album at the moment.

RM: Yeah, we've got another recording we'll put out this year. It will be our No. 16 or No. 17 for the group, (and) we're going to be touring extensively.

We've got a two-week run in Canada, actually, that we'll be performing for either 12 or 13 nights up through Ontario, Canada. That's in April. We haven't done a Canadian tour like that in several years, so we're looking forward to that.

We'll be going back out to maybe the west coast this fall for a mini tour out that way. We play every weekend, just about, and judging by interest and phone calls from promoters and the like, it looks like this will be another stellar year for the band as far as tour dates. Basically, we're going to try and spread our music as far as we can and try to hit some new venues along the way.

CP: Tell me more about this next album. What have you put down so far?

RM: We've got about 12 tracks that we've got down on the recording - the music part of it. We do ours in sections. We'll put the music down and go back to sing to the music we've recorded and put the vocals down. We do it that way, and then comes the mixing and mastering and all that.

We've only got the music tracks down at this point. Hopefully we'll be going back in the studio next week to do some vocal dubs and get a lot of that knocked out. I'm looking for a spring or late spring release on this.

As far as the material, it's going to be a really bluegrassy CD, with a few older songs that we've done covers on as well as a lot of new stuff also that has never been recorded before by some of our favorite writers. Maybe we'll have an instrumental or two.

I don't have a gospel song picked out for it yet, but possibly we'll get something figured out before we get out of the studio to put down and have maybe a quartet or something on it.

It's in IIIrd Tyme Out style; it really is. To me, whenever I hear one of our songs come on the radio, I know exactly who it is, just like I can tell Blue Highway or Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver or all these other great groups in this business. They have signature sounds, and I think we're the same way. This CD is going to have a lot of identity for IIIrd Tyme Out.

CP: One thing you and IIIrd Tyme Out are so well-known for is your multi-part vocal harmonies. On the rare occasion like three years ago when you have personnel changes, does that make you even more nervous than if you were simply losing an instrumentalist? How particular are you in making sure that whoever you bring in maintains or even improves those harmonies?

RM: It's always something you have to be concerned about, but you have to try and balance out the person. It's so important to be able to get along with each other, since we spend so much time together traveling up and down the road together.

They could be the best bass singer in the world, but if you can't get along with them, it doesn't matter how good they are. They could be the best fiddle player in the word, but if you can't get along with them, it's never going to work. You have to look at it and try to balance it out. Being able to get along is just as important as their abilities, musically and vocally.

Having said that, of course, you have to hit a certain level with a replacement. They have to be able to at least do some of the things that the ones in front of them were able to contribute to the sound. So we do look at that. It is important, but it's more of well-rounded, overall thing.

Any time you have a band member change, you're not going to sound exactly the same; you have to evolve with the personnel who are in the group at the time. You have to play on the strengths that everyone brings in and try to stay away from areas you might fall behind a little bit.

For me, it's a little bit of a nervous feeling when anybody wants to leave and go do something else, go follow their own path. We've been really fortunate to have a good network, so we know where the people are who can do the job. If need be, we'll call upon them and see if they're interested.

CP: Where did YOU learn to sing?

RM: (Laughs.) You know, I've been singing as long as I can remember, honestly. I've never had any vocal training or lessons, other than listening to the advice of people I've worked with in the past or listening to people who move me with their music and trying to take mental notes from what they're doing. As far as any formal training, I've never had anything like that.

I've always said that my gift, vocally, is exactly that. It's divine, I've had it ever since I can remember and I thank the man upstairs every day and night for his gift of music in my life.

CP: Who are some of the people whose work moved you?

RM: Gosh, so many. And not just one genre, either. In country music, of course, Merle Haggard and George Jones and Ronnie Milsap, who is an absolute powerhouse. My favorite vocalist in rock'n'roll is Steve Perry from the group Journey.

In bluegrass music, my all-time biggest hero, vocally, is Bobby Osborne. In fact, it was the Osborne Brothers who made me think that maybe I'd like to try playing bluegrass music for a living. Their music and song selection and arrangements and Bobby's powerhouse voice were the things that got me into this music.

CP: Since you're the lead vocalist and the group has such a history of winning awards as Vocal Group of the Year from the International Bluegrass Music Association and the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America, does that make you feel even more pressure to excel?

RM: You know, it can, if you let it. (Laughs.) The older I get, the less I worry about things like that. You have to be content, to a certain point, to keep from waking up with ulcers.

The beauty of what we're doing is that we're getting recognized for it and even getting getting some accolades and rewards for what we're doing, but we wouldn't be doing anything different if we weren't winning awards for what we do. This is what we love to do, and that's what's kept us together as long as we have. It keeps us fresh because we get to do exactly what we want to do, and the people respond that they like it. We've got the best of all worlds here.

I can honestly say that I don't worry about trying to pursue winning another award, per se. We, individually and as a group, try to make it the best that we can possibly make it, in whatever we do. That's not going to change, whether we win awards or not.

I guess the answer is, “No.” (Laughs.) I went around my elbow there to tell you that, but I feel like I had to explain it. (Laughs.) That's kind of the way I feel about it.

I also want to say that it's a wonderful, humbling honor to take home awards and be awarded and rewarded for your work and the time and effort you put in what you're doing. We feel honored and blessed because of it, but we wouldn't change what we were doing if we were not winning awards.

CP: On that note, congratulations for taking home the Male Vocalist of the Year award from the IBMA last year.

RM: Thank you. I was just tickled to death. I guess I've been nominated as much as or more than anybody in that category since we put this group together in 1991, and this is the third time I've won the award. But wow, it was amazing because it was just as exciting last year at the IBMA Award Show to hear my name called as it was in 1994 for the first year. It was just as exciting this past year. I'm just honored and will do my best to wear the hat proudly and serve it honorably and hopefully make everyone proud of naming me the Male Vocalist of the Year.