Q: Hey, for those who aren’t familiar with your music, could you tell us a little about yourself?
A: Sure, hello, I’m Evan Charles, I’m a 15-year veteran of the Austin, Texas music scene. I’ve had a lot of bands over the years, both as the primary creative and as a sideman for others; my current projects are my band of 7 years Altamesa, and this new solo project under my own name.
Q: You recently released your new single, can you tell us what the song is about?
A: “Remember When” is the first single and the opening track from my debut LP Between Two Worlds, which will come out later in 2023; it’s sort of about the back-and-forth, on-again-off-again relationship cycle that can sometimes occur despite what might be a genuine desire to make a clean break and move forward in life. In the song, this cycle has been going on and is brought to a definitive and abrupt halt, and it sets the narrator on a departure course that plays out over the course of the rest of the record. It is the end of that particular situation and the beginning of a journey into the unknown, which plays out over the course of the rest of the record.
Q: What inspirations do you take when writing your music?
A: Oh gosh…I mean I just try and follow the song wherever it wants to go, as best as my own limitations allow me to. Musically…I don’t know, I don’t like to think about things in terms of genre and from where specifically my stuff is derived. I will say, it all starts either on acoustic guitar or piano. There is a puzzle to be solved; it can be accomplished a few different ways normally, so I’ll try a variety of ideas and then usually strip back. Lyrically, really I just keep trying and throwing out lines until I’ve sufficiently surprised myself with something I didn’t feel I consciously knew before, which has ended up being a fairly trustworthy bar for creating lasting lines that will remain interesting and pliable to changing circumstances and interpretations.
Q: Who are your current favorite new artists?
A: A couple of them played on this record! John Calvin Abney played piano on the record and just put out a new record called Tourist, and Jesse Ebaugh, who played bass and pedal steel on the album, has a band called The Tender Things and just put out a new record called That Texas Touch. Beyond that, I have been loving the new Caroline Rose album for the brief time it’s been out. My friend William Harries Graham just released a new record called there are only endings that is spare and haunting and meditative.
Q: Who would your dream collaboration be with, and why?
A: After listening to the most recent Wilco album I might have to go with Jeff Tweedy, just because that album emanates this sort of zen acceptance and genuine openness to a flow of ideas and energy. There are people who are greater heroes of mine, but in a collaboration, I look for easy-going, low-stress, low-ego situations so that there can be a natural and unhurried approach until the more or less complete iteration of the thought. That might be way too much extrapolation, but Cruel Country had that kind of energy for me.
Q: What does the rest of the year have in store for you?
A: I’ll keep on releasing singles throughout the summer, playing in Austin, and probably put the record out toward the end of the summer. I’ll be traveling to New York City on July 7th to open my friend Yella Belly’s album release show, and am planning a short run there in Philadelphia as well. Shows will be posted on my website and my Instagram, so as things come together those will be the best places to find out where to find me, and of course, a Spotify follows will get you alerted to the new songs as they trickle out over the upcoming months.
