J. Roddy Walston likes being in a rock ’n’ roll band.
The Richmond, Virginia-based musician, reared on a healthy dose of pop radio and indie rock, while also being inspired by a honky-tonk- and gospel-loving grandmother who set him on his musical course (giving him his first guitar, which he still has), has for the past few decades banged out boogie rock with gospel and roots leanings, either in his band Palm Palm or under his own name, first leading “The Business” and now “The Automatic Band.”
J. Roddy Walston and The Automatic Band will make their Durango debut on Friday with a show at Animas City Theatre.
The Automatic Band is a loose collection of musicians put together via Walston’s recording space.
“I have a studio called Automatic Dice. And I have a bunch of rad players and friends that are in and out of here that help me make music or we record their music,” he said. “The whole idea right now is I’m basically just doing whatever I want. So that’s like solo or not or, you know, changing arrangements or whatever. And so I’ll just book a tour and then I figure out who the band is. And so one of those times we kind of jokingly were like, oh, it’s the Automatic Band. It just kind of comes together, and it’s the guys who were hanging out at Automatic Dice.”
That collection of musicians serve as the vehicle for Walston’s songs, as his “rad players and friends” are a stacked bunch of musicians. File it all under rock ’n’ roll, it’s a sound that has garage and punk rock leanings, a sweaty and loud, roaring dose of wild, anthemic fist-pumping music. It’s rock ’n’ roll with honky-tonk leanings, a sound created via a life of honky-tonk, rock ’n’ roll listening.
“All the old, J. Roddy Walston and the Business stuff is on the menu and then new stuff that I’ve been working on and will be coming out soon,” he said. “So, it’s not some of the members of the Business necessarily, but it’s a really loud, really rip and really rocking show. It’s no slowing down as far as that goes.”
Any musician who has been on the road for decades like Walston will tell you that touring is at times a grind, as some may liken their job to that as a truck driver who just gets to play music at the end of the day.
Walston has made a fun game out of touring; the drive, the musical surprises, the perks of being on the road and in a different town from night to night are all just part of the job. He’s playing music for a living, and all of the curveballs of being on the road are all part of the show. It’s grounded him, and perhaps even taken the “work” out of his job.
“I had this solo run where my head space about touring really shifted where basically I just said, anything I think of, I got to do it. If during sound check, I kind of as a joke played a song and a funky, you know, whatever way. I’m like, well, now I’ve got to do that at the show,” he said. “It really shifted it from a tour being like an eight-hour commute to like a one-hour workday or something, to me being on vacation. I’m traveling and exploring and then at the end of the day, I get to play music. So, it’s awesome. I’m having a blast. I feel like the audience is having a blast. Like, it’s way more connected. I’m way more connected than I feel like I’ve ever been.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at [email protected].
