Cowboys in the Campfire is the latest project from revered musician Tommy Stinson and his friend and collaborator, Philadelphia guitarist Chip Roberts. Wronger, the album from Cowboys in the Campfire, is set to release on June 2, 2023.

Back in April, while in town for a show at the Turf Club in St. Paul, Stinson visited The Current to play acoustic versions of a couple of songs from Wronger, and to chat with host Mac Wilson.

Watch video of the performances above. You can also listen to the full session, including the interview, using the audio player. Read a transcript of the interview below.

Interview Transcript

Edited for time and clarity.

Mac Wilson: I am Mac Wilson, and I have a very special guest in The Current studio today: Mr. Tommy Stinson. Hello, Tommy.

Tommy Stinson: Howdy.

Mac Wilson: So the songs that you're playing in The Current studio today, so Cowboys in the Campfire is the name of the new project. The new album is on the way in June. 

Tommy Stinson: Correct.

Mac Wilson: And you've been working on it for several years, now. Can you give us a rough timeline for how long you've been, because the band has been up and active one way or the other for many years now, and the record in the making as well. Walk us through the the timeline for this.

Tommy Stinson: Yes. So, I met Chip Roberts 15 years ago, and we became fast friends. And we just, you know, he's a guitar player, kind of a guitar slinger from Philadelphia, and I moved to Philadelphia for a little bit. And we became fast friends and started writing songs together. And so I did a solo record called One Man Mutiny that has a couple things on it that we did together. And then the Bash & Pop record, the second one anyway, that I came up with in 2017. He and I started writing stuff that ended up on that record. And throughout all this, we've been kind of playing together and doing shows, and just whenever we kind of started doing it, it's like, "What are you doing this summer? You got any things going on?" I was like, yeah, I was in between things; like I was in between either Guns N' Roses tours or whatever, or the Replacements, we did our reunion thing. And so in between stuff, when we had nothing to do, we'd just go out and play some shows, because we like playing together, and having a hoot. So cut to: Well, we started writing some songs, and you know, one thing led to another, and ended up making a record, end up with 10 songs, and that's coming out June 2.

Mac Wilson: So if somebody is going out to see your shows recently, are we going to anticipate mostly the new, the Cowboys in the Campfire material? Or do you truly go all through your catalogue lately? Or is it just a night-by-night decision?

Tommy Stinson: I go through all of it. I mean, whatever I can remember. I don't really go by a list anymore. I just kind of, you know, play what I remember and what I feel like doing from the solo records and the Bash & Pop stuff. And once in a while I'll throw a funny cover in there. But yeah, I just kind of wing it.

Mac Wilson: As we're here in the year 2023, we're, admittedly, we're a little bit past the stage of "Oh, so how are you writing out the pandemic?" We're kind of putting that in the rearview mirror a bit. But I'm curious now, I'm asking musicians, if there's any particular hobbies or interests that you picked up that we wouldn't necessarily expect during the the worst of the pandemic years.

Tommy Stinson: I was aiming to get better at my underwater basket weaving but it didn't quite come to fruition, if you know what I mean. But for me, I lived, you know, at that time I lived down the street from what is my studio space, and on a good day, I'd go walk to the studio and just kill the day monkeying around with, you know, whatever instruments I felt like monkeying around on, and would have Chip join me over there from time to time. And that was really all I had. I mean, I didn't really write a whole lot during that time, because it was sort of depressing. And there wasn't any one thing that grabbed me; I didn't, like, find a new hobby or anything like that. I just kind of rode it out. I had my kiddo at home who was you know, she was... had to do the online schooling and stuff like that. So yeah, I mean, it was just kind of like that kind of thing.

Mac Wilson: Yeah, you sort of become a second teacher, like doing the the online schooling. But my wife is a teacher, and I've got three kids in school. So we know that feeling well.

Tommy Stinson: Yeah, I mean, the first, there was the really troubling part was the first day I set it up. And the first day, she had to go online, I actually was sitting in the living room watching her. I set up a desk in the like, front room for her, and I really just, I kind of broke down and started crying because I was like, "This really sucks for them. This is really terrible." And I couldn't really deal with it; I had to leave the room. And then I had to kind of group myself and come back and kind of push her along so she would, you know, get into the mood of it. And, you know, do what she was, you know, needed to do to get whatever education she was going to get out of that year. But it was, that was, I can imagine most parents probably having that same feeling, like, "Holy crap. Look at what this is, what we got to do here." And, you know, just really troubling.

Mac Wilson: Yeah, the kids are pretty resilient with it, all things considered, but very early on, I remember getting the holler from upstairs like "Dad, I'm at 3% battery, bring me the charger, otherwise, Zoom is going to run out." So scrambling up there and then the battery dies and they're kicked out of their classrooms. So yeah, I relate to a lot of that, Tommy.

Tommy Stinson: Yeah, I mean, there was there was that and just socially what it did for a lot of kids. I mean, we're still, in the school district that she goes to, they're still suffering from that. Some of the kids in the middle school now are really having tough times mentally, just kind of regrouping. I mean, that was a long stretch of time and a really important time of your youth to have such a major catastrophe happen, you know?

Mac Wilson: A major catastrophe, in addition to just the turmoil of being in middle school and high school. That's a lot.

Tommy Stinson: That's a ton. But yeah, the middle school kids are really suffering right now. But, you know, lucky, I got very lucky; my kiddo came out of it good. And her grades are good, and so — not that we're here to talk about my kid's grades! But yeah, that's happening.

Mac Wilson: I mean, it's all good. I'm not going to sit here and go, "So Tommy Stinson, tell me how you got started in music."

Tommy Stinson: Thank you.

Mac Wilson: I feel a little bit embarrassed as a host; like, there's people with so much esteem for you over the years, like Mary Lucia, whom you've known for many, many decades, and then I step in here I'm like, "Oh my God. I'm talking to Tommy Stinson." So it's, it's great to talk about just life; this is really exciting. And it's great to have you in.

Tommy Stinson: It's, you know, that's what we all live. We don't all live this, you know, this image that people might have! Unfortunately, it's untenable to try and live that image that people have of you.

Mac Wilson: So you have an exciting opener at your Turf Club show. Your daughter!

Tommy Stinson: Yeah! Speaking of kiddos, yeah! Ruby's opening up.

Mac Wilson: Ruby is doing the opening set. So, I guess, what's the the communication dynamic as musicians? Is she... I mean, she uses the Stinson name, so it's not like she's trying to distance from you altogether, but like, how much communication do you have about her own music career vis-à-vis you?

Tommy Stinson: Quite a bit, actually. We're always talking about different things and about where she wants to go with it, what she wants to do, and how she wants to get there. And all I can really do is sit back and be encouraging; I can't really direct her to, you know, to know what to do, how to do it, because quite frankly, I don't even know what that is anymore. But, you know, you get out and play shows, you get out and play shows, get in front of people. You just do your thing. And with little luck, people will like it. You know, then you move on, you just kind of just do your thing. The only thing I really impart on her is, enjoy it; like, go out and have fun with it. Don't go out there trying to think that your goal is to become a pop star or to become this or that or the other thing; the only thing you have is the creative process and the, you know, enjoying the process of playing in front of people and entertaining and writing music. I mean, that's really, that's all of it in a nutshell. If I didn't like that, I wouldn't be doing it today.

Mac Wilson: It's one of those instances where, you know, play every show and enjoy it in its own right, and there's also the chance that, you know, 40 years down the line somebody will be saying, "It's an honor to to be meeting you at this point." Just like it's an honor for me to meet you, right now, Tommy Stinson. Thank you for stopping by The Current studio today.

Tommy Stinson: Thanks for having me. You guys have a great day out there.

Gallery: Tommy Stinson in studio

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Video Segments

00:00:00 Karma’s Bitch
00:03:27 Fall Apart Together

Both songs from Cowboys in the Campfire’s album, Wronger, out June 2, 2023, on Cobraside Records.

Credits

Guest – Tommy Stinson
Host – Mac Wilson
Producer – Rachel Frances
Video Director – Eric Xu Romani
Camera Operator – Guillermo Bonilla
Audio – Derek Ramirez
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor

External Link

Tommy Stinson - official site