Alan Sparhawk has joined forces with fellow Duluth band Trampled by Turtles on a new album, out May 30, called Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles. Jill Riley of The Current’s Morning Show spoke to Alan Sparhawk about the process of creating the music, friendship, and supporting loved ones while they navigate grief.

Use the audio player above to listen to the interview, and find a full transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: You're listening to The Current and our guest this morning on The Current's Morning Show is Alan Sparhawk. Low, Retribution Gospel Choir, Black Eyed Snakes, Derecho Rhythm Section. The common denominator here is Minnesota's own Alan Sparhawk, who in 2024 released the critically praised solo album, White Roses, My God. This year, Alan has been touring that project with more dates to come in Europe and the U.K. But that's not all. He's got a new album with Minnesota's own Trampled by Turtles, and that's what we're going to be talking about this morning. Alan Sparhawk on The Current's Morning Show. Alan, how are you?

Alan Sparhawk: I'm doing great. It's a bright morning in Duluth.

Jill Riley: This time of year, it's just so hopeful and optimistic, and we just take these days as we can get them. Alan, I was thinking about a show I saw at Bayfront Festival Park two summers ago. You were onstage with Trampled by Turtles, which was nothing really new for you, but it was such a special performance, and just watching that show in the audience, I was like, “Wow, wouldn't it be great if they did some more music together?” And clearly those conversations were happening. So Alan, I wonder if you could talk about your history with Trampled by Turtles and how the idea came up to really lock in a day to do something together.

Alan Sparhawk: Trampled by Turtles formed in Duluth back when we were all quite a bit younger. And it's a small enough scene that you kind of end up getting to know each other, all the different bands here. They were just quick friends early on, even though they were kind of coming from a different scene than maybe where Low was, and we took them on tour with us. The first time they went to the West Coast was coming out and opening for us for some shows. That was really fun. And then, yeah, like you said over the years, we would run into them from time to time. They'd have us come up sing and songs with them. I think they would cover — there's a couple, one or two, Low songs that they would cover live. And [they’ve] just always been good friends. You know, I hang out with with them from time to time. And a couple summers ago, they had me get up to play some shows. And they also invited me along to ride on the bus for some shows they were doing out west. It's mostly just being friendly, reaching out. I was obviously still reeling and recovering from loss.

I think over time, and I'm sort of just realizing, it was just the other day I was talking to someone, and I realized that just inviting the person to come be with you and hang out and do stuff that you used to do before is probably the most powerful thing you could do for someone who's going through something, whether it's loss or grief or depression about different things. I don't know, invite them out. You don't have to come up with the answers. You don't have to have the right book to pass on, and you don't have to solve anything, and you're not going to come up with anything to say to them that's going to change anything. So just spend the time. And that's what those guys did. And somewhere in there, vague plans became a little more solid, and we basically just decided to keep our eye out for an opportunity to be together in the studio at some point and give it a shot. They were doing some recording anyway, and they were gracious enough to spend another afternoon, and I went down and we blew through a bunch of songs. It's fun.

Jill Riley: Yeah, great. Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles is coming out on May 30. It sounds like things really kind of came together pretty quickly once you were in the studio. Now, I understand that you were at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls. Can you talk about that day of recording?

Alan Sparhawk: Well, they were there anyway, working on some recordings of their own. And it just turned out that I could squeeze an extra day out of them. Pachyderm is really pretty great. It's in the woods. It's comfortable. Those guys have recorded there before. A lot of different people from Minnesota recorded there. It's pretty idyllic and legendary and, there's a big room that's just very comfortable. The sun's streaming into the big windows and it's just a very comfortable place to stand around in a circle and work out a song and record. Those guys are used to working that way, you know? They just kind of go in and kind of establish a structure, and get a couple ideas together and then track it. It goes pretty quick.

Jill Riley: I'm talking with Alan Sparhawk on The Current. We're talking about the making of the new Alan Sparhawk record with Trampled by Turtles, due out May 30. Just talking about the material that got brought into Pachyderm. What was the writing process like?

Alan Sparhawk: It's a mix of songs. There's definitely a couple songs that I've had for a few years that I just couldn't find the right place for, or they just kind of didn't make sense until now. There's definitely a few songs that were written around that time, I would say, definitely, in the wake of grief, illustrating some of the things about that. And that was a surprise. I really didn't sit down and say, “OK, I should write about this thing that I'm going through.” In some ways, that seems insulting, actually. The idea of sitting down, or at least for me, the idea of sitting down going, “OK, I'm gonna write about this loss or grief…” I don't know if that makes sense, but it seemed insulting. At first, it was hard to write at all and sort of be conscious, like, what am I writing and what do I have? But a couple songs kind of fell out despite that, and it was nice to be able to honor that. It was nice to be able to play, and bring those songs to those guys who were also close with Mim [Mimi Parker] and could resonate with where I was coming from with those songs. So, there's not a lot of explaining or planning, or talking about it or adjusting. I think we all were on the same page, and it felt very natural. And I really was pretty amazed at what each of them brought to the session.

Jill Riley: I'm talking with Alan Sparhawk about the new album With Trampled by Turtles, due out May 30. You know, you talk about writing music or not intending for something to come out, but then it does, and it really sounds like in the studio that there were some moments where things just fell into place, maybe in some expected ways, but unexpected ways. Did you find that that was happening, that things were just kind of flowing in a great direction?

Alan Sparhawk: Oh, absolutely, yeah. There were countless moments where I would have something and we're working with it, and someone, right at the moment where I was thinking OK, what else does this need? Or do we need to put something in this little section here? Someone would magically come forward with something. I remember specifically tracking “Screaming Song,” which is a fairly emotional, kind of minimalist, but emotional song. And we were literally playing the first take of it, first time of everybody playing it together and before we started, I turned to Ryan [Young] and I said, "Why don't you go ahead and see what you can do after I get done with this one line. We'll have a little instrumental section here. And see where this takes you." And he nodded, and we went into it. And of course, Ryan started playing. And he's a very, very, very beautiful and expressive and talented musician. He started playing, and you could tell he was onto something, and you could see him building, and you could see the logic and the emotion building, and it just kept going and getting bigger and bigger.

Again, it was not planned. We didn't know how long we're gonna go there. And I just remember feeling the music and what he was doing. Just taking the song into the ether. You find the right moment and come back in and close the tune. And I don't know, all you can do is just sit back and just shake your head like, what? What just happened? You know? And when you leave things open like that, and you're spontaneous, and you work with people who are used to coming to the song and really being selfless with the music that you're working on together. That's when those kinds of moments happen. You can't plan them and generally, when you go back to try to redo them, it's not the same. So it was really beautiful to be able to capture that moment as it was literally coming out of Ryan. It's talent and love.

Jill Riley: You know, Alan, as you're talking about these moments, and just the way that I can hear that you are still in talking about it, just so moved by what you guys were able to create together. Even, I was reading something that Dave Simonett was talking about, that song in particular, and he was really having that same [reaction], just still so moved by the music that you were making together. I think the magic and just the fact that this record is called Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles, this just seems like the support and friendship is what really led to the end result. I really think it's a beautiful thing.

Alan Sparhawk: Thank you. Yeah, that's absolutely what it was. It was kindness and friendship, and a lifetime of being lucky to be engaged with music and taking what we've been given and trying to bring some light and hope, and semblance of some order to the universe, you know?

Jill Riley: Yeah, exactly. And for anybody listening right now, I think you had such a great thing to say about if you have a friend or you know somebody who is having a hard time, just to sit and be in a space with someone, just how, I think it sounds like, how that helped you so much to just be able to get on the bus and just feel so-called “normal” for a while, just with people that love you. And look where that led, too, just going down the road a couple years, to be able to come back together and be creative.

Alan Sparhawk: Oh yeah. I think friendship and time spent with each other, even in silence, is pretty powerful. And I hope everybody can have more moments like that.

Jill Riley: Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles. It is due out May 30. Alan, it's so good to talk to you. I'm so glad we were able to check in. You know, sending our love from The Current, and we look forward to seeing you down the road.

Alan Sparhawk: Thank you so much. Bless you, and best to everybody there. Thank you so much. Let's have a great summer.

Jill Riley: Alan Sparhawk, on The Current.

Credits

Guest – Alan Sparhawk
Host – Jill Riley
Producers – Nilufer Arsala
Digital Producer – Natalia Toledo

External Links

Alan Sparkhawk Official Site - https://www.alansparhawk.com/
Trampled by Turtles Official Site - https://trampledbyturtles.com/