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Thomas Dollbaum, it might sound, is the beneficiary of excellent timing. His wonderful new album, Birds Of Paradise (out Friday), consists of countryish rock songs set within the seedier corners of his native Florida. Dollbaum, 32 and at the moment residing in New Orleans, has an MFA in poetry and sings in a conversational drawl that conveys southernness regardless of his lack of a pronounced accent. (He sounds a bit like Bobby Charles, an iconic scion of his adopted hometown who has an analogous \u201cman you may meet on the dive bar\u201d high quality.) Most notably \u2014 from a industrial perspective \u2014 the brand new file was made with MJ Lenderman, the present main practitioner of this sort of music in indie rock. You may hear Lenderman\u2019s voice singing backup on the one \u201cCoyote\u201d (one in every of 2026\u2019s finest songs), the place it performs the Adam Duritz position to Dollbaum\u2019s brawny lead vox. <\/p>\n
However Dollbaum has really been sitting on Birds Of Paradise for years now. Three years, in actual fact. Not lengthy after the discharge of his promising 2022 debut Wellswood \u2014 and across the time he recorded the acclaimed 2025 EP Drive All Night time \u2014 Dollbaum gathered some mates and fellow vacationers at a studio in Water Valley, Mississippi in 2023. Amongst them was Lenderman, nonetheless a yr away from placing out his breakthrough Manning Fireworks, who was recruited to play drums. (He later added guitar to 1 tune, the standout \u201cDozen Roses,\u201d in addition to harmonies on a handful of tracks.) Dollbaum taught the ad-hoc band his songs, after which recorded them, in simply 4 days. <\/p>\n
After which \u2026 he waited. A falling out together with his previous label over the dreaded \u201cartistic variations\u201d put the brakes on Birds Of Paradise. Lastly, the rising indie Pricey Life Data \u2014 house to foundational 2020s alt-country acts Fust and Florry, in addition to Lenderman\u2019s Boat Songs \u2013 agreed to place it out, although additionally they needed to wait some time earlier than their slate was open. <\/p>\n
Once I requested Dollbaum \u2014 who seems ruggedly good-looking together with his stable jaw and beach-blonde hair over Zoom \u2014 about this seemingly interminable lag between creation and launch, he’s surprisingly laid again in regards to the inconvenience. \u201cI imply, there was some time I felt slightly within the wilderness. Nobody actually was taking a look at it that a lot. Then Pricey Life had reached out, however they had been simply busy. They solely do a specific amount of information a yr,\u201d he shrugged. \u201cI feel they deliberate on placing it out a yr and a half in the past. I used to be like, \u2018Effectively, I\u2019ve already waited virtually half a yr, a yr, so why not simply wait and put it out with some individuals I like?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dollbaum is equally noncommittal after I suggest that the delay may be a superb factor, since there\u2019s an actual viewers for his sort of music now. \u201cI don\u2019t assume it hurts, in any respect,\u201d he replied. \u201cI feel it additionally obtained the period of time it wanted to be digested, even by me. Took some time to get all the things so as. It\u2019s in a superb place, prefer it\u2019s the very best model of itself it may be. It\u2019s humorous, even with Jake, once we recorded it, Manning Fireworks hadn\u2019t even come out but. It\u2019s humorous to see the place he\u2019s at now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of his informal demeanor, Dollbaum seems to me like a possible star, at the very least within the more and more crowded scene he populates. On songs like \u201cFlorida\u201d and \u201cWhippits\/Trailer Lights,\u201d he reveals a pure storytelling means imbued with the regional specificity that\u2019s set Lenderman and Karly Hartzman aside in that world. His work is populated by down-and-out losers and drifters searching for a break or perhaps only a heat mattress for the evening. This immersive high quality carries over to new tracks like \u201cLarge Boi,\u201d primarily based on a real story about two drug addicts Dollbaum inadvertently wound up taxiing round one morning on the best way to an area \u201ctablet mill.\u201d <\/p>\n
Comparisons to Lenderman \u2014 in addition to older indie troubadours like Damien Jurado, an acknowledged affect \u2014 are apparent. However Dollbaum\u2019s music has an additional layer of sturdy, heartland rock muscle that additionally places him within the Jason Isbell zone. Like Isbell, Dollbaum is an acolyte of John Prine, and that Americana pressure must make Birds Of Paradise an object of obsession for that viewers as soon as they get round to listening to it. <\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nWe\u2019re on this second the place any indie-rock man who performs guitar in a country-rock vein will inevitably be likened to MJ Lenderman. Is that ever a burden or annoying for you?<\/p>\n
Not notably. I imply, I feel the rationale we most likely turned mates is due to comparable style and what we like writing. I don\u2019t assume actually it\u2019s that a lot of a coincidence. All of the people who find themselves doing this fashion of music know one another. Colin Miller is an efficient buddy of mine. I met him by means of Jake. Friendship I knew by means of Jake. It\u2019s like, after you\u2019ve been touring, you sort of discover the individuals that you just\u2019re like, \u201cOh, I like their music.\u201d And then you definitely wish to do stuff with them. I simply did a run with Fust and Merce Lemon and I really like their music.<\/p>\n
How have you learnt Jake?<\/p>\n
I met him earlier than in Asheville, proper earlier than Boat Songs was popping out. I used to be taking part in a present, and he got here out as a result of my buddy Ashleigh Bryant Phillips is aware of him and she or he invited him out. Then we simply talked and frolicked after the present and have become fairly fast mates. We had been speaking about doing reveals and he needed to see if I needed to play the Boat Songs launch. So, I got here up and did the discharge present. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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His backing vocals are actually distinctive on the file. The best way you guys harmonize is one in every of my favourite components of \u201cCoyote.\u201d<\/p>\n
We recorded the entire session after which he was like, \u201cOh, I may do harmonies on \u2018Coyote\u2019 in order for you.\u201d After which he did that, and I used to be like, \u201cIt is best to do a pair extra. I feel it sounds good,\u201d and he got here up with the \u201cPulverize\u201d and the \u201cWaterbird\u201d backing vocals.<\/p>\n
You reside in New Orleans now however you\u2019re initially from Florida. It looks like Florida looms giant in your songs. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve by no means actually been ready to consider New Orleans as a setting, as a result of I\u2019m not from right here and it\u2019s a spot I really feel like you need to be from when you\u2019re going to jot down about it. Probably sooner or later I\u2019d write about New Orleans, however I don\u2019t actually know what I’d do about it. There\u2019s so many Louisiana songs, it\u2019s insane.<\/p>\n
Is there one thing about Florida that appeals to you as a topic past simply being from there?<\/p>\n
I assume it at all times appears like the house mentally for me, the place issues exist.<\/p>\n
You appear notably drawn to the seedy aspect of Florida.<\/p>\n
I imply, Florida\u2019s simply actually a transient place. So, rising up there, it was at all times felt that far more than\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t even say that I grew up in it, however it simply at all times appeared round. It\u2019s only a very transient place to me. And sort of misunderstood in quite a lot of methods.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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As an outsider, that a part of Florida looks like its personal taste of southernness. Just like the South on steroids. It looks like a bastion of grifters and serial killers and outsiders making their final stand. <\/p>\n
I don\u2019t actually consider it because the South. It\u2019s sort of its personal factor. However it does positively have quite a lot of elements of the South. Like, previous Florida persons are about as Southern as you will get.<\/p>\n
Once I was rising up, I wasn\u2019t in Tampa correct. I went to highschool half the time in nation Florida after which half the time nearer to the town. It\u2019s a bizarre place. The general public aren\u2019t from there. Even my dad and mom aren\u2019t from Florida. They moved there within the \u201980s. It\u2019s sort of a spot individuals go to start out over.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like a much less glamorous Hollywood.<\/p>\n
Yeah, it\u2019s very Midwest. Individuals at all times say when you\u2019re coming down 95 on the west coast, it\u2019s principally New Yorkers who moved down. After which the Midwest normally populates quite a lot of my a part of Florida. There\u2019s a ton of individuals from Ohio. Lots of people from Texas. Individuals simply go there as a result of it\u2019s fairly good. I feel lots of people transfer there considering that they\u2019re going to vary, however they don\u2019t actually change. They\u2019re simply in a nicer setting. So, when you\u2019re a redneck from Ohio and also you moved there, it\u2019s going to be the identical life. It\u2019s simply going to be slightly nicer out. Nothing actually will get higher except you get higher.<\/p>\n
However at the very least you\u2019re not freezing chilly.<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s modified a lot even since I\u2019ve moved away. It was once actually fairly affordable to dwell in Tampa. It\u2019s not anymore. It\u2019s actually costly now. There\u2019s been instances I\u2019ve considered shifting again simply because my household\u2019s all down there, and I go to loads. I simply love the pure world of Florida. It\u2019s sort of subtropical however not likely, but additionally sort of prairie, too. It\u2019s not likely like Louisiana. It\u2019s much less swampy, however it does have a swamp. I imply, it’s a large swamp in some methods.<\/p>\n
When did you begin taking part in music?<\/p>\n
I had some mates that had been in DIY punk scenes in Tampa, and I used to go to quite a lot of punk reveals. However the sort of music I appreciated taking part in was not likely that. There wasn\u2019t that large of a scene that I may discover. Perhaps it was there. I simply didn\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n
Did you play the sort of music you do now?<\/p>\n
Oh, no. It was nothing like that. I at all times appreciated this fashion of music, however I used to be in a reggae band for some time.<\/p>\n
What was the reggae band like?<\/p>\n
Just about straight covers. Type of jam-bandy.<\/p>\n
Like, Rusted Root?<\/p>\n
Extra like Chic. Very Florida vibe.<\/p>\n
So, it was like, \u201cThe singer-songwriter storytelling stuff isn\u2019t going to attract a crowd, so let\u2019s play the Chic stuff\u201d?<\/p>\n
Yeah. If we do covers, individuals will present up.<\/p>\n
What songwriters impressed you?<\/p>\n
Rising up, I actually beloved Dylan, after which I actually obtained into John Prine. After which after I obtained slightly older, it was Damien Jurado, after which all of the \u201990s guys after I was in early school or late highschool. I listened to some Neil Younger. I wasn\u2019t as into Neil after I was youthful as I’m now. I\u2019ve grown to understand Neil extra, as I\u2019ve gotten older. <\/p>\n
You additionally remind me slightly \u2014 due to the \u201cseedy character\u201d material \u2014 of Zevon and Todd Snider.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I actually love Zevon. I haven\u2019t listened to Todd Snider. I have to dig into him. I feel I would really like it.<\/p>\n
Your tune \u201cLarge Boi\u201d sits in that lane. That\u2019s primarily based on a real story, proper?<\/p>\n
Yeah, I met these individuals out at a Waffle Home. Their automotive was damaged down, after which I simply spent an insane morning with them. I used to be simply making an attempt to assist them out, however I obtained deeper and deeper into hanging out with them. I spent six hours with them. They’d two children within the again, and so they had canine. I took them to the AutoZone and a pair different spots. After which they had been like, \u201cCan you’re taking me to the pharmacy?\u201d We ended up going to a tablet mill, and so they got here out with a ton of medicine, after which I used to be like, \u201d I\u2019m in a scenario now.\u201d However it ended up being nice.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s a tablet mill?<\/p>\n
In Florida, that they had legal guidelines the place you may purchase as many opiates as you need. For those who needed to get 400 hydrocodone for some motive, they’d simply log off. There have been no legal guidelines in opposition to it. So, individuals would drive from the northeast, purchase a thousand drugs, after which drive house. There could be these pharmacies that may pop up in gasoline stations. However all they had been actually doing was promoting hydrocodone and Roxies.<\/p>\n
Do you assume you had been, consciously or not, in search of materials in that scenario?<\/p>\n
I imply, I\u2019ve at all times been fairly open to individuals. I used to present individuals rides loads after I was youthful. I don\u2019t actually do this as a lot anymore. However there was some time in highschool the place I’d give individuals rides, simply take them to the bus cease or one thing.<\/p>\n
These experiences actually repay in your songwriting.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t assume I considered it that approach. I feel that you find yourself gathering stuff over time. However that\u2019s simply a part of assembly individuals.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n
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