Artist Spotlight - Grain Thief

Grain Thief’s House of the Dog backs buoyant bluegrass (“Walk in the Rain”) with sharp songwriting (“Heartbreak & Red Wine”). We recently spoke with singer-songwriter and guitarist Patrick Mulroy about the seamless new collection.

“This record has taken the longest to put together,” Mulroy says. “We started in fall 2023 but had a couple births and a couples deaths happen. We paused the release when we had half the record tracked. We came back after we got through everything.”

Alt.Country Specialty Chart: Describe how the new album finished taking shape.

Patrick Mulroy: We finished up at a couple different studios in New Hampshire and Central Massachusetts. Everything starts with what we call a field trip with us. We basically take a long weekend together somewhere rural and quiet to play each other the songs that we have and want to record. We have to decide what songs will be on the record and what it will be about. Then we work on arrangements and refining and finishing parts. Then we take those songs into the studio to record.

Explain how you collaborate.

Our collaboration is a little bit of everything. The arrangements are always collaborative no matter where the song originates. The five of us always work on the arranging in the same room building the parts together. The songwriting happens in different ways. We have some songs that we wrote simultaneously on this record. There’s a song called “Here We Go Again” that was written at one of our retreats. It was just getting in there and trying to figure out something from scratch that was equal parts everybody.

Describe the origin process with these songs. 

Most of the time somebody comes up with the song, whether that’s a fully fleshed out song that’s been completely arranged or someone bringing in sheet music with five parts written out. Many times if it’s my song it’ll be me and my acoustic guitar and I might have the fiddle medley hummed into my voice memo. Then we add the parts together and decide to do the chorus twice or reharmonize this section or whatever. We usually start with the stripped down acoustic version and build it up from there.

Is everyone agreeable to input on their songs?

Yes and no. We have been a band for eleven years with the same five guys and no changes. We get along just as often as we don’t. That’s in our social lives, hanging around backstage, on car rides, and in songwriting. It’s like having family or close friends. You tend to argue with who you’re closest to about things that are important.

Give an example musically.

Well, sometimes someone is playing a B minor chord and another person says, “Why don’t we go to an E minor instead.” That can create tension if the person is clinging to the original B minor chord, but with tension comes release. The B minor wasn’t worth it if you don’t fight for it, but if the E minor wins consensus then it’s the superior chord. We battle over chords sometimes, but then we figure out the way to make it happen. That collaborative energy makes for good music.

Tell the story behind writing ‘Heartbreak & Red Wine.’

I wrote that sitting at the kitchen table in 2020. The chorus popped out first and it hits you over and over through the song. I was about a year from getting married and wasn’t broken up at the time so it didn’t come directly out of a break up, but I’ve certainly been through those in my life. I was just playing with the words and putting myself back in those dark places I’ve been before.

Describe the common lyrical theme throughout the album.

There are lots of classic tunes like “54 Miles to Empty.” I like classic road and truck songs and that has a little twist about being in the doghouse. We have other songs about being on the road and songs about loss and new beginnings. They weren’t always what they ended up being about. I would say the themes carry through what we’ve always written about: Our lives and the road, trying to make money and be successful – whatever that means. We write the songs you would write about being a band but encountering challenges and still doing it. We write about real life.

– Brian T. Atkinson