Artist Spotlight - Freddie Steady Krc

Freddie “Steady” Krc’s Pass That Jug! sways (the title track) and swaggers (“Where’s George?”) with traditional country effortlessness (“Shoulda Woulda Coulda”). We recently spoke with the legendary Austin-based singer and drummer.

“I’ve been really busy in the writing mode the past few years,” Krc says. “I’ve finished writing my autobiography and wrote new songs along with it. Pass That Jug! is restarting my Freddie Steady’s Wild Country stuff that I was doing in the mid-80s.”

Alt. Country Specialty Chart: Explain how Pass That Jug! took shape.

Freddie Krc: I was writing all these new songs and ran into my local graphic artist friend Billy Perkins. Billy was showing me his portfolio, which included a poster of Granny Clampett with flames and the band name behind her that he had done for Les Claypool. Claypool the image. “That’s perfect for me,” I said as soon as I saw that image. “I want that.”

Explain how the album progressed from there.

Well, Billy changed the image to say Freddie Steady’s Wild Country and I got the image from him. Of course, I loved it. He said, “What’s the name of the record?” I didn’t have one, but I was looking at that image of Granny Clampett and said, “It’s gonna be called Pass That Jug! Then I wrote a song called “Pass that Jug!”

Interesting. You wrote the title track after the title?

Customarily, that’s putting the cart before the horse. You usually already have the song and title the album after it, but I did the opposite because that image was so strong. The album is a nice colletion of country and singer-songwriter songs. There’s an R&B tune and a gospel one. I’ve never written gospel before. Lloyd Maines, Floyd Domino, and Cam King – my old guitarist from the Explosives days – were all on the album. Cam is a great country guitar player. He played on most songs. Pass that Jug! Has a nice variety of music and styles on it.

You play drums and guitar?

Yes. I play rhythm guitar, drums, and percussion. I’m a drummer and I’m cheap by nature, so why hire someone to play something I can do? I’m kinda kidding, but it’s true. I know what I want and things happen very quickly.

The title makes me think about the 13th Floor Elevators.

This is not Elevators music, but the album review in Record Collector magazine said this music is like, “Austin-style Americana, traditional country with a tinge of psychedelia.” I imagine he’s referring to the last track called “Wait for Me.” Someone making that connection between us and the Elevators doesn’t bother me a bit. I think it’s cool.

Did anyone you played with in the past like Jerry Jeff inform your style most?

I mean, I played with some guys who had a country band when I was a teenager. We did the country music that’s still my favorite: Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Roger Miller. Those guys are really what informs my country leanings.

The opening line in ‘Doublewide’ – ‘I’ll buy you the best doublewide in Lockhart’ – is classic country.

Here’s what happened. I had a meeting with my publishing company BMI in Austin. This guy said at the end of the meeting, “Hey, Freddie, would you consider writing with some young writers? I want to put you together with this young lady Ruby Dice.” BMI has a room where you book a two-hour session and meet and write. I booked a session with Ruby and her boyfriend Calloway Ritch.

You hadn’t met before?

No, we had just met at that session. I asked if they were working on anything, and Ruby said, “We’ve been too busy trying to buy an affordable house in Austin that we had to put everything on the back burner. Calloway looked at me and said, “But I told her I would buy her the best doublewide in Lockhart.” I went, “Let’s start there…”The late, great folksinger Todd Snider started out as a songwriting student studying under celebrated wordsmith Kent Finlay in Central Texas before he became a modern musical icon. Alt. Country Specialty Chart’s own Jenni Finlay – who lived under the same roof as Snider for three years when he crashed on the family’s couch as a teenager – recounts those early days.

- Brian T. Atkinson