Have you ever played with him?
Gordon: Yeah‚ a long time ago. We've been in touch a little bit‚ but not much. Tony Trischka did an album of duets with Steve Martin‚ Alison Brown‚ and Bela. And then he was out touring‚ and he needed a second banjo player. So I did that for a while. That was really fun‚ except for learning Bela's parts--wasn't exactly fun. Challenging. I hadn't done that in a really long time‚ learning someone else's music. It was very foreign to me because I'm always just writing stuff and giving everybody else parts. [laughs]
Did you find that when you had that experience it helped you write differently?
Gordon: Oh yeah‚ a lot. I learned a lot.
What's going on with the trio right now? What kind of communication is happening on stage?
Gordon: It's hard to talk about just because we do it all the time. I haven't really thought about it or analyzed how it works. You mean the way we improvise together?
Yeah.
Gordon: I don't think there's anything terribly unique about the way we work. We're not really a jam band‚ because we keep the jams shorter. We don't jam and just wait for something to happen. There are a lot of jam bands that get this thing going‚ and just look around and wait for something to develop. That to me gets boring‚ and I think it gets boring for the audience. I know when I watch a jam band do that‚ it's boring for me. I like to see something develop right away‚ and if it's not gonna go‚ then get on to the next section. It's more concise.
Jennifer: I think‚ in terms of you guys listening to each other‚ you can hear if it's going south‚ and you get out. Or if it sounds good‚ it really goes.
Gordon: The tunes take on a life of their own. It's all about listening.
So it's happening a lot quicker. Are you surprised a lot by what happens on stage?
Gordon: They don't throw me much that surprises me. I could probably ask for more of that. Caleb's [Bronz] really good with that‚ with interacting.
Do you think you're surprising them?
Gordon: Yes‚ I think I do. I keep them on their toes.
When you're either writing or playing and it gets really hot‚ what kind of stuff goes on in your head? What do you see?
Gordon: That's the great thing about playing. You're so occupied it keeps you in the moment as only music can do. I think music and sex are the only two things that demand that. Sports are the same way too. When you're about to high jump or something‚ you're not thinking about anything. I think if you're lapsing off into other thoughts when you're playing music‚ then you're not really playing‚ if you have time to daydream about something else. I relate to color really well‚ but it's all unconscious. If I'm looking at some colors while I'm playing‚ that's nothing that I know about. It's an unconscious thing. Pedal steel really demands your attention a lot‚ and that was one of the surprising things about learning the instrument. I had already played piano and guitar and banjo. When I got to the pedal steel‚ I realized I had to think way ahead of playing‚ because there are so many physical moves you have to make to execute the notes. You're thinking about what you're gonna play before you play it. Stacy Starkweather [bassist] was really good about explaining this. He always said it's 90 percent listening and 10 percent playing. So your focus is on everything else that's going on and then you're thinking about what you're gonna play. So by the time you play it you're not even listening to it anymore‚ because you already know what it's gonna be. You're in that other space ahead of it.
That's interesting -- very deep concentration. Except I think your mind is a bit inactive.
Gordon: Isn't music one of those things where your brain is working equally hard on both sides?
Yeah‚ probably. It's like mathematical and also creative.
Gordon: Yeah‚ so everything has to be firing at once. I think they did an experiment on that. I notice a lot of things‚ so my critical mind's going on.
Do you ever feel like that weighs you down?
Gordon: Not anymore. It used to‚ it was awful. I have a pretty critical mind. Now I just see if the next thing sucks as bad. I also have this ongoing criticism of the bass player and the drummer. There's sort of a constant... they're ahead of the beat‚ they're behind the beat‚ they weren't supposed to do that there.