Pine Hill Haints’ music sounds both natural and supernatural.
Many other musicians who’ve pivoted to “Americana” the last couple decades to cash-in on that roots-music trend remembered to get hats, beards and acoustic guitars, but often forgot to ever get weird.
The Haints, though, have always been the right amount of weird.
And because of that, the music of Pine Hill Haints, who’ve been playing punk-spirited roots-music for more than 20 years, exudes a Southern gothic allure much more difficult to obtain than a fedora.
The Florence based band’s singer, guitarist and songwriter, Jamie Barrier is at the center of that mystery. Even though The Haints are at least 25 albums, EPs and other releases into their career and have played shows around the globe, Barrier still talks about music with the chill-awe of a teenager who’s just learned his first guitar chords. He’s still amazed by music. It’s not a role or affectation, it’s actual wonder.
Formed in Auburn, a city with a football-famous university but also, back then, a vibrant punk scene, Pine Hill Haints never blew up like some groups that later reshaped folk strum into pop success and major-festival headlining. But The Haints have pockets of fans around the globe, from Portland, San Pedro, Calif. and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and across to Barcelona, Madrid and Leeds.
Pine Hill Haints could be on the verge of expanding their fanbase. The band is releasing its 11th full-length album May 14 on Single Lock Records, the Muscle Shoals label with cofounders including former Civil Wars songsmith John Paul White and Alabama Shakes keyboardist Ben Tanner.
Titled “The Song Companion of a Lonestar Cowboy,” the 15 -track LP presents The Haints’ “Alabama ghost music,” a descriptor Barrier coined, in an accessible but not soul-selling set. Fans can preorder the album at singlelock.fanlink.to/haints.
In addition to Barrier, the band’s current lineup features Barrier’s wife Kat (on mandolin, washboard, and saw), Stevie LaBlanc (washtub, banjo), Brian Borden (snare drum) and Justin Ward (accordion, trombone).
On a recent afternoon, Barrier was at his Florence-area home when we connected for a phone interview. Below are edited excerpts.
Jamie, the song “Back to Alabama” from the new Haints album, has kind of an “acoustic Thin Lizzy sound” going on. Like, if Phil Lynott had been from Alabama instead of Ireland.
I’m the biggest Thin Lizzy fan in the world.
There’s an Irish undercurrent on a couple of the new songs.
That song in particular, the break, it’s very, very Irish derived. We do a lot of traditional Irish tunes in the band. Back when we first started, we played a lot of shows in Ireland. That’s probably the first place outside of The South that the band kind of got any kind of traction, Ireland, so we spent a lot of time there. I guess it’s sort of rubbed off. I love American music and Americana, but I’ve always sound like the Irish tinge to it a lot of times is lost. I’m also big on the Native American angle, which I feel like has been lost with American music as well.
Pine Hill Haints preceded the Americana trend. But I’ve read where you’ve given credit where credit’s due, and pointed out the real roots music stuff was around much earlier than you all. Once everyone was on the rootsy bandwagon, did you get the urge to do a 180 and have the Haints pivot to hardcore punk or something?
It’s like a yes and no answer. But I’ve usually got some type of hardcore or punk band going at the same time so it satisfies that urge. I’ve always got something going other than the Haints.
What’s your approach to sequencing an album, arranging the order of songs on there? Do you start with which track should open the album, what should be the closing track, etc.?
That’s a good one I don’t know how to field. I am definitely an album listener, and I’m all about the album craft. And when it comes to sequencing, I try not to overthink it. The recording process, the live performance, I try not to overthink any of it too deeply, and it’s probably hurt me a lot over the years.
But most albums I started with something slow, which is probably the exact wrong move. You should come with the fast one and whatever but I usually don’t do that. This album I think we start with a fast song – I can barely remember.
I don’t know, man. I go out in the dark usually on a full moon night and sit in the van – that’s the only CD player I have – and I just bounce tracks around and see what seems to click.
On the new LP, I really like the song “Lone Star Kid.” The feel of that track reminded me of an early Who song, and the guitar sound on it is really cool. For you, what makes a cool guitar tone?
I’m stoked you said that, man. Guitar tones, my favorite would be Malcolm Young of AC/DC, and if you want to get specific, the “Powerage” album. That’s what does it for me. Of course, any of it does. I have a ’51 Gibson guitar with one pickup in it, P-90, and then I play an early ’70s Fender Twin Reverb (amplifier). I found my holy grail years ago, not in a gearhead way, but falling in love with a tone. And so I never use any pedals. Just straight guitar, cable, amp.
Yeah that “Lone Star Kid,” I like the tone, I know you’re talking about that. That song is more on The Clash side of things, and I’m a big fan of reggae and dub music and there’s a lot of cool guitars on those records. That’s kind of what I was doing with that one.
In addition to playing guitars and other mainstream instruments, your band also uses a washtub and a saw as instruments. For people who have no idea what kind of sound they make, what more traditional rock band instrument would you compare a washtub and saw to?
When the tub is done right you can’t tell it from the bass guitar. It’s hard to do. There’s a million ways to do it. We just tie a rope, punch a hole through the tub and tie knot on the other end and then connect it to a broom handle. It’s basically to make it sound like a stand-up bass. There’s a lot you can do with it. In fact, those first 78s Bo Diddley did with Chess (Records) he used a washtub bass. And the saw it was an Appalachian thing, but it sounds almost like a theremin. You can create a good vibe. A lot of people use a violin bow - we just a fishing line and wrap it around a ruler and glue in on there and that way we make it really thick and get a lot of traction when it’s rubbed against the metal to create the sound.
On the new Haints album your band covers the Bo Diddley classic “Pretty Thing.” I saw that on the tracklist, and in 2021 I’m not sure how much we need new white-guy covers of blues …
Yeah.
But I listened to it, and it works because you sing it like you, not like you’re pretending to be someone else. Is that the key to white-guys being able to still do blues now, is to just be yourself?
Yeah, it’s got to be honest. And that was one we didn’t want to put on there for the very reasons you said. The dream is to be an artist or whatever, but I’m just a fanboy and always have been. And that’s a song that like, we play somewhere – Detroit, you name it, Dublin - and you’ve got to feel three hours, so you start doing what you love. Like, “Let’s do some Bo Diddley,” so we will. We’ll do some Ritchie Valens. Bo Diddley, I’ve always loved the melodic angle - his voice is so melodic. But yeah, we love doing “Pretty Thing” and it’s a hard one to do sometimes.
Pine Hill Haints probably had a few options of labels to release this album. How did you end up working with Single Lock Records? They have an interesting catalog, going from St. Paul & The Broken Bones to John Paul White to Cedric Burnside. A diversified portfolio, if you will.
When they did the Cedric record, that’s what sold me. Everything about that I thought it was brilliant. And I felt like Single Lock had a lot of traction because of this a strange new interest in the Shoals area. I’ve had my own label for 20 years, had all kinds of punk bands.
I’ve basically known some of those (Single Lock Records) guys since they were kids. I’ve been around a lot longer than them, and it’s cool that they would want to do something with me because I can literally hit their studio with a baseball from where I’m sitting right now. They’re just right down the street.
I thought Cedric was the perfect fit. I wish they could’ve done a (Alabama) Shakes record … I guess the Shakes preceded them a little bit. Ben (Tanner, Single Lock cofounder, producer and Alabama Shakes keyboardist), he’d make coffee at FAME (Studios), and one of my punk bands, at time after everyone went home, he would just unlock the door and let us in. And so we made records with Ben back when he was just an unknown kid in high school. Years later, when he’s with the Shakes and got his own label he’s like “Hey Jamie, let’s make a record.”
Pine Hill Haints is a bit of a cult band. What’s the best thing about being in a cult band? What’s the worst thing?
[Laughs] There could be some negativity, but I don’t have any negative vibes on it. I’m down with it. When I was a kid, I always loved a lot of cult bands. I love the Grateful Dead. I would love to be in a band who could do tours a lot and play whatever they want every night, and they’re not expected to play the hits. But fortunately for us, we don’t have any hits. [Laughs] I would love to be more successful in what I do, but any cult vibe attached I’m all about it.
I think because Single Lock Records is putting this Pine Hill Haints album out there’s a chance so people who’ve never heard your band before will hear this one. For those music fans, what’s an earlier Haints album or two you’d recommend for further listening?
I would say “Ghost Dance” or “The Evening Star,” but those were both made at pretty much the same time.
Because those two albums really capture the essence of your band?
They do, yeah. We did albums before that, but I get a lot of feedback from other people and that’s the ones I like. I like to have my personal favorites and whatnot. But those are pretty essential, I would say.
I read when you were first getting the band together, you loved punk rock and skateboarding. What was your best skateboarding move?
I’d say a boneless. And my boneless-es aren’t that good either.
So going back to the Haints’ origins in Auburn, what’s Pine Hill Cemetery like there? And why were inspired to name your band after that place?
Well, where I come from, right on the Tennessee-Alabama line is a place called Pine Hill. The first time I moved away from home, I had an apartment (in Auburn), I could open my window and walk into Pine Hill Cemetery, so it was kind of a cool thing. That cemetery down there does have a nice vibe. It’s super old, and it’s got this beautiful Gothic look to it. More importantly, I used to just sit there and sing and write music and play all the time.
