jason lytle

My favorite memory of being on tour with Elliott Smith 

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“I think that my favorite memory of being on tour with Elliott Smith was… it was probably three weeks, two or three weeks into the tour that we did with him on about a five week run.

And we had a day off in Asheville, North Carolina, which is one of my favorite cities in the country.

Kevin, who is Grandaddy’s bass player, he passed away a few years ago.

We love him so much.

And one of Kevin’s greatest attributes was bringing people together.

So Kevin would kind of set up these homey grilling situations wherever we were, outside of venues, hotels, any place.

And Kevin in Asheville this day, we were staying at this little motel in downtown Asheville, and he set up basically a living room in a grass outside next to the pool of the motel.

And he strung extension cords out of these like third story motel rooms down onto the grass and had lamps out there.

And we were all sitting out there and went to the local nature market, whatever it was then.

And we cooked a bunch of food and we sat out there for hours. Continue reading →

This Song Is The Mute Button – Jason Lytle (2009)

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“There is a song on my first solo LP, Yours Truly, The Commuter, called This Song Is The Mute Button that was inspired by a photo of him and I together, which I kept framed and sitting on my piano.”

Jason Lytle

My music doesn’t get too complex

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jlytle

“My music doesn’t get too complex in its arrangements, but every now and then I like to plant little sonic Easter eggs in my songs. A few days into our [Grandaddy’s] tour with Elliott, we were hanging out and he brought up a song of mine and mentioned a subtle little sneaky chord change I did on the recording, and it kind of blew me away. I mean, not only had he listened, but he really listened, and the fact that I was even discussing this with him was a big thrill to me.”

Jason Lytle

He had a really good sense of humor

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©Jason Lytle

“He had a really good sense of humor. Elliott was a really funny guy, which a lot people don’t know. He kind of had that thing I was just talking about—reserving your strength. At some point, you realize you’re just giving it out, giving it out, giving it out. Then, when it comes time to drive home and get through a hard day, you got 20 minutes left in the show and it’s not going the right way and you have to pull out the stops, and you dip into those reserves, I picked up a bit from him. Other than that, I’ve had a few friends that took this tragic route. He did. I realized that I don’t want to be like that. I love being alive and I love having these moments of beauty and experiencing things. It really sucks when you have friends that have died and you realize every time you’re having a happy moment—it just makes me wonder why they ended up taking such a tragic route.”

Jason Lytle