Adam Klein: Bringing the distance near

Adam Klein
Distant Music
Cowboy Angel Music

"Distant Music," the debut release from Athens upstart Adam Klein, is about place. Being in it, and being out of it. Going to it, or running from it. Pining for it, or trying to forget it.

And Klein knows a thing or two about the subject. Athens, Ga., is quite a place for a musician to be from.

"I spent my formative years going to the 40 Watt or the old High Hat and seeing Athens musicians/bands like Kevn Kinney, Vic Chesnutt, Drive-by Truckers, Star Room Boys and The Possibilities," Klein said in an e-mail interview last week. "I think you're a product of your environment and experiences, so certainly I'd likely have a different sound and persona had I grown up elsewhere."

His love for his home is evident, but Klein is no homebody. Among his extensive travels is a stint in Mali with the Peace Corps. While there he dabbled in the native music, but said "it's the aesthetic of Mali, perhaps my own feeling of Mali, that can be found in some of my songs."

"Experiencing and living as people have throughout time -- according to the natural cycles of the sun and the moon, subsistence farming -- there's something so simple and beautiful and indescribably powerful about it," he added.

Simple, beautiful, oddly powerful -- it's right there in Klein's songs. Movement, too, both in the lyrics and in the songs' gentle rhythms. A chorus like "Whistle's blowing for the next town/Think I'll pack my things and go/Baby I'll write you from the highway/guess I'm just a restless soul" is sung over a flowing acoustic strum and a harmonica that adds just the right amount of lonesome flavor. Klein's voice reminded me of quiet Chris Thile, or Ellis Paul. It's wispy, sometimes wanting for a little edge or toughness, but when a song turns wistful, as songs about traveling often do, it's just right.

Klein lists among his influence Neil Young and Bob Dylan, also Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt, with a healthy respect for Jay Farrar, Josh Ritter, Grant-Lee Phillips and (of course!) R.E.M. But he also admires classical musicians. From all these sources he pulls a love for keeping it simple, one of the most endearing traits about "Distant Music." There's a voice and a guitar -- and plenty more. Dobro, pedal steel, fiddle, tremolo guitar, harmonica, Wurlitzer. But it's never overlayered -- the songs are nuanced but refreshing, an easy listen that also offers some depth. Adding to the effect is Klein's use of vintage recording equipment, a decision reached because of Klein's desire to give the album "a warm feeling." The approach, as Klein played and sang for a single mic placed 10 feet away, was "don't over-think it," Klein says of working with David Barbe (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, Drive-by Truckers). "Play the songs, let them form themselves."

"Distant Music" was released last April, and Klein is making preparations for the next album, which he hopes to release in fall. "Western Tales and Trails" will be a "collection of Western- and Southern-themed legends and lore ... mainly story songs," he said. But with plans for touring much of the U.S. and the Netherlands, Belgium and the U.K. this year, I'm betting that place will still be a prominent theme.