This week's guest is Scott H. Biram, but you might know him as "The Dirty Old One Man Band." Since releasing his solo debut in the year 2000, the tireless troubadour has played thousands upon thousands of shows at venues of all sizes and scope in North America, toured Europe more than 20 times, had songs featured on popular TV shows and Oscar-nominated films, and put out 11 albums. A couple months after he released Fever Dreams — his latest album, which came out on Bloodshot Records last November — Biram took some time out of his uncharacteristically quiet schedule to talk to My First Band host Tyler Maas about his 20-plus-year solo run and everything that came beforehand.
Over the course of an hour-long discussion, Biram talked about how he's keeping busy and staying productive during a pandemic, his upbringing in a fairly small Texas town, the inspiration artists like Doc Watson and Townes Van Zandt had on him early on, and his stints in adolescent and early adulthood outfits like The Happy Trees and The Thangs. Along the way, the accomplished singer-songwriter opened up about his decision to branch out on his own, what the "H" stands for (hint: it's not his middle name), getting signed to Bloodshot, the ups and downs of more than two decades spent on the road, performing on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, punching "The Devil" in the stomach in Atlanta, and much more.
My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth ("The Junction Street Eight Tigers") and Scott H. Biram ("Hobo Jungle").
