EM: We got together at Dan's house. Three or four songs we were both thinking of. We both had "When We Get Home" on our list, and it was, like, "Really?" -- it's sort of obscure. We hadn't talked about songs, and I felt a bit hesitant, but after that... Dan talks about "drawing from the same well," I say "pulling from the same root."
DZ: We ordered Pakistani food, and by the time we got to dessert, we knew it would work.
EM: Another even was that during this process, a friend went to a Clearwater Sloop meeting and Pete Seeger sang "Turn Turn Turn" with new lyrics [Seeger's wife] Toshi wrote in 1954. My friend recorded the performance, transcribed the words, and brought it to Dan. We brought the lyrics to Pete's daughter and asked to use them. It brought really deep inspiration to both of us -- it anchored the record, it was the thread.
Was that an aesthetic decision, to record in three days?
DZ: It makes it sound rushed, but it wasn't. I can fiddle around a lot. But the musicians are all so good at what they do.
EM: We rehearsed ahead of time, and thought about it. We didn't want to be overly precious. A lot of music we're inspired by was made in a present way, very real.
DZ: There were a lot of breaks for snacks; Elizabeth even took a field trip, or maybe she was sleeping. [Laughs]
EM: That field trip was to Ashokan, I was not sleeping.
DZ: I like the idea that music-making is part of real life.
Do you think more people are making music-making part of their life?
EM: I hope so... I think so. People certainly say yes.
I love hearing about people changing the music I make, like how they change "Little Bird" or "Little Liza Jane" or Freight Train," including where they live, where they go. In that sense, that's positive feedback.
DZ: I think so, too. When my daughter Anna was born, I obsessed about finding the music that would be the first she heard, and somebody asked why it couldn't be me . And it never even occurred to me that I could've been the first music she heard. That idea is really in the air now.
You know, I live in Brooklyn, where people are butchering their own meat and having nineteenth-century cabdriver handlebar mustaches, carrying banjos. There's a pushback against consumerism.
So what have you enjoyed playing live from the new album?
EM: We just did "Coney Island Avenue" for the first time. I was intimidated before, but I got some newfound drum courage, and it was fun.
DZ: Liz's "Honeybee" -- I played that with a friend who came over and it was a totally satisfying experience.
EM: "Turn Turn Turn" is a powerful and lovely song -- we can invoke Pete Seeger to get people to join us in song.
DZ: You know, another personal memory -- my family didn't sing, but every few years when I was a kid we'd go see Pete Seeger in concert. That was a communal experience. Who knows, maybe some of these families at our concerts are like mine, and will remember that experience [like I did Pete].
It's pretty obvious that the Seeger family has had a big impact on both of your careers.
