A Conversation with Mike Gangloff of Pelt and the Black Twig Pickers

At a venue in Charlottesville, Virginia, Mike Gangloff—a multi-instrumentalist best known for leading the noisy rock ensemble Pelt and more recently the old-time Black Twig Pickers—fiddled his way through 20 minutes of droning, traditional American music, punctuated by a stab at an a capella spiritual tune. Gangloff might not be known for his voice’s splendor, but any shortcomings were shored up by his tenacity. And his mounting legacy.

Over time, he’s been accompanied by everyone from guitarists Jack Rose and Steve Gunn to banjo player Nathan Bowles. And in the last two years, Gangloff’s been a part of no less than three recordings that pull at the tendrils of our national musical heritage. The odd reference yanked from another culture crops up while he wrestles with an interpretation of tradition birthed by an American population constantly at odds with itself: urbanites, people inhabiting the country’s hills and valleys.

Gangloff, who initially made a go of music in Richmond during the 1990s, has moved southwest, taking up residence outside Roanoke. He’s forever an inbetweener, refusing to reside within any traditional role musically. And when Paste caught up with him in Charlottesville, it was only a brief stopover. He had to make it back down Route 81 to get ready for another day of work, covering local government in the New River Valley. He’s a newspaperman. A fiddler. A percussionist. And perhaps a musical visionary, the likes of which only a select few happen upon. Find him, though, and it’s almost impossible that Gangloff won’t play a bit of something enjoyable or at least vaguely familiar.

His latest, Black Ribbon of Death, Silver Thread of Life, recorded with his wife Cara, is out next week on MIE and the Klang Industries imprint.

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Paste: It seems possible that your last three albums comprise some sort of loose trilogy. Was that the plan?
Mike Gangloff: I didn’t set out to make a trilogy with them, it just worked out that way, I guess. The first one [Poplar Hollow] I did mostly myself. Cara helped me out the shruti box a little bit. And Steve Gunn and I had talked about doing something and had an opportunity to record for a night. The most recent one, Cara and I wanted to make a full record together, and that’s what we did.

Paste: The covers of Black Ribbon and Poplar Hollow [Blackest Rainbow, 2013] seem at least visually related.
Gangloff: They’re all connected in that they’re reports from the bunker. Black Ribbon and Poplar Hollow are more connected, because Cara and I really got together and spent a long time working on the music. As I was working out Poplar Hollow, it was literally in front of her much of the time.

All three records we’re talking about were recorded in a farmhouse of a friend of ours, Joe Dejarnette, a great bass player. This little farmhouse just has the sound quality I want. One of the songs on Black Ribbon, a sacred harp song, we recorded and the reverberations in the upper hallway were just amazing.

Paste: It seems like sacred harp singing connected you to Ireland in some way. You also perform in Meithal with Vicky Langan.
Gangloff: All of these albums have been around a series of events—and some of ’em have been unfortunate: my divorce. But there have been a series of really fortunate events: meeting people and developing this music. Meeting Vicky was one of those. I toured Europe a fair amount, but hadn’t toured Ireland. Dave Colohan, from Raising Holy Sparks and Agitated Radio Pilot, got in touch and he said they had shows out there, if I wanted to do them.

We played some, and one of them was in Cork. And it was put on by Vicky. Dave did a one-song set, where he did this sacred harp song and played banjo. Every time the chorus came around, practically the entire room joined in, because they were all sacred harp singers. It was amazing. The other thing that happened was we closed the show with Vicky, Dave and I improvising.

Paste: Drawing compositions from traditional and religious music, as well as freely improvising seems like it offers endless variations. Are songbooks for your different projects separate?
Gangloff: It’s less formulaic then you might think. I like playing with lots of different groups, obviously. And at different times, groups are more active than others. So, I’m always trying to work on my music and whoever I’m playing with is where the effort goes. For the last three years, the Black Twig Pickers were playing all kinds of shows and I was putting my focus there. Now, I’m playing with Cara, so it’s shifted that way.

Paste: When’d you start performing with her?
Gangloff: We’ve been married just over a year and half. And that’s pretty much been the span of our public music making as well. She sat in on a few shows before we were married, but it was really immediately afterward. Our honeymoon was the second tour of Ireland I did. She came along and played almost every night.

Black Ribbon’s really a shared release. It’s especially interesting to work with someone you’re in love with and who’s your spouse. The real discovery for Cara and for me is how to write together. When we look back at Black Ribbon in a long time, we might see it as a very early step. But I’m really happy with it right now. It’s strange and different when I listen back to it.

Paste: Is there stuff you’ve been working on for a while, but haven’t fully realized yet?
Gangloff: Right, when will the reggae album come out? There are a lot of ideas. And I’m hoping to play well enough or find the right setting to make things happen. Cara and I are already at work on another thing that might come together next year. There’s Pelt stuff that’s been in the works for years that I hope will see the light of day. I’m always trying to move the music forward, find a technique to make a song better or figure out a song that’s been kicking around in different forms for a long time.

Paste: Would you ever ditch newspapers for music?
Gangloff: It’s more likely that newspapers will ditch me and leave me to music.