MJ LENDERMAN IS a big fan of live albums, from the Band’s Rock of Ages and the Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 to Drive-By Truckers’ Alabama Ass Whuppin’ and “a million Neil Young records.” But his decision to add his own offering to the live album canon was for a more specific reason. “My live show sounds different from the records, because when I’m in the studio I’m playing most of the instruments,” the Asheville, North Carolinabased songwriter and multi-instrumentalist says. “Onstage, it’s a different thing.”
In-the-know rock fans, particularly those who favor bands on the rootsier — and noisier — end of the spectrum, may be familiar with Lenderman from his widescreen guitar work with alt-Americana darlings Wednesday (whose 2023 album, Rat Saw God, was a mainstay of end-of-year best-of lists). But in his solo music, Lenderman tends to handle almost everything, from songwriting and production to vocals, drums, bass and, of course, guitars, himself. His most recent studio full-length, 2022’s Boat Songs, showcased his idiosyncratic mix of relaxed, pedal-steel-inflected altcountry grooves and strident, fuzzed-out six-string excursions (he counts J Mascis, Thurston Moore and Neil Young among his six-string idols) wrapped in wry and often humorous story-songs delivered in a laidback, breezy drawl.
On the new concert document, And the Wind (Live and Loose!), Lenderman offers a more expansive, and, as the title implies, looser take on the Boat Songs tracks. For the majority of the songs, captured at the Lodge Room in L.A., Lenderman played a Fender Jazzmaster through Vox AC15 and Fender Deluxe amps, while the remainder of the tracks, from Chicago’s Lincoln Hall, saw him using his ’79 Gibson Firebrand SG and a Fender Blues Deluxe combo. In both cases, he employed his usual pedal setup — a Dunlop Cry Baby wah, a Boss DD-7 Digital Delay and, most importantly, his trusty Death by Audio Interstellar Overdriver, which provides his characteristic gnarly lead tones. His secret to getting things really dirty? “I keep my amps on the drive setting at all times,” Lenderman says. “And then the Interstellar Overdriver adds an extra layer to it.”