“When I’m in the studio I’m playing most of the instruments. Onstage, it’s a different thing”: Alt-country guitarist du jour MJ Lenderman shares his tone secrets and explains why there’s life in the live album yet

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 Carolina-based 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 alt-country 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 laid-back, breezy drawl.

MJ Lenderman - You Are Every Girl to Me (Live) - YouTube

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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 combo 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 pedal, 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.”

MJ Lenderman - Hangover Game (Live) - YouTube

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In the performances captured on And the Wind (Live and Loose!), he and his band play with tempos and tones, injecting the punky SUV with extra rhythmic thrust and adding space for him to lay out sprawling, squiggly leads on the Crazy Horse-ish Tastes Just Like It Costs. 

Unlike in the studio, Lenderman takes advantage of being able to play with and off of the musicians accompanying him – a cast that, he says, can vary from show to show. “The lineup you’re hearing on the album is the most set the band has been,” he says. “But depending on what city we’re in, if there’s a friend there who plays an instrument and that I trust, I’ll have them sit in, too.” 

Lenderman laughs. “So the band is fluid – like the wind.”

• And the Wind (Live and Loose!) is out now via Anti.