For the latest instalment of Off the Shelf, British-born, Nashville-based pedal steel player Spencer Cullum invites us into the garden shed that doubles as his studio, selecting ten objects that tell a story.
It’s a fitting setting, for the shed itself features in the making of Coin Collection 3, Cullum’s new album and the final chapter of his Coin Collection trilogy, released March 27th via Full Time Hobby.
Where earlier instalments drew on psychedelic country and sleepy Americana, Coin Collection 3 finds Cullum reaching back to the folklore of his native England for solace amid the noise of modern life. “There was a lot about reading news back home and reading news here that made me very frustrated,” he says. “I’m trying to be very conscious of not being too political, but there’s a big concern of how we are treating people and Earth.”
Cullum channelled that frustration through occult-tinged tales of standing stones and midnight rites. The album was pieced together with contributions from friends scattered across the globe — singer-songwriter Oisin Leech tracked vocals in Ireland, while Allison De Groot recorded banjo parts on an iPhone backstage between shows — all mixed to cassette tape.
His ten objects map the territory between England and Tennessee, between heirlooms and homespun recording. It’s very much a reflection of this trilogy, born of a need to connect with the place Cullum is from and the influences that shaped who he is today.
Watch his video for his album single, Jackie Paints, a mystical folk ode to his artist mother. “This is written about my mum and her art studio in the back of the garden”, shared Spencer. “She’s a wonderful painter and I’m so far away from her living in America, so it’s my ode to her. The idea of missing out on what she’s painting and chatting to her at the bottom of the garden saddens me a bit, so I wrote this for her”.
Off the Shelf with Spencer Cullum
Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology
My brother bought me this book a while back, and this was an anchor for most of the songs on the record. I was really feeling low about America and the corruption of power that’s bubbled over from this administration. This book has some great old stories about nature and folklore, having its revenge on greed and the evil of men. To be judged and rewarded by nature felt really inspiring and brought me a lot of peace.
Southern far right wing evangelical religion in the south is a lot more scarier than standing stones and old pagan folktales and rituals, I tell you.
There’s a story called ‘Music on the Hill’ in this book that I named a song after. To be enticed by music coming from the forest, to then be sacrificed to it. Mixing these works with what’s going on in current affairs gave me a sort of weird peace to vent my frustration.
1966 Emmons pedal steel
This is my workhorse. I’ve been playing pedal steel as a job of mine for around 15 years now, and this old steel has been a big part of it. To be involved in a lot of bigger studios and musical ventures and to be an outsider looking in has definitely helped navigate how to record, organize a group, arrange and produce….all in my small studio shed.
I love going between pop country to ambient jazz music with this instrument.
Kelsey Sweater (jumper)
My wife bought me this recently, and I haven’t taken it off. It was made by a wonderful designer in town called ‘Kelsey’.
It’s been so cold in Nashville and especially in my old shed, so this has been a godsend. Everyone needs a nice sweater for life.
My fuzz pedals
I collect old fuzz pedals. He’s a few I love. They’re like a little secret weapon when recording. The weirder the better….especially this green box called ‘the green ringer’ . It sounds like a motorcycle taking off. There’s the famous Brian Eno album called ‘another green world’, and I’m always trying to achieve that magical fuzz guitar sound he got with Robert Fripp. It’s transcendent.
Rowan (my cat)
I’ve always loved dogs; we have two that we spoil rotten, then Rowan showed up.
Rowan came to us as a stray with her brother Gus. Unfortunately, before a big snowstorm last year, we lost Gus one early morning due to getting hit by a car.
Lost and on her own, Rowan started hanging out around my shed. This, however, kick-started me into completely dry-walling, insulating, and adding a new metal roof onto my shed so that Rowan would have a place to shelter for the winter, which would then become my studio, where I recorded my new record.
Rowan, however, is now in the house.
My Great Grandfather’s Pocket Watch
My grandfather was an incredibly gifted man. He helped build the seat belts on the first Concord, a tinkerer and a wonderful engineer. Old tube amps, gramophones, and old microphones he’d fix to last for life.
This watch was his dad’s and has been passed down to me that I keep lying around in the studio.
I was very young when he passed and only have memories of building Meccano sets with him. He was at an age where a sadness crept in when the projects disappear and you just kinda stop at life. Whenever something needs fixing in the studio, I’ll look at the watch and try and do it myself.
Casio Keyboard
Wrote and recorded a lot of my new record on this . It reminds me a lot of the keyboard sound Robert Wyatt got from his first record ‘rock bottom’. Not sure if it’s the same one, but it has that cheap, charming overtone to it.
Kinda goes out of tune when it gets too hot or cold.
Forestdale incense holder and incense
Shameless plug, but my dear friend Luke, who’s a wonderful pedal steel player and musician, makes his own incense called ‘Forestdale’. Burning one of these in the morning or at night and listening to music in my shed is key.
Mackerel Sky mug
I spent most of my childhood in Cornwall with my family in a camper van. Cornwall has been a big part of my upbringing, and I’m forever dreaming of getting back there. Recently, my wife and I took a trip to Newlyn in Cornwall and ate at a wonderful restaurant called Mackerel Sky. So this coffee-stained coffee mug is all I drink from now.
Another Green World cassette
Having this record on cassette feels like a treasured trinket. I’m sure Eno would think it’s best to play this record on CD, but if he was to come round for a cuppa or a nightcap to the shed and listen to this back to front on cassette next to the $60 fire heater, he would change his mind.
The production of this record is perfect and always the goal. Tis beautiful.
Cullum will bring a small section of his collective—Rich Ruth and Annie Williams—to the UK and Ireland in late April and early May.
Pre-Save/Order Coin Collection 3 (out March 27th via Full Time Hobby): https://spencercullum.ffm.to/cc3
UK Dates
29/4 – The Golden Lion, Todmorden
30/4 – Just Dropped In Records, Coventry
01/5 – MOTH Club, London
03/5 – Kilkenny Roots Festival, Ireland
04/5 – The Church, Ipswich
05/5 – South Records, Southend