The Love Language’s Ruby Red (Merge) was supposed to be finished more than a year ago. “I can definitely overthink stuff,” says Stuart McLamb, the band’s singer, songwriter, guitarist, bassist and only full-time member. Over the next year, McLamb wound up throwing away some old songs, writing some new ones and recording the whole album all over again, bouncing between 21 musicians and four cities before he and co-producer B.J. Burton decided they were done. It was one of those times when recording was harder than writing, but now that it’s all in the past, McLamb describes himself as “genuinely happy.” McLamb will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand-new feature on the band.
McLamb: I was born and raised in N.C. by parents who lived here all their lives who were raised by parents who lived here all their lives. My roots are deep. McLamb knows NC BBQ. And this is my favorite, hands down. I’ve been to B’s in Greenville, been to Pete’s Skylight Inn in Ayden, which typically make the “best of” lists, and those are great, but this one tops mine. It’s really smokey and spicy and almost reminiscent of a breakfast sausage in flavor. But obviously, N.C. style, chopped and with a vinegar-based sauce. It opened in 1958, and I doubt much has changed since then. They have the smoke houses in the back of the building, and you can smell it when you pull into the parking lot. The pigs are cooked over coals for about seven hours. The meat is then turned and slowly cooked for another two hours. Then they leave the meat on pits six or eight hours to smoke. The pit is three bricks thick. The heat in the bricks and the dying coals cause the meat to drip slowly all night and it’s chopped first thing the next morning. Definitely a labor of love.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-EiqezVoqM
