Greazy Alice’s As Time Goes By (Loose) is an unassuming, under-the radar gem that recently fell into our lap through unconventional channels. Specifically, a personal email from frontman Alex Pianovich’s sports-journalist brother, Stephen. The New Orleans band began in the mid-2010s as an outlet for Alex Pianovich’s rough-and-ready bar-band vision. But over the years, the project has evolved into something more intimate. As Time Goes By trades Greazy Alice’s previous gin-soaked swagger for a stripped-back collection of songs with a plain-spoken, conversational feel that channels everyone from Gram Parsons to Jerry Jeff Walker.
Mostly tracked live to 16-track tape with bassist Will Repholz, drummer Lee Garcia and Pianovich’s vocalist wife, Jo Morris, the LP has earned rave reviews overseas, reaching the top five on the U.K. country chart. The band’s transatlantic success has been fueled in large part by Loose, the influential U.K. independent label whose roster has included Sturgill Simpson, Hurray For The Riff Raff and the Felice Brothers.
MAGNET’s Hobart Rowland recently sent some questions Pianovich’s way.
Greazy Alice has evolved quite a bit since its earliest incarnation. How did the band begin?
The first iteration consisted of a few guys who lived across the street. It’s been an ever-changing group of players since then, but I think the current group will stay like this for the foreseeable future. Will has been the main bassist for seven years; Lee and I’ve been working together on numerous projects since 2021; and Jo and I are married. So fingers crossed this is a keeper lineup.
The band’s name comes from a Terry Allen song, and his influence seems to loom large over the project. What is it about his work that resonates with you so deeply?
Juarez is one of my favorite albums. I was lucky enough to hear it for the first time when I was searching for a new band name. As soon as I heard him say, “Well, I’m sittin’ in a border palace, suckin’ on Dos Equis beer, suckin’ with Greazy Alice,” I knew what I’d call the band. Terry is an extremely inspiring person with such artistic vision and creative drive. I had the pleasure of eating Thanksgiving leftovers with Terry and his wife, Jo Harvey, a few Black Fridays ago. They’re warm, genuine, brilliant people. It was one of those rare scenarios where meeting your heroes isn’t a disappointment.
Tell us more about how As Time Goes By came together?
We did the basic tracking in three different four-hour sessions. For each session, I sent demos to the rhythm section. Lee listened to the demos, and Will ignored them. Once we were together in the studio, I showed them the songs, and we ran through them a few times. When we had an arrangement we liked, we’d roll tape. After we had the bones of the song on tape, Jo came in and overdubbed her harmonies while I cut the nylon-string guitar tracks. Piano was the final touch.
We took great care to get good sounds on the reel, using outboard gear for compression, vocal effects, etc. Then we dumped the tape into the computer. I finished the mixes digitally, but there really wasn’t too much to do. We’ll use a similar formula on the next few records. We all enjoyed it, and it felt relatively effortless. I don’t really like computers—and I fucking hate mixing.
Rather than releasing the entire album to streaming services immediately, you held several songs back. What was the thinking behind that?
We wanted to try something different. We made 60 percent of the songs available on streaming so people could get a taste. And if they liked it and wanted to hear the whole thing early, they had to buy a physical copy or pay for a Bandcamp download.
As Time Goes By has received an enthusiastic response in the U.K. and Europe. Why do you think the music connected there so quickly?
We’re having some success in the U.K. and E.U. thanks to the efforts of our label. They’ve been around since the late ’90s and have a history of finding American artists and helping them get attention across the pond that later translates into traction here. Loose is very well respected in European circles of Americana roots-music aficionados, and their stamp of approval has opened many doors for us. We had a great time going over there to play the Long Road Festival last August. We also played the Kilkenny Roots Festival in Ireland, followed by a week of U.K. shows.
For British audiences, American roots music is kind of their grandchild. Sounds from the British Isles went off to America, mingled with the other music of the world, spawning a new and wholly different offspring. I think the Brits are proud of their influence on our music and intrigued by the way it has morphed after centuries in our melting pot. In the 1960s, when America had forgotten our music, the Brits brought it back to us. We’re excited to see more of the country and meet some musicians.
