The Emmett Kelly Interview
The LA-based singer-songwriter and guitar extraordinaire Emmett Kelly, no, not that Emmett Kelly, though we owe so much to the late, trailblazer of clown culture, but the Emmett Kelly of such groups as The Cairo Gang, Natural Information Society, Ty Segall, The CIA, and, most recently, the acclaimed supergroup the Hard Quartet, has become a household name among his peers. While simultaneously bending one reality of music with another, the veteran musician has played alongside countless legends throughout his nearly thirty-year career, and he’s only getting started. Like a cosmic chameleon, Kelly embraces creative and critical change in a world that constantly shifts for better or worse. Thank God for music!
Photo: JR
How did you initially connect with music, more specifically the guitar, and songwriting? I’m really curious to know about the early days of performing in such projects as the experimental collective Who Cares How Long You Sink, and Joshua Abrahms/Natural Information Society. Did you work with Red Krayola and Mayo Thompson, too, or did I just make that up in one of my dream collaborations?
Photo: Rachel Cassels
I grew up in music as my whole family were musos. I’m not sure how I connected with it or the guitar, really, because I was very young (around 10). I suppose, as a kid, I felt like a misfit, and as the auld story goes, I found solace and identity in music. I did one recording with Who Cares How You Sink, and the memory is foggy, though I do recall meeting a bunch of cool people at that session. Chicago at that time was like a dream music scene. Constantly opening new channels of thinking. Playing with Joshua Abrams has been deep because not only was I part of the Natural Information Society for a few albums, but he also played in my band, The Cairo Gang, at some point, and we also toured the world for a couple of years in the Bonnie “Prince” Billy outfit. With Josh, I feel like there is always a learning curve to what we are doing, which is why I appreciate the relationship I have with him, aside from just being close friends. I only recently started playing with Mayo in The Red Krayola. I was a part of a big freak-out recording session some twenty years ago or something. But our actual playing together only just started recently. This year, we hope to go deep. Mayo is a huge inspiration to me, and I’m eager to share what we are concocting.
Photo: Jim Newberry
One of the many things I admire about your music and overall drive is how you're able to shape-shift from one genre to the next. It seems that your roots are grounded in the more free-form/jazz/psychedelia realms, but then you go full indie rock at the flip of a switch! What is your process, approach, and artistic ethics that drive you to where you ultimately want to go? As someone who is prolific and hyper-aware of his time and where it is going, I imagine it feels like your life is going in several directions all the time. Like a writer in fear of writer’s block, do you ever find yourself worried about the well drying, or just the general maintenance on the machine of melody, and madness, if that makes sense?
I don’t consider genre, and truly hate the confines of it linguistically. I think of all of it as part of the same thing! I try to keep things open, and I don’t like recitation. My beliefs are Marxist. I don’t want to tell people what to do, and I don’t like people who tell me what to do. I respect discussion and perspectives that aren’t mine. I am not an expert, and I don’t consider my ideas to be the right ones necessarily, but I will always strive for presence of mind and spirit, and honor the wellspring that music flows from in others. I don’t believe in mistakes, but I think it’s easy to be a dickhead. I try my best not to be one. I don’t think of it drying up, but I do feel that there are times when writing isn’t what I’m supposed to do. I spent a lot of time over the past years focused entirely on playing and trying not to write. I think some people need to reevaluate their purpose, and that’s okay. I also feel like you have to take care of yourself, and that can be a challenge when you tour as much as I do. What I mean is both physically and mentally. Everything needs balance, and I’m not a record-creating machine. Not even a song machine. I have reached a point where I feel confident that music is the place where I feel a connection with myself and the world of song. Music is for everyone, and I really feel the need to maintain a positive relationship with it, so I don’t push myself to produce products, etc. I play guitar every day for the joy of it.
“I am not an expert, and I don’t consider my ideas to be the right ones necessarily, but I will always strive for presence of mind and spirit, and honor the wellspring that music flows from in others. ”
Jumping ahead a bit, how did the Hard Quartet come about, as well as connecting with Matt Sweeney and Stephen Malkmus? I know you and Jim White go a long way back, but have you crossed paths with the others quite often over the years? Speaking for a lot of folks here, when I say the group’s 2024 self-titled debut was a big one all around, how did this outfit impact your career in particular? I understand you had a show this past weekend. It’s probably a safe assumption that 2026 will be epic in a lot of different ways. What else is on the radar this coming year? Is there anything else you would like to share further with the readers?
Photo: Atiba Jefferson
I’m not sure how things affect my career. It’s made me busy, which I love, haha. People think what they want about this and that, and they like to create narratives about this and that. We came together because Matt really wanted to connect me and Jim to what he and Steve were doing when they made one of Steve’s last albums. It blossomed because it turns out we all have deeper connections with each other, and it became a band after about two hours of jamming. To say it’s a dream come true is downplaying it. Each one of them is tremendous in my life and has been since forever. I’m totally blessed to find myself in a group like that. I played solo, yeah, opening for my friend Ryan Sawyer’s Shaker Ensemble. I’ve been playing occasional solo shows over the past few years, approaching them more as a singer and less as a songwriter. So I will play songs of all types. Some of mine, of course, but always lots of others, too. It’s meant to be about singing and songs, not ownership or authorship. It’s mildly disturbing to me that songs are so locked into people’s minds as recordings. I wish I were around in an era when people openly shared songs because the songs were meant to be of interest, not this cult of personality and nostalgia. Of course, I put too much thought into everything, and whatever I’m singing, some songs. I think I will hang up my torch-singing hat for a while after this. 2026 is going to be interesting, of course, with touring with Ty Segall, Red Krayola stuff, and the Hard Quartet. I will also begin a new trip at some point. I want to do more all the time, and hopefully that happens. My New Year’s resolution is not to acquire anything else, object-wise. I want to chill the fuck out. I want to enjoy being in the present and not be so much of a spaz. Hopefully, I will go back to Italy at the end of the year.
