After opening for the Avett Brothers at The Lawn at White River State Park in October, roots-rockers Truth and Salvage Co. returned for another hit on Indy, opening for JJ Grey and MOFRO at The Vogue last month. Indianapolis is becoming one of the band’s regular stops, thanks to singer/songwriter/guitarist Tim Jones’ roots here.
The band often hangs out at Jones’ parents’ house when in town; the guys also stayed around for a few days and cut some songs at an Indianapolis studio when they were here on October.
The band just finished a run of shows in the smaller, sweatier clubs, in a slew of one-nighters. As they finished up, I caught up with Jones to ask some questions that had been rattling around my little rock-and-roll head.
RN: You recorded some music in Indianapolis when you were in town, opening for the Avett Brothers in early October. What did you record and where?
TIM JONES: Well, we were planning on recording some demos for the next record with the Johnson brothers at Pop Machine or Vess Ruhtenberg and Andy Fry at Queensize, but then we realized we needed more rehearsal on the songs before we recorded them. So we spent four days at the Music Garage arranging 
and rehearsing 10 or so songs that we’ve been playing on this tour now.
RN: Have the songs been around for a couple months, or are some new?
TJ: We did a songwriting retreat at the end of August to try and put together a lot of ideas that we’ve been throwing around the last two years. We’ve literally been touring almost non-stop the whole time, so it’s been hard to actually write, especially as a band.
RN:: Why did you decide to record in Indy?
TJ: We rehearsed in Indy ’cause we had four days off after a couple dates with the Avett Brothers before our tour really started.
RN:: Will these tracks become an album, or are they demos?
TJ: We’re working on getting all the songs ready for the second record. We’ve got about 20 possible (songs) right now, so we fleshed them out in Indy so that we could play them on this tour and see how they worked. Hopefully [we’ll] get them real good so when we go into the studio it will be real easy to track and be natural. We really want to make a record that you can smell, taste and feel.
RN: What have you learned in the past six months that you wish you had known before?
TJ: From a business standpoint, it’s really hard to tour without a publicist. There’s so much music out there, and constant entertainment choices. If people don’t know you’re playing, then they don’t even have the knowledge to make the choice of what they’re going see or not see.
RN:You are coming back through Indy for at least the third time since September. Besides being your hometown, what is it that the band has started to like about Indianapolis?
TJ: All my family and friends have now become the band’s family and friends and there’s just no place like home. [I love] being there in October and watching the changing of the leaves and feeling the crunch of the ground walking around, and the smell of the air. It really is a magical place in the fall.
VIDEO – From final show of 2011 tour
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