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Twere But It Were So Simple - Release Date March 10. 2023

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Some artists are deliberate in what they do, while others eagerly accept the mystery of it all. Jason Stutts, who goes by Rust Dust on record, belongs to the latter group, allowing songs to take shape in mere minutes or over the course of years, serving them the best he can with whatever sounds, words, energy and emotions manifest. “I don’t typically sit down to write a song. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to recognize them when they appear,” he says.

Happen they did, for Twere But It Were So Simple. Rust Dust’s second LP for Omad, is a deceptively simple, spacious-sounding LP recorded live in a ramshackle Brooklyn brownstone. The jaunty instrumental eye-opener “Helter Fukov Awakens” segues into some improbable guitar pop, with the “all-lit-up-with-nowhere-to go” gusto of “UFO.” The tasty “Ice Queen Sandwich” and “Speaking In Tongues” vibe together like Robyn Hitchcock cornering Townes Van Zandt at a buoyant, boozy rent party.

Things take a slower, somber turn on the delicately played and achingly sung title track conjuring images of “snakes in my pockets, and a rope around my neck,” and “Sky,” a haunting, heartbreaking collaboration with Omad main man John DeNicola. There’s also a New Orleans-inflected number, “Must Be Jelly”—plucked and blown on banjo and trombone—and a handful of covers, including a driven “You Got To Move,” inspired by the Rev. John Wilkins’ arrangement, and a sparsely elegiac version of Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”

Throughout, the album has a kick of country and an ample serving of blues roots to be expected from a devout guitar geek whose floor-to-ceiling collection includes guitars dating from the 1890’s to the 1960’s. (Full disclosure: Stutts’ day job is repairing and restoring such stuff.) Remarkably, though, the only two guitars used on Twere... are a Godin Multiac, a modern nylon-string electric designed to sound acoustic when plugged in and an old Yamaha nylon. “The Godin is a practical, utilitarian instrument, but, yeah, a pretty odd choice, considering my vintage leanings,” Stutts admits.

It was a shared appreciation for old gear that first brought Stutts and DeNicola together, and in 2017 the Oscar-winning, Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter helmed Diviners and Shivs, the first Rust Dust record. While that album was also recorded live, it got made in DeNicola’s upstate New York studio; the lockdown of the last few years led Stutts to go full-on DIY for the follow-up. “I really enjoyed working in John’s barn, with him and our engineer, Andris J. Balins, on Diviners and Shivs,” he says. “But when these songs felt ready, I just set up multiple microphones and played them through an amplifier. With the exception of “Must Be Jelly,” basically what you hear is how they came out live with a few effects in the mix.”

Maybe it’s not all that mysterious after all. Maybe it’s just that simple.

Diviners and Shivs

Here’s what you’ll get with the outlaw folk of Rust Dust’s Diviners and Shivs: One voice, a few fine old instruments, and an unflinching, all-of-a-piece performance that will reach you in the moment and resonate with historical memory. 

Rust Dust, formally known as Ardell Jason Shealy Stutts, is a South Carolina native with a healthy aversion for barbers and liars. He earns his keep repairing and dealing in guitars and amps of a certain age. After bonding with Oscar-winning, Grammy-nominated producer John DeNicola over their mutual affection for this sort of vintage gear, Jason explained his concept for a record.

“A set of songs came together.  I rearranged and de-arranged them until they tell the story of Diviners and Shivs,” Jason says. “They seemed to fit naturally with the country, blues and gospel songs I always held dear, and I hoped to record them, live, with someone who wanted to contribute to the sound and feel so that this wasn’t just a ‘dude with an acoustic’ record.”

John was in. “Jason wanted to do this like a performance art piece, a live recording straight to two-track tape, and I thought my barn studio in upstate New York would be the perfect setting,” John says. “While Jason would be the only guitarist and singer, he saw the project as the work of a ‘band,’ with me and our engineer, Andris J. Balins, ‘playing’ the gear.” 

So Rust Dust made use of the large hayloft and milk house, placing different mics in various locations to capture subtle nuances. They even used the corn silo as a reverb unit, putting a mic at the top and bottom and sending Jason’s voice and guitar through a speaker. Then they left the building entirely and recorded outside.

You’ll hear this process in the prison-break intensity of the title track and the rawboned blues of “Just Can’t Keep From Crying.” You’ll feel it in the acidic sincerity of “Nothing Hurts Worse.” You’ll know it through a medley that teams Townes Van Zandt’s “Lungs” with Rust Dust’s “Modern Times,” a tragedy for the Trump era with rough and tumble guitar, before seguing into the possible salvation of “Everything Got Softer.” By the time you reach the end of Side Two, with the almost jaunty delivery of “Wayfaring Stranger” and an “Amazing Grace” from your strangest dream, you’ll believe in salvation, goddamnit.

“I hope everyone can listen and dream their own story of Diviners and Shivs.  John and Andris made sonic changes live and played the barn, board and tape machine while we recorded straight to tape.  It gives the album a cool sound and movement.”

Adds John: “What you hear is simply wonderful songs, with all the excitement and immediacy of a great live performance. Diviners and Shivs harkens back to music that was pure and raw while still being very contemporary—an heir to Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Ralph Stanley that reflects a unique take on the world right now.” 

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