Montana

PD: How much time did you spend in Montana?

JM: That’s where I spent most of my time. It’s been great, and it’s all a testament to [the locals’] acceptance, because I know there’s got to be a fair amount of skepticism about a well-known guy coming into town. And there’s got to be some skepticism, some doubt about what the intent of it is. But they’ve really been great to me and accepted me. It’s just been fantastic. It’s sort of the very definition of what a personal life is. It’s not just about who you’re dating, it’s about who you know who works at the place you get your coffee from, and knowing what the high school mascot is of your town. That’s the stuff that’s been really great, is just connecting with the community.

Interviewer: I know another big change you made; you move to Montana. You try to get away from everything, you try to get a sort of a rural setting. What was that like, why'd you do that? And did that help you musically? 

JM: It was great. It was perfect. It saved my life.

Interviewer: Literally?

JM: Yeah because I wouldn't had much of a life if I was still in my head the way that I was a couple years ago. And it saved my life because it took me out of this perceived noise, this perceived action/activity, this perceived war that didn't exist. And it said "you sit here." And I did it, I said I'm gonna sit there. And it's really hard at first to feel the fear of missing out and sit through it. But in a way I had to the help because there's nothing to do anyway.

I wouldn't have been able to keep myself in the woods if I could have gone played, because I would have just looked to going to play to get the boost that I needed to get. And that's the way my whole life went and in a way I'm really glad that's happened to me because all I would do is book a show. If you hurt someone's feelings, if you did something like in your personal life where you haven't called a friend back in forever and they chewed you out, or if you feel bad about yourself when you should. Right?

You feel bad about yourself in a moment that would probably provide you with some sort of perspective and learning and you go "not going to feel it, let's go play." Then you're denying yourself growing up. And I could always pick up a guitar and I could always be great and while I was playing I could say "why do I ever worry about what anybody thinks?" And then of course we take the guitar off you're just raw nerves.  

And so because I couldn't just go rely on that as my protection I had to really sort of grow up in the interim that I had been successful for all at once. And when I figured it out I was like thank god I still have a career after figuring it out, because a lot of people figure it out when they don't have a career. A lot of people go "I get it! Let's do a show." And they go "nobody likes you." So that was really great to get away.

AS: This album, "Paradise Valley," is named for a place where you bought property.

JM: Mm-hmm.

AS: Do you write different kinds of songs in Montana than you write in LA or New York?

JM: Yes.

AS: What's the difference?

JM: You know, the difference is - and I may have taken a hit commercially for it - is that you may have to go to someplace like Montana to get this record. Like a song like "Dear Marie," if you take that song on the road, any open road, it's killer. I think if you're on a subway in Manhattan, I don't know if it's going to play like that. But I actually really like - you know, I love George Clooney for many reasons - and don't we all? But one of the reasons I love him is because he can - he really knows how to mete out the work that he does.

RF: What have you found in Montana?

JM: I just found home, man. And it gives you outside perspective. I'm gonna have one wife, a certain number of children, friends that are set, fans that will listen to the music that I make. And the greatest moment for me was giving up the big fight. The big fight to be this thing that gets off the airplane at LAX and floats through—  and I have a lot I have a lot of admiration and like envy sometimes for people that large, you know. I'll be standing by the front desk sometimes being like, you know, anyone want to notice anybody won't notice me.

Okay, so 2010 I come off the road, I go, I want to just make a completely different record. So I make Born and Raised. But I'm living in New York City and I'm completely left alone, it's really great. But I didn't move to Montana until 2011. So I made Born and Raised in New York and LA. Moved to Montana where I wanted to move anyway. Then I had a vocal situation that prohibited me from singing on tour. And I made another record out there because I went, Well I just want to make records. That's what I do.

And I love that guys like Stephen King can write a short one or a big one. I mentioned this before, but George Clooney is who everybody should aspire to be in their career. Make a big one, [then] make a black-and-white one. And I went, This should be a black-and-white one. And it sort of gets flattened and reduced so that people can sort of—

And so I'd go home drunk and I'd lay on my couch and watch 30 Rock. And for anybody keeping score 30 Rock goes by way too fast if you're drunk. You don't get the jokes. It's too fast. But I would let it play in the background and I would go on like realtor.com and I would just look at places in Montana. 

DD: What made you pick Montana? 

JM: I was in Salt Lake City playing a gig in 2010 and we had the day off and I was at the hotel bar. I sat next to a guy who said he was from somewhere in Montana and said the most beautiful town in the world is Livingston, Montana. He gave me his card, wrote “Livingston, Montana” on the back, and god knows I still wish I had that card but I don't. And from then on I kept Googling Livingston, Montana, this guy said this was the most beautiful place. And as a catharsis when I was drunk and my heart was broken for whatever reason I would go, “I'm out of here!"

And I remember the world's worst catch-22 was that the same drink that made me want to leave made it impossible to drive. I mean the things that you would have done had you had the mobility and the right to do, you would have woken up 800 miles away. And I remember laying on a couch going, “I have to go, I have to get out of here, but I'm too drunk, and I know I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and I won't be drunk and I'll want to stay.”

DD: Oh, that’s the worst. The “yo-yo!"
 
JM: I wish somebody would come and pick me up right now and drive me 800 miles. 

DD: Oh, I had the same effect with living in San Francisco but not with booze but with the dot com—the first wave of the dot com—coming in and just wiping out the music scene. You know, each night I’d be like “I’m out of here." 

JM: But you were too drunk to fly.

DD: Yeah, and then the next day you’re like, “where am I gonna go, I’m just here.” 

JM: And then you get mad at yourself—that guy's a wimp the next day. And you start bifurcating the tough guy who wants to make the change and the wimp who wakes up hungover and goes “I can't."

DD: And then eventually you’re just like “I’m fucking out of here.” 

JM: And I sold my apartment and I moved out to Montana. 

DD: You saw something online and was like “this is it?” 

JM: I called a realtor—well I had had a vocal surgery so I was on voice rest.

JM: It was such a strange time. But I moved out there—we were driving through Bozeman on a trip just to keep me kind of happy and up and out and occupied—and I grabbed a realtor book of magazine outside of Big Sky at some restaurant in Big Sky, and started flipping through it. And called a realtor and I said, hey—maybe I left a voice message—and I gave her keywords, “Neil Young, acoustic guitar, folk music, 70's, cozy.” And she called me back and she said, “I've only got one place, it's a pocket listing it's not even on the market, I can only think of one place.” She drove me out to it while the Sun was setting, I could hardly see it and I went, “I'll take it.” 

DD: Really?!  

JM: Actually what I did was I put a bid in on it. And I'm such a dangerous negotiator because I kind of don't care. And I remember going like “if they don't take the bid I don't have to go to Montana, if they do take the bid I get to go to Montana.” I didn't care I was sort of like “let the universe surprise me.” 

And the guy accepted the bid and I was like, Okay I'm going.

DD: From New York to Montana, that's got to be a fucking complete change—I mean the first week you're sleeping there you’re like, “What the fuck?!” 

JM: But I was ready to get out. I lived in my little guest house—the main house was empty for months. And I lived in this little tiny guest house—it's a little tiny room. It was like living in your grandparents house. And a whole winter went by man and I just—and actually that's when I tried to go back out on tour. And I couldn't.