This is an interview from months ago. Remember those others we did? Now that Austin is on tour in Europe, we thought it would be perfect to release this one. Austin doesn’t appear to be a funny guy, but he is, and this interview shows that. While his songs and devotion to his music are dead serious, he can be a goofball. We had the privilege to hang out with him on his last euro tour a lot and at Muddy Roots and thus became friends. If you live in Europe and he’s doing a show in your neighbourhood, go see it and take it all in. It could change your life… Enjoy…

1. Introduce yourself to our readers please.
My name is Austin Robert Lincoln Stirling. I rarely wash my pants. I want sweet tea.

2. On what record would you have loved to play? (any style, artist, whatever)
Mine. I didn’t get to play on mine. Everyone who played on the albums were hired studio musicians and they wore my clothes, slept in my bed, used my tooth-brush and drank my sweat tea during recording as to get a feel for my life. (Not true)

3. What is the first concert that made a real impression on you and made you want to play music?
Horse the Band opened for Gwar. And I wasn’t really there to see Gwar as much as I wanted to see HTB and that was a pretty intense set that really sticks out in my mind. “God what awful ruckus” was just that btw. Other than that Andrew Bird blew my mind when I got to see him! I was amazed and always appreciated the creativity behind everything he does. Oh and I only got to see the first 3 songs in Bon Ivers set and it was hands down the most I have ever been moved by music! More intense than any metal show I’ve ever been to. Hard to explain. Just amazing.

4. Is there a musician/artist you really want to work with and why?
I’m playing with two guys that I respect musically at the moment. And that’s Henry Berger and Cris Bissell of S.S. WEB. So they are def two of them and here I am blessed enough to be doing just that.

5. How did you end up in this “roots” scene?
I don’t know how I ended up here. God moves and I try to be just a stick in the current.

6. Do you believe in aliens, and if so… What does their music sounds like?
I have a shoe box under my bed and it’s full of thoughts and opinions that I have and feel I must keep to myself. A lot of the topics and beliefs I have go into that shoebox. It’s not very big but I rarely take topics out of that box to discus. If I do, I do it discreetly and I speak pretty softly about those topics. Aliens are one of those topics in that box. But if they have music it would def sound like farts.

7. Who do you believe to be the most overrated band on the planet at this moment, and why?
All of them and non of them. That’s all relative. With that said ween makes me want to start wars and set myself in fire. But someone might dig them. So high five to them. But yeah I wish I was a dead person whenever I hear ween.

8.Just like any “scene” this one will explode in time, how do you see the future of this new “roots” movement?
Eh there’s no telling really. It seems to be getting bigger and more well known. Or it could be dying off and I’m to busy listening to Joe Huber to notice. But either way I will still have heartburn and Taylor Swift will still be selling more albums than all of us combined. And I’m ok with that.

9. What band or record do you really like, but you are a little a shamed about?
I’m not ashamed of anything I like. I openly announce that I have some crappy taste in music. I do like Fatlip or Aesop rock (the two songs I have on my iPod) I love super mellow singer songwriter stuff. Ya know the real sensitive stuff perfect to take a bubble bath to fashioned with bath beads and a luffa. And that’s mainly what I listen to. I learned that I am a calmer, gentler person day to day if I listen to softer music. So instead or crankin Ed Gene in the mornings before I’ve even had enough time to get a bagel, I’ll turn on some James Vincent mccmorrow or Gregory Allen isakov. My day is just sexy then.

10. Eating dog shit or record with Toby Keith?
Depends. If we are writing a song about how Toby can’t write a song I may be ok with that. I could take the money I make from selling my soul and buy a wallaby because I want to cuddle and watch always sunny with one and she could also carry my tv remote and guitar picks in her pouch for me and I’ll never loose them.