Jeff Anderson returns home to celebrate release of new EP at The Spinning Jenny in Greer

By DAN ARMONAITIS

Jeff Anderson still has a fondness for the country music that he enjoyed while growing up in Greer.

“I always liked that kind of ’80s and ’90 style country,” Anderson said. “What I consider real country or honky-tonk style country — country that really tells a story. A lot of the new country music is good and a lot of the songs are well-written but they don’t really tell a good story like the ’80s and ’90s country music did.”

Anderson, who moved to Gatlinburg, Tenn., nearly three years ago, has lately been drawing from that influence to produce his own music and will celebrate the release of his debut EP, “It Is What It Is,” with a performance on Thursday, Dec. 5 at The Spinning Jenny in Greer.

“I guess you could say my goal is to kind of bring back some of that ’80s and ’90s style honky-tonk flair,” Anderson said. “Some of my big inspirations are Aaron Tippin, Dwight Yoakam, Alan Jackson (and) Tracy Lawrence — these guys who just really had a cool sound, a great image and well-written songs that told a good story.

“I think that’s been lost somewhere between the ’90s and now, and I want to bring that back but in my own way.”

Of course, being a child of the ’80s now in his 40s, Anderson was also drawn to rock music, specifically the college/alternative scene from which his “favorite band of all-time,” R.E.M., emerged. Thus, the country music Anderson is making these days features an undercurrent of that influence as well.

“I’ve had people tell me, ‘you’re like new honky-tonk but with this alternative rock kind of sound,'” said Anderson, who played in such Upstate alt-rock bands as Fool’s Society and Less Than Zero in the 1990s. “I mean, your roots are your roots. What I played before were my influences and then I applied that with the country style, so it’s almost like my band has a college rock-style sound but with a country flair and with those feelings and lyrics.”

Anderson thinks the title track to his new EP carries an important message.

“Obviously, I’m from the South, and ‘it is what it is’ is a famous old saying that we’ve all heard,” he explained. “My mother used to say it all the time — ‘well, it is what it is.’ And, quite frankly, I woke up one night at 4 o’clock in the morning and I sat straight up in the bed and it hit me, so I got up and made a pot of coffee, and I started writing that song.

“What I hope that people will take from it is that while you hear so much going on in the country — everybody’s fighting, everybody’s political — you’ve got people who are out there working hard and busting their ass just to barely get by and pay their bills, take care of their family and just do the right thing. And then you’ve got so many other people who abuse the system and just want to live off everybody else’s sweat.”

The song doesn’t come off as preachy, however.

“I guess a great reference point for people is Aaron Tippin’s song, ‘Workin’ Man’s Ph.D.,'” Anderson said. “It’s one of those songs where it’s like people bitch, moan and complain and expect somebody else to cover for them, but you just have to get out there and do it yourself. I mean, this is America. You’ve got an opportunity. Nobody’s stopping you. So, get out there and be who you are, be who you want to be and live your dreams whether anybody supports you or not.

“You have the opportunity to do what you want to do and make out of life what you want to make out of it with the sweat of your own brow. Now, I’m certainly not comparing myself to the quality of Aaron Tippin, but I would like to think that someone would take something away from (‘It Is What It Is’) like I took away from ‘Workin’ Man’s Ph.D.'”

Anderson performs with a backing unit of fellow East Tennessee-based musicians, including Mic Enley on lead guitar, Jeremiah Peck on drums and Jeff Sawyer on bass.

“Even though when we play out live we’re playing under my name and don’t have like an actual band name, we still make decisions as a team,” Anderson said. “I want everybody in the band to feel like they’re just as much a part of it as me and that it’s not just ‘show up, shut up, play what I tell you to play and let’s do it.’ I’m not about that at all. I’m like, ‘let’s make this thing happen and take the ride to the top together and do what’s best for us all.'”

In addition to the title track, which is a studio recording, the EP also contains three other original songs that were recorded live.

“What musicians do in the studio, a lot of times, doesn’t translate to the live performances, so I wanted to give people a taste of what they’d hear from us live as well,” Anderson said. “Now, we will go record those as full-blown studio recordings over the first part of the new year, but I wanted to get three songs on (the EP) that had a live flavor and that people could listen to and feel like they’re at a show.”

As for Thursday’s EP release concert at The Spinning Jenny, Anderson said he’s particularly excited to be sharing the bill with Marc Higgins & the Chainsaw Bears, a Spartanburg-based folk-rock band whose singer-songwriter namesake and drummer, Michelle Lee, have been longtime friends of his.

“I used to know them really well when I was in Fool’s Society,” Anderson said. “This is back when I was going to college at (Spartanburg Methodist College) and playing Dawggone’s on jam nights and Magnolia’s and Zapata’s and all those places. And the band Marc had back then would travel and play shows together with us.

“Well, I had lost contact with them for about 10 or 15 years, just through life — kids, family and that kind of stuff. And then about a month ago, I was in the Upstate, visiting family, and Marc was playing at the Growler Haus in Spartanburg. Me and my fiance were like, ‘let’s go down there to see him.’ … So, we visited with him and hung out and just caught up and chewed the fat a little, and I told him, ‘I’ve got some things coming up and I’d love to involve you if you’re willing,’ and he was like, ‘sure.’

“It just so happened that this show was coming up and I felt like even though we do two different styles of music, it would be a great fit.”

Anderson, who recently opened for country star Lee Ann Womack at The Spinning Jenny, said he’s looking forward to continuing to build his music career in 2020. He’s already putting together a spring tour dubbed as “The Country Carnival,” the name of which pays homage to his background of working with McFeely Amusements, which was run for many years by his stepfather and mother.

“I truly feel most at home when I’m playing out live for people,” Anderson said. “There’s no feeling as great as the intimacy of connecting with a fan or an audience member — when something that comes from my heart and soul speaks to somebody else and they’re able to connect with it.

“It ain’t about money, it’s not about fame and it’s not about recognition. My biggest accomplishment is if somebody was out in the audience listening to my song and they got goosebumps. If that happens, I feel like I’ve made it as a musician.”