By DAN ARMONAITIS
After several years as a restless troubadour who spent most of her nights sleeping in a touring van, acclaimed indie folk singer-songwriter Ira Wolf has somewhat settled down.
“Just about a month or two ago, I finally bought a house here in Nashville and have kind of been transitioning into a little bit of a different lifestyle here, which is fun,” Wolf said. “I do love being on the road but it’s been nice to take a break.”
That said, Wolf plans to continue traveling all over the world for gigs, including a performance on Friday, Jan. 10 at Swanson’s Warehouse in Greenville. The show, which also features local artists Mourning Dove and Brooks Dixon, will be her first in the Upstate since the release of her most recent album, “The Closest Thing to Home,” in the latter part of 2017.
“For anyone who hasn’t seen one of my shows since that record was released, I guess those will be new songs,” Wolf said. “I’m also working on another record right now, so I’ll also have some brand new material to share. I’ll be playing solo on this run, so it’ll just be me and my guitar and some new tunes.”
Unfortunately, Wolf won’t show up for Friday’s gig in her much beloved 1988 Volkswagen Westfalia touring van, which graced the cover of “The Closest Thing to Home” and was immortalized in a song called “Ruby.”
“She’s not much of a winter gal so I’ve been putting her in storage out in southern California for the last couple of years,” Wolf said of the van she calls Ruby. “I tour in the Subaru during the winter months, which is a lot less fun but hopefully a little safer. But I’ll reunite with the van probably in March and start touring that way again.”
Ruby entered Wolf’s life a few years ago when a California-based company called GoWesty loaned it to her as part of a promotional partnership.
“They let me borrow it for six months to tour around the country, and I just became 100 percent obsessed with it,” Wolf said. “And it was really, really hard at the end of that tour to give the van back. I did, but then I immediately started saving every dime that I could and, about a year later, was able to buy the van outright. So I now have the exact same van, Ruby.”
The song, “Ruby,” is a bluegrass-tinged number that paints about as beautiful a picture of unconditional love as one will ever find.
“I always joke that Ruby is the only one that I’ve ever written a love song about,” Wolf said. “I mean, my fiancé doesn’t have a love song yet but Ruby has at least two. I’m working on writing love songs about humans, but right now it’s just about the van.”
Wolf’s music draws from a variety of influences.
“My favorite band of all-time is Death Cab for Cutie,” Wolf said. “Benjamin Gibbard (who leads the indie rock outfit), I think, is just a brilliant, brilliant human, and I’ve loved a lot of his projects.
“Sam Beam is another one who got me into songwriting through his Iron & Wine project. And then, as I kind of got into college and then out of college and moved to Nashville, I got really into folk, especially (artists) like Gillian Welch & David Rawlings and Patty Griffin.”
Wolf added that Gregory Alan Isakov has also become a major influence in recent years, and she also appreciates the work of such long-deceased artists as Townes Van Zandt and Karen Carpenter.
“My mom always jokes that I sang before I talked, so vocally I feel like that part didn’t need much influence,” said Wolf, who received classical vocal training while growing up. “Vocally, I just let it be what it is. But with songwriting, that’s something where I truly do study other artists I love and kind of figure out what techniques they’re using and what inspiration they’re finding.
“And then I kind of work different pieces of each person into whatever I’m trying to do and see what happens with it. It’s kind of like a fun little puzzle to put together, I guess.”
A native of southern Montana, Wolf was raised in a small town between Bozeman and Billings. Growing up, she dreamed of escaping to a big city.
“Now, as an adult, I’m 100 percent obsessed with Montana,” said Wolf, who studied for a while at Berklee College of Music in Boston and, of course, now lives in Nashville. “I think it’s one of the best places in the world. It’s so beautiful, and I now look back on my childhood really fondly because I had a really unique and special upbringing.
“I mean, I had horses all through childhood, and we would go to rodeos. So, I absolutely love that I grew up in Montana.”
As a touring musician, Wolf has visited all 50 U.S. states as well as the U.K., Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
“I’ve found a great balance for myself in making time to do a lot of hikes or backpacking or camping trips within the areas that I’m playing shows in, which feels really good,” Wolf said. “It kind of allows me to have a little bit of normalcy on the road. … Anything to get a little fresh air and be outside of a vehicle a little bit is perfect.”