Anderson East's Southern Hospitality
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Kat Irlin
Anderson East joins Sid Evans to share tales of his job as a teenager slinging barbeque, his mother's church piano (which he now uses in his studio), and how his grandmother's battle with Alzheimer's influenced the title track from his latest album "Maybe We Never Die."
Get to Know Anderson East
Anderson East was born and raised in Athens, Alabama, about 20 minutes from the Tennessee border. Having moved to Nashville right after high school to pursue music, Anderson made a name for himself with a powerful voice that harkens back to soul singers like Otis Redding. Songs like "Devil In Me" from his album Delilah in 2015 have a timeless quality. It sounds like something out of the 60s, but at the same time, you've never heard anything like it.
What Anderson East Talks About in This Episode
*Favorite Things About Athens, Alabama
*Growing Up in Bar-B-Que Country
*His Relationship with His Grandfather and the Church
*Pursuing a Musical Education
*His Grandmother's Battle with Alzheimer's
*What Being Southern Means to Him
Quotes from Anderson East
"There's a lot. I think number one, Dub's Burgers is probably one of my favorite restaurants in the world. Athens was a really great place to grow up. That whole area of north Alabama is just exploding, But when I was growing up, it was still a very small and sleepy town. And looking back on it now, I think it definitely is a blessing…So, it's just good simple country living. Everybody knew each other. Everybody was in each other's business and everybody was taking care of each other and my entire family's still there. And everybody lives no more than two miles from each other. And I'm the only one that's ever left."
"Both of my grandmothers on both sides. My grandmother on my mother's side, she still to this day, has full family dinner every Sunday. Everybody's over and just real Southern cooking. My stepmother's amazing. My mom's amazing."
"He was the epitome of 'strong Southern man.' He's like 900 feet tall and just Jesus and fishing— was like his world. That was all. So we were in the boat from before the sun came up until it got too hot. A very wise man. He was in the Air Force and we look identical. If you look at pictures of him when we were a similar age, it's like, 'oh, God, genetics is a real thing.' So he's handsome as can be, I'll tell you that. Still full head of hair. But yeah, definitely a great role model. And he raised three pretty amazing women one of them being my mom and then us grandkids. He was always the one to look up to within everybody's faults that they have. But he's led a really tremendous life."
—-Anderson East
"I'd kind of just had the thought of what are you at the end of your life if your memory is gone? What part of you is this person? I know a lot of people have seen family members go through that thing. And it's the hardest thing to just watch that deterioration of memory, And so I was thinking one day, your essence has to be more than these electrical impulses that are firing in your brain that somehow is triggering these memories… And I don't have any kind of definitive answer on what you actually are and I just couldn't wrestle the thought down. I'm a fan of the idea of the soul and things that live on... I couldn't just accept the fact that this is what this person is now, if that makes any kind of sense?"
About Biscuits & Jam
In the South, talking about food is personal. It's a way of sharing your history, your Family, your culture, and yourself. Each week Sid Evans, editor in chief of Southern Living, sits down with celebrity musicians to hear stories of how they grew up, what inspired them, and how they've been shaped by Southern culture. Sid takes us back to some of their most cherished memories and traditions, the family meals they still think about, and their favorite places to eat on the road.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Stitcher.
Get a transcript of the full interview with Anderson East.
