Talking country music, the Rolling Stones and 'Daddy's Home' with St. Vincent: Interview

What's the latest stop on career-spanning sonic subway ride from rock 'n' roll shapeshifter St. Vincent? A platform overflowing with scuzzy 1970s grooves.

For her latest album, "Daddy's Home," St. Vincent — the brainchild of Texas-raised artist Annie Clark —spins a story that tugs on her real-life experience of visiting her father during his 12-year prison stay for stock manipulation.

The 14-track album, co-produced by Taylor Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff and released earlier this year, takes a dash of influence from Stevie Wonder, nods to Steely Dan and channels David Bowie-like world-building.

Next month, Clark brings "Daddy's Home" to the Grammy Awards, where she's nominated for Best Alternative Album. The recognition comes as Clark closes a year where she co-wrote and starred in new film "The Nowhere Inn," returned to Austin City Limits and remixed a Paul McCartney tune.

Days before the holidays (to get in the spirit, Clark planned to cast her family in a Victorian-era themed "Christmas Carol" rendition for the second year running, she said) the singer-songwriter-actor discussed country music, the Rolling Stones and "Daddy's Home" in a new Tennessean interview. Read on for an edited version of the conversation.

Growing up in Texas, was country music part of the creative puzzle you pieced together as a kid?

When I was growing up it was all about Nirvana, you know? So country music, I rejected whole-heartedly. Like, 'No, no. I'm a rock person.' But now I love it. I love Loretta, Dolly, George Jones, George Strait. Outlaw country. Tanya Tucker, God bless. It's just some of the absolute best songwriting in the world. I'm totally here for it, but I had to come to it in adulthood and run from it in my youth.

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You were here in Nashville a few months ago on the same night as the Rolling Stones.

It was a really Sophie's choice for a few fans [laughs]. That's another band that I feel into that trap as a kid — Beatles or Stones? And I was Beatles all the way. I always liked the Stones, but I started loving the Stones in a deep way making 'Daddy's Home.'

How so?

Just the vibe and the groove and the sound and the feeling got in deep for the first time. Instead of me going, 'Oh yeah. This is cool. I like this.' It was like, 'Oh s***. This is heavy.' I'm a huge Stones fan now, which is great. One of the things this says to me is great music will find you but also you'll find great music when you're ready for it. Sometimes you're not ready for stuff when you first hear it. That's been my experience with a lot of music.

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You mentioned you were Beatles all the way. How has it been to get to know Paul McCartney?

He's absolutely charming and absolutely genius. I guess you could call it a milestone but not even because it's so out of this planet. It's one of those things where you go, 'Oh man. I made a lot of mistakes but I must've done something right somewhere if Paul McCartney is calling me.' Of course I saw the Beatles doc but what I loved about it so much was ... I think a lot of people who don't make music think abut it as magic — and it absolutely is. But I found it so refreshing to watch how they could come in with a good idea and hash it out and make it great. That was the most inspiring thing abut it.

On 'Daddy's Home' you too tackle a heaviness in the songs. What was it like for you to stay in that headspace?

I've lived all [those] stories, so I could write about them. I've been the girl with 'last night's heels on the morning train' [in reference to album song "Down and Out Downtown”]. I've been the girl '... At The Holiday Party' on both sides: The person who's revealing themselves by the things they try to hide and the person who sees somebody in pain, just flailing to cauterize the wound with conspicuous consumption. The record, to me, is the process of my metamorphosis into 'Daddy.' Even though it starts with a story of visiting my actual father in prison and how abject and darkly funny that was, it really [is] my journey.

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I've seen where the album draws influence from Sly and the Family Stone and Steely Dan. What I hear a ton of throughout it, though, is Prince.

Prince is in everybody's veins. Prince and [David] Bowie, they're artists that I've listened to so much of that I don't have to in any way consciously think about it reference [laughs].

Have you thought about what's next?

Yeah, always. In my experience, there's no shortcut, unfortunately. You just have to take the path. I just follow my instincts and follow my nose on every record and I'm lucky I'm still here. Even though I'm a number of records in now, I have a body of work that feels like I'm so just getting started. I don't have enough time in my life to do all the things I want to do, musically.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: St. Vincent talks country music, the Rolling Stones and 'Daddy's Home'