Eastbayri.com

WARREN — As you read this, it’s a good bet Joe Fletcher is packing, unpacking, talking on a phone, sleeping or playing on-stage somewhere. The 36-year-old songwriter and guitar player behind Joe Fletcher and The Wrong Reasons moved to town about a month ago, but he spends most of his time on the road. This weekend, he and his friends in Warren-based Brown Bird have a four-date minitour in Boston, New Haven, Providence and Brooklyn. I's not easy, but it’s a life the former teacher always wanted. He made it happen five months ago when he walked away from a 10-year career teaching high school English, and he isn’t looking back:

Why Warren? “I’d been living in Providence for about 15 years, ever since I got out of college. But I was looking for a cheaper place. While I was on tour in September and October, I gave up my old apartment and started looking. I’d never spent any time here; I’d come to visit Dave (Lamb) and MorganEve (Swain, from Brown Bird) every once in a while but I never really saw the town. When I got a lawyer for the band I started meeting him here, and I would spend the day here after we would meet. I really like it; it’s like a different state, compared with Providence or Pawtucket.

“What’s your teaching background? “I taught high school English in

Foxboro, Mass. In my 10 years I taught every grade from sixth to twelfth.”

Why’d you get out? “Teaching was perfect for what I wanted to do for a long time, but it was just time for a change. I’d been doing tours in the summertime and during February and April vacations for years. I just wanted to be able to tour during the fall and springtime, which are more ideal times to do it.”

Did you feel stretched thin in the classroom? “It was basically like a second full time job that I had when I was teaching, and it got to the point where I felt like I wasn’t doing either one very well.”

Why now? “The band’s been getting busier, and it seemed like the time when I could actually try to make a living at it. So I devoted all my efforts towards it, and so far so good.”

Maintaining that level? “We've been playing a lot. Pretty much every weekend. We just did Thursday through Saturday in Vermont, and before that we were in the Berkshires and Northampton, Mass. The rest of the band still works five days a week, so we usually go somewhere on Friday, and go and play Saturday and Sunday.”

Do any solo stuff? “I’ve been on a few tours. Just did one in October, I went down to Alabama and back. That was a solo tour. I had a booking agent who set it all up; like 20, 22 shows, just playing every day. I had one day off in like three weeks. I’d spent a lot of time in Tennessee but not Alabama, and I just like the south so I just wanted to be there for a while, soak it up.”

The South’s a good place for your sound. “We’re, I guess, Americana is a popular term these days. We’re not a country band but there’s definitely country elements and folk and blues and rock ‘n roll. American music.”

Where does it come from? Who did you grow up listening to? “As a kid? I was a big Prince fan as a little kid. Purple Rain is one of my favorite records in the world. Later, people like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and those people who influenced them. Ten years ago I really started going back to the Carter family and the old blues musicians. I got interested in that stuff, the American roots system, and reading about the history of the time. I’ve become a very big Civil War buff over the years, and I got really interested in early American music.

Was music always there, in the back of your mind? “Music was always something that I wanted to do. I played guitar since I was in the seventh grade, and I wanted to be in a band ever since then. I’ve been in bands ever since college, pretty much nonstop.

How’ve you changed over the years? “I was always the lead guitar in rock and roll bands. Starting out, everyone wants to play an electric guitar loud. But you start to see the beauty in other places, other than being loud. I think it’s natural.”

Are you more player or writer? “I like to think I’m both. I work very hard on my guitar stuff, but lyrics are really important to me, and have pretty high standards.”

What gets you writing? “My songs are really story-oriented, and I think differently than how other people do it. I’m proud of that fact. Mostly, (lyrics are) just a mixture of things I read, things that have happened to me ... just kind of imagining things. You’re not going to see any songs ripped from the headlines.”

Not cut from the Steve Earle cloth? “No. But I’m a huge fan of his son, Justin Townes Earle. I’ve seen him a lot.”

And his namesake, Townes Van Zandt? “I’m a big fan. We do one of his songs, Blaze’s Blues.”

What’s your latest record? “White Lighter. Came out a year ago this week. It’s all of us playing our instruments. There’s nothing electronic on it, just us live, playing in a room. A lot of live vocals. It was recorded at Machines and Magnets in Pawtucket.”

Story behind the title? “There was a big thing I heard in college about white Bic lighters being bad luck. Kids would walk up to you at a party at URI and throw it in the woods, because they didn’t want a white lighter in their house. And it just became this urban myth. It was just hinting at bad luck, and it just kind of fit in with the songs. When I started thinking about calling the record that, I asked people what they thought and I got all these different reactions, murkiness. And that kinda fit.”

Promoting it? “There’s a big radio campaign launching the first week in January, to make Americana music stations aware of us, for the next record.

It’s in the works? “I’m putting the songs together for it now.”

Is giving up a regular check scary? “Music’s something I always wanted to do. I know how much money I need to make each month. I’m not going to go and buy a house any time soon, so I made the sacrifices to go and do this. I got a roommate, something I hadn’t had in years. I’m willing to do that sort of thing in order to devote the time to this. Life’s too short not to give it a shot.”

Thanks for the time. Finally, where can we hear “White Lighter?” “You can download the album for free at www.noisetrade.com/joefletcher. I just want people to hear it.”