By Maddy Yen
Bendigo Fletcher is a Kentucky-based band that embarked on their 33-stop U.S. tour this year. Initially formed in 2016, the band signed with Elektra Records for their debut album, Fits of Laughter in 2021. Their sophomore album, Two Things At Once, “unfolds like a storybook where the surreal and the ordinary become beautifully entangled.” Their music feels like a melting pot for folk, indie, country, and rock infringing on the conventional norms of artists' sticking to a genre. I got to sit down with Ryan Anderson – a triple threat of lead vocals, guitar, and banjo – in Portland, Oregon before their set to talk about their new album, influences, and touring.
Q: You guys have released quite a lot of music with your first EP dropping in 2018, how has your process for making music changed?
A: When we did the debut “Consensual Wisdom” that was a bedroom project that I did mostly on my own. So since then we have been a band and opened up the collaborative process for everyone to hear their parts instead of me dictating what everyone plays. It has been a growth thing for me as well in that regard — to sort of treat the songs as a sort of open landscape for everyone to make their impression on it. I think our band is better for that now.
Q: Did your creative process change at all after being signed to a label?
A: No, not in regards to the music at all. But with things that surround the music, yes a little bit. Like the music videos and social media presence, we’ve had to work with them to try to maximize their efforts to share the music while staying true to ourselves.
Q: Your music incorporates a lot of different genres ranging from folk, country, rock, and even pop. How do you manage so many different sounds and are they from certain influences?
A: We just follow inspiration until the song sounds like it needs to feel. Does it feel exciting and powerful to deliver in a recording and live setting — going off no rules and making the sonic decisions that lean into the song's inspiration? I think the common denominator for influence is soul, not in terms of soul music necessarily like, of course, there’s influence there. More in terms of songs that I gravitate towards and am inspired by all have a soul and a feeling that is conveyed, even without words. If it is played with passion and if it is a melting pot for emotional outlet.
Q: You have a song on your new album called “Sweet Tooth.” What is your favorite sweet treat?
A: Oh man, my brain went donut, chocolate cake, and then I am going to land on Derby Pie. Derby is a Kentucky thing but the pie is this pecan pie with chocolate chips in it, it’s great, highly recommend it.
Q: Where has been your most memorable stop on your tour?
A: We’ve never been to Montana and we played two cities called Billings and Great Falls. They were the smallest attended shows but both really special and smaller crowds with people really invested in listening. It was cool to be in a brand-new place where we did not know what to expect and it was very well-received and taken care of. The New York show was maybe our best feeling for a fireworks type of show. The fans and people who come to the show make the experience, we play so much better when people are into it and engaged.
Q: What was/is the music scene like in Louisville, Kentucky, and getting your start?
A. It’s awesome. I think some of the greatest storytellers, and musicians, and people whose authenticity is what comes to mind when I think of Kentucky. It is somehow still overlooked and underappreciated in some ways. The party is there and we know it, people just celebrate each other’s songs in such a special way. I think storytelling is very appreciated and inherent in folk and country music.
Q: You’ve opened for some amazing artists like The Backseat Lovers, Caamp, Mt. Joy, Madison Cunningham, and more. Is there one tour or show that stuck out to you?
A: We had really formative experiences with all of those artists. I feel like Caamp we have to thank for putting us in front of so many fans. We have people say “We saw you with Caamp in 2019” and the same with Brooke in the Bluf just last fall. Madison Cunningham is just a huge musical inspiration for me, she plays and sings like water. I definitely came home from that tour and found myself writing a song that we haven’t released yet, and thought I could hear her influence in this one. I think The Backseat Lovers shows since they are fresh on my mind and we saw a lot of young people because their fans are pretty young. It was refreshing and affirming that the passion and the people who were there were giving everything they were feeling to the show. And I don’t want to over-romanticize, but as a 32-year-old it gave me comfort in young people taking care of each other and loving the songs and going nuts at certain parts. I remember thinking this is how I felt when I would see My Morning Jacket at their age and bands that formed my brain, it was cool to see that from a unique perspective of being able to open up for them and be a part of it.
Q: I read in an interview you take a lot of inspiration from movies and books, are there any specific movies or books that helped shape this album?
A: You can add us to the Twin Peaks-inspired bands. There’s a lyric in “Ought Not” that’s a pretty spot-on reference to that show, just the mood of it and the Americana feeling of small auto shops and bakeries and diners. The mundane community living and the spaces and branding of the 90s in that time. There’s a book called “The Tao of Physics,” which talks about physics and particle waves. It talks about how the physics of matter and Eastern philosophy and religion meet in this cool middle ground of understanding and energy. It just inspired me to think about potential energy and makes me feel more grounded and present.
Q: What is your favorite song off of “Two Things At Once” to sing live on this tour?
A: Right now, “Liquor Store”, it’s kind of out of left field, we’ve never really performed or made a song like that before. I also did not write all of it, so for me, it feels like a really collective song. All the parts are pretty dry and we like to lean into each other and carry into the rhythm. It also has a lot of fun vocal harmonies.