1. BH: Do you have any memories of Madison venues?

JF: The Barrymore is haunted, right? Last time I played there were all these weird sounds coming out of the monitor.

2. BH: Can you recall anything anecdotal from a Madison show?

JF: The crowd was very polite, which is not always that important.

3. BH: How do you create a song?

JF: I write little bits of lyrics on fragments of paper and walk around with them in my pocket. The same goes for the music. I record onto cassette tapes and walk around with a walkman listening to the rough demos. There really isn’t a process though.

4. What’s this about playing your 8th grade graduation party?

JF: I grew up outside St. Louis. My brothers and I had this band, The Pleads, and we played for my graduation class. The year before we tried out, but didn’t make it.

5. How much do you hate the term alt-country?

JF: It’s strictly a marketing term. I really don’t use it myself. I would say good music is a fine term.