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The Coastland Times caught up with Doctor Lo Faber for a Q&A session before his performances at the Tap Shack in Duck on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 22-23 to talk about his new album, his love of history and what he did during the pandemic.

Q: How long have you been making music?

A: Since I was a little kid! My mom was in a Bluegrass band and I grew up with instruments and musicians all around me. Started off on banjo, also learned some mandolin and piano, then picked up guitar at 12 and pretty much stuck with it.

Q: What made you want to go back to school and get a doctorate in American History?

Well, it was when my first child, my daughter, had been born. I didn’t want to be on the road while she was growing up, and I couldn’t figure out a music career without being on the road. So, I wanted to try something that would be more regular, but still interesting and creative, still involving ideas … and I’d always been fascinated by American history, politics, and culture. I remember devouring all Robert Caro’s books, for instance, in the back of the God Street Wine van on tour.

Q: How does your music reflect your love for history?

That’s an interesting question and a hard one for me to answer. I think music and history engage the same curiosity in a way, about people, about the world, about who and what we are and why we’re here, but they do it in very different ways. But, both for music and history, they are both about the truth. You can’t do a good job at either one without a willingness to be truthful, even when it may be difficult.

Q: You have a new album. What can fans expect to hear on it?

Well, there are 10 previously unreleased songs. I think they’re pretty good. But I would think that, right? I mean, I decided to put them on a record.

Most of the tunes are new. A couple are old, but I dusted them off and rearranged them. A couple of them relate particularly to my experience living in New Orleans these past nine years. A lot of them are about relationships, in one way or another. If you know me from God Street Wine, the style of this record, like the first Doctor Lo record “Bottomland,” is more acoustic, more rootsy, more introspective, more down home.

Q: What’s your favorite song on it?

It might be “Ship,” the one tune on the album I didn’t write. It was written by my bassist, Tom Pirozzi, for his band Ominous Seapods a number of years ago. It features some advice about relationships that is simultaneously wise, and hilarious. Also it rocks.

Q: What did you do during the pandemic?

Well let’s see, I bought a green screen, made about 100 YouTube videos, live streamed twice a week, made an album, and watched a lot of movies with my family … it was a pretty good time all in all. I’m lucky, of course.

Q: Tell me about your tour schedule, what brings you to the Outer Banks and do you have any history or experience here?

I love the Tap Shack and the owners are real great music fans. I’ve been there once before and had a great time and can’t wait to come back!

Q: What are you listening to in your car right now?

“You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton. Francis Cabrel’s “La Dame de Haute-Savoie.” Dylan’s “Blood On The Tracks.” Some Avett Brothers. Some Bee Gees. Some Joan Baez. Jill Lepore’s podcast.

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