I’ve had the pleasure and honor of chatting with Maine’s own Dave Mallett over the years and the singer-songwriter-guitarist never fails at giving great interviews that are as honest and down-home as his music. So when I learned that he was coming to Somerset Abbey on the 26th of this month, I reached out to see if he was willing to talk with me once more, and he was more than happy to oblige. Seeing it had been a while since last we spoke, I began by asking him how he was doing these days.
Mallett: Well, with COVID it’s been quite a haul. But mostly I’ve just been keeping the fire going and trying not to go to town too much — and listening to old music (chuckle).

Q: Are you writing anything new?
Mallett: I haven’t written anything new. My mind is kind of full of all the things that I have written in the past, and I’m trying to decipher if they were any good or not (laughter). When I figure that out maybe I’ll write some new stuff.

Q: When all this started almost two years ago, I contacted some of the folks I’d interviewed in the past and a lot of them, unlike you, took the time they were off the road and worked on new material. I guess everyone just handles it differently.
Mallett: Wow, that’s admirable. I’m envious of those guys. I can’t seem to do it. The other day, actually, I had a little inspiration and I thought I should write it down, and then something else came up, you know? But my boys, I’m really happy with the boys {The Mallett Brothers Band}, they wrote a great record and turned it out, and now they’re working on some new stuff. Mostly, I’m just kind of biding my time, booking a few shows for the spring and the summer, and (chuckle) wondering what the hell is going to come of all this, you know? I’m not a real extrovert; mostly my connection with my fellow human beings is when I go out and sing for them, and it’s kind of tough not to be able to do that like we always did. But I do think we’re looking at a better year than last year.

Q: Well, it seems that this new variant is more contagious but less potent, and I’ve heard that the East Coast is coming down while the West Coast is ramping up, maybe it’ll burn itself out, if we’re lucky.
Mallett: I’ve had little premonitions over the years and the latest one I had was so profound: I was walking up the road here a couple of years ago. I thought, “Whoa, a lot of people are going to die, there’s going to be a lot of sadness and there’s going to be a need for a lot of forgiveness. Those three things kind of hit me, and that was February of 2020, and March 5th I was in Portland at this big event, and March 7th I was in New Hampshire for a show, and then March 8th we came home and everything shut down. I lost my whole year of 2020 and most of 2021, actually the summer was pretty good last year. Of course, I’m old enough to slow down anyway a little bit. I’m 70 now. I don’t need to go on the road to prove myself.

Q: No, sir, you certainly don’t, that’s for sure.
Mallett: And I’m also playing a lot of guitar, I have a bunch of old guitars, different types, and I’ve been pouring them out trying to find something. There’s a saying, “Each guitar has a different song in it.” So that’s what I’m doing now and I’m looking forward to doing some shows. My first show is that Somerset Abbey thing up in Madison, then I’m going out-of-state in April and I have some nice outdoor stuff this summer.

Q: And that’s one solution to the COVID problem — outside shows where you can socially distance and not be breathing the same air in a confined space.
Mallett: I’m supposed to go to Virginia in April and I’m thinking, “Hey, in April in Virginia it’s pretty warm, so we’ll just open all the doors and windows!” It’s in a big, old church so I figure it’ll be kind of like an open-air concert. I still go down there once in a while, I go to Virginia and D.C. and do stuff, but it’s been a few years.

Q: I can well imagine that you’re anxious to get out on the road again, right?
Mallett: I love playing. I think the healthiest thing I do is getting onstage and singing. It’s a cardiovascular blast for me. The best exercise I ever got was standing onstage yelling at people (laughter).

Q: (Laughter) And at this point in time, I’m sure it’s a little cathartic as well for you.
Mallett: Yes. And you know, Lucky, in the end we’re going to crawl back from this one, and hopefully we’ll crawl back a little more enlightened and cooperative.

Q: Yeah, one can hope, that’s for sure.
Mallett: Yeah.

Q: And then earlier, when you mentioned your sons, Luke and Will, did I detect a certain note of parental pride there?
Mallett: Yeah, yeah. It’s hard to describe, all I can say is it’s like the kid taking over the family farm, only it’s different because it’s more reckless in a way.

Q: How so?
Mallett: For my sons to say, “Okay, we’re musicians, we’re going out there and do it!” It’s like, whoa, okay I always knew they had that sort of I-don’t-know-what … they just like people.  I say to them and I say to people that I try to describe my sons’ band to: I say, “They bring out the best in people, they bring people together in such a joyous way through the rhythms and the tone and the attitude and the players that they work with. It’s an experience that I never was expecting, it’s a rock band and it’s pretty cool.

Q: Is there anything, Dave, that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article?
Mallett: I’m just looking forward to getting out there again. I’ve spent pretty much 60 years putting together these tunes, some of them that I do go back 60 years, and I’m looking forward to getting out there and singing them again. And I do feel like music is the thing that brings us together more than just about anything else. You can have a movie, a bunch of people go to the movies or they stay home and they watch it there, or you can have a book and people can read that book at home; you can have a concert and everybody comes, and that’s a delicate thing, a shared experience. And hopefully people will leave it better than before they came.

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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