On Other People’s Houses, songwriter / vocalist / guitar player Patrick Mulroy seamlessly melds the acoustic Americana for which his band Grain Thief is known with the buoyant Heartland rock of his youth to craft a sound at once unique and eminently familiar. This is one of those records that feels like something you once knew and loved that had been lost to the vagaries of time, only to be serendipitously rediscovered right when you needed it most.
Before Boston quintet Grain Thief developed their string band hybrid of bluegrass and country , it was the name under which Mulroy performed as a solo artist. “Our five brains make a great creative team, and I wouldn’t change a thing” explains Mulroy. “All the success we’ve had has been because of that team. But there is something different artistically about writing by yourself.” A prolific songwriter, Mulroy found himself sitting on a stack of tunes that didn’t quite fit the Grain Thief aesthetic. When the global pandemic put the group’s tour plans on hold, Mulroy decided the time had come to put these songs to tape.
Predominantly written at the piano – which Mulroy does not play well – the record is imbued with a sense of creative exploration. “I might play some notes and be totally blown away by them, only to find out it’s just a simple chord inversion” explains Mulroy. Written in various apartments in Brighton and Cambridge, the music on Other People’s Houses came together in pieces as he moved through his daily reality. “Sometimes the lyrics will pop into my head randomly at work or in my van or out at a bar with people” says Mulroy. “Voice memos are key. I have to pretend I’m on a phone call and not singing into my phone like a lunatic.”
Recorded at Grain Thief bassist Mike Harmon’s studio Wachusett Recording (where all the Grain Thief records are recorded. Mulroy built most of the room dividers and the sound booth), the record features performances by pianist Bryce Kanzer, drummer Alex Melcher, Peter Danilchuk on Hammond organ, and Alex Formento on pedal steel. Mulroy played electric guitar, twelve string, and sang lead vocals; Mike Harmon ran the sessions and played bass and drums. “Mike was a great partner in this project” says Mulroy. “He helped massively to organize and engineer the sessions, produce and mix, and act as a band leader. When we assembled the musicians to play on the record, getting great piano players was key and we did just that. I wanted this to be a piano record not just a guitar record.”
Thematically, the record grapples with the weight of the timeless human struggles of work and money, drinking and drugs, abuse and misuse, war and religion. “I feel like I keep writing the same song sometimes, but I don’t think that’s a problem,” says Mulroy. “I hope people listen to the words, think about their troubles, and remember that everybody has them too. There’s no topic in American culture that should go on un-discussed, especially those that are our largest problems. We have so much to benefit by sharing, and so little to lose.”