(07-23-2004) Daniel Lanois -- Bradenton.com

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Daniel Lanois

Producer of gems by U2, Peter Gabriel and Bob Dylan on pal Dave Matthews, 'cooking' for others and his 'church in a suitcase'

by WADE TATANGELO
Herald Staff Writer

Prolific producer and occasional solo artist Daniel Lanois has played a key role in the evolution of mature pop music. Lanois has produced masterworks such as U2's "Joshua Tree," Peter Gabriel's "So," Bob Dylan's "Time out of Mind" and Emmylou Harris's "Wrecking Ball." The antithesis of "bubblegum," Lanois serves what Dylan might call that "sweet fat that sticks to your ribs," or, in Lanois's words, "a big fat cherry pie."

"That sounds like a record," remarked Dylan when Lanois played the songwriter on the Neville Brothers' 1988 update of "With God on Our Side," which Lanois had recently produced.

"That was the greatest compliment he could pay me," Lanois said during a recent telephone interview from his Los Angeles office.

Later that year, Dylan and Lanois would collaborate on Dylan's critically acclaimed 1989 release "Oh Mercy."

Lanois, who is quick to communicate with similes and metaphors, likens producing for others to cooking with someone else's goods.

"I look at the raw materials and see what is unique to that situation and draw upon it," explained Lanois. "It's the same as if a chef walked into a stranger's kitchen and cooked with the available ingredients."

When Lanois was invited as the keynote speaker at the South By Southwest Music Conference in 2003 he expounded on the cooking metaphor.

"You mix invitation with preparation and like magic you get a big fat cherry pie," he told the industry crowd. "Somebody eats the cherry pie and they ask for seconds."

Lately, Lanois has been cooking more with his own components.

"Shine," which features guest spots by U2 frontman Bono and Harris, is Lanois's first solo album (not including his poigant "Sling Blade" score) in 10 years. It boasts astute ruminations about mankind's ability to 'shine' in life and seductive backdrops of organic instrumentation, including Lanois' virtuoso pedal steel guitar playing, and electronic atmospherics. "Shine" was met with a sundry of strong reviews when it came out last fall.

"Hopefully people will see my own personality and sound in these songs," Lanois said shortly after the album's release. The Lanois "sound," which has played an integral role in albums by artists ranging from Brian Eno to Willie Nelson, is a unique blend of live instrumentation and synthetic sonorities.

"I quite like using machines and having them blend with my pedal steel and the other guitars," Lanois said. "It's like taking cheap fabric and mixing it with good silk . . . and getting a nice piece of cloth."

Similar in feel and scope to Harris's "Wrecking Ball" and Dylan's "Time Out of Mind," Lanois's meditative "Shine" has also been largely ignored by commercial radio.

High profile opening gigs for old pals such as Dave Matthews, though, with whom Lanois will share the stage in front of a sold-out Ford Amphitheatre on Thursday, are introducing Lanois's solo work to the masses.

"It was very sweet of Dave to invite me to open for him," Lanois said. "I have a very high regard for Dave."

Lanois then paused and, with a chuckle, added, "He opened for me 12 years ago."

Lanois was already being hailed as the greatest producer of his generation in the early 1990s when he was finishing his second solo album, "For the Beauty of Wynona." When Lanois arrived at a coffeehouse gig in Vermont he was greeted by his opening act. Matthews's salutation was less than traditional.

"I'm gonna kick your (expletive), Lanois!" said a then-unknown Matthews to the superstar producer.

"The moral of that story," Lanois said with a laugh, "is make sure you're kind to everybody because you never know when that turtle is going to come up from behind and pass you."

The two have remained friends and mutual fans of each other's work ever since. The Dave Matthews' Band regularly covers Lanois' signature song "Maker," which appears on DMB's "Live in Chicago 12-19-98 at the United Center RCA."

"Maker" first appeared on Lanois's solo debut "Acadie" in 1989. The song has been aptly described as a "hushed, propulsive prayer." In addition to being a DMB live favorite, it has graced highly regarded studio and live albums by Nelson and Harris.

"Maker" is a stirring meditation about searching for understanding and redemption.

"I've run a twisted line," Lanois sings, his voice frail but thick with emotion. "I'm a stranger in the eyes of the Maker."

The theme of "Maker" is central to the majority of Lanois's solo work. "I was talking to (U2 guitarist) The Edge and he told me 'When the searching stops the records stop,? ? Lanois replied when asked if he ever worried that if he found inner peace he would lose his muse.

"That's the ongoing dilemma," Lanois said with a sigh. "I've never known the more comfortable side of the line, I can't speak from that experience. I only know the searching side. But I still wake up with enthusiasm and with a feeling that there's a wild frontier to be investigated that I hope never goes away."

Although he put a decade in between solo albums the last time around, Lanois said he already has an album completed that will hopefully come out in the near future consisting of instrumentals featuring his beloved pedal steel guitar, which he said he never leaves home without.

"It's my church in a suitcase," Lanois said.
 
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