NSM
What do you do when you’re not playing/recording music?

Hunter- Well, I spend most of that time working on ways of making money off of those recordings and finding places to perform! Sending CD's, emails, etc. Most of my time is spent on music-related things, minus odd jobs. If not humdrum stuff like that, then research, listening and reading up on music. After that, well, my wife sees me occasionally and I read.

NSM
You mention photography keeping you out of trouble. Can you please elaborate on this?

Hunter- Simply that if it weren't for some sort of creative output I'd probably end up becoming a daytime soap afficionado, or a politician. Something to use up all that extra time. Big trouble.

NSM
If you weren't a musician, what would you be?

Hunter- I've done all sorts of things. I was a jeweler for a good long time, started at 14. I've rebuilt stone houses, made pizza and washed dishes. If all of a sudden I had to come up with something new to do, I think photography might keep me out of trouble. And those pizza making and dish-washing skills would probably come in handy.

NSM
You mention several times on your websites making instruments out of tin cans, strings & other items. When was the first time you constructed your own instrument and what influenced you to do this?

Hunter- I had seen a documentary on Africa which briefly showed a guy playing something like a guitar, made out of an old oil tin down by the docks. It sounded great and I was sold. A few late nights later I had made one - this all probably 20 years ago. It evolved over the next month or so, acquired a second string, a resonator at the back (an ashtray), frets... an old plastic wine jug at the top for extra resonance was the last modification! Since then I've made various things, something along the lines of a saz, a cookie can banjo and others. They're a good conversation starter.

NSM
Were you pleased with the sound the first time you made an instrument, or did it take longer to get something you were satisfied with? 

Hunter- Oh yeah, I thought it sounded great! Especially considering what it was made from... with some tinkering it became a very nice instrument. Years later, I used that first instrument on my CD, Sings Songs for the Masses. I was actually less pleased with a later one, my cookie tin banjo. Of course it was supposed to be a "real' instrument unlike the first which is a two-stringed whatchamacallit without pedigree.

NSM
What are some of the most significant musical moments in your life that have influenced your journey as an artist

Hunter- The first, that launched me into music I suppose, was hearing a guy play some "Pogues" songs on a drunken ferry trip. Boy did I want to be able to do that! Got a guitar soon after and it's been downhill ever since. And not so much a moment, but my father played guitar and banjo so I always had someone around to ask, "how do you play a G chord?" or whatever it was. Later when I got interested in the banjo he showed me how to play. So having him around was very influential.

NSM
I think it’s safe to say you had a lot of support/guidance growing up. Where do you think you would be as a musician without that?

Hunter- I'd probably be playing electric guitar in a punk band. Of course, I might well have eventually heard traditional music and blues and gone in that direction anyway - it's just a hop, skip and a jump from them to rock 'n' roll and punk.

Hunter- Oh boy, now that's a tough one. Bob Dylan, because, well, he's Bob Dylan. Where would we be without him? Great words and music and he can put it across. Whatever that nebulous quality is that makes an artist a great artist, he's got it.
“The Pogues” and Nick Cave for similar reasons. “Captain Beefheart” & “The Magic Band” and Tom Waits (and Marc Ribot's guitar playing) for wild rhythms, great singing and some of the stranger combinations of words I've ever come across. “The Incredible String Band” for poking at the mysteries and joys of existence.
Nowadays I mainly listen to traditional music and blues. A brief list of them would be: Hobart Smith, Doc Boggs, Buell Kazee, Luther Strong, Clyde Davenport, Wade Ward, Frank Proffitt, Elmo Newcomer, Blind Willie Johnson, Bukka White, Son House and Skip James. All of these guys were great musicians and have that selfsame nebulous quality I was talking about. Take one guy and have him play a tune and it'll just be a collection of dead notes, one of these guys plays it and it's a goddamn mystical experience.

NSM
If you were the head of a major label, how would you envision running the company?

Hunter- If I were the head of a major label I'd probably run it into the ground. I haven't got a clue as to what makes those guys run. I never expected much commercial success, the last time the kind of music I play was really popular was the '20's! I don't have any beef with the music industry as some independent musicians seem to - the rules of the game seem to be pretty clear. Discover/develop a marketable product and sell it, and that seems to be how it's been from the get-go. I remember Frank Zappa saying something to the effect that in the '60's it was a bunch of cigar chompin' old farts running the companies and they didn't know what to make of all the hippies, "Who knows what these kids want? Release it! Who knows!", but the hippies that took over from them were the ones who put the brakes on more wild stuff coming out afterwards.


NSM
Do you plan on staying a one-man-show or are you looking to put a band together in the future?

Hunter- Actually, these days I've been playing shows with an old friend, Casey Abair, on fiddle. My wife sings with us on a few songs and we're working on more. For the old-time stuff we're doing that's enough.

NSM
If you could choose only one instrument to play, what would you choose and why?

Hunter- Banjo - it's the one I'm best at and therefore the path of least resistance.

NSM
Are there any other instruments you would like to learn?

Hunter- Lots! I'd really like to be able to play fiddle. Bagpipes, guqin, saz... they're all on the list too.

NSM
Between Tom Waits & Bob Dylan, who would you rather perform or record with and why?

Hunter- Now there's a conundrum. I'd much rather get the two of 'em together, say Tom Waits on brake drum and Dylan on electric guitar. I'll bring the popcorn popper.