When Langhorne Slim asks you to “Say Yes”, you will.  When Langhorne Slim tilts his hat, raises the neck of his guitar to the houselights and expounds on gold, happiness and all manner of alt-country flotsam, you will take up with his cause.  With vocals that shake a little like they’ve been left out in the cold, icicles of sad crooning vibrato brushing up against other sluice screams and arrangements that effortlessly marry keyboard, guitar and strings, Langhorne Slim’s sound is like a bruised heart; a little beat up but filled with enough positivity to soldier on.  We chatted with Slim himself about drifters, the arts and the direction of the earth’s rotation.

FUN Artists: Can you introduce yourself?

Langhorne Slim: I am Langhorne Slim.

FUN Artists: What happened to the rest of the band, The War Eagles, do they still play with you or is it different people?

Langhorne Slim: One different person. What happened was that I played solo for awhile and toured alone and then I formed the band with Paul Defiglia on bass and Malachi Delorenzo on drums, and we toured and played together for about 5 years, some of which we called the band The War Eagles. Then Paul left, and we got Jeff Ratner on bass and David Moore… I guess The War Eagles was just a certain time, we liked the name for awhile and then it just kind of wore off.

FUN Artists: How was it playing the Newport Folk Festival?

Langhorne Slim: We played it last summer [2009] and it was amazing.  Obviously with the history of the thing it was really exciting just to be invited to do it. We were the first band on like the first or second day at like 11:00 o’clock in the afternoon, and so I was a little worried if there would be people there, but it turned into an amazing thing, we had  a bunch of people at our tent. And then Jeff and I wound up on stage with Pete Seeger and Joan Baez and a bunch of other people dancing around, so it was surreal and a really cool experience.

FUN Artists: What would you say is the greatest difference between your newest album, Be Set Free, compared with your previous releases?

Langhorne Slim: I think that from album to album there’s differences just because, as one grows… or as one rises or falls or whatever, your creative output is going to change based on the mood of when you write a song or paint a picture, you know, just where your taste and interests develop. So I don’t know, I don’t hear such a big difference, but I don’t listen back to the albums so much. When I hear people that follow my stuff think that theres a big sort of departure or change its confusing to me but then if  I do listen back to stuff I did five years ago it almost sounds like another person.

FUN Artists: How has what’s inspired you changed in your playing music besides the normal growing up?

Langhorne Slim: It’s a non-conscience kind of a thing. Mainly it’s just interstes in musical direction. I don’t want to go down, I don’t know that most people who are songwriters would ever want to, but I certainly don’t want to go down just one path. I’d like to go in whatever sort of direction strikes me. So just trying to be as open with, I guess myself, and with that possibility of whatever direction feels right and to kind of go in it and don’t be scared. Easier said than done I think.

FUN Artists: Do other types of art inspire your music?

Langhorne Slim: Well sure, I guess I can go to a museum and see a painting and write a song about it, but doesn’t really happen… I don’t go to a lot of museums so I don’t know, not that I wouldn’t like to though. You know, I really don’t know, I don’t know what inspires me, I guess sometimes I feel inspired and I follow that. You [FUN Artists’ interviewer Erin Smith] are inspiring to me right now, I’m gonna write a little song about it.

FUN Artists: Are you destined to be a family man or a drifter?

Langhorne Slim: A drifting family man.

FUN Artists: What is the quality you most respect in another human being?

Langhorne Slim: Um, wow, just one? Lack of fear. That’s a good one.

FUN Artists: At this point in your life do you consider yourself a healer, a seeker, a trickster, or a teacher?

Langhorne Slim: Shit man. A little bit of all of those things.

FUN Artists: Are you concerned with questions about your existence?

Langhorne Slim: Who’s questioning it, me? Not at the moment, but I’m sure we all question our existence at different times throughout our lives.

FUN Artists: Are you a religious or spiritual person?

Langhorne Slim: I have not found the one right answer yet to religion or spirituality.

FUN Artists: Where do you think America is headed creatively as a nebulous whole?

Langhorne Slim: I have no idea. I meat a man in Italy though, a very cool interesting guy, I’m not sure if I agree with his theory but, he thinks that in 2012 the world will start spinning in the opposite direction and that people will make better art. So, I don’t know what I think, but that’s what this man in Italy thinks and I’d like to offer that as my answer for you.