I’ve been a big fan of yours for a long time, and I’m glad I have the chance to interview you, because I’ve always wanted to know where the nickname “Paperboy” came from.

I used to wear a scally cap – like a newsboy hat – that belonged to my grandfather, and when I lived in Mississippi, they gave me that nickname because of the hat.

When did you live in Mississippi?

From the time I was 18 to 19.

And when did you move up to Boston?

Well, I’m from Boston originally.

So you were just down South for a few years?

For about a year.

When you were in Mississippi, were there a lot of Southern artists that had a big influence on you?

Not just while I was there, but in general I was influenced by Southern music. And certainly while I was there, it was all around me.

How did you get into the style of music that you play?

Originally from my dad – records around the house. He listened to country, gospel, soul, blues.

Were there any artists in particularly that had a bigger effect on you than others?

Well, at first I was interested in Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, and later on I got more into R&B.

When did you decide that you wanted to play music for a living?

Probably around the time I moved back to Boston after going to school in Chicago.

Was this always the style of music you wanted to play?

It wasn’t really a conscious choice. This was the kind of music I grew up on, and what I’m playing is a product of what I like, and it just comes out sounding like the music I’m interested in. It wasn’t really a conscious style decision.

Did you have a hard time finding musicians in Boston that shared your interest of playing that kind of music?

A lot of them were my friends from high school and things like that, and I wanted people who were interested in lots of different kinds of music, so I wasn’t necessarily trying to find a bunch of twentysomethings that were all about R&B, because that just wasn’t possible.

What area of Boston are you from?

Brookline.

What about building a fan base in Boston? Did you find that this genre is something that people immediately took to, or did it take a while?

I never really thought about it. I was more just wanting to play, and I wanted to actually play outside of Boston as much as possible, too, and expand my fan base around the country. I’m glad people in Boston got into it, but my goal was more to establish myself and then move on. I mean, I love playing in Boston, but I don’t want us to be only a Boston band.

Were there certain venues that you did better at than others?

Not really.

Tell me a little about the other guys in the band.

Well, there have been a lot of different lineup changes over the years, and usually when someone leaves, I’ll just ask the guys in the band if they know someone, or maybe I know somebody. It’s a pretty casual thing. And now the lineup is just people who’ve known each other through music.

So the group that’s in place now – how long has everyone been together?

Well, the newest members are one of the tenor players and the drummer, and they’re about six months old. The rest of the band has been with me for about two years.

How many members are there total?

Seven.

Does the lineup tend to stay the same at live shows? Is it always the same core lineup at shows?

Yes. I might play solo, but it’s always the same size band when it’s more than me solo.

It seems like the new album was in the works for a while. Was there something in particular that was holding up the production of it?

No, it took about eight months to make, but it wasn’t like we were recording all the time. The real recording only took about a week and a half, but it was playing shows, and working around everyone’s schedule, and scheduling the studio, and we wanted to make all the arrangements were right before we went in and recorded. I mean, we took our time, but we wanted to do it right. It’s a culmination of a bunch of years of songwriting, and rewriting, and arranging.

How about your relationship with Q Division. How did that come about?

The drummer of the band at the time was in a band called Furvis, and they were recording at Q Division. He told Ed Valauskas about what we were doing, and Ed liked what was going on, and he invited me to come in and record a couple of songs just kind of as an audition. So we recorded “Take My Love” and “Fooling Myself” and everyone liked the way they came out. We did that in a day, then decided we would move on from there and make our first record.

Do you have any favorite songs that you like to play from the record?

I like playing all of them. I like the way we recorded all the songs, and the production fits with the different songs. “Take My Love” is fun to play live, because we do that differently.

The album seems to have a vintage sound to it. Was there something particular about the recording process that you were consciously aware of to try and get that sound.

Well, yes and no. I think we just sound that way, and I think that the production and recording philosophy should match the kind of music that’s being recorded. In our case, production is the eighth member of the band, and you’ve got to produce and record in a way that fits with the way the songs are. I wanted to record on tape because I feel like it’s a more natural and better sounding medium, and makes for a little bit more real recording process. But we used modern and vintage technology to get it the way we wanted it to sound.

I read something that said you were one of the artists to watch at the South by Southwest Festival. Is this the first year that you played the Festival?

We also played in 2007.

Was the experience different this time than it had been in the past?

Yeah – it was better. We played a lot more shows and got a lot more exposure. That kind of comes with the territory.

So how would you describe that experience for someone who’s never been?

It’s a lot of music [laughs]. It’s a lot of stuff going on, and it can be very exhausting. We played about seven shows over a period of four days.

A different venue for each one?

Yeah. Playing a show is very taxing, and more than once in a day is hard. It was cool, though. I like Austin, and there’s good food, and a lot of people who appreciate music stop in.

Thanks to artists like you, and Sharon Jones, and of course Amy Winehouse, a lot of people are saying there’s this miniature rebirth of 60s soul and R&B. What are your thoughts on that?

Well, I don’t think it ever really went away. First of all, soul music is evident in most styles of music. I love what Sharon Jones is doing, and I love what Amy Winehouse is doing, and I think we’re doing something that’s a little different songwriting-wise. I think having real music with real musicians and real singing coming back is a great thing.

Have you had the chance to tour down South outside of Austin?

Yeah.

Do you get a more positive reception there than in other places since that’s where a lot of it was popularized in the 60s?

No, I think we get a pretty positive reception wherever we go.

Do you see your music staying within these parameters, or would you prefer branching out a little bit and exploring other styles?

I want to keep being creative and writing music, and whatever is influencing me and whoever I’m collaborating with. I don’t think that any artist should make two records in a row that sound exactly the same.

Do you have any contemporary artists that you are a big fan of?

Not really. There’s not a lot of new music that I get into. I like new country music more than pretty much anything that’s coming out now. I think the songwriting in country is good and honest, and well-intentioned. As far as new pop music goes, though, there’s not really anything I can get into.

What else does the band have going on in the next six months or so?

We’re doing Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits, and Milwaukee Summerfest. Then we tour Europe in July, and I imagine in the fall, we’ll hit the road again for another US tour.

Have you toured Europe before?

No, this will be the first time.

Where will you be going?

England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, and potentially Belgium, I think.