Hayes Carll is Good at Music, Not as Good at Analogies

Fresh off a groovy evening at Levon Helm’s ramble this past Saturday, singer Hayes Carll, who you might recall was once left for Jesus, told Imus Levon was a very gracious host.

“We ended up watching a documentary that a guy has been spending the last year up there making about Levon,” said Hayes. “It was really good.”

In all likelihood, watching the film after a few minutes around Levon’s famous kitchen table made it even more enjoyable.

Hayes is spending a lot of time in Tennessee these days working on his next album. He’ll head back down there after today’s appearance with Imus, and hopes to have a finished product by July.

“But, it could be maybe three or four more years,” he joked.

For the first time, Hayes is using what he called his “actual” band to record an album, instead of gathering a group of pickup artists together. He compared using one band on the road and another to record an album to being in a relationship.

“It’s like dating someone for a long time and then marrying someone else,” he said, then reconsidered. “Or sleeping with someone else.”

He also promised to work on his analogies before his next interview with Imus.

Beginning next month, Hayes will join Dierks Bentley’s Bluegrass tour, having just come off a tour of the Western United States and Canada with Steve Earle. In addition, some of Hayes’s songs will be featured in the upcoming Gwyneth Paltrow movie, “Love Don’t Let Me Down,” which just finished shooting in Nashvile and also stars Tim McGraw.

Having watched last night’s Academy Awards ceremony, Imus spotted McGraw, who was in the movie “The Blind Side,” and was confused to find the once bald singer had a nice clump of hair on his head.

Clearly not interested in going down that road, Hayes said only, “He seems like a very virile guy.” And then he sang some songs.

-Julie Kanfer