PRODUCER: Kimbrough

PAUSE & PLAY: What was your manifesto for this album, a goal you wanted to achieve?

KIMBROUGH: "My goal was to make a personal, patriotic record."

P&P: Have you ever received hate mail for a song?

KIMBROUGH: "No."

P&P: "I Lie" easily could have been directed at Kenneth Lay. Did he get off easy by dying?

KIMBROUGH: "Yes."

P&P: Heavy question: Everyone, it seemed, was behind us after 9/11. When and where did we go wrong?

KIMBROUGH: "We refused to seriously counsel with our longtime allies. We invaded a country that did not participate in the attacks of 9/11. We lost the world's empathy, the world's sympathy. The rest of world no longer trusts us."

P&P: There are T-shirts on the market saying "Will Kimbrough is an alien." As an alien, what kind of powers would you like to possess?

KIMBROUGH: "Flight. Faster swimming. The power to heal my old beat-up knees so I could run 10 miles again."

P&P: Tell us about this show you did: "May 19 - Sweden - 'Prison.' " Were you Johnny Cash for a day?

KIMBROUGH: "Yes, I was Johnny Cash for a day. In fact, one of the prisoners had seen Cash at another Swedish prison in 1974. The guy was doing some serious time. I was with my friends The Willy Clay Band, and we were all nervous as hell. The audience for the first show was a pretty grim bunch. I think they were heavily medicated. But the group for the second show was enthusiastic and very grateful that we had come to play their prison. It was gratifying and moving to play for the people at the bottom of the barrel. And when you leave prison, you really feel free. We got very drunk that night at our friends Bjorn and Anya's house."

P&P: Out-of-left-field question: Name your favorite Flamin' Groovies song.

KIMBROUGH: " 'She Said Yeah.' Great rock 'n' roll song."

P&P: What was the first record you ever bought?

KIMBROUGH: "A 45 of Three Dog Night's 'Black and White,' bought with about 75 cents of a dollar my mama gave me. I was 6 years old. My sister had a nice collection of records and 8-tracks of the early 70s: the Beatles 'Blue' and 'Red' collections, some Joni Mitchell, Eagles, Chicago, Seals & Crofts, Jackson Browne, and I wanted some records of my own. Later, I started stealing her records while I amassed my own collection."

P&P: What was the first concert you ever went to?

KIMBROUGH: "Aerosmith, Henry Gross and Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, 1976, Mobile Municipal Auditorium (in Misissippi). The freaks were out that night, and a few were even onstage. Henry Gross sang 'Shannon' perfectly. Frank Marino had an enormous pedalboard with all the Electro Harmonix gear: Big Muff Fuzz, Electric Mistress Flanger, Small Stone Phase Shifter, and Wah Wah on everything. Aerosmith was disappointing; they must have been ripped on downers. They played slower than the record.

"My next show was Springsteen, my 12th birthday, on the 'Born to Run' tour. Mind-boggling. I got my first guitar that day, too. Four dollars for the concert ticket, 20 dollars for the guitar."

P&P: What was the worst job you ever had?

KIMBROUGH: "Every job I ever had! I'm the wrong guy to ask. I have only had a couple of short-lived jobs. I made pizzas, I delivered boutique bread. I picked up rental furniture. I delivered great to studio musicians. Mostly, I have worked in music, and the worst gig was when The Bushmen got fired in South Carolina for ending our first set with AC/DC's 'Show Business.' Or the frat parties we used to play (to finance money losing east- and west-coast tours and to make records!) that started at 1 a.m. and ended at dawn, the whole place bug-eyed on ecstacy and grain alcohol punch."