Jeffrey Foucault Finds Beauty In Small Towns And Simple Truths

Jeffrey Foucault’s latest album is called Salt as Wolves. Joseph Navas/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption Joseph Navas/Courtesy of the artist

Jeffrey Foucault’s latest album is called Salt as Wolves.

Joseph Navas/Courtesy of the artist

Jeffrey Foucault picked up a guitar when he was 17 and just couldn’t put it down. Coming of age in Wisconsin, he used every spare moment cooking up new songs and immediately making recordings so he wouldn’t forget the details.

Today, at 39, Foucault is a respected musician, if not a huge name, and makes his living by spending lots of time on the road. He’s also the parent of a 7-year-old — and if you listen to the lyrics of a song like “Oh Mama,” you can tell he’s still trying to make the most of every moment.

“It’s as much about my sadness or maybe my fear about giving my little daughter to the world as it is about any relationship with my mom,” Foucault explains. “There is a kind of intimate knowledge that you have with your child, that you feel fading as they get older; little bits go away all the time. They won’t always crawl up in your lap. They’re not always going to be as open to you as they are. And at some point, you know that that transaction is necessary to how the world carries on. But that doesn’t make it any less difficult.”

Foucault is wrapping up a concert tour for his latest album, Salt As Wolves. He joined NPR’s David Greene between stops to talk about the small rewards of playing in out-of-the-way towns, and to perform a song from the new record in-studio. Hear more at the audio link.