It’s been eight years since Everlast released his eighth studio album, Whitey Ford’s House of Pain (2018). Now, he’s back with a brand new record—the Yelawolf-produced Ember to Ashes—and it’s one that he’s immensely proud of.There’s an organic quality about Embers to Ashes that’s very refreshing, and it’s something that only Everlast and Yelawolf could have crafted. From the first song, “Losing Man’s Game”, it’s clear that this is the Whitey Ford we’ve all revered for decades. He’s never lost his sense of gaining wisdom, though. Every chance to evolve his process and learn, he’s taken.I had a chance to chat with Everlast via Zoom to chat about the record, working with Yelawolf, and how he reflects on his past work through the lens of these new songs. Scroll on to read more.On Working with Yelawolf as a producerWell, I mean he’s got a long career ahead of him as a producer, as far as I’m concerned. I it it’s something that he had mentioned to me years ago, like 10 years before.It was a Berlin show. We were hanging around afterwards, and drinking and all this. He kind of just mentioned to me at some point, “I’d love to make a record with you.” Now, at first, I thought we meant like a feature; we’d do a song together or something. I was starting to produce my own records, so at that moment it was I didn’t even think in those terms. After sitting at home for the last whatever eight years, not really having much to say, raising some daughters and whatnot, I started writing some songs.One of my best buddies was like, ‘Man, when I listen to country music these days, I hear a lot of Whitey Ford in it.” He said, “Maybe you should go out to Nashville. Not to make a country record per se, but just take in the vibes and see what happens.” Wolf immediately came to mind. We were friends already. I hit him up; I was like, “Hey, you interested in doing this?” And he was gung-ho. I got a call back an hour later that he called everybody in town, and everybody he wanted to be involved was going to be involved. We just connected from there. I truly let him steer the ship.On trying a new writing process for ‘Emebers to ashes’I wrote songs with a bunch of guys [in Nashville] that [Yelawolf] brought in to vibe with me. All were good calls, like all the right people. It’s one of the easiest records I’ve ever made. I sat in this room, and I performed, and I played some guitar, wrote some songs with some guys, and kind of let him produce and paint the painting with me. Oddly enough, I expected there to be clashes over some choices. There wasn’t one.On how making past records compare to this new projectI cherish every experience I had from being produced by the first guy to produce me, a guy named Bilal Bashir during the Rhyme Syndicate days, to having DJ Muggs as an amazing producer, [to] Dante Ross. So, by the time I was producing my own records, I had learned a lot. I was making sure I put these lessons into practice, and I enjoyed that immensely for a time. But living with this MC kind of mentality most of my life, writing’s always been: I only feel what I feel. It’s not like rap. I can sit down and write a rap in a room with guys. Songs are very specific to an emotion or a or a or a moment or a message, and you know what those are. It’s a different kind of thing.I met two or three really cool guys that can write in the same language that I feel like I’m comfortable with. That’s the only part where I was like, “I could have been doing like a record every year.” But then again, I think that’s why what I do is special to me. I don’t do it every year. It’s not a product; It’s not just some factory of making music for me. It’s been eight years, man. That’s crazy to me. It’s been eight years.On the legacy of whitey ford being both a hip-hop icon and a folk rock iconMy friend in the beginning, who mentioned country music and Whitey Ford, he and Wolf were like, “Yo, that changed a lot for cats like us, because you rapped and you were doing this other thing that wasn’t country, but it opened a door that says it’s all okay.” Wycleff Jean did the same thing, just with different music. You know? I just always looked at it with a DJ mentality. You’re writing it from scratch, but you’re mixing styles in that same way. Even if it’s subconsciously, everything I do is hip hop to me. That’s the only way I learned how to make music: in the studio with drum machines. I just happened to pick up some guitar along the way.I was drawing off of, like, my father was a construction worker who drank beer and listened to Hank Williams and Willie Nelson. My mom was into doo-wop and 60s girl groups like the Supremes. That’s what I grew up listening to, so hip hop made a lot of sense to me.Photo credit by Lisa FranchotThe post Still Singin’ the Blues: Everlast Talks New Album, Working With Yelawolf, and How His Writing Process Has Evolved (Exclusive Interview) appeared first on VICE.