Music hits home for area singer-songwriter

“I think that the Youngstown area is really important, and for both Ben and I, where we come from definitely plays into the type of music that we’re making.”

James Musselma, Musician

By JOHN BENSON

vindicator correspondent

Northeast Ohio has had a gravitational pull in the music career of Boardman native and Longsleeves visionary James Musselman.

“I was born and raised in Boardman, and I actually took lessons at New York Music for about a year,” said Musselman, calling from San Diego. “That’s where I learned to play guitar. Then I moved to Indiana before high school. After I graduated from high school, I moved back to Youngstown and attended Youngstown State University for three years studying English.”

It wasn’t until he started to take music seriously, even writing his first songs while attending YSU, that Musselman decided he needed a change in atmosphere.

“I moved back to [Indiana], where I met a lot of people who were involved in music there,” Musselman said.

“It was a really strong alt-country music scene, which is kind of what I was getting into at that time, being a Neil Young and Wilco fan. That’s when I met Ben Laatsch, and we started to play shows together and kind of formed the idea of performing music together, After living there a year, I moved to San Diego, and then maybe a year after that I got Ben to move out here. We’ve been performing since then.”

While Longsleeves originally began as a solo project, it now is a vehicle for songwriting with Laatsch. Up next for Musselman is yet another EP, which is currently untitled.

“I think what we’re really going for, what I’ve always strived for, was to kind of combine folk elements with electronic and sort of dance music,” Musselman said.

“So it’s got all programmed drums on it but sort of folk song structure mixed with like electronics and electric guitar and stuff. So maybe it’s along the lines of Radiohead or music like that where you take a very simple song structure but kind of do it in a very different way.”

Among the new tracks Musselman said the act will be playing tonight at its Lemon Grove show are the down-tempo “A Man Crossed Out” and “Cognitive Dissonance.” Musselman admits that even though he now calls sunny Southern California home, his music remains imbued with a Northeast Ohio flavor and mind-set.

“I think that the Youngstown area is really important, and for both Ben and I, where we come from definitely plays into the type of music that we’re making,” said Musselman, who as a 13-year-old was a Vindicator paperboy. “I didn’t really realize that so much until we moved to San Diego. I think that music regionally is very different, and it’s interesting that out here there’s a certain vibe to music as opposed to what’s happening in the Midwest. It’s sort of like you can’t escape kind of where you come from. It comes through in your music, and it’s important.

“I’m proud of the fact that both Ben and I come from working-class backgrounds. Like cities that aren’t on top of the world right now, but I think that’s really great, and it makes us a little more down to earth in terms of the music.”

Does that mean Musselman’s music has an underlying depressive nature?

“Compared to music out here, we’re more depressive, but I hate to use that word,” Musselman said. “There’s pop influence on what we’re doing right now because of being out here, and it’s a little bit brighter than stuff we were doing back home, but I think that the nature of Youngstown comes through. It’s not sunny all the time; it’s not happy all the time. And I think that’s good. It brings it home for us, at least.”