Lone Bellow’s lyrics challenge but that’s how band connects with its audience

Shortly after waiting out the pandemic, The Lone Bellow found new life and inspiration by commandeering Roy Orbison’s former home at Old Hickory Lake just outside of Nashville. For eight weeks, the Nashville-by-way-of-Brooklyn Americana band recorded “Love Songs for Losers,” its fifth full-length album.

Setting up a studio in Orbison’s lake house provided its share of surreal moments, especially for guitarist-vocalist Brian Elmquist who stayed overnight after members of his family contracted COVID-19. (They all recovered.)

“There was one morning at about 4 o’clock in the morning where I swore that Roy Orbison touched me on the hand,” Elmquist recalled. “It was really spooky, living in this 6,000-square foot cabin. Even with friends there, it was spooky.”

And while the specter of the late rock ‘n’ roll icon may have provided some paranormal nuance to the proceedings, it was the self-described “band camp at Orbison’s house” vibe that made for a singular recording experience.

The Lone Bellow recorded its most recent album, "Love Songs for Losers," at Roy Orbison's old abode near Nashville. (Courtesy of Eric Ryan Anderson)

It all stemmed from Elmquist rhetorically asking, “Wouldn’t it be nice to write a whole record of love songs?” shortly after the band was done with its 2020 album “Half Moon Light.” Although that’s not to say living on top of each other for two months didn’t create some sparks.

“There has to be friction or you can’t make good things — the friction is what makes the good stuff,” Elmquist said. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. There were some throw-down moments. We’ve had worse, let’s just say that.

“I really think everybody knew what their role was and just set their mind to it,” he said of the band that hits Atlanta for a show at Terminal West on Friday. “When we first started talking about this, I was talking to the manager and I didn’t know if it was going to be good or bad because it could go both ways. It was honestly the easiest and most inspiring time to make the record.”

Don’t expect to hear ditties about chasing women, tooling around in a tricked-out pickup truck or knocking back six-packs. Songs including “Gold,” “Cost of Living” and “Wherever Your Heart Is” deal with grown-up topics such as opioid addiction, loss and devotion, respectively.

The complex subject matter for which The Lone Bellow has become known is something lead vocalist and guitarist Zach Williams proudly affirms as being the key to his band’s persona.

“I have a really hard time defining myself or my band,” he said of himself, Elmquist and the third core member, Kanene Donehey Pipkin (mandolin, bass, keyboard, vocals). “The songs that we write are usually not great for pop radio — I know that.”

While prior albums found the band working with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (2017’s “Walk Into a Storm”) and Aaron Dessner of the National (2015’s “Then Came the Morning” and 2020’s “Half Moon Light”), The Lone Bellow chose to have Elmquist and Jacob Sooter (a songwriter-producer primarily known for his work in contemporary Christian and worship music) collaborate on the lion’s share of production work.

Williams was also grateful to bring bassist Jason Pipkin and drummer Julian Dorio into the recording process.

“Just using our actual band and drummer — it was just a really inspiring and great time,” he said. “Whenever we would use another producer, there’d always be this conversation where the producer would say, ‘You know, I have this drummer that I really like.’ And we’d be like, ‘OK.’ We’ve had the same band on the road, especially our drummer, for several years now, so we wanted to feel that mojo in the studio.”

A major part of the secret sauce in The Lone Bellow’s success is playing live and connecting with its audience. While songs from “Love Songs For Losers” are sprinkled into the sets, the group has recently released two singles — “Common Folk” and “Night Goes Black” — that signal that the band is opening the next chapter in its musical journey.