A Dirty Dozen with PAPA JEFFERSON HART from SECRET MONKEY WEEKEND – June 2025

Photo credit: Daniel Colston

According to a recent press release: “A family band like no other, Secret Monkey Weekend returns with sparkling sophomore album Lemon Drop Hammer on June 6. Comprising seasoned guitarist / vocalist Jefferson Hart and his stepdaughters Ella (bass/vocals) and Lila Brown-Hart (drums/vocals), the North Carolina trio’s harmony-heavy Beatles / Squeeze songwriting, charming lyricism, and familial chemistry is channeled into 10 tracks helmed by revered REM/Smithereens producer Don Dixon. Secret Monkey Weekend’s wildly atypical backstory is testament to the power of music even in the face of heartrending grief. Ella and Lila’s father Matt, a prominent area drummer who’d toured with Hüsker Dü’s Grant Hart, passed suddenly in 2012, when his daughters were aged just 4 and 9. Matt had played in bands with Jefferson and, after his friend’s passing, the latter started teaching Ella guitar. A relationship with their mom, Laura, slowly blossomed. Secret Monkey Weekend (a name derived from a vintage Tiger Beat magazine headline) began as purely organic family therapy, with no plans for anything more. Yet by 2016 they were playing casual shows and soon graduated to a busy calendar of club and festival dates. Debut album All The Time In The World, also produced by Dixon, followed in 2022. It’s a tale so remarkable that the trio is the subject of Emmy-winning 2023 PBS documentary, Secret Monkey Weekend.” We get guitarist / vocalist / dad Jefferson to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

It’s our second record and it’s called Lemon Drop Hammer. REM, Smithereens, and Marshall Crenshaw producer Don Dixon produced it, as he did our first. On the first listen, I don’t think listeners will get the backwards masking messages between the final two songs Naoma and Mimi (songs about a girl and cat, respectively). It may take some special wizardry to decipher that.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

My parents always had the radio on, especially Top 40 AM radio in the 1960s. I was up to speed immediately on what the current and popular sounds were. But it was not until I was 4 when I got The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles when I found my North Star. I’ve been music obsessed ever since.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Well, outside of The Beatles and Chipmunks, I really got into Elvis and The Cowsills about the same time. They both had TV specials within weeks of each other  when I was 7.  With Elvis, it was his current hit “Suspicious Minds,” and with the Cowsills, it was “Indian Lake.”

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Paul McCartney. I’d love to write with him and sit across from him like Lennon did. Plus, he seems like a regular pleasant guy, and Ella would especially like to meet him, too.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

I like to tend to my backyard, patch up the grass where the dogs tear up things. I also love watching Baltimore Orioles baseball on TV. To end my day, I like to read biographies and history.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Our music is upbeat, and always with guitar AND melodic hooks and memorable choruses. I was not entirely sure I agreed when someone compared me to Eugene Chadbourne. I think it was because of my rugged good looks.

Photo credit: Chris Sikich

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Lila, my youngest daughter, is the best cook, especially pasta and cakes. Ella, the oldest child, gets the drinks as she’s old enough to drink legally now, after 9 years of being a band. I’m probably the guitar sing-a-long guy, though Ella is good with a ukulele and self taught.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

I stood in line to get Glenn Tilbrook (of Squeeze) to sign an album for me, and I honestly could not think of anything to say other than “thanks, you’re an inspiration.” I wish I’d had something more clever to say.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Being onstage is the best part of being a musician, quickly followed by the positive feedback in that very situation. I’d like to be on an MLB baseball park groundskeeper crew if I could no longer be a musician.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

I think asking what I did before I went head first into rock and roll would be a good question. My answer would probably be watching cartoons and playing Chipmunks records. The question I’m the most tired of answering is “Do people often mistake you for Eugene Chadburne?”

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

I wish we’d have taken just another week before going into the studio to write songs about our pups, Chester and Claudine, two sibling Pyrenees who were about 8 months old at the time. We already have our cats Mimi and Merida immortalized on this new record. Our old hound, the late Maybelle was sung about on the last one. By the way, a strong contender for our next record title is “I Think I’m Turning Pyrenees.”

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I’d have enjoyed seeing Blonde on Blonde by Dylan recorded. That or Revolver by The Beatles. Both were enduring favorites of mine from the same era and just the recording techniques, the engineers, and the personnel would have been a great learning opportunity (not to mention a great opportunity for autographs).

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Category: Interviews