Upon arriving in Richmond , Linkous began playing music with his brother Matt , who lived in the city , and other local musicians , including a traditional Irish group . He found himself drawn to the pure sounds of old - time music , and was inspired enough by its honesty to begin a concerted effort to reinvent his songwriting . As he told Rolling Stone in 1999 , " That period was about abandoning a lot of things and just starting from scratch and learning how to write again – learning how to make art out of pain or clay . " ( 이하 생략 ) ( 출처 : 위키피디아 )