“I’ve always been that bad campfire singer,” admits longtime rock photographer Mark Seliger, who has lately led a double life as the frontman of country-blues band Rusty Truck. “You know, pulling off Cat Stevens songs, but never proficient in any way.”

Funny what a few music lessons and confidence-building karaoke sessions can do: Nowadays, the Houston native’s voice is undeniably strong and soulful. “As solid as any of Nashville’s country-pop crooners,” wrote Rolling Stone in a review of Broken Promises, Rusty Truck’s full-length debut album.

For the album -- which started out as a one-song goof with pal Jakob Dylan -- Seliger enlisted the help of some heavy-hitters: Dylan, Willie Nelson, T-Bone Burnett, and Lenny Kravitz all produced tracks; while Sheryl Crow and Rob Thomas were invited to sing back-up. “I didn’t want it to sound too garage-y; I wanted it properly put together,” says Seliger, who wrote all the songs. “I remember when I went into Lenny’s recording studio in Miami to make the title track, he said, ‘Sit back and let me do what I do. This is record-making here, not songwriting.’” 

The result is a beautifully melodic exploration into Seliger’s down-home world. “It was an amazing journey for me, making this album,” he says from a photo shoot in Nashville. This is, after all, a guy who on the song 1000 Kisses gets to perform a duet with Willie Nelson, whose 1978 album Stardust initially got Seliger hooked on country. “Working with Willie was amazing,” he says quietly, as if still in awe of the collaboration. “I mean, he sang the third verse of that song and it was like hearing it for the first time. He interpreted it exactly how I saw it.” 

Saw it or heard it? “Well that’s the thing. To me, songwriting is basically a reproduction of what I create visually.”

See It and Hear It:

Rusty Truck, Broken Promises, $11, amazon.com

In My Stairwell by Mark Seliger, $47, amazon.com

For more info on the band, rustytruckmusic.com