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Hangin’ & Sangin’: Lilly Hiatt

Feb 27, 2018

Hangin' & Sangin': Lilly Hiatt

From the Bluegrass Situation and WMOT Roots Radio, it’s Hangin’ & Sangin’ with your host, BGS editor Kelly McCartney. Every week Hangin’ & Sangin’ offers up casual conversation and acoustic performances by some of your favorite roots artists. From bluegrass to folk, country, blues, and Americana, we stand at the intersection of modern roots music and old time traditions bringing you roots culture — redefined.

With me today at Hillbilly Central, Lilly Hiatt! Welcome!

Thank you!

 

Okay, Trinity Lane, your record, came out last summer. Letā€™s talk about songwriting, because I feel like this record is songwriting as a way to understand yourself, right? The recordā€™s kind of overflowing with that.

Yes, it is that, definitely. [Laughs]

How much easier is it for you to dissect and process whatever youā€™re going through with writing versus talking it out or some other form?

Well, I think both are useful, but sometimes with writing — I think because youā€™re alone, or Iā€™m alone when I write — sometimes things will come out that maybe are a little buried down or you didnā€™t know were there, and youā€™re like, ā€œHmm, alright!ā€ And so thatā€™s kind of the fun part about that. Itā€™s kind of like the guard is really down there.

How often does something come through that you didnā€™t even necessarily know was there and then, afterward, youā€™re like, ā€œOh, huh, okay, thatā€™s how I feel about that!ā€

Yeah, I mean that happens a lot! It happened the other day, when I was playing around, and sometimes itā€™s a little startling, but usually itā€™s really relieving, like ā€œOh, gosh!ā€ It happens a lot.

I love it, sometimes when Iā€™ve got stuff swirling around — this just happened recently, too — the only way I can think to express it is to just start writing it in a weird free-form poem, whatever kind of thing. The words donā€™t necessarily even have to make sense if someone else were to read it, but it can express. And then, when you add on a melody, which I donā€™t do because Iā€™m not a songwriter, then that enhances it that much further because the music can take it in a whole other direction.

Yeah, totally, itā€™s an exciting thing to do. And I think itā€™s a useful tool to write things down, for anyone really. Because sometimes you really donā€™t understand things, when theyā€™re just swirling around in your head, and maybe you donā€™t understand them on paper, but itā€™s a document of that moment and how you were perceiving it then. And, if that changes later, it may, but itā€™s interesting.

Before we started the show we were talking about our mutual friend Amanda Shires. She recently challenged me — she owes me breakfast, by the way — she uses an app called Flowstate, wherein you set a timer for either five or 10 minutes or whatever, and you just write. And if you stop for five seconds before your time ends, it erases everything you did. So you have to keep going!

You just go! Thatā€™s cool!

The first time I did it, I had about nine seconds left out of the whole thing, and I saw a typo that I wanted to go back and fix, and [it deleted everything], it was just a blank cursor!

And you just lost it! Well, thatā€™s really cool. Iā€™m a big fan of the let-it-flow method, myself. You can always go back and edit, but sometimes what comes out is what needs to. And Amandaā€™s a cool writer. She is a true writer, and she disciplines herself even though it comes from her heart, and I think thereā€™s a lot to be said for that, too, you know, just taking the time to freestyle! Whatever!

If you had to define what your job is, as a songwriter, what would you say it is, in terms of the parameters or responsibilities?

Thatā€™s a good question, and Iā€™ve heard a couple writers who I admire talk about what they think that responsibility is, and I try not to take it too seriously as in ā€œI have a real something to say that you need to hear!ā€ But, I do think, if you have a way with words and you have a strong suit in one way or another, whether thatā€™s painting a picture or being introspective, then maybe there is a service in that, of connecting with people. The things I write about are really mundane, like breakups and stuff that everyone deals with — pretty simple stuff. But if you can just kind of nuance it in a way that strikes a chord with others, it can be powerful, and itā€™s powerful for me to share that stuff with other people.

Have you figured out ways for yourself to block out the outside opinions and trends and not let them sway you? Just say, ā€œThis is my truth and this is what Iā€™m gonna say and how Iā€™m gonna say itā€?

Yeah, I have, and Iā€™ve gotten better as Iā€™ve gotten older and more confident in myself. But I mean, still, of course you care what other people think, but I care more about making music that I feel good about … whatever that means. So itā€™s not to pander to any one way or another or any group. You know, sometimes you have to tune it out. And nobody really expects that much from you! I think we get more in our heads, itā€™s like, “Just write stuff!” Whatever! [Laughs]

If it lands, it lands!

Yeah, exactly. Itā€™s fulfilling to write things.

ā€¦

Letā€™s get a little granular on your song ā€œDifferent, I Guess,ā€ because itā€™s a fascinating piece to me, for a number of reasons, and Amanda, among others, say itā€™s one of the best songs theyā€™ve ever heard.

Thatā€™s nice.

But structurally on that, it starts out just kind of cruising along, and then it sort of flails a little bit, and then it goes back. On a scale of 1-10, how much do rules matter to you?

They donā€™t really.

Okay, so on a scale of 0-10 … [Laughs]

I mean, maybe weā€™ll give them a 1 or 2. Sometimes Iā€™m like, ā€œHmm, you canā€™t do that,ā€ but then Iā€™m like, ā€œOh yes, you can!ā€ And that song was actually kind of the beginning of a foray into ā€¦ itā€™s funny because I think somewhere in the back of my head I followed, not one particular structure, but I disciplined myself with getting a good form for a song. And I was like, ā€œYou can do whatever you want in that song, say whatever you want!ā€

You donā€™t have to have a chorus, you donā€™t have to have a bridge ā€¦

Yeah, exactly! Because I think of some of my favorite songs, and they donā€™t have those things. Theyā€™re not ā€œperfectā€ — whatever that means. So that one was fun. It just kind of spilled out, and I was like, ā€œIā€™m not changing anything!ā€ [Laughs]

ā€œTake that, world!ā€ Lyrically, too, itā€™s so raw and real, but itā€™s still painted with poetry. I love the line, ā€œI donā€™t have to have you to know what this is.ā€

Thank you.

Because, in the end, itā€™s about how weā€™re responding to something. Itā€™s often not about ā€œthatā€ — whether itā€™s a person or a situation or whatever. Itā€™s whatā€™s going on inside of us. So ā€œthatā€ doesnā€™t even have to be there for the work to be going on [inside of us].

Itā€™s true. I think, when we love things, we want to possess them a lot of the time.

Funny that, eh?

It is funny! Ultimately, itā€™s not how that works, you know? But I donā€™t know. [Laughs] Every love is different!

And the other line, ā€œNo oneā€™s really been at their bestā€ … One of my lifeā€™s mottos for the past few years has been trying to be my best in any given moment so that I donā€™t have to have remorse or regret, or second-guess myself if Iā€™d made the best choice. And whatā€™s funny is that that is sort of echoed in that, too, even though you say, ā€œNo oneā€™s really been at their best,ā€ that sentiment is still in there and thatā€™s fascinating to me.

Thank you. Well, I appreciate your insight into that song. Itā€™s cool hearing peopleā€™s take on things, you know? And yeah, ā€œat your bestā€ … I donā€™t know! [Laughs]

Which at any given moment is [high or low]. [Laughs]

But I know what you mean, where you just want to know you gave it what you had.

Watch all the episodes on YouTube, or download and subscribe to the Hangin’ & Sangin’ podcast and other BGS programs every week via iTunes, Spotify,Ā Podbean, or your favorite podcast platform.

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Hangin' & Sangin': Lilly Hiatt
Hangin' & Sangin': Lilly Hiatt