Tag: the beatles

Artist of the Month: Bettye LaVette

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The very definition of persistence, Bettye LaVette is among the newest inductees into the Blues Music Hall of Fame, yet she pulls her material from nearly every imaginable corner of music. In addition to her distinguished R&B output that dates to the 1960s, she has interpreted the greats of folk and country music, ranging from Bob Dylan and Patty Griffin to George Jones and Dolly Parton. Now the five-time Grammy nominee is honoring many of the Black women who inspire her with Blackbirds, a collection that takes its name from the Beatles standard. However, as LaVette has stated before, Paul McCartney wrote the song about a Black woman (as British slang refers to a girl as a “bird”). In LaVette’s rendition, though, she is the one who’s been waiting… and waiting… and waiting for this moment to arrive. And, in a specific allusion to this moment in history, to be free.

Set for release on the venerated Verve label, Blackbirds alights on August 28, though the Detroit-raised diva has already issued a stunning rendition of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” as well as Nina Simone’s “I Hold No Grudge” and Sharon Robinson’s “One More Song.” (Songs recorded by Ruth Brown, Lou Rawls, Dinah Washington, and jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson are featured on the album, too.) Read our two-part interview — part one here, part two here — with this candid and compelling entertainer, who’s now based in New Jersey and enjoy our BGS Essentials playlist of August’s Artist of the Month, Bettye LaVette.

 

BGS 5+5: Pharis & Jason Romero

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Artist: Pharis & Jason Romero
Hometown: Horsefly, BC
Latest album: Bet on Love

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

Music and handcrafting go hand-in-hand for us, and the connections between the sounds, the textures, and the colors the sounds create are an essential part of the art we’re making, oral or visual. The music we make is informed by the banjos we build, the jewelry we create, the gardens we plant, the overwhelmingly beautiful part of the world we live in.

We work as banjo makers, sending custom-made Romero Banjos to clients around the world. It’s a powerful artistic outlet, inspired by things like old furniture, deco and nouveau paintings, the look and feel of raw copper or wood, the feeling when you’re up to your thighs in river water and casting a fly rod, the geometry in tree branches and tall grasses; often our strongest inspiration is found in the forms seen in nature.

Jason is an old film nut — he briefly studied film in college, and old Japanese films really formed an aesthetic cornerstone for him. The texture of the film is something you can feel and almost taste, and his banjo playing draws on the texture of the instrument’s tone in a similar way. Pharis finds a large part of her songwriting happens with rhythm and nature — the swish of cross-country skis on snow, the soft splash of a canoe paddle. And like many songwriters, a turn of phrase in a book or poem can be her basis for an entire song.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

Pharis’ parents said she came out of the womb singing — her family sang together from day one — but she didn’t want to be a performer. Pharis’ dad was part of a couple groups that were invited to play at Expo ’86 in Vancouver, BC. Her dad had her sisters up on stage but Pharis, 7, refused. She studied classical music from a young age, and being on stage was a painfully nerve-wracking experience for her. But she persisted (her mom persisted), and when she and her sisters sang a Beatles song in three-part harmony at a festival, it was good – and people loved it. That’s when Pharis really woke up to the love of singing harmonies and the lift it gives people when they hear them.

Jason always loved music — especially the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and Cream — but his relationship was as a listener until he was 19 and heard a 5-string banjo played in an Irish bar band in Chico, California. That sound redirected his life — a month later he had a banjo and has been obsessed by it ever since.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

We often have our two kids on the road with us. It’s incredible to all be together, but it means we need to pay attention to making time for quiet and stillness. We try to give ourselves a good hour before a show to sit, have a cup of tea or a glass of whiskey, not talk, and warm up our voices slowly. The important word here is “try”, as our most important ritual on the road is being adaptable and resourceful — and sometimes that means waiting for the babysitter to show up five minutes before we go on.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

We live an hour away from our main town and there are few places to eat out, so we eat at home a lot and love making and sourcing good food. If we could sit down and play and sing tunes with some close old-time music pals, drink some mezcal margaritas, and then sit down to fresh greens and grilled veggies from the garden, pesto, some kimchi and a grass-fed burger, life would be excellent.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Pharis: I was in a band called Outlaw Social years ago. At a big CD release show, packed to the rafters, we had a guest fiddle player join us on stage. I meant to introduce him as our substitute fiddler player, but my tongue slipped and I introduced him as our “suppository fiddle player.” The bass player, bless his heart, quipped, “He just slips right in.” The room completely fell apart.

Photo credit: Laureen Carruthers

BGS 5+5: David Starr

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Artist: David Starr
Hometown: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Latest album: Beauty and Ruin
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Folks call me Big D for some unknown reason…

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

One of my favorite moments on stage was pretty recent. I worked with a group in the small Colorado town where I live to build a performing and visual arts center (The Grand Mesa Arts & Events Center in Cedaredge) a couple of years ago. On opening night, I was mid-song playing to a full house when I realized that we’d “done it.” We’d made this place where there had been an empty shell before. That was an emotional moment of pride and gratitude; both for the appreciative crowd I was singing to and for the success of our hard work.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

I’d have to say that my writing is most informed by the written and spoken words of others, for example how Beauty and Ruin is inspired by my grandfather’s 1972 novel, Of What Was, Nothing Is Left. I really enjoy taking a phrase or saying and building a song around it. That might come from a book I’ve read in the past or from a snippet I hear on the news or in the coffee shop. It can truly come from almost anywhere!

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

Like so many of my generation, I recall seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show when they first came to the States. Though I was just a kid, I already loved music. And it seemed to me that those guys had it figured out! But to be honest, it’s only been in recent years that I made myself believe in me relative to being a musician. I’ve made a more serious commitment to writing, recording, touring and collaborating. And it’s been very rewarding!

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Strive for excellence when writing, performing and in all my interactions.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

For the longest time, I wrote very much in the first person. But as time goes on, I find it really fun and liberating to inhabit a character’s skin when building a song. My recent book-based project gave me lots of room to run in that respect. More often than not, it ends up being a composite character with a healthy dose of me included.

Photo credit: Jason Denton

MIXTAPE: Penny & Sparrow’s Songs Begging to Be Covered

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From Joe Cocker covering The Beatles, Bon Iver covering Bonnie Raitt, Glen Hansard covering The Pixies, and many, many more, WE LOVE COVER SONGS. In fact, one of the most commonly had tour van conversations is “What should we cover next?” (And we deliberate that almost daily.) The art of taking someone else’s song and making it your own is difficult and praise-worthy. … THUS, when The Bluegrass Situation asked us to cultivate a playlist, we knew exactly where to go. So here it is, dear friend!! A list of songs — in our opinion — that are begging to be covered.” — Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke, Penny and Sparrow

Eagles – “New Kid in Town”

Like a lot of Eagles tunes, “New Kid in Town” manages to have emotional depth WITH a hook that’s catchy as hell. Not a lot of folks can do that. They did it over and over again. It reminds me of “Fun Times in Babylon” and for that reason I must have Father John Misty cover this as soon as possible. Please make that happen for me, FJM. You would sound delightful. (Andy)

Willie Nelson – “Buddy”

This song was on Parks and Recreation and it made the reconciliation of Leslie and Ron one of the most iconic scenes in TV history. For the month after, I listened to it over and over and over again. After 30 days of it I started to imagine who I wanted to hear cover it. I landed on one of two extremely recognizable (and lovely) voices: Ashley Monroe or Anaïs Mitchell. Please Universe, hear my cry. (Andy)

John Denver – “Sunshine on My Shoulders”

I would love to hear this covered by someone like Daniel Caesar. The melody with some R&B voicing would sound insane. (Kyle)

Miya Folick – “Thingamajig”

This song is admittedly new for me and (before it came along) it had been more than a year since a song made me cry on first listen. This one undid me. Eight straight listens and now I might die unless I hear I’M WITH HER cover this damn song in three-part harmony. (Andy)

Ace of Base – “Don’t Turn Around”

I love a good ‘80s/’90s jam saddened by some sad indie folk. Thinking if James Vincent McMorrow took this and pitched it to his gorgeous falsetto I would listen on every rainy morning and cry just a little. Maybe give it to Jason Isbell and let him turn it into an Americana masterpiece. (Kyle)

Alvvays – “Archie, Marry Me”

A friend of ours called this song a “We’ll be young forever” anthem. It toes some strange line between the grunge pop of “Cherry Bomb” and the new age sad rock of Phoebe Bridgers. I love it and really really wanna hear a slickly crooned version by Sam Smith. Take all my money Sam, just get it done. (Andy)

George Strait – “Lovesick Blues”

I love the yodeling in this one. Basically I want Miley Cyrus to imitate Dolly Parton imitating a ‘90s George Strait. I love this track. (Kyle)

Slim Whitman – “Rose Marie”

This one feels unfairly unknown. How this song got lost in the shuffle of history is beyond us but I damn sure wanna hear The Kernal or Robert Ellis do a version! (Andy)

All-4-One – “So Much in Love”

This could either be an Ariana Grande acapella jam, or in my wildest dreams a Simon & Garfunkel reunion where they folk harmonize it to perfection and the world is happy since they are friends again and that’s all I really want. (Kyle)

Anaïs Mitchell – “He Did”

Lyrically this song is masterful and angst ridden and haunting. As I think about it now, it would be an incredibly tall order to cover this monster, but I genuinely think a blues/soul rendition could be badass. The lyrics of the song mourn and bleed and I kinda wanna hear Cedric Burnside or Leon Bridges take it on. (Andy)

Cutting Crew – “(I Just) Died In Your Arms”

GIVE ME HAIM SINGING THIS SONG AND IT WILL BE THE RESURRECTION OF AN ‘80S POP RELIC!!!! It would also stream millions of times in a matter of days. It’s a jam and they’re the maestros I wanna hear introduce it to the next generation. (Andy)

Photo credit: Noah Tidmore

BGS 5+5: Chely Wright

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Artist: Chely Wright
Personal nickname: Chels

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

I don’t mean to sound like I’m too cool to acknowledge that books, films, and paintings affect me (of course they do), but I think the single biggest influence on the work I do comes from human interaction and my observations of it. I absorb communication (spoken and non-linguistic) between people — whether it’s firsthand or from the sidelines — in the ways that one might go to the Met to see their favorite Degas. I do think, at times, that the way people interact is a form of art, because the composition matters and because it requires context and begs for interpretation.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

When I was just a little kid, I’d sit in front of stacks and piles of my parents’ vinyl record collection as my mom would curate the playlist of the day. Buck Owens, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, Bobbie Gentry, Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Sr., Elvis, and The Beatles… those were some of the artists in heavy rotation in our household. I remember being four years old and all I wanted to do was listen to those records. I was learning to read at that time too and my mom would help me as I sounded out the words written in the liner notes. I recall saying to my mom, “I want to do this. I want make my own records.” To which she replied, “You can.” And in that moment I really believed that I could and that I would.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Mission Statement: Find joy in every part of the work. The music. The people. The solitude. The airports. The chaos. The struggle. The triumph. The songs. Find The Joy.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I try to walk a lot wherever I am. I’ve always cherished the experience of putting my feet down on dirt, gravel, pavement, and stone in places where I’m pretty sure I’ll never walk again. There’s something profound about it for me. Like most folks, I do my best thinking on my walks. Usually, on these walks, I don’t think about melodies or lyrics, but rather, I think about characters. The characters I consider (mostly fictitious) have free reign of my imagination for 1-2 hours to share their monologues or dialogues with me. I remember being a kid on my paper route and doing the same thing. I don’t know why I enjoy it, but I do.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

I’m not a big foodie and I’ve never answered questions about the intersection of food and art with any style or substance, to be honest. I can say this though– if you give me a night of Rodney Crowell and Joe Henry together on stage, I’d be pretty damn happy with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Photo credit: Matthew Rodgers

BGS 5+5: Doug Seegers

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Artist: Doug Seegers
Hometown: Long Island, New York
Latest Album: A Story I Got To Tell (BMG)
Nicknames: Duke the Drifter (from the days on the NY music circuit, in the band Angels in Overdrive)

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I was born a musician and singer — genetically. At 16 I wanted to be a performer. My grandfather put me up on the bar at age 5. My feet dangling down swinging back and forth, he had me singing Elvis songs on the bar.

Singing was always beautiful to me and it was encouraged by my grandmother. Her singing with me provided comfort and supported me. Her encouragement was like water on a flower. She was watering my flower – see, the beauty of the vocals. My grandmother was an important part of my childhood, especially as it related my music and singing. She could hear a song and tell me how to play it on the guitar – she heard the music perfectly.

That support is what helped me know I wanted to be a musician; it was early. Performing gives me a great feeling and a huge smile now. I saw that in using melodies, the melodies come from our head and from God. Paul McCartney’s melodies are incredible and magical. David Crosby jokes about making “A bad song with good melodies and it will be a hit.”

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

Religion. Poverty. Growing up poor. I don’t know how to put this into words, about how this informs my art and songs. My mom tried to talk me out of music as a career because of what happened to her. [Editor’s Note: Her husband abandoned her to play music.] My grandmother [was] a big influence for me. She loved the Beatles. In my eyes as a younger man, my granny was the first person to recognize the Beatles for their talent. We had a radio on the wall in her kitchen and so I remember we were waiting for the first Beatles record.

Our family did not have a record player. I remember me, my brother, and mother all chipped in and bought a record player because we wanted to play the first Beatles record. We looked in the Buylines, a newspaper with categories of things for sale. On the “stereos” headline, we found one real cheap. A monaural record player — one speaker. My older brother listened to that record player for at least ten years. We played the 78s, and I played the Hank Williams 78 my dad left behind. That is how I learned to play the guitar.

I am working on another song for my next record. A cover song by Sherry Cothran, “Tending Angels.” I want to do it out of respect for her. She ran a soup kitchen. We had dinners on Thursday nights – she would be there, I got to know her. I have been speaking to her on text. Here is something I wrote to her, ‘Hello Sherry, my name is Doug Seegers, and I used to eat at the Thursday night dinners. A friend was telling me that you are a singer-musician, I just wanted to tell you I spent this morning listening to your music. I wanted to tell you how much you have lifted my spirit this morning. The strength of your humbleness is probably one of the world’s best-kept secrets. I wish you peace and tranquility ‘til the day after forever.” Guess that was a little too much for her, she responded with ‘Thank you for your kind words.’’

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

In some of my songs, I am clear it is me, like in “Out on the Street.” It’s a story about my brother and me. The song starts with Well, I found my wisdom when I was a child out on the street / growing up without my father made my life so incomplete.

This sets a foundation for another song, “Angel from a Broken Home.” This song is important to me. It is a message for fathers to pay attention to their precious children. The song is written about an 8-year-old little girl whose father left her all alone. The lyrics are:

She always got a busy tone
Calling her daddy on the phone
How could he ever treat his girl this way?
She is 8 years old with a broken heart.
How could her daddy be so hard?
Yet every night she forgives him when she prays.
Well she’s an angel from a broken home
Growing up with a heart of stone
Lost her love for her daddy
When he left her all alone.

This is my story. My father left me when I was 8 years old, but I wrote it about a little girl.

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Gram Parsons influenced me. I was listening to all of the early country-rock bands, and Gram was a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers. I particularly like Gram Parsons when he did that song “Do Right Woman.” I thought that was an awesome song. It is an Aretha Franklin song — he turned it around. What Gram was trying to do was fuse different styles together and that is why he was so inspirational to me. I never saw him live but listened to him and knew his songs.

After Flying Burrito Brothers, he did that thing with the Byrds, the Sweetheart of the Rodeo record. That just opened up the sky for me when I heard that record. When Sweetheart of the Rodeo came out, that was the real beginning of me listening to Gram Parsons’ music. And then shortly after that along came Emmylou Harris. They went on the road as the Fallen Angels. That was back when country-rock was being born. It was real inspirational for me.

Then I have always loved duets, you know. I have been listening to and loving duets all my life. I think Gram and Emmylou are like the prettiest duets I have ever heard. Listening to them became an addiction at that point. Their duets that really speak to me include “She” — that is on my first album. I was so pleased to have Emmylou provide vocals and sing on my record. The other two duets that stand out for me are “Hearts on Fire” and of course “The Return of the Grievous Angel.”

One Gram song that rattles around in my head is “Hickory Wind.” Back in the day that is what all the cool guys were playing. When Emmylou came along, the big chart-topper was “Love Hurts.” I still love all of his music. I went to Joshua Tree to visit Gram’s special place. It was a wonderful experience for me. There are some videos of me at Joshua Tree Inn, where Gram passed.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

I want to make sure I am alone when I write songs. I need to get some alone time. Secure privacy and safety. I need to have my own time, space, and privacy when writing. Some will get a cabin in the woods. But not me. I wake up with an idea and a song might be there. I write it when it happens, you just got to get a hold of it then. Someone can react to me — maybe get angry, I can write a song about that.

When I listened to Sherry Cothran’s song ‘Tending Angels,’ I knew it was the right thing to do, and I needed to learn that song and record it. I wanted to pay respect to someone special. I use a notebook and a fine tip marker. That is how I like to write — quiet, alone, with a fine tip marker.

Photo credit: Nelson Blanton

BGS 5+5: Carl Anderson

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Artist: Carl Anderson
Hometown: Charlottesville, Virginia
Latest album: You Can Call Me Carl (EP release, May 31)
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): BIG CARL

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

I’m not sure I can point to any one artist as being my main influence. Growing up my mom would listen to folks like James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, and a handful of other singer-songwriters. At the same time I was also heavily influenced by what my sister was listening to and that was more along the lines of The Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against the Machine, Weird Al, The Beatles. Some of it I was really moved by, other stuff not so much, but I took it all in nonetheless.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

I had the opportunity to tour around the United Kingdom and Germany this past August with my friends, Sons of Bill. I would have to say my favorite recent memory of being on stage came during a performance in Munich. I remember really connecting with the audience that night and thinking how special it was that here we were, a couple of Virginia boys far from home playing songs that at one point didn’t exist. That night we got what anyone who does this can really ask for and that is an audience’s undivided attention.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

I am influenced by all sorts of different art. I like to think of it as all being valuable source material. In the last few years I began painting on a semi-regular basic and have enjoyed learning about different painters throughout history and how they worked. I like that Mark Rothko kept traditional office hours while he worked on the Seagram Murals. I’ve taken to such a schedule with my writing and it has actually worked quite well for me.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I remember sitting around with my mom and sister when I was in middle school and listening to the first Nickel Creek record and being moved by the songs. I think it was in that moment that I knew I wanted to try and affect people like that. I had started learning a little guitar prior but hearing that music and getting goosebumps that put fuel on the fire. I was on the path from that point forward.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

I think my mission is simple. I want to try and write honest songs and be as earnest with people in my performances as I can. I am just a man who, like everyone else, is insecure and looking for love. I feel like I am able to share parts of myself with my music that are otherwise difficult to articulate.

BGS 5+5: Patrick Park

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Artist: Patrick Park
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Latest album: Here/Gone
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Double P, P Diddy, Paddy P

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

My favorite memory being on stage would have to be getting to play at Red Rocks. I grew up in that little town in Colorado and literally looked up the mountain at Red Rocks every single day and could hear the concerts from my room. In high school my friends and I would hike up the hill in the dark and scale the walls to sneak into shows there at least once a week during the summer. So being on the other side, being on that stage and getting to play there was almost like an out-of-body experience.

What was the first moment that you realized that you wanted to be a musician?

There were so many moments, but one that stands out was when I was probably 8 or 9. I had a guitar teacher briefly in grade school who had a cover band that had a standing gig a few nights a week at dive bar somewhere out in east Denver. Every now and again he would have a night where some of his students got to come up and play a couple songs with his band. I remember I played “Taxman” by the Beatles and “Panama” by Van Halen. Hahaha! We played to basically my parents, the bartender, and a couple regulars, but it was so fun! He let me take the guitar solos, and I remember thinking I would do it every day if I could.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career what would it be?

Working to understand my true self through music, so as to be less reactive in a reactive world and better serve others.

What is the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

There have been so many tough ones hahaha! Writing is an exercise in letting go as much as it is anything else. For example it becomes difficult anytime I find I am stubbornly clinging to an idea that I want to work but doesn’t. Songs have their own momentum. It’s when you try to control that in some way, or try to force it in a direction that it doesn’t want to go, that you feel stuck. Our lives are the same. One that I especially remember being hard to crack was a song on my third record called “Silence And Storm.” I probably worked on it for six months.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

Literature probably has influenced my songwriting more than any other art forms aside from music. Dylan Thomas was really inspirational to me early on. How he often used words in ways they weren’t necessarily intended to paint a picture or express a feeling. Rainer Maria Rilke, the way his words implied and circled around something inexpressible to words, but who presence was felt in the spaces.

Photo credit: Mia Kirby

BGS 5+5: Liam Russell

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Artist: Liam Russell
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest album: No Contest
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Liam Titcomb

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Up until a few years ago, it would have been The Beatles. I learned everything about popular music from The Beatles. Chord progressions, melody, harmony, rhythm, lyrics, attitude, production. … I was pretty obsessive in my teen years about them and I honestly think it improved me greatly as a musician. I learned to play guitar by learning all their songs. I completely learned how to sing harmonies by deciding one day to only sing along to them in harmony and because I knew the songs so intimately, it worked!

A few years ago, I started to dig deeper into lyrics and so I’m returning to other things I’ve loved over the years and going over the lyrics with more of a fine-tooth comb. Lucinda Williams is a really big one for me these days but also Patty Griffin and John Prine, etc. It’s a long list.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

I got to take part in a 70th birthday tribute to Joni Mitchell in Toronto for the Luminato festival. They got Joni’s band to be the house band, Brian Blade was the musical director and then there was a handful of singers. Myself, Chaka Khan, Kathleen Edwards, Rufus Wainwright, Glen Hansard, Lizz Wright, etc… Joni decided to come to the event and had said she wasn’t sure if she would sing but then I got an email that said: “Joni’s been singing at every rehearsal and has decided to sing a couple songs.”

That alone was exciting enough for me because I’d never seen her live before and now I was gonna be really really up close and personal. The whole thing was like a dream. I had to pinch myself even during rehearsal with those incredible musicians because Brian Blade is probably my most favorite drummer of all time and they were all just so damn good.

Then I met Joni before one of the shows (we did two nights) and she was delightful and had watched my performance and was giving me wardrobe tips for the second night because of the lights for my songs. It was wild. But all this to say that my favorite memory from being on stage is singing “Woodstock” with Joni and that band as the grand finale. That was just unbelievable and so special. I’ll never forget it. She killed it and she was so supportive of me too. What a woman.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I was 7 years old at an after-party for a big fundraiser show that was for one of my dad’s best friends, Bob Carpenter. There were all kinds of folk music big shots there and people were clumped into groups of four to eight, all having little jams. My ah-ha moment happened when I saw Soozi Schlanger playing Cajun songs. She was playing the fiddle and singing with all her heart and it blew my mind. I totally had the thought, “That’s what I wanna do.” And I did! I convinced my God-mum to rent me a violin, got my parents to beg Soozi to teach me and it all started there, playing second fiddle with Soozi and learning to sing in French phonetically.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

“To Be a Man” is a song off this new EP inspired by the #MeToo movement and it was definitely the hardest song I’ve ever written. I wrote it with my friend Robby Hecht (another great Nashville singer-songwriter). We had gotten together to write a song and started talking about the movement and what it meant to us as self-identifying “good guys” and whether we even really were good guys and it just spiraled into this heavy conversation about what it is to be a man and we thought “we should write about this” but neither of us realized how hard it was going to be.

It took us about six get-togethers to get it done and it was a slog every time. We labored over every line and made sure to run it all past my wife Zoe Sky Jordan to make sure nothing would be misconstrued. It was a serious challenge but one I’m very proud of. Frankly, after thousands of years of men taking advantage of women in one way or another and them suffering from it, it had better be hard and a little painful for me to write a song about it. Men deserve to feel a little discomfort for a change.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I used to this a lot. I think it’s very common to do this as a young writer. It’s hard to confront your true self, let alone put it on display for everyone else in a song. I mean, how often do we even do that in conversations? The older I get, the more I value writers like Lucinda Williams who just lays everything out for all to see. Every ugly bump, every beautiful twist and turn. To me, the most fascinating writing is the honest and vulnerable writing because that’s what we all are! We’re vulnerable and we have warts and we’re just trying to figure it out and not fuck it up. I endeavor to never make this mistake in my writing again and really hope I only get more honest as time goes on.

Photo credit: Blu Sanders

BGS 5+5: The Teskey Brothers

Posted on by Amy Reitnouer

Band Name: Sam Teskey (of the Teskey Brothers)
Hometown: Warrandyte, AUS
Latest Album: Half Mile Harvest
Personal Nicknames: Sammy

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

I’ve gone through a lot of stages that different artists have influenced me more, but I would have to say B.B King has always been there, and I’ve always come back to his work.

I feel there are two elements to great music — the song and the soul behind it. The marriage of the two really is something special. For example, take the Beatles song “With a Little Help trom My Friends” and give it to Joe Cocker … say no more. B.B does this with ease in his music — simple, but great songs played in just the right way with so much soul behind it.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

Well, firstly, I saw a Jimi Hendrix DVD, and I was sold then. But also, I think growing up around St. Andrews pub (near where we grew up) got me very interested. Seeing working musicians come through every weekend showed me that it was possible if I worked at it.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

When we are recording, I usually get to the studio early, before the band arrives, so I can get the tape machine warmed up and aligned. It takes the length of a record to get it ready, so I choose one for the morning to also align my head and ears. Most commonly Traffic or Neil Young’s Harvest.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

We have our studio upstream of Melbourne on the Yarra River in a beautiful town called Warrandyte. This is where we all grew up, among the trees, swimming and jamming by the river. It is a very refreshing place to write music and share song ideas. There seems to be a lot of musos making music out there. Must be something in the water, or just a great space to make music. Whatever it is, we feel at home there.

What’s the weirdest, hardest, nerdiest, or other superlative thing about songwriting that most non-writers wouldn’t know?

The strangest thing about songs for me is, where do they come from? I imagine them to be something that is always floating around us like microscopic dust. Learning to write a song is like trying to catch them all and fitting them together like a puzzle. Once you’ve completed one puzzle, you don’t know how you are going to find the next one … but they always seem to find you. You just have to be open to finding them or letting them find you.