Tag: tom waits

LISTEN: Gov’t Mule, “Make It Rain” (Tom Waits Cover)

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Artist: Gov’t Mule
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina.
Song: “Make It Rain” (Tom Waits cover)
Album: Heavy Load Blues
Release Date: November 12, 2021
Label: Fantasy Records

In Their Words: “When recording the album, I had brought in this old Fender spring reverb unit that I wanted to use on my guitar sound. They can be pretty finicky. If the stage isn’t solid, or somebody’s jumping up and down, it reacts by making this crazy reverb vibration that comes through the amp. I had intentionally set it up on the studio floor to make it kind of shockproof, but what we didn’t allow for was some radio frequencies that randomly interfered and set it off. So, it started making these weird sounds that sounded like thunder. We were in the middle of what turned out to be the best take of ‘Make It Rain’ and it began doing that throughout the whole thing. As it turned out, it happened in these key spots in the song. When we were finished and listened to it with engineer and co-producer John Paterno, we decided to use it. It actually sounded like we planned it that way!” — Warren Haynes, Gov’t Mule

Photo Credit: Jay Sansone

MIXTAPE: Jesse Terry’s Pure Seventies Troubadour Gold

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I’m not sure what it is about this era that has permanently ensnared my soul. Perhaps the raw, confessional nature of the troubadour has always reassured me that I am not alone. These are the songs that made me abandon my fine art career at the age of 18 and embark on a lifelong quest to appease the songwriting gods. The fact that all of these songs can be fully delivered with one instrument and one voice has always amazed and inspired me. It was wonderful to record a few of these classics on my current EP, Seventies Roots, part of a double album of covers that I’m releasing in February 2022 called Forget-Me-Nots. — Jesse Terry

Joni Mitchell – “A Case of You”

Was there any doubt it would start with Joni and a song off her masterpiece, Blue? I put Joni in a Jimi Hendrix-type category, where it feels like the artist was transported from outer space, in perfect revolutionary form. Her songs, chord progressions, lyrics and vocals have always been otherworldly to me. It was thrilling to record this song on my Seventies Roots EP. Actually it was intimidating, but in the end I love the song too much not to do it.

James Taylor – “Fire and Rain”

The blueprint for confessional, honest songwriting. It’s awesome to hear JT tell the story behind the song and know that he put every last personal detail into his lyrics. This inspired me to be vulnerable and completely open in my writing. Nobody sings or plays like JT. And to this day, if I’m having a rough go of it, I blast his records and let that warm voice console me.

Jackson Browne – “For a Dancer”

Another true original with an unmatched voice and sense of melody. I think Jackson is without a doubt one of the best lyricists of all time. His lyrics and melodies flow effortlessly off the tongue and never tire.

Bruce Springsteen – “Growin’ Up”

Springsteen is a legendary rocker and performer. But what really impresses me about the Boss is his songwriting. All of his anthems can be stripped down to an acoustic guitar and still deliver with the same emotion. There aren’t many songwriters that can paint pictures like Springsteen. With him, you’re not just listening to the song, you’re IN the song or maybe even one of the characters.

Carole King – “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”?

Like all of the truly great songwriters, her songs transcend and feel universal and timeless. This song feels perfect, whether you’re listening to Carole’s version or The Shirelles.

Tom Waits – “Shiver Me Timbers”

A truly masterful and utterly unique songwriter. Waits writes about characters and tells stories better than anyone. His lyrics and penchant for perfect timing are well-known, but I also adore Tom Waits’ gift for melody and harmony. His melodies break my heart and are married flawlessly to the lyrics.

Paul Simon – “American Tune”

If you created a singer-songwriter in a lab it would be Paul Simon. Some of the most endearing lyrics and melodies of all time. His songs are so perfect, it’s easy to overlook his guitar playing and singing, which are equally remarkable. Music schools often try to dissect his songs to display the craft of songwriting, but I get the sense that this magic simply flowed out of him.

Elton John – “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”

Over the years, some very talented folks have sent me lyrics and poetry to set to music and I’ve always been disappointed with my results. That makes me even more knocked out by Elton John’s ability to marry Bernie Taupin’s lyrics to the most perfect melodies, tempos and chord progressions. I recorded “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” on my Seventies Roots EP, but I easily could have chosen “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” or any number of tunes. Way too many great options to choose from.

Neil Young – “Comes a Time”

What songwriter list would be complete without Neil Young? Neil is raw unfiltered emotion, live to analog tape with no rewriting or editing. That makes him so special. I can’t think of another songwriter that can cover so much ground with such authenticity.

Randy Newman – “Marie”

Randy Newman is a genius. His character-based songs are on the same level as Tom Waits and his lyrics are just as evocative, biting and unique. It’s impossibly rare to find Newman’s talents as an orchestrator and arranger in the body of a singer-songwriter. “Marie” especially breaks my heart. I believe every word Randy Newman sings.

Townes Van Zandt – “No Place to Fall”

A mythical figure in songwriting, Townes wrote some of the most beautiful and enduring songs of all time. “No Place to Fall” has always spoken to me and broken my heart. Was an honor to record this one.

Bob Dylan – “Simple Twist of Fate”

I admit, as a young kid I was more seduced by the “singers” in this group — artists like Joni, James and Jackson that could sing the phone book. But eventually I became spellbound by Dylan and my affection for him has never waned since. And as I listened more in my life, I realized what an amazing singer and communicator he was. His phrasing, his lyrics, his melodies and his hooks convey the lyrics perfectly. There will never be another Dylan.

Loggins & Messina – “Danny’s Song”

Kenny Loggins went on to have a huge solo career, but the music that he released in the ‘70s with Jim Messina in Loggins & Messina will always be my favorite work. My father used to sing this song to me when I was a kid and it felt like he wrote it for me.

Stevie Wonder – “Love’s in Need of Love Today”

Admittedly my playlist is Laurel Canyon-heavy and that’s what inspired me the most. But I also remember Stevie blaring through speakers as I was growing up. Again, one of the classic singer-songwriters that will never be replaced nor imitated. One in a billion. And on top of that, one of the best, most flexible voices of all time.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – “Our House”

I’ll end my playlist with this classic song that transports you to another time and place. You can almost smell the flowers blooming in this song.

Photo Credit: Alex Berger

BGS 5+5: Anna Tivel

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Artist: Anna Tivel
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Latest Album: Blue World

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

Literature and poetry really get in my bloodstream and make me want to write, all those vivid words and ways of telling a thing. I get the itch to write the most from reading things that unravel like a song but are in much longer form. Right now I’m digging deep through the novels and short stories of Annie Proulx and finding so much inspiration. The way she spins a story, unadorned and brutally human, feels honest in this way I’m forever working toward with songs. Andre Dubus sparks a similar feeling, this gut-punch of everyday struggle told in a way that feels just like reality, but more stunningly laid out in bite-sized, brilliantly observed and relatable moments. I dream of writing songs that make people feel that way.

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

Music has always been the place I felt most at home in my mind, where I could just be, work things out and communicate in a slower, more intentional way. I first found that freedom playing violin as a kid, backing people up later, learning that kind of conversation without speaking that feels so powerful. I started writing songs when I was about 23 and it was a completely magnetic force of expression that I must have been really hurting for because it took hold of me immediately and forcefully. I don’t remember consciously thinking, “This is what I want to do with my life,” just couldn’t seem to think about anything else. I’m forever grateful to be able to move through the world this way. It constantly pushes me out of my box, allows me to bump up against the world, try to see it more clearly and with more curiosity all the time, try to reflect something true.

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

Seems like touring is always shaping the way nature plays out in my writing. You’re on these long expansive drives through empty country, red canyon cliffs, vultures, sun bleached sagebrush, and heat waves on the blacktop that stretch out farther than you can see. And then two days later you’re in a dense forest, lush and wet and forty shades of green darkness. And then you’re suddenly in a giant metropolis. Watching it all change for hours and hours out the window feels like a recipe of sorts, like gathering all the images that hold an emotion to draw on later when a song is forming. I love to set a scene for the emotion of a story to play out in, and this constant observing of the natural (and man-made) world through car and plane windows seems to help tie human struggle and beauty to place and landscape in a way that feels necessary.

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

I want so badly to have pre-show and studio rituals, like vocal warmups or a three-piece show suit or something, anything. Mostly I let shows eat me alive in good and bad ways and I’m trying to work on being more intentional about that stuff. When I have time and space, I like to read something beautiful or listen to something that moves me before a show, sit somewhere all alone and take in some words and music that make me feel free and vast and inspired. It feels really good to get up on stage and get the chance to play my heart out after that. I’m going to do it more, just decided. OK I have a ritual starting now.

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

Write and write. And play songs for people. And try to be 90 years old someday and still loving these two things with wild abandon.

Photo credit: Matt Kennelly

BGS 5+5: Amigo the Devil

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Artist: Amigo the Devil
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Latest Album: Born Against
Personal nicknames: I’ve never had any past preschool and that was only one kid who called me Daniel Cocker Spaniel. It destroyed me. I mean utterly wrecked me at the time.

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

I enjoy reading a lot, always have. Lately I’ve been trying to dive into subjects that I’m not usually interested in or genuinely don’t know much about and have been finding that, well, apparently they’re still not my thing ha ha. At least giving it a shot helps me narrow where the passion genuinely lives. Film has always been an important factor in my life, just as much as literature I would say. I’m a big fan of visual portrait films like Ashes and Snow, Baraka, Naqoyqatsi and aesthetic systems like the Cremaster series. Jodorowsky, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Takashi Miike are responsible for most of my favorite movies as actual storyline films. I also love rom-coms. I don’t care how corny they are, they wreck me and I love it. Horror used to be the go-to while growing up, but I think that’s changed quite a bit lately. Still love a classic campy experience though.

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

I always hear stories of people writing three songs in a day or dreaming up these beautiful hits in their sleep. I’ve unfortunately never had the joy of these moments. Although some songs “write themselves” more than others, I always have a hard time with every single song when it comes to finally calling it a finished product. Whether it’s my curiosity or doubt that keeps me grounded right before the final hurdle, it’s always a “tough” time. There’s actually one quote by Mark Twain that I remember shifting my confidence immensely. “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Ever since that day, it’s been a brutal journey wondering which of the two I have in the lyrics I’ve written. See, not all knowledge is helpful.

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

I’m going to go with Ray Sawyer of Dr. Hook on this one. One, because I think they’re the #1 band I wish I was able to see live (and he’s my favorite member) and two, because I think he’d be a blast at a dinner party. I’m not saying that I would Lady and the Tramp a hot dog with him, but also not saying I wouldn’t. Dinner-wise though, I feel like Ray was as complicated an individual as he was simple. I’d start with gumbo loaded with smoked alligator (one we pulled ourselves from Lake Eufaula after a long night of mescaline)…move on to a dry-aged ribeye cooked directly on the coals and sit it in a bordelaise with a side of brown butter-sautéed endive (for health measures) and raclette over potatoes. There’s no room for dessert so we just slam some coffee and hit the town.

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

Rituals always seemed like a guaranteed way to set yourself up for failure. Since a ritual is basically just a glorified routine, once that routine becomes psychological, both your conscious and subconscious mind depend on it…so what do you do when you don’t have access to elements you need? I feel like that’s when we see people start to freak out and convince themselves that something is going to go wrong because x, y and z didn’t happen. Granted, these are just my dumb opinions but it always seems like rituals tend to get more and more intricate with time which leads to extravagant demands and unnecessary adjustments for a superstition.

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

Someone recently pointed out that I never sing from a third-person and very rarely a second-person perspective. Almost all the lyrics (that are based on people) are “me” and “I.” After thinking about it for a while, the only conclusion I can come to is that since most of the songs are stories that I’m putting myself into someone else’s shoes to write, the perspective carries over. I think there is also some level of accountability that feels more honest, especially when talking about taboo subjects. It’s too easy to shift the blame along with the perspective. It’s the “asking for a friend” complex when trying to avoid shame. When talking about topics that are hard for people to bring up, it’s important to me that there is a human element and a personal touch of admittance. That association and acceptance tends to bring the much greater reward of growth and learning. Shifting that blame will always leave you floating around a boxed-in world like a rubber duck in a hot tub.

Photo credit: Alicia Way

BGS 5+5: Mando Saenz

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Artist: Mando Saenz
Hometown: Corpus Christi, Texas
New Album: All My Shame
Nickname: Mando Calrissian

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

I’d have to say film or film/documentary informs me the most. It’s the closest thing to actual life observation there is for me. I get lost in good movies and forget it’s acting. When I write, I write scenes of movies I make up in my head. When I sing, I sing shapes and colors of movies I make up in my head. I can feel them leave my mouth. I swear it’s better than dreaming. Good movies are like good dreams. Can’t put a price on them.

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

Quite often actually. I never did it consciously at first. Now I just kind of accept that when I’m singing about someone else it’s usually about me. My mom, who’s a counselor, told me years ago that I was singing about myself. Eventually I gave in and agreed. There’s a song off my new record called “Shadow Boxing” that kind of comes to terms with that: “Some say they’re better, yeah, but you’re the best. That gets the best of me.”

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

I was in my last semester of graduate school in San Antonio. I was miserable so I started to write songs. The moment I finished my first song called “Rusty Steeple,” I decided that I wanted to be a singer-songwriter. That song and the next nine I wrote ended up being on my first record, Watertown.

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

Writing a song I have called “Hard Time Tennessee,” which fittingly took a couple of years to finish. Not sure why, but it was just something I had to keep coming back to. I think I was just trying to make each line as meaningful as the last. Perhaps the line I’m most proud of ever writing came out of that song though: “I wanna see what the blind man sees when he paints a picture in his mind.”

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

To create music that’s true to my heart. Put as many willing ears on it as possible. Collaborate with those who inspire me.

Photo credit: Chris Bickford

BGS 5+5: Matt Urmy

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Artist: Matt Urmy
Hometown: New York City
Album: South of the Sky

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

If I had to choose one person who has had the widest impact on me and the way I approach my work, I would probably have to say, Cowboy Jack Clement. Jack was someone that I was able to get close to personally, which allowed me to be imprinted by him in a deeper way than just connecting to his art. He was also a businessman and producer, like myself, so he came at things from more than one perspective. … He was an all-around “content creator” before that term was ever even used.

For instance, Jack was vlogging before vlogging existed, he was vlogging before the internet existed! In the times I spent recording in his studio, sitting in his office and talking about art, business and life over coffee and cigarettes, or performing alongside him here in Nashville, I absorbed as much as I could from him. He had such a wide lens perspective on creativity, finding your voice, and being true to your vision. Our paths crossing was a real revelation for me.

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

All of the above. And not just those, but business (which I consider an art form), the healing arts, and nature all have an impact on my creative process. I find myself inspired every single day (to varying degrees) by things I experience personally, things the people in my life experience and tell me about, things I see on the news or in movies… and I just allow myself to feel those feelings and then toss it on my creative compost heap to breakdown and become part of the soil that I garden in, artistically speaking.

When it comes to those other forms of expression specifically, the way they inform my process is on two levels: 1. the direct inspiration they provide (feelings, thoughts, etc.) and 2. the way they inform craft and/or process. For instance, sculpting really has informed the way I view the craft and process of songwriting. There are techniques that I can draw from and apply to my forms of expression. So, I may see someone dancing, and be moved to go home and create, but also I may learn something that inspires a new technical approach to the craft itself. I hope that makes sense.

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

Ritual factors into my creative process across the board. One ritual is to make sure that I write at least one or two lines every day. In the studio, one ritual might be something like listening to a specific type of music or sound source before starting to work on something, just to clear the mind before beginning a session. Or, before a show, nursing a shot of tequila or mezcal for an hour or so before the show, so I slowly feel the effects of the spirit in my body before taking the stage. I find that my rituals change over time. I do believe they are important, but also that they are extremely personal. an artist has to find rituals that resonate with them and their unique processes for whatever situation they are in.

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

This is fun to think about. I think I would have to go with French cooking and Leonard Cohen. I choose French cooking, not just because I love it, but because it’s traditionally served over many courses, slowing the meal down and drawing things out. I choose Leonard Cohen because he was an artist who also wrote poetry, like myself, and was an artist who publicly savored drawing the creative process out over long periods of time. I would like to imagine that dinner and a bottle of wine with Leonard Cohen would yield a memorable conversation that would be an art form unto itself. I guess I’ll have to wait for another lifetime to have the chance to find out. Bummer.

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

I don’t think this ever really happens to me. The reason for that is that I don’t think I’ve ever written a song that was 100% informed by my own life. Obviously, everything that I write is heavily influenced by my personal experience… however, I find that experiences or pieces of information from the outside world always find their way into my work. For example, if a dear friend is going through something in their life, witnessing them work through their life creates feelings that intertwine with my personal story. The result of this is that I don’t ever feel as if I need to hide. All of my songs are made up of elements from my personal experience, as well as things I encounter in the world around me. It actually makes me feel more connected to other people and the world around me.

Photo credit: CM Howard Photography

BGS 5+5: The Steel Wheels

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Artist: The Steel Wheels
Hometown: Harrisonburg, Virginia
Latest album: Everyone a Song, Volume 1
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Trent Wagner and The Steel Wagler

Answers by Trent Wagler

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

I remember a festival finale performance of “The Weight” in northern Alberta where we were thrust (last minute) into leading the song. Isn’t “The Weight” some sort of Canadian anthem? I don’t know, we felt a little like impostors, but it became even more hilarious when a whole bunch of volunteers and other musicians hopped on stage and we were given conflicting accounts of who was singing what verses. In the end Michael Franti surprised us by appearing on the drum kit and singing a verse that included a little change of lyrics name-checking the festival. It was memorable.

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

When I was about 9 years old, I played Duffy the Fluffy in a small church Christmas play called Baa, Baa, Bethlehem. I slicked my hair back and wore sunglasses and sang a song that went, “Duffy the Fluffy is who I’m gonna be, come to the city you’ll be waiting to see me.” And the rest of the sheep sang, “Get a job, baa baa baa, baa, baa baa baa baa baa.” But I had a guitar strapped around my neck and I sang with confidence. Wait, maybe THAT was my favorite memory from being on stage!

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

In the studio, I always tape a sheet of paper on the wall with the title of each song we are recording. On that paper, we keep a running list of notes, ideas, or whatever that song still needs. It’s helpful to have a visual representation of notes, and when things are dragging along, there’s a sense of accomplishment to crossing off each note. When the song is finished, it’s ceremoniously taped on a different wall.

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

I try to ride bike everyday. Recently, I’ve been most excited about gravel road rides, a bit easier than mountain biking, but with a similar feeling of distance from civilization. I love the way riding a bike gives you respect for a mountain. The bicycle also turns you into a different kind of an animal. Sometimes a mule, sometimes a bird, but I usually feel transformed after a good bike ride. And the whole process, of getting away, being in nature, and riding is a great reset for my creativity. I live in the Shenandoah Valley and the beauty of the landscape finds a way into my writing all the time. There is a reason that rivers and mountains are cliché metaphors, because there is an undeniable depth and power to them.

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

It seems like I should say I’d eat a fistful of cigarettes and a barrel of red wine and listen to Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, but I can’t think of a better pairing than Brandi Carlile and some wild-caught salmon. There are musicians that garner praise from critics and others that have an easy-listening popular songs for the masses, but very few thread the needle like Brandi Carlile. She might be the only music my wife, 16-year-old daughter, and I can all passionately agree on. You know how salmon looks like it’s just a layer of pure pink muscle? Brandi’s songs are all muscle.

Photo credit: Josh Saul

BGS 5+5: Blitzen Trapper

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Artist: Blitzen Trapper
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Latest album: Holy Smokes Future Jokes
Release Date: September 25, 2020

Answers provided by Eric Earley

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Michael Stipe was my favorite songwriter as a kid, his lyrics were so strange and uncanny. I’m thinking of Reckoning and Murmur, some of the most anachronistic lyrical content ever. There were no lyric sheets or online lookups back then so I was always trying to figure out what he was saying. His songs always had the feeling of a riddle or a magical text, the imagery was dreamlike and over the years I’ve tried to emulate that in certain ways. Tom Waits was a large influence later in my twenties, his bizarre comical lyrical storytelling and character voices were inspiring, I’m thinking of Rain Dogs in particular.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

There isn’t any favorite, lots of weird amazing ones for sure, playing “Heard It Thru the Grapevine” with Stephen Malkmus trading weird, collapsing solos with Stephen as he made up the words because we were too lazy to learn the lyrics. I think we were in Cleveland, but I could be wrong. Playing Big Star’s “Feel” with Jody Stephens on drums and Mike Mills on backing vocals in Austin, Texas, that was surreal.

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

Most of my favorite songs have literary origins, whether it’s a particular Cormac McCarthy novel like Blood Meridian (“Black River Killer”) or a general religious text like the Bardo Thodol (the new record is based largely on this book). Biblical imagery has made its way into countless songs I’ve written as a result of childhood influences and pervasive cultural resonances. I’ve also started writing a lot of songs from reading specific poets, using their wordplay to inspire different turns of phrase. Seamus Heaney, Mary Oliver, to name a couple, I’ve also used Finnegan’s Wake and Gravity’s Rainbow to generate wordplay and imagery.

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

I’ve been playing music since I was a child, so being a musician was never really a choice. I didn’t think of it as a career for a long time. I went to college for physics and math, studied painting, learned classical fingerstyle, became a sous chef. Finally in my late twenties I decided to drop everything and play music, mostly because all the songs I was writing were keeping me up at night, but I didn’t have any vision for the business part of it. Spent seven years playing unattended shows in Portland. Got a record deal off a random song on Myspace and suddenly was touring and making money.

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

Experimentation is the only way to realize the vision of reality you want to hear, so never grow static in style or voice, always move forward, never sit still sonically. Don’t write angry, only from a place of emptiness without sentimentality, nostalgia without regret. Don’t try to please anyone, only follow your instincts.

Photo credit: Jason Quigley

BGS 5+5: Grant-Lee Phillips

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Artist: Grant-Lee Phillips
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest album: Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Pistol, Ranchero

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Neil Young I suppose. His music hit me at just the right time. I had been playing guitar for two years when I first heard “Down by the River” and “Cortez the Killer.” I was 16. My ears were wide open. Young’s songs spoke to me like no other. He was also the first singer I saw in concert. All alone, with a rack of acoustic guitars, an upright piano on one side of the stage, a grand on the other, a pump organ. I was mesmerized.

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

My family loved music. Hee Haw was a big one. We never missed a show. My grandma loved Elvis and Johnny Cash. The excitement I felt when Roy Clark played “Orange Blossom Special” or “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” on the electric guitar, I wanted to feel that all the time. The TV show Austin City Limits introduced me to Lightning Hopkins, John Prine and Tom Waits. I recall those moments like yesterday.

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

The hardest prolonged period of song wrestling was back in the ‘90s after Grant Lee Buffalo had put out a few albums. The pressure was on to deliver. The question was, deliver what to whom? I did my best to put all that noise out of my head. You can go from dancing on a ledge like Buster Keaton one minute to vertigo the next. Thankfully I had come across the film director Andrei Tarkovsky’s defiant book Sculpting in Light and that became a temporary manifesto.

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

I paint a great deal these days. Landscapes and still life. It slows me down and demands another degree of focus. Composition involves strategic thinking but there’s a wild side to painting. I like that balance. It gives me insight to making music.

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

Tennessee is one of the greenest states in the country. I’m never so in tune with my own spirit as when I surrounded by elms and oaks. During this pandemic our family has made a point to take a drive every day. We drive through the country, roll down the windows and breathe some fresh air. One of my other rituals involves drawing. Every day I set aside 20-30 minutes to sketch. I have notebooks full of trees, landscapes in the works. Trees, clouds — that’s my sanctuary. Some of these images find their way into my lyrics, which is just another way of painting a picture.

Photo credit: Denise Siegel-Phillips

BGS 5+5: Eliot Bronson

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Artist: Eliot Bronson
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Latest album: Empty Spaces (July 24, 2020)

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

It’s impossible to name just one. I’ve had so many teachers. Dylan influenced everyone who picked up an acoustic guitar. Jackson Browne showed me how powerful honesty can be, and how to talk about complicated emotions while staying direct. I learned to play with language by listening to Tom Waits. Lucinda Williams reminds me that the simple songs are best. There are so many more.

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

Probably the last one. When I’m not in the trance of creativity, songwriting seems like the most difficult thing in the world. Every time I finish a song, it feels like it’s the last one I’ll ever write.

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

It’s hard to say what impacts my work directly. Being in nature certainly speaks to a deep part of me. I’m obviously not alone in that. Mountains particularly captivate my imagination and sense of wonder. I was lucky enough to trek in the Himalayas for a few days, several years ago. It was a mind altering experience.

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

Carl Jung’s dream theory says that everyone (and everything) in the dream is an aspect of ourselves. I think that’s true of songs too — at least the good ones. You can’t write about a character without knowing them intimately. You either become the character or the character becomes you.

I wouldn’t say I hide, though. My songs are always about seeking. They’re about finding the places I hide and inviting what’s hidden to come out into the light.

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

I really want to go to Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo one day. If Bob Dylan wanted to come along, I guess that’d be OK.

Photo credit: Jenna Shea Mobley