SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR SONGWRITERS
1. What makes you write?
I tend to approach writing as an exercise in discipline. I'm not one of these folks that waits for an "inspiration" or depends on a muse. I'll listen to some music by an artist I like a lot, and then I'll set out to write something that might have come from that artist. I'll just set up an assignment for myself. For instance, The Averys cover a song by Hank Williams called "Dear John". There is a singalong chorus where the whole band hollers "Dear John!". I like performing that song, so I thought I'd try writing something of my own that had the same type of chorus. That's where I got "High Life", which a song about drinking Miller High Life beer. I think that is an appropriate subject for a country song.
2. Who is the greatest unknown influence on your music?
Back in the early '90s I used to play in a rock'n'roll band back in Missouri. The guitar player and co-front man was a great songwriter named Dave Brooks. He was a master of writing riffs. When would write songs for that band, I always wrote a place in the song for Dave to insert a killer guitar hook or a little riff that would grab the listener. I still do that to this day. When I'm writing, I tend to write specifically for the band. So, in The Averys, I always try to make sure there is a place in the song for Boots or Dusty to write a hook. Lately I've been looking for more bluesy structures so the band has some space to stretch out and vamp.
3. What is your most closeted, secret, guilty and humiliating musical pleasure?
Hall and Oats. Love those guys.
4. What established artist made you want to write songs, and why?
Way back when I first started writing I was listening to a lot of Tom Waits and Lou Reed. Those guys are very literate and the lyric is really paramount in their work. My songs back then were pretty heavy and very artsy and poetic. I hate that stuff now. Life is short. I try to enjoy the music now, rather than treat it as a cartharsis. These days I just listen to the great old country songs and try my best to write stuff in that tradition. I'm talking about Hank Williams, The Carter Family, The Delmore Brothers, Buck Owens. I would rather de-emphasize my own personality, keep it simple and to the point, and also try to exibit a sense of humor in the lyric.
5. Advice for just-starting songwriters?
This is not an original observation, but it bears repeating: You have to work at it. You have to sit with the guitar and the legal pad and the pen and just write and write and write. And know that you'll have to write ten dogs for every decent song that you can come up with.
6. Why country?
It's the sense of tradition and permanence, I think. These song forms go back to the 19th century, and there is something comfortable in working this territory. The subject matter, too, works for me. I am no stranger to loss, pain, heartache, alcohol and hard work. I can write about these things.
7. Favorite backwoods expression?
Here is where my lack of genuine rural bona fides will betray me. As a city boy, I'm afraid I don't speak genuine backwoods lingo.
Editor's Note: "City Boy" is a qualifiable backwoods expression, and in my opinion Slim is one good old boy.
