What makes you write?
I believe in the power of creating art with other people. In my life I have found that when you find something makes time fly by, and you can’t get enough of it; then you should try to seek it out as much as possible. I feel that way about writing, performing, and even practicing music. I could really do it all day every day.
2. Who is the greatest unknown influence on your music?
My wife. She is a brutally honest critic and when she says something’s good. I know it is ready to bring to the band or perform in public.
In terms of nationally known musicians probably The Felice brothers and Richie Havens.
For someone out of the blue; the Columbus musician Robert Loss and his band The Wells have set the bar at such an excellent level; I can’t get enough of their music. It sounds like hyperbole but I think their album is so good, I get better just by listening to it..
3. What is your most closeted, secret, guilty and humiliating musical pleasure?
Huey Lewis and the News. There are more of us out there than you think. If I come clean at a party there is inevitably someone who confides in me the love HL & TN too. We are like Star Trek fans, you don’t know who we are but we are out there and in force.
4. What established artist made you want to write songs, and why?
The Felice Brothers and Neco Case. I am inspired by their neo-retro style. Their sound is timeless, weird, and still very accessable. They have help create a genre that is not yet named that is part alt.country, part folk rock, part Americana. It’s like they took parts from a ’52 chevy and made an airplane. Don’t know how they did it, but it sure is cool.
5. Advice for just-starting songwriters on establishing yourself on the Columbus music scene?
In regards to any artist getting started it would be there are going to be times when you are AWFUL and be ok with that. Be strong in your vision, understand it’s a process, and be ok with change. What you thought you were when you start will not be what you are down the road. But have fun with the journey.
I would also say that find a mentor. Find someone who is in your genre and you can talk to as a human being. Musicians, by nature of being artists, can be moody and often it has little to do with their talent. I have been talked to like a pion from people that I wouldn’t want to hear do a dog food commercial and treated like gold by incredibly talented people. Just find people you respect and respectfully ask their opinion. I live by the montra I heard in an interview with rick ruben “what about the truth is not in your best interest?” I believe if you play often and are unafraid of honest feedback you will improve rapidly.
Finally I try to remember there is a difference between being good and being popular. Quality is objective; it is a matter of craft. Popularity is a matter of thousands of things you can’t control. In my opinion it is a waste of an artist’s time. Don’t worry about being a star, worry about being good at something you love.
6. Why country?
The narrative structure of country predates Dylan and all the folk rockers I adore. I like the blank pallet it provides to write songs about anything you want. As a genre it allows for almost any instrumentation, tempo, volume, topic; so it is a great platform for me to write about whatever I can think of.
7. Favorite backwoods expression?
I am full of them growing up in construction….but “blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while” and “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”.
Advice for just-starting songwriters on establishing yourself on the Columbus music scene?
