  BARKING BARDS
(The craft,
discipline, & obsession of songwriting in the
Pacific Northwest)
by Sheryl Diane
Premiere
column, here's a little intro:
I live in a
barking neighborhood called Seattle. The guy
downstairs is noodling on guitar past midnight.
The woman across the street has drums. I missed
the sun to stay in and play piano that one blue
day. And the dogs next door are tuning up. They
like hearing themselves sing. So it goes with
those devoted doggedly to the craft of tune
making. The devotee finds a pitch, barks it out
and noodles away on the sound of it. How does one
make a tune? What do YOU want to say? Start here
with how a little idea, gets dumped into some
go-go bungee jugularity, bounced off a candid
passive-aggressive impulse and voila you get to
that yappity yap, howlin' woof.
Basic premise
for this column is: Seattle especially is a
cesspot of talent, which is brewing some fine,
worthy, deserving of our attention, songwriters.
My job?. . . . to cut through the funky miasma of
imposters and locate the authentic in our mad
little scene. Can I put the tune maker gene under
the electron microscope to find that
predisposition of loud mouth mixed with mutant
hybrid isolated genius? What does it take to grow
a great songwriter, besides solitude and
something to bang on? I’m sure YOU probably
have YOUR THEORY about those walking around
singing in the rain and barking at the moon. So
let’s get started with an original
songwriter, and you just try to get back that
slippered theory from little pup, after I've torn
your flimsy little theory into shreds.
So for our first
chat, I had a strong inclination to speak with
"j r" (say jay-arr) because we both
started in this scene in the mid 90’s and I
have seen her progress from open mics to highly
acclaimed performances. She has a lush voice like
the resonant Betty Carter then add some
idiosyncratic Rickie Lee Jones phrasing. Her
voice is her first instrument, and she also plays
a graceful edged, bluesy guitar. Most usually,
you’ll find "j r" on stage with a
full compliment of other musicians, some just
stopping by to sit in on one song.
"j
r" when did you first start writing songs?
I used to listen
to the radio when I was younger. I was always
writing songs, hearing melodies in my head. I
would write down lyrics and then remember the
melody to go with it. There was a piano class in
elementary school, seems like I always had a
keyboard. I still will work up a song first on
the keyboard. Eventually, I shifted to guitar
though. That was in high school, I bought a
cheapy electric and then somebody gave me a nylon
string (acoustic) in college. I now have a
Harmony Rocket electric guitar.
You studied
composition at Wesleyan, that was music
composition right! Does that influence the music
you’re making now?
College was
great for having everything taken care of and for
just being able to create music and explore
composition. I don’t really use theory now,
when I write, but I can write out charts and that
helps with working with other people.
I don’t
know if you remember, but you were the one that
first suggested to me to get out and do open
mics, and then that year we both went through the
hell tour of open mics! What ended up being your
favorite?
The OK Hotel,
definitely. I still like doing open mics.
It’s grounding especially for breaking in
new material and you can make mistakes in public.
I mean at the OK nobody ever says you suck, well
actually somebody yelled out YOU SUCK that one
time to that guy who was pouring wax on his head
and going on about Cindy Crawford, do you
remember that!? [she laughs, I laugh too, try as
I might to remember that distinctly, but my
memory dives into another random OK Hotel act,
and I am vividly visualizing the guy in the cow
suit and choke off another guffaw]….but the
other thing about open mics for me was that it
helped me get into a showcase. And you know 30
minutes of music, that’s a lot, when
you’re starting out.
You've always
produced your work independently and at your own
pace. Is having enough material a concern, say if
you all of a sudden faced a major label deal and
the expectation of 7 albums.
I could do that
now. A major (label) could work for both sides if
creative control were left to me. Led Zeppelin could go off, record
their record and did it that way! I had a
publishing deal some years back and learned the
hard way that I don’t work under the
pressure of "I don’t hear a hit."
That doesn’t work.
Has winning
the Lillith Fair performance slot in 1998 changed
things for you? Tell me a little about that
experience.
It was alright.
I somehow expected more bonding between those
involved. It was good for exposing women
musicians though.
Was the
publicity hoo-haw that surrounds Lillith Fair a
benefit?
I think it
helped PR wise. It was like the Ph.D. of
performance. If somebody sees that now they might
go back to where they threw my promo in the
garbage and MAYBE give it a listen. [She laughs]
One time.
How’s
the MP3.com relationship working out?
I signed up for
it. It was about a week before they changed how
they were operating. Then you could send in your
CD, ( I think I paid $20 for each CD), and
they’d set up the page! Now you need
somebody to do that. But a week after I was on MP3.com, I got a lot of hits,
number 1,2,3,6, within a couple of days.
So
you’re getting the big internet millionaire
check soon?
Probably. . .
tomorrow. . . . It’s mostly turned out to be
a good PR structure. I can refer people to that
site as a PR strategy.
What’s
it like being a girl musician in Seattle?
I meet a lot of
women. Starting out is hard for girlies because
this town wants the band thing not the intimate
thing in clubs.
Ah, but
Kirsten Hirsch commands an audience here!
She’s NOT
from HERE! Can you think of anyone LOCAL
that’s doing that!? And that's not in the
folk scene?
Boy, "j
r" can be tough sometimes, paralytic silence
ensued and I stood thinking. We became stranded,
waiting for that thought.
Later that
evening, epiphany came after I went to my desk
and started looking at my chicken scratch notes,
of course—honestly the heir apparent is
"j r". She already commands an audience
on off nights, truly has a loyal following; which
points to the foul inconsistency of booking in
this town. "Intimate" performance is
handled this way, and evidently it affects the
playing of all the "girlies" and the
sensitive guy or two. The questions arise, could
more sensitive types command weekend followings
if they were given that kind of opportunity? And
do they have to have a band to get that kind of
attention in this town?
What has been
evident to me, since November 9th at
"j r's" CD release party was the
complete maturity of her musical expression. Both
in style and with the endeavor of her
performance, she has the ability to organize a
band for one thing and the drive to successfully
complete an independent album. For a good sound
sampling of her work--click here and go
to her site on MP3.com. Or be even more clever
and get out to one of her next shows! She will
perform at the Crocodile Café on March 1st
2000 and at an all ages show later this spring at
the Seattle Art Museum.
Discography:
1996 Vision
of the Fool
1997 Vision
of the Fool ii
1999 Angels
Email Sheryl Diane
Visit Sheryl Diane's
Website
|