Interviews

Tim Showalter (Strand of Oaks)//Jessica Dobson (Deep Sea Diver)

The experiences of Tim Showalter (Strand of Oaks) and Jessica Dobson (Deep Sea Diver) during the pandemic couldn’t be more different. Showalter’s tour cycle for his last album Eraserland ended in February; this meant the quarantine had little impact on his songwriting cycle since he already planned on spending 2020 writing. Dobson fared differently: Deep Sea Diver released Impossible Weight in October, so of course they were unable to tour behind the album, which threw all their plans out the window.

Indie Rock, Rock, IndieBen OpipariDecember 22, 2020Comment

Alex Skolnick//Testament

“Not having to travel has opened me up to different ways to be creative that I didn’t have before.” For Alex Skolnick of Testament, isolation has proven to be a boon to his creative process, and deadlines have been a source for some great ideas.

Hard Rock, MetalBen OpipariDecember 15, 2020Comment

Langhorne Slim//Jillette Johnson

Most artists need external stimulation, some interaction with their environment, to create. That’s why the pandemic has made it difficult for songwriters: while some have taken advantage of the lull in touring to write, many others have found the isolation debilitating to their creative process. The two Nashville-based songwriters I interviewed in this video, Langhorne Slim and Jillette Johnson, have struggled at times to write songs during quarantine.

Roots Rock, Americana, Singer/Songwriter, Alt CountryBen OpipariDecember 8, 2020Comment

Eric Burton & Adrian Quesada//The Black Pumas

The key to The Black Pumas' creative process? Turn signals! Adrian Quesada told me that he’s mesmerized by the rhythm of his car’s turn signals when he’s driving. “I’m always superimposing a 6/4 rhythm on them whenever I’m at an intersection,” he told me. So much so that that his wife has to remind him that the light is green.

Funk, Psych Rock, Rock, Roots RockBen OpipariDecember 2, 2020Comment

Jeff Daniels

Sure, you know Jeff Daniels from his many films, but he's also been writing songs and playing guitar since 1976.

This is a conversation about the artistic process writ large, so if you're a songwriter, a playwright, an actor, or any combination of the three, you’ll love this interview. The playwriting process and the songwriting process overlap as Daniels effortlessly segues between the two in our discussion; at some point, he exclaims, "It's all fucking connected!"

Singer/SongwriterBen OpipariNovember 30, 2020Comment

Kathy Valentine//The Go-Go's

As one of the songwriters for The Go-Go’s, Kathy Valentine wrote two of their most popular hits in “Vacation” and “Head Over Heels” as well as several other songs. So we’ve been able to check "killer songwriter” off the list for a while. Now we can add “fantastic prose writer”: All I Ever Wanted is a great book that’s already making some year-end lists.

Ben OpipariNovember 27, 2020Comment

B.J. Barham//American Aquarium

B.J. Barham of American Aquarium has a writing process like no songwriter I’ve ever interviewed. Plenty have told me that for them it’s as simple as scribbling lyrics on a sheet of paper. But not Barham. His songwriting process is akin to the research routine of a graduate student.

Americana, Outlaw Country, Country, Singer/SongwriterBen OpipariNovember 15, 2020Comment

Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) and Lilly Hiatt

There are two points during my interview with Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers and Lilly Hiatt when each reaches to the sky, grabs a piece of air, and pulls it down. Both were describing their songwriting process: songs come from the muse, from the sky, from somewhere they can’t explain. And it’s their duty to grab that song, pull it down, and create it.

Singer/Songwriter, Americana, Alt Country, InfluencersBen OpipariOctober 30, 2020Comment

Sarah Beth Tomberlin

The word “processing” came up a lot in my interview with Sarah Beth Tomberlin (aka Tomberlin) when she discussed how she writes songs. She uses songwriting as a way to process the events in her life, much more so than most songwriters have shared with me. It’s difficult to write songs, for example, when things are “pleasant” in her life. “There’s no urgency to the process,” she told me.

Saddle Creek Records, Singer/Songwriter, Folk RockBen OpipariOctober 28, 2020 Comment

Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) and Mason Jennings // Painted Shield

For Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam and Mason Jennings, songwriting involves whole body movement and lots of swinging of the limbs. It also involves both temporal and emotional distance. And that distance was a big asset in creating Painted Shield, their self-titled album.

Indie, Indie Rock, Influencers, Singer/SongwriterBen OpipariOctober 24, 2020 Comment

Elizabeth Cook and Lydia Loveless

Elizabeth Cook and Lydia Loveless have some great advice for writers of any stripe in this interview. Like Cook, I’ve always told people that good writers understand that the actual pen-to-paper part of the writing process is only a small part of it. And like Loveless, I don’t think an idea for writing has ever come after sitting down to think about what to write.

We talk about how Pilot Pens (black), hot toddies, and voodoo deities played an important role in the creative process behind their last albums. Watch our Zoom interview to find out which one of them ate corndogs on Christmas day as part of that process!

Americana, Outlaw CountryBen OpipariOctober 9, 2020country, outlaw countryComment

Kathleen Edwards and Dave Hause

Dave Hause and Kathleen Edwards have known each other for a while and are huge fans of each other’s music, so this was a fun conversation on the creative process. We talked a lot about whether large expanses of time make them more productive, how reading affects their songwriting process, and what they do when they get stuck. And how twins and dogs affect their songwriting process.

Punk, Rock, Americana, Singer/SongwriterBen OpipariOctober 7, 2020Comment

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