Conversations About Creativity
A couple of weeks ago, I reflected on the distant past when I wrote about music for an online magazine. In that post, I promised to share a bit of that interview in a future installment.
Well, here we go!
"I just feel like I have my own little radio station…
and sometimes the static clears and something beams in from out there."
Another song on the new album is "Forever Mine." There's a story in the PR sheet for the album about how you wrote the song around something you overheard your wife say. Is that the first time something like that happened?
Oh No! That happens all the time in some capacity. It really does. Sometimes it's a misunderstood phrase on an airport PA or maybe it's a half conversation overheard. You know, eavesdropping is a great way to get material. A lot of times, it might not be exactly what somebody might have said, but that inspires a phrase that just works for me.
Do you find most of your songs are built around lyrics then?
Usually it's lyric first, but sometimes it's melody. And I carry a hand-held recorder everywhere I go so I can just hum or whistle a melody if one hits me. Sometimes it's both simultaneously - lyric and melody at the same time - those are a little confusing to me, but sometimes it comes in that form. I just feel like I have my own little radio station and sometimes the static clears and something beams in from out there.
And some days it's really fuzzy reception, right?
(laughs) You know. You're a writer, you just can't chase it. The beauty of it; I have absolutely no control over it. It's not mine to manipulate. If I'm quiet and I sit down and clear my mind, it will present itself.
That's the intriguing part. It's free. Isn't it? You can't go buy it. You can't sit down and say, "I think today I shall write."
It doesn't work that way.
No, that's usually the kiss of death for me anyway.
Of course, as someone who works with words, this portion of the interview was not only fun, but insightful. I'm sure, for others, when you congregate with others with like careers or interest, it is interesting, and sometimes uplifting, to talk about those shared interests.
It's no different for those who write. Perhaps we crave those conversations more than others, because what we do is so solitary in nature.
It is the perfect introvert job. You sit alone in a room with your pen and paper or computer and manipulate syllables, wait for those inspirations—for that radio signal to come in static free.
So, when the opportunity arises to talk to someone who understands—or wants to share their processes—it is a reunion of strangers who are somehow brothers (and sisters) in arms.
🎵 ✍️ 📻
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