Hi Wes, I hope all is well with you? How is life in North Carolina this time of year?

Hey Jon! Thank you for inviting me for a Q&A. All is pretty well here in North Carolina. Summer’s coming to a close, and I’m getting ready for my final semester. I’m going camping with my best friend next weekend for a booze filled last hurrah –– then I’ll have my nose stuck in a book for 4 months.

You self-released your new EP, I Stood Among Trees, last February. How exactly did it come about?

Before going into the studio to record I Stood Among Trees I had a couple of years where I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my music. I wasn’t playing out much, and I was struggling with writing lyrics (though I was writing a lot of instrumental pieces, most of which will be on an upcoming release with Orange Milk Records). Finally I realized that it was taking a huge toll on me and forced myself to get one new song I was satisfied with –– so I wrote “The Time Leaves So Soon” over a couple of days. Not too long after that I wrote “Wild Beasts.” I talked to a buddy of mine who worked at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville about getting in for a couple of sessions and he hooked me up with a deal. We busted out the EP in two marathon sessions. (In fact, I went in to record two EP’s, but ended up scrapping everything but “When Your Eyes See The Valley,” which eventually ended up on I Stood Among Trees.) Being in the studio is always stressful, mostly because of money, but Echo Mountain is an incredible studio, so it was definitely worth it. I was also writing my thesis at the time. (I should mention that the EP will be re-released in the near future on the German label Dying for Bad Music. It’ll contain some bonus home demo tracks, as well.)

In my review of the EP I mentioned a fantastic piece on Hearth Music, where you write about a few of the songs (and answered a lot of the questions I would have otherwise asked). For ‘Final Resting Place’ you explained that you half-wrote a song while driving home and that news of the market crashing upon your return caused you to sit down and finish it off with this new event in mind. This may be an internal, unexplainable feeling, but how do you decide to change a song rather than write a new one? Can a song that was drastically altered due to some mood or occurrence ever revert to its original form when you play live?

Well, until a song is actually finished it’s always a work in progress. I had the apocalyptic motif in mind as I was writing “Final Resting Place” in my head, and the market crash of 08 was just a continuation of that. For me, songs either come really fast –– done in 20, 30 minutes –– or over the course of a couple days, sometimes a week or two if I’m really patient with it.

The song will be done in that the lyrics and the chords are complete, but a song always changes a bit every time you play it. I’ve never tried revising a song before. I’ve thought about trying it, though, just to see what would happen.

But when a song comes, I always recognize where it’s coming from. Sometimes a new song will pop up in the midst of writing one song, but I never think about mixing them –– even if they’re from a similar place, they’re still not from the exact same place.

You also mentioned in that Hearth Music piece that the track ‘Wild Beasts’ was inspired partly by Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. I hadn’t really heard the song in that way, but now going back and listening with a context (if that makes sense), the imagery seems obvious. Does literature have a great influence on your writing in general, or just on certain songs?

and…

What else influences your music? I guess other songwriters play a big part? Is there anything else you would cite as a big part of your sound?

Literature’s certainly a big influence. Sometime’s a particular text informs part of a song, sometimes all of it. Sometimes I seek out a text just because I think it’ll inspire a song. I’ll be releasing a new EP soon titled “False Idols” that has a couple songs that I wrote after reading biblical texts: The Book of Ezekiel and The Gospel of Judas. I just thought I’d like to write about them –– so I read them for the sole purpose of writing about them. But almost every text I read I try to keep in mind how I can appropriate something for a song.

The songs I’m writing currently for a future full-length are literary in that they have a bit of a consistent fictional narrative, though it’s all completely real and factual.

The philosophy influence comes out a little differently. I tend to have an environmental bent to my lyrics, and that comes from really thinking about radical perception and awareness. Even the most minute perception can spark a song. I try to develop every song in it’s only locale or geography, it’s own place, so that I can step into it. I know some songwriters like to keep themselves outside of their own songs; I can’t do that. I have to be in it entirely, otherwise I don’t see the point.

Certain painters or paintings aren’t a huge influence, but they’re influential, as well. I love Jackson Pollock and Andrew Wyeth. Most people would deem them radically different painters, but I think they wade in the same waters. Sometimes I think “how do I write a song like ‘Christina’s World?’” and try to figure it out.

One line of the Hearth Music piece which really stood out was that ‘Finally Resting Place’ (which is probably my favourite, for what it’s worth) nearly missed the cut for the EP as you weren’t convinced with your vocal performance. Is the vocal side of things the part you find most difficult? You study philosophy, read fiction, work at a writing centre on campus and the instrumental pieces show that you can obviously play. Is your voice where you suffer a lack of confidence? Does singing come naturally to you? Or is it a forced, necessary evil to bind together your music and your writing? And I don’t mean this in terms of vocal talent (I don’t think there are people who can or cannot sing), but rather do you feel a compulsion to sing in the way you do to play and write?

I first started out as a guitar player, and then when I started writing songs, singing just became part of the job. I had never really sang before, but I had the words, so I had to sing them. (Listening to some of those old songs is torture, though.) I don’t think it’s a matter of confidence for me (though I by no means have much of a range) –– whenever I perform live I settle into everything pretty comfortably. Plus I like to sing.

In the tradition I come out of, though, none of the greats are much of a singer anyways –– it’s more of an emotive quality, which is what I’m after, anyways. I heard an interview with Leonard Cohen where he said that he told his manager before going on stage for his first show that he had no clue what he was doing. His manager told him that they were all terrible singers. That made me happy to hear that.

The vocal performance is always in service of the lyrics. The lyrics are the most important part of the song, so I just want the vocals to fit with them. But I’m not really bothered at all that my songs aren’t that melodious. I write songs not melodies.

You put up the lyrics for the EP on your Bandcamp page. This is something that I like as I feel it lets me look closer at a song and find deeper meanings (be they intentional on your part or not). However I recently saw another musician (I can’t find the quote now) say that he didn’t really like sharing the lyrics as he felt they prevented the listener from developing their own ideas about the song, which is pretty much the flipside of my opinion to reach the same end. Do you make a considered decision to let us listeners read your words as well as hear them? Do you want the songs to be writing too? Or is it more a case of the option is there so you copy them in without much deliberation?

I don’t understand why a songwriter wouldn’t want to share their lyrics. That’s odd –– but to each their own. The lyrics are so essential to the song, and there is indeed a definite meaning or story behind each song, otherwise I wouldn’t write them (even if the listener walks away with a different meaning), so I feel like I have to present the lyrics. Again, that’s where the most thought goes into the songwriting process. Of course I think about the guitar and vocals, but it’s all in service of the lyrics. In the end, the complete song is a mixture of all these different things that form a whole, but it’s all born out of a line or two of lyrics.

With the help of your fans (via an Indiegogo campaign), you hope to tour Italy next winter. Can you elaborate on your plans? What do you plan to do there? Why exactly Italy?

April Wolfe of Common Folk Music does my PR, and she got the EP a review on the blog The Mad Mackerel soon after it was released. Giuseppe Marmina, who does a hundred different things in the music scene in Italy read the review, bought the EP, and offered to do some PR help in Italy. Next thing I know, I’m getting radio play and the EP’s getting reviewed on some popular blogs and webzines. The response was so well that I thought it’d be smart to go over and play some shows. I got in touch with some folks and eventually Alessio Pomponi of Unplugged in Monti put together a weeklong tour for January 2014. Alessio and the venues have been so incredibly kind with helping put the tour together –– it’s really something else.

Philosophy student/writing center tutor/songwriter doesn’t exactly equal financial stability, so I’m seeking some help for the airfare. People can check out the campaign to see what perks they get for contributing. I’m beyond grateful and thankful for any and all contributions.

Finally, could you name 4-5 artists that you are enjoying at the moment?

I’ve been listening to Michael Hurley, Bill Callahan, and Mickey Newbury religiously the last few weeks. Mickey Newbury is especially blowing my mind –- his songs are so heartbreaking. Other than that, I’ve been listening to a lot of Roscoe Holcomb and Elizabeth Cotten; some sacred harp here and there, plus an Orange Milk Records release called “Engines of Joy” by Maharadja Sweets –– good lord will that blow your mind. There’s also a song on a Dust-to-Digital collection I listen to over and over called “I’m Dying, Mother” than just kills me every time I listen to it. It damn near brings me to tears.

Jon: Make sure you check out the EP and keep an eye out on Dying For Bad Music for the re-release. If you have a bit of spare change then why not help Wes go to Italy in exchange for nice gifts? Also, you may be interested in this DIYtrotter session from HI54LOFI.

The post Interview: Wes Tirey appeared first on Various Small Flames.

I listen to (and write about) quite a lot of what I would describe as folk music and I got to thinking that maybe I could put together a second volume of ‘Lost And Found’ which covered artists that could fit into the category of folk and roots music. Here’s where I enter a disclaimer: I am not an expert in this area, more an interested amateur. This collection of songs does not reflect a definitive collection of any one genre or historical period of music. Instead I have chosen a collection of old songs that I feel have huge influences on the folk music that followed, from Dylan and Cohen to the host of new artists we have covered here at Wake The Deaf.

It features country and bluegrass, gospel and Appalachian mountain music. There’s something here for everyone, from Roscoe Holcomb’s easygoing rambling song ‘Roll On Buddy’ to ‘Down In The Willow Garden’, a murder ballad by Texas Hadden and her brother Hobart Smith. ‘Shine On Me’ is an impassioned and foot-stomping chorus by Ernest Phipps and His Holiness Singers, while ‘I Wish My Baby Was Born’ by Dillard Chandler is as sorrowful an a cappella recording as you’re ever likely to hear. ‘I Am A Poor Pilgrim Of Sorrow’ by The Old Regular Baptists is perhaps my favourite track of all. It’s an incredibly intense congregational hymnody from deep within Appalachian coal mining country. The song has an insistent, almost ominous, drive and continues to build in burning fervour. Mumford and Sons this ain’t.

I urge you to give this mix a listen. I’ve really enjoyed putting it together and constantly found myself amazed at the quality of the songs, some of which were written well over a hundred years ago (although some were recorded much later). If you’re a fan of modern folk music, of the legends of the sixties revival, of the Coen’s “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, or even works of Southern Gothic literature by authors such as Faulkner and O’Connor, I’m willing to bet you’ll like this mixtape.

TRACKLIST:

1. Roll On Buddy – Roscoe Holcomb
2. Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting – Rev. J.M. Gates
3. I’ll Be Washed – The Carolina Tar Heels
4. East Virgina – Buell Kazee
5. I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground – Bascom Lamar Lunsford
6. Big Rock Candy Mountain – Harry McClintock
7.  In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain – The Carter Family
8. Big Eyed Rabbit – Matokie Slaughter
9. Drunkard’s Special – Coley Jones
10. Shine On Me – Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Singers
11. Down In The Willow Garden – Texas Gladden & Hobart Smith
12. I Wish My Baby Was Born – Dillard Chandler
13. Jonah In The Wilderness – Henry Thomas
14. Amazing Grace – Horton Barker
15. I Am A Poor Pilgrim Of Sorrow – Old Regular Baptists

The links embedded in the artist names do not link to webpages or Facebook accounts like in our regular mixes, instead I have linked to a picture of the artist in question, just to give you a better idea of who you are listening to as you play the mix.

If this collection of songs piques your interest, then Smithsonian Folkways is a great resource, a nonprofit record label that strives to ensure the conservation of musical history and cultural diversity. Several of the songs featured above can be found on compilations put out by the label, so I would encourage you to purchase if you like what you hear.

The post Lost and Found: Volume Two appeared first on Various Small Flames.