All Creativelike: An Interview with Musician Allysen Callery

Allysen Callery is an earth angel. Her lyrics, melodies, and haunting voice are truly unique and special. What's more, Allysen is a kind and thoughtful human. Man, some folks have all the luck!  Read on to find out more about Allysen's songwriting process, creative influences, and what it was like playing at the esteemed South-by-Southwest music festival this year. How do you define creativity? I don’t. I think that’s anti-creativity.

Where does your songwriting inspiration come from? I get inspired every time I learn a new chord, or open tuning. I’m still learning, even after 15+ years of playing guitar. The melody comes, and the words follow. But sometimes it’s the other way around.

Can you remember the first time you had an experience with music? I was a toddler in Taiwan. My parents were there because of the Vietnam war. My father was a medic. Music was a part of our living space, and I first noticed where it came from by seeing that Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles was coming from a reel-to-reel.

Tell me about writing your lyrics vs. developing melodies? I was a poet before I became a songwriter. I don’t worry about hooks and choruses so much. I want to tell a story, and I want to make you feel and be transported. Melodies just come when I'm playing around on guitar. But the words and music come from someplace other than just me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5zEXZezoXM

What have you been working on lately? I've been lucky to have been recorded lately by the great Bob Kendall, who also laid some production over my songs "for fun." The result was a session for Folk Radio UK that's gotten over 4,000 plays in the last month. I am going to be recording a British Isles covers EP for a UK label, and working with Bob for that, as well. I cannot wait. (Here the session here.)

Favorite artist or influence? Oh boy, so many. I was heavily influenced by all the wonderful artists my parents listened to:  Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, The Incredible String Band.  I learned how to sing by listening to Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention and Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span. Lately I have been really loving Jessica Pratt out of San Francisco. And, Anne Briggs really inspires me.

You recently played South-by-Southwest. What was that experience like? I was very well taken care of at my first "South By."  I was lucky to have caught the ear of someone in a senior booking position, and he made sure I was given extra performance slots and all my showcases were in nice hotels. I made a few wonderful connections, and was written up and ranked highly in the Washington Post. I also made NPR Bob Boilen’s list of Intriguing Unknown Artists.

Any daily or weekly habits and practices? I’ve been posting homemade recordings on my Soundcloud page about every week, some covers and demos that may or may not make it onto an album at some point. I am not a very regimented person, but I try to play guitar every day, and am playing one or two shows every week. I still have a day job, and will probably always have one - I like to pay my bills on time!

Any advice for aspiring musicians? Practice. Be better than you thought you could be. Take risks, you should be frightened what people might think of your art. Don’t try to fit in. Don't try to play it cool. Answer emails. Be kind to everyone. Don’t let anyone other than you define who you are. Get nice head shots. Get a real website. Keep a part-time job that you don't have to get up too early for, that is not too physically demanding, so you can still play shows within a one to two-hour driving radius throughout the week. Officially release music every year. Upload new content weekly. Don’t get hung up on perfection. Pursue the press. Be true to your self, and your vision - you are unique and the world is wide, you will find your peeps, your tribe. They might be sprinkled around the globe, but that’s why the Internet is so awesome.

Allysen Callery is an alternative folk artist from Rhode Island, USA, with an intricate & unique finger style, and a voice that has been called mesmerizing and angelic. Growing up in New England, she was heavily influenced by her parent's British Isles Folk Revival records of the late 60's early 70's. She can be reached via her website here.  (Photos by Gerd-Michael Tuschy)

All Creativelike: An Interview with Musician Jenee Halstead

I have no idea how musicians do what they do. I've never taken a music class, never even dabbled with an instrument (unless you count banging a djembe at a drum circle from time to time, which, really, I don't). Ah, but who cares. I embrace the mystery, and I love losing myself in sound.

Lucky gal that I am, I've gotten to see singer/songwriter Jenee Halstead make her magic many times over the years. She's an incredible talent with a unique voice. Plus, she is also the QUEEN of changing up hairdos. Boldness and reinvention ain't got nothin' on this gal!

Listen to few of Jenee's haunting, soulful songs here, here and here while you read her insightful interview about the creative process.

Jenee, how long have you been songwriting, and what got you started? I started writing songs twelve years ago when I was twenty-five. It was in response to learning things about my family history, and about facing aspects of my own life that seemed unsavory, aspects that were causing me to have depressive moods and feelings of helplessness. I had always envisioned myself writing songs when I was a young girl. When I finally got around to it, it was more of a coping mechanism than anything else. I knew I wanted to write and express my emotions, but I felt it was so late in the game for me that I didn’t have a lot of expectation. I thought I was too old to start a writing career. Ha! Isn’t that hilarious?! Here I am at 37, feeling like I have barely scratched the surface with the songwriting process. Initially, I think my songs were really terrible. Just too self indulgent with not enough universal feelings that make a song reach out to others. There is a way to hold this space for a song and have it be personal and profoundly universal. This is the secret to the best creations, that they are both microcosmic and macrocosmic.

"I still never know how to write a song when I sit down. I get so scared and think, 'What am I doing?' I feel like a newborn."

How would you define creativity? For me, creativity is a channeling. There's an initial spark that comes from somewhere, a bothersome sort of feeling on the side of my brain or my left shoulder, and it feels like a thought, but is much deeper than that. It “comes in” or drops down from wherever and literally sits there for a little while, but not long! I must act on the feeling (via dictation), or hold it in as long as I can until I get to a dictation tool. This feeling is a door to the great subconscious energy of my mind emerging to dance with me. Somehow, through a writing exercise, a walk, a drive, or washing the dishes, I open myself up to this thing or feeling.  And, when I am open - which can be at just about any minute I desire now if I am present - there will be something ripe to pick, as long as I sit down and take the time to get it out.

"I guess the key to creativity is the parameters. Each of us as creator beings is gifted with the parameters. The parameters are what help us define something specific to turn that thought form or dream into the manifested thing we hope for."

Do you have any daily or weekly habits and practices? I don’t have any. It is terrible. Literally terrible. To be honest, I spend too much time allowing myself to spin out from daily life and my smart phone. I think smart phones rob us of our ability to be with ourselves...especially in the kind of peaceful and grounded way that is required in the creative process. Some people create really well in chaos. I cannot. In order to have daily or weekly habits or practices you have to be very grounded. I am often caught up in the business side of managing my art and my life, and it can take over and keep me from doing the thing I want to do - am meant to do - more often.

Where does inspiration come from? Inspiration can come from the most surprising places and can be such a gift of wonder. Sometimes inspiration makes absolutely no sense. It causes me to question who I am, in a good way. It's like learning something about yourself that you didn’t know existed. Why are we inspired by some things and not others? What is “universal inspiration,” such as a musical piece, or a movie that grips everyone in the room, vs. something that only moves us personally to do the work we are doing? Ultimately inspiration comes from a need to interface with the mystery of being human and our ability to create. It tugs at emotion. There is always an emotional core at the center of inspiration.

When do you feel most open to your creativity, or at your creative peak? I feel most open to my creativity when I just sit down and give it half a chance. It is kind of funny that way. I don’t really have to try too hard. I just need to show up and keep on showing up. It always gives me something. There is always a gift. I feel at my peak when I am able to hold the energy of creativity and stick with it, not let it burn me out, or cause me to have to stop. I want to hold the channel (sort of like being able to hold an electrical current) for longer periods of time and with more regularity. I don’t think I am anywhere near my creative peak in terms of my life’s work, though. If I spent more time and gave this creative thing half a chance on a daily basis, and produced years of material, I don’t know if I would even begin to scratch the surface of this peak. Does it have an arc?

Some say music is the only art form that's truly universal. No matter age, race, or economic status it seems everyone loves some form of music. Why do you think that is? Everyone loves music, because music is the language of the soul. Music is vibration. It requires no words, no explanation. It is the color for feelings, like a palette. One strike of a bow on a cello in a certain key can soothe and define the way someone is feeling inside without a single word being uttered. If I am feeling melancholy, and someone plays a minor tone and is also present with the tone they are striking, I feel totally understood and soothed at the same time. It is the recognition and acknowledgement of such melancholy in music that allows us to strike that personal chord deep within ourselves.

"Bones are resonators. Music, made of vibration, resonates deep within our bones."

Tell me about writing your lyrics vs. developing melodies? Lyrics and melodies are tricky. Many times I find if I am initially writing a song with lyrics and melody together then the final product ends up nothing like the original. There is maybe one line in that first draft that is the golden nugget and remains at the core of the final outcome. If I am writing first without music, then the lyric content seems to be much more stable. Lyrics often require a lot of editing for me, as well as having a great co-writer/editor. My producer Evan Brubaker is wonderful in this regard. It is almost as if we have the same brain. With melodies, they either come out as whole pieces or again, like songs, have to be reworked and reworked and reworked. This is again where Evan comes in. He can take a melody I am working on and just expand it, or turn it in a way that more fully expresses what I want to say.

Do you write on a guitar or piano? I like to write on piano these days because I am so bad at it that all I can do is concentrate on the melody. It is a very linear instrument. Everything is lined up right before you, so you aren’t confused about the type of chord you are playing.

You've played venues around the world. What's it like going to a foreign place and looking out on a new crowd? I love it.  It is always nerve-racking, but people are pretty gracious everywhere I go. One woman came up to me after a show and had her friend translate. She spoke little to no English. She did not understand the subject of my songs, but said she knew exactly what I was saying the entire time, and that I had given her a lovely gift. I try to concentrate on that when I am nervous about a new audience regardless of where I am playing.

What are you working on now? I am working on trying to develop better writing habits and learning technology. I won a grant from Club Passim (in Cambridge, Massachusetts) in January and bought a synthesizer. Now I want to take the time to learn it. I have not started to compile any work for my next album.

Favorite artist or influence? Right now, Norwegian singer-songwriter Susanne Sundfør gives me hope in everything. She is a full-blown tour de force that is already 100% in her artistry. She started out a bit more in the singer-songwriter realm, then moved into synth and electronic based music on her last album. The emotional landscape of her music is challenging, mature and profound.

You recently quit your job to become a full-time musician? What lead up to that decision and how are you feeling about it now? I felt like I needed to really pursue what I was doing, and give it a fair shake. Waitressing was eating up my time and energy. I was watching my friends zoom past me career-wise. Right now I am a month out and have not had a lot of time to put together shows, etc. because I am still trying to piece together my part-time work. I am happy to not be waiting tables, but I am hoping I don’t get further off my course by having to piece together income with performance. It can be a tricky balance and I am open for new opportunities to come in.

Any advice for other aspiring musicians? Get clear about why you are pursuing a career in music. Talk to a lot of other songwriters/musicians who are working, and make sure you understand fully what you are getting yourself into. It is not a money-making venture these days unless you are a world-renowned performer/artist. If you are doing it because you can’t possibly imagine your life without it, then you are probably on the course to pursue it. However, this doesn’t mean it will be easy.  It is where the hard work starts.

Jenee Halstead grew up Spokane, Washington, exploring her mother’s garden and singing along to records with her Dad. In middle school she transformed into the rarest of birds - an athletic choir geek who sang medieval choral works, but loved Led Zeppelin and Dolly Parton. She wrote quietly on her own for years, moving from Spokane, to Seattle, to Alaska, and finally to Boston in 2007. She can be reached via her website, on Facebook or Twitter. 

All Creativelike: An Interview with Haunt the House

My friend and neighbor Will Schaff - a brilliant and prolific artist who once called me "a pretty neat lady" #claimtofame! - likes to have house concerts in his art studio. A few months back he sent word of a show featuring a local musician he felt was particularly talented, a guy going by the mysterious name Haunt the House. Will was right. Haunt the House (a.k.a. Will Houlihan) is particularly talented. In fact, I'm convinced he'll be known far and wide in the not-so-distant future.

His music makes you feel like you've been to church, like your soul has expanded beyond its usual limitations.

Listen to Haunt the House's insanely beautiful music on Bandcamp, while you take in his truly poetic and insightful words below.

How would you define "creativity"? That's a tough one. Creativity, I think, in my most humble opinion, is whatever inspiration is out there in the ether that some fortunate and unsuspecting members of this humanity have discovered they can attract and funnel for a limited amount of blissfully controlled time to overcome a quandary or befuddling puzzle. To write a song, or paint a picture, or write a poem, or build a sculpture, or devise a law, or fix an automobile, or figure out how to best change the diaper on their newborn without getting re-christened.

When do you feel most open to your creativity, or at your creative peak? Ironically, when I'm nowhere near a pen or a guitar. I'm driving, or working, or in the middle of an interesting debate. It rarely ever happens that I'm struck while working. I work because it strikes and I keep myself open as much as I can. It's a brain exercise for me. A lot of my creativity lately has been outside myself, based around other people's stories. I haven't exhausted my own yet, but I'm enjoying exploring others' experiences and concocting stories around them. In short, I try to keep my brain actively imagining in an otherwise dull 24 hours. The only downside to that is the plague of my absentmindedness. I still haven't mastered multitasking. I don't think we are meant to. At least not me.

Where does inspiration come from? My short answer might be, "I don't know." But then I reckon if I think hard enough it would be an answer more like, "Life." As silly and as general as that may sound, I believe it. It is simple. We are all given this gift. All my songs stem from this beautiful and tragically short, brutal span of time. More specifically, inspiration, for me, is the fallout of just a small swarm of minutes in which souls and bodies interact with each other. It's the lingering effect of a happening, emotionally, visually, audibly, poetically, phonetically, politically, what have you. It's there as a residue for us to collect and create with. A good friend of mine told me of an event that he experienced surrounding a hot summer night, camping, forests, swimming and naked people emerging from a moonlit wood. He wrote a song, and drew a picture, but his retelling of it stuck with me. The last time I saw him I asked him for permission to also write a song based on the image he created for me. Inspiration is contagious and powerful, like a scepter or a baton in a relay race.

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Tell me about writing your lyrics vs. developing melodies? Melody, for me, is wrought from emotion. If I don't feel a harmony, (pun intended) between the rise and fall of a melody, I'll move on. If it doesn't move me to some imagery, to some memory or feeling of a sort, it is not worth saying. Maybe I'll set it aside for later, but not likely. If it's dead, I leave it. Lyrics come after melody. Most of the time, there can be exceptions, of course, when that ethereal inspiration we spoke of is too strong to follow forms and guides. Melody gives me guidelines that I desperately need. I feel it helps me hone my writing skills. I love free form poetry, but that doesn't often fit with the simplicity of my songs. I love simplicity, so within that structure I try to fit a living thing. My hope is that it works. That's all I really want.

You've written about tough things that have happened in your life. What is the relationship between music and those life events? I don't want to sound redundant, however all the songs I've written, without exception, even the material that I consciously step outside myself to write, is tethered to my own experiences in one way or another. I can't ever really escape it. If I ever write an untethered song, and I mean completely untethered, it just doesn't set well with me. To me, an untethered song is an imposter. It's a failure, or a falling short of honesty. It is a flat-out lie. Semantics, we can discuss that later.

When do you know a song is finished? Good question. A large majority of my songs are unfinished, or at least they seem that way until at such a point they cease to be. Sometimes they are finished within minutes. Sometimes they get rewritten and rearranged until they birth at a performance. It could be the thirty-forth time I've played it, but it blossoms then. It's always changing. I think that's the beauty of music, it's ever-changing. It allows for a certain margin of error. It says ,"I'm poetry. It's ok. Let me go. I'll finish the rest. You raised me right, now trust your abilities as a parent."

Favorite artists or influences? Artists that don't give up. Bruce Springsteen, who still gives eight-hour performances. Tom Waits, whom I admire most and has been a consistent role model for me in terms of artistry. Jeremy Enigk, who infused such spirituality into his work. My own father, for whom the same tenacity applies. He has always been a constant bastion of the hard work ethic for me. It's stubbornness serving purpose. It's emotional resolve. My brother, for teaching me how to conquer. I wish he was still here to slap my shoulder every now and then.

Do you have any daily or weekly habits and practices? I am naturally scatterbrained as I've alluded to already, but I've been getting much better. It all comes down to discipline. I realized recently I have very little of it. I set aside time now to write, inspiration present or not. It helps me wrangle what might be floating around up there in that echoing canyon I like to refer to as my mind. I have days now that I've designated to write just lyrics or melodies. It has to be done that way for me, as I would just ignore the actual work until that inspiration happens upon me with a hammer.

What's the best advice you ever received about being an artist in this world? "An artist does." Work, work, work, and when you're done, work again. I want to die writing a song.

What are you working on now? Too much! I've taken on the daunting task of assembling a band and a choir, and writing a ridiculously involved concept album. I mostly write solo, so I'm in over my head, but I'm enjoying it immensely. It may be sculpted down into something a bit more manageable, but I hope not!

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Haunt the House is the stage name of songwriter Will Houlihan. He delivers poignant stories of spiritual lament and loss with conviction and sincerity. His beautiful music can be heard HERE. You can connect with him on Facebook too.

Your Art Is a Love Letter

Dear Fabulous Creative Person, I was kicking around ideas for today's blog post, when I finally thought, "Why don't I just sit down, get quiet and see what comes to me."

So that's what I did. I closed my eyes, opened my palms, took a deep breath and asked the universe, "What should I write about today?"

And it answered, "Write about love." And I said, "Okay, sure. But what about love? And how does that relate to creative folks?" And it said, "Write about how artists are lovers, about how every work of art is a love letter."

And I thought about that. I mean, what an idea, that every piece of art you make is an extension of your heart. I have never truly looked at art in this way. I've understood it as a form of communication, sure, but not as a "I-Simply-Must-Confess-My-Overwhelming-Passionate-Feelings-Toward-You" sorta thing. That's something else.

It's an idea that suggests a deep abiding love for humanity such that we ache to convey our feelings. It's saying that when someone sees what you have made, what you have brought forth as a creation that was first nothing and is now something, they will melt. They will swoon. They will think to themselves, "OH GOD YES, I LOVE YOU TOO."

It's no surprise the universe directed me to write about this today as I had this very experience last night. During a backyard benefit concert, I was listening to one of my favorite local musicians* and I literally thought, "I love you. I really love you." And it wasn't about him as a person (I don't know him at all and I have a very lovely boyfriend, thankyouverymuch.) No, it was about the song, the love letter. In that moment, his passion was written down, stamped, sent across the wires, delivered to me, opened and received clearly. I got it. And so did many others in the crowd, including the gentleman in front of me who had to take off his glasses to wipe away tears. When we do it right the love letter that feels so specific and personal reaches many. That's the beauty of universal appeal.

So, that's my practice for this week, to look at my creations as love letters, to make art that burns for you. I invite you to join me and report back in the comments.

Until the next, my love...

XO Leigh

(*You can hear this beautiful music right here.)