Crystal Bowersox interview: from Idol to Farmer’s Daughter to marriage and beyond
December 3, 2010 by Bill Palmer · 5 Comments
interview by Bill Palmer
As 2010 draws to a close, Crystal Bowersox has exactly what she wants. She’s parlayed her American Idol success into a debut album Farmer’s Daughter which she wrote mostly by herself. She convinced her label to let her pick the lead single. And as we chatted about all of it, she and her son were taking a break from moving into their new Chicago home with her new husband – with whom she has a duet on her album. With Farmer’s Daughter due out later this month, Crystal reflects on everything that’s gotten her to this point.
This is a crazy time of year, even if you didn’t have an album coming out. Did you at least get a little time off over Thanksgiving for your private life?
We took a couple days and we went to Florida to see the mother in law and spend some time with grandma. Now it’s back to work. We’ve got a couple days here to move our stuff and then it’s off to LA for awhile. It’ll be fun. I’m excited. I like the blitz time.
Were you working on this record while you were still out on the road touring?
Some of them are pre-Idol songs that I had written years before. And then one I wrote in San Francisco after I did a gig with Michael Franti called Power To The Peaceful. And then there’s a couple co-writes on there, one with my husband Brian Walker. David Ryan Harris, who’s good friends with John Mayer, he’s an amazing songwriter as well. And then a cover of Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth.
It’s not uncommon for an artist to sign with a label and say okay, I’ve got some material that I already wrote, I want to use this on my major label debut. But it is unconventional for someone from Idol circles.
Typically, Idol contestants come off the show and they don’t have any of their own songs. They’re great talents, but they don’t have songs and they’re not writers. On the other hand, I’ve been performing gigs and writing songs since I was ten years old. Idol was a means to an end for me. It was a way to get in and get the connections and to get the name out there that I always thought that I was destined for. And it’s done exactly that.
I’ve heard different things, but nothing official as far as what the lead single is. I hear Farmer’s Daughter, I hear Hold On. Has that been decided yet?
Yeah, the label was really pushing for Hold On and it’s a good song, nothing against that song. I mean it’s on the album, I sang it. I’m definitely proud of it. But as far as the first single goes, I was really looking for something that kind of puts me out there as “Hello, here I am, this is my story and this is my song.” And Farmer’s Daughter is an extremely graphic autobiographical song of dealing with child abuse and my mother’s alcoholism and it was just a song about “I’m not gonna take it anymore. I’m no farmer’s daughter anymore.” And I feel like that song was the best one to put out first, to really represent who I am as a songwriter, artist, and a human being.
So is it officially the single?
Yes. Farmer’s Daughter is the single. I think that they’re gonna try to work both at the same time, so we’ll see what happens with that.
Your friend Michael Franti did that. They couldn’t decide, they put out two singles to different radio markets, one of them took off and one of them didn’t. But that seemed to work out well.
That’s how you do it. You take two great songs, one of them hopefully is bound to take off. People will connect to one of them more than the other. Franti, he’s a very smart businessman and an incredible artist. His songwriting is great and he’s just a great human being. He’s been a huge influence too. I’ve had some good talks with him, and he kind of took me under his wing in September and let me play a show. My first show off of American Idol, anything, was eighty thousand people at a peace rally. That’s the kind of career I want, you know? So that’s what I’m going for. I don’t want to be marketed as the next Idol. I want to be marketed as a new artist, singer-songwriter Crystal Bowersox.
Speaking of Farmer’s Daughter. When you’re writing this song, or when you’re deciding to put it on your album, in your mind are you thinking “I want to do this to put a spotlight on child abuse” or was your mindset more like “This just happens to be my story, I’m just telling it, I’m getting it out of me”?
A little bit of both. I mean I had just done the special with Anderson Cooper on childhood bullying in schools, and had written an essay for CNN.com about how I dealt with it in the home and at school. Farmer’s Daughter is a song that brings it out into the open. It’s kind of a little bit of airing of dirty laundry, but it’s the stuff that people deal with but don’t have the courage to talk about. Once it’s out of you, once you talk about it, it’s not in your being anymore. You get it out, you can start to heal. And I think it’s a subject that needs to be talked about. It’s my personal story but it’s also something that other people have experienced.
For What It’s Worth, what’s fascinating to me is not just that you covered it, you put it right there in the two-spot on the album. A lot of times, covers are the eighth or ninth song. Was that your doing?
Yeah, the album track listing is my doing. The first song, Riding With The Radio, I love the guitar lick coming into it. And then my friend Ryan Suzuka, who’s been a great friend for years, he played harmonica, and so it goes from guitar to wailing solo, and then the song is about just sing whatever you want to sing. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s just about good music and good people. And then right into Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth, that song is just timeless. It’s anti-protest, anti-war. The roots of the song is really a bar fight in LA, but the lyrics are much deeper than that. It can apply to any era in what’s going on in the world.
The funny thing about that is, even before I looked at the tracklisting and realized you had a Stephen Stills-written song on there, when I first saw your album cover, the first thing that came to mind was the old Crosby, Stills & Nash album cover where they’re sitting on the old couch, whereas you’re sitting on an old swing.
It’s funny, that wasn’t the intent when we took the photo. For me, the photo shoot, if you look at any of the other cover art there’s a lot of other really cool pictures in there of the property we did the photo shoot at. The place looked just like my mom’s house growing up. I mean it was falling down. It was a farmhouse in need of repair. That’s where I come from. The little shack on the cover was in the back yard or something. The dog just jumped up there. She was the property owner’s dog, and she was real cool, and that picture just happened and I loved it. I thought the same thing you did. It reminded me of a vintage album. And that’s kind of what I was going for with the sound. The sound is a little updated, but still, you can hear the blues and the classic rock influences in there. Country too, definitely some country.
I’ve got to ask about the dog.
The property owner’s dog was the sweetest little pit bull, and her name is Angel. She just happened to jump up there, and I was chilling and petting her. For me now, I look at the cover and it makes me think of me. I’ve been a pitbull, really, in fighting for what I want. I’ve always been tough in my life. I’ve been through some shit.
I’ve also got to ask about the December release. It’s kind of rare. If a record isn’t done in time for the big fall release season, the label will usually sit on it until springtime. How did you guys end up saying, okay, we’ll put this out on December 14th?
They originally wanted it for November 14th, which gave me just a few weeks to make a full length album. I told them they were nuts and wanted it in the spring, so that was originally that. And then we compromised and said well, we’re far along in the process, we’ve got a good steady rate going here in the recording process, so why don’t we put it out. So December 14th it was. And I know it’s mixed in with Christmas and everything. I’m not too worried about it. I think that come January we’ll start doing some more blitz stuff.
You’ve pushed back with your label as far as what you want the single to be, you’ve pushed back on the release date. Even though all this back and forth with them, is it fair to say you and your label still have a good positive working relationship, even though you don’t agree on everything?
Yeah, of course. I think it’s important in any professional relationship to have a lot of different views and opinions. I mean if one person’s running the show, it’s guaranteed to be right not all of the time. You need a push and shove, and you need challenges and working things out. I think it’s a very healthy professional relationship. Jive has given me every opportunity, everything that I have right now. My son has room to run down the hall. It’s because of Jive. It’s because of American Idol. I don’t take that for granted for a second. But I do have a specific vision for my songs and the kind of artist that I am, and I don’t think that they expected me to be what I am. American Idol is a little bit misleading, and you know, we’re working it out as we go. I’m having a great time, and they’re taking care of me, for sure.
I’ve got to ask you about the story of you and Brian doing Mason on your record.
Mason is a gorgeous love song that he wrote for me back at the end of 2008, 2009. I think he wrote it in 2008, and it was before we had ever toyed with being in a relationship together. We were friends, we were best friends, and I guess he said he’s been waiting patiently for a long time for me to realize things (laughs), and he stuck around. After the show and after the tour and everything, it happened. It was very natural. We’ve been very good friends for six years, and it’s just perfect. Why not? Why not marry your best friend, you know?
The song is exactly how we feel about our relationship. It was actually the vows at our wedding. We sang a song. We didn’t say vows. I wrote a bridge, we recorded it on the album, and I like the way it turned out. It’s gorgeous. Brian did a great job. The band did a great job. It’s really nice to see that song come to life on the album.
There’s so many things in your professional and personal life that seem to be going so well for you, considering all the shit you’ve gone through even recently, even a year, year and a half ago where things were still very much on the edge. Has it sunk in for you yet that everything’s going so well?
Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. It’s more like every day, before I put my two feet on the ground, I say thank you. Every day. To the universe. To whatever. This is something that I’ve seen happening in my mind since I started playing music. When I was ten I had this goal and I knew that I would make it one way or another. No matter the path, I would come to this place. I’ve made it here. It was through American Idol. It could have been any other path. I would have fought for it and I would have got it. It’s definitely sunk in. I’ve got a home right now, and I’ve got a husband, and my son is gorgeous and amazing. Life is really good for me right now. But I never for a second forget where I come from, and know that there are people out there dealing with it too. The same things that I’ve been through, and even worse.
CrystalBowersox.com • iTunes • Twitter • Facebook
Lee DeWyze explains the Chicago references on Live It Up album
November 1, 2010 by Beatweek · 2 Comments
Lee DeWyze is from Chicago, as anyone who’s watched American Idol (or heard him speak in his native Chicagoan accent) can attest – and multiple references to his hometown appear in the lyrics to various songs on his upcoming major label debut album entitled Live It Up. Lee told Beatweek today that the references, rather than being planted, happened on account of truth-based storytelling: “The Chicago references were not planned necessarily,” DeWyze says. “It was more like I was writing about it and that’s where these things happened. Sometimes it’s easier to get an understanding of a song when put in that setting.”
Lee continues, “All the songs are written from a very honest place. It’s me. Like in Dear Isabel, the Lake Michigan reference, or in Me And My Jealousy, ‘Chicago in the winter.’ If you’ve ever lived in Chicago, anyone who has, they know what a winter in Chicago is like. To be going through a tough time here in the winter would be just be all the more worse.”
Live It Up is set for a November 16th release in the United States, while lead single Sweet Serendipity is at iTunes and radio already. Lee DeWyze is set to appear on the cover of the November 16th issue of Beatweek Magazine in which he discusses the making of his new album, the songwriting process, his impending return to American Idol in 2011 and more.
Chicago Idol: finalists Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox both have ties
Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox are both headed to American Idol’s ninth season finale, and while only one of them is from the State of Illinois, both singers cut their musical teeth in the windy city, effectively making for an all-Chicago American Idol finale. While those in Crystal’s Ohio hometown might not prefer that it be phrased that way, the fact is that the midwest’s biggest city helped foster both Crystal’s and Lee’s careers. It’s not clear whether that will serve to help or hurt when it comes to the perception on America’s coasts that the show is basically “Smalltown Idol” – here we have a final in which both Crystal and Lee saw their careers boosted by their time in a big city music scene, just not the ones in New York City or Los Angeles.
In any case, while it’s anyone’s guess as two whether Crystal Bowersox or Lee DeWyze will emerge victorious next week, it’s fair to already declare that the next American Idol winner will have strong Chicago ties.
Daphne Willis interview
March 24, 2010 by Bill Palmer · Leave a Comment
You’ve got a lot of tour dates packed into the schedule right now, a lot of back to back night in different cities. Is that just because of the album release, or do you always pack that many shows into your schedule?
I’m trying to pack more in, and I was actually a little bit, this is my first time out to the east coast so I would have liked to have more dates, to be honest. Nights off, I just get kind of, like, restless. I’d rather be playing than not playing. So no, I usually try and pack my schedule as much as I can.
For someone who has no idea about the Chicago music scene, what do we need to know about that?
The Chicago music scene is a little rough sometimes, from a local standpoint. Obviously since it’s a major city you get some really good national and international acts that come through and play the Shubas and the Martyrs and stuff, and the bigger rooms like Chicago Theater. But as far as local goes it’s rough, cause you have these real underground rootsy blues bands that are very much just strictly Chicago blue bands, and then it’s totally the opposite extreme. There’s like punk rock guys that are very much sounding like a whinier version of Linkin Park or something (laughs), is how I would describe it. So it’s hard to try and find a medium.
There are several bands that are there, but you have to find them tough. They’re not just out and about. So it’s taken me a lot of time to find some really good bands to hook up with and hang with and play shows with.
The first time I heard Everybody Else, the first time I heard the lyric “You be me and I’ll be you,” I thought I understood the line, but then a week later I still find myself chewing over the meaning.
I think there’s a lot of interplay and double meanings that are said in that song, but the “You be me and I’ll be you” line is kind of like, people are fundamentally the same usually anywhere you go, and it’s kind of like you could trade places with somebody. I guess it’s more of a line that would be like putting your situation in perspective cause you could always be either the grass is greener on the other side, or it’s like we’re all the same, you know what I mean? So it could be either way with that meaning. It’s kind of how you interpret it.
There’s a good story on how you ended up on Vanguard Records.
I had a small licensing deal with DMX licensing, which is a small subcompany that licenses to various companies and chain restaurants all across the country. They got a deal with American Airlines, and my song No Difference from my very first EP was playing on an American Airlines flight, and Kevin Welk, who’s the president of Vanguard Records, was on the flight and just happened to plug his headphones in to the armrest, and my song was playing. And he was moved by it and sent their A&R agent Gary Pacsoza up from Nashville to actually see us play in Chicago.
You’re on a label, you’ve got a publicist, you’ve got all these proper channels, and yet right there on your website you’ve got your gmail address on public display for people to holler at you directly. Why do that?
I love going to new places and you know new people already. It’s easier for people to reach out and connect with me and connect with the music when I’m right there with them and talking to them. I don’t mind it at all. I think it’s great and I enjoy interacting with people who are influenced or moved or whatever. And often times I also am given other opportunities to help out, whether it’s charitable events or helping answer questions for other people that are either trying to get into music or just trying to write and have questions, or all kind of stuff that I never would have known about if I wasn’t very easily accessible for everybody.
You just finished college last year?
No, I dropped out. I would have graduated this year, but I dropped out. So I’m halfway done with my degree in secondary education with a minor in Japanese studies.
What would you have taught?
English, with a focal point in British literature.
I’ve seen you use the word “fowsh” quite a bit on your Twitter, your Facebook, so I Googled it to find out what it meant, and the first Google result was your blog. Is it possible you’ve added an entirely new word to the English language?
I guess it’s possible. I don’t know how long it takes for Webster to come around on something like that (laughs). Yeah, that was pretty funny. I was saying that for a little while, and then people were like, “What the hell does that mean? Dude, what the hell are you talking about?” So I had to write a blog to kind of like explain to everybody. And it’s funny, cause you’re not the first person that’s Googled it to see what the hell does that mean, you know? I’ve gotten a lot of comments from people. And then the coolest part though is that other people will write back to me and use it in their language when they’re writing back, which is pretty funny.
Learn more at DaphneWillis.com • iTunes • MySpace • Facebook • Twitter
Chevelle interview
August 31, 2009 by Beatweek · Leave a Comment
iProng Artist of the Month for November 2009
iProng Magazine chats with Pete Loeffler, lead singer of the Chicago-based rock trio Chevelle, whose new album Sci-Fi Crimes debuted at #1 today on the iTunes rock chart…
interview by Matt Saye
Chevelle formed in 1995 in Illinois and are best known for their singles “The Red” off their 2002 release Wonder What’s Next, “Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)” from This Type of Thinking Could Do Us In (2004), and “Well Enough Alone” from Vena Sera (2007). Their fifth album, Sci-Fi Crimes, has just been released.
Your new album Sci-Fi Crimes is just now making its way into the hands of fans. Before I begin, would you like to say anything about the record?
Sure. Well, it is a different sounding album than we’ve put out before. It’s kind of like the best of Point #1, which was our first record and the best of our second album Wonder What’s Next. We went for a really raw live sound and some bands say that but we really meant it. We went into this record thinking “let’s do a different sounding album” and it’s pretty raw. We tried not to tune a lot of vocals. I sang these songs until they were right and there’s a lot of vibe on this album. I think it’s different and it came out great but it’s not perfect in any way. That’s what we were trying to avoid: a perfect sounding processed album. In this day and age I think it’s going to stand out from the other rock albums this year.
You said you went for “not processed.” Does that mean you recorded it live in the studio?
Yeah, we always record together as a band. That’s the only way to get the real vibe is to perform it together. There’s always overdubs, but if you’re going for that live sound you have to play together.
Overall, what was the recording process like?
I started out with an acoustic guitar and I wrote all these lyrics and got the melodies down and then I brought them to the guys. Then we hashed it all out. So we agree or disagree and form the song together as a band. That’s really pretty much how we do it. It works for us.
I’ve seen that you’ve been streaming “Jars” on your website for a few weeks now. What made you choose that as your leadoff single?
Yeah I didn’t really choose it. We left that up to the label. If I had my druthers it would be a heavier track, but you have to let them do their job. They’re ultimately going to push it hard and I believe that they have our backs. So really, we don’t put out any music that we don’t love, but I just basically finish the album and give it to them and if I’m happy with it I’ll be happy with what they pick. I think that song’s just got a strong chorus. It’s short and sweet. So that’s probably why they chose that.
You’ve titled this album “Sci-Fi Crimes.” Is there a story behind the title?
We went to Australia and we had some crazy experiences with some people we met out there and started delving into the whole UFO experience. Dean [Bernardini, Chevelle's bassist] is a pretty talented guy and he painted the cover. A lot of the songs talk about sci-fi situations, like “Highland’s Apparition” and “Roswell’s Spell.” It’s not like we believe it all, but we want to. We’re just talking about situations we’ve been in and things that have happened over the years with people.
To go back to something you mentioned earlier about trying a new sound, people are always trying to compare one band to another, but in terms of this album, were there any new or different influences you looked to?
When I got together with Brian Virtue [producer of Sci-Fi Crimes] we sat down and I said what do you want to do? And I said “I know you’ve worked on Jane’s Addiction albums. Let’s go down that road. Let’s bring up what you did way back when it wasn’t all about ProTools and making a record sound perfect.” I’m a huge Jane’s fan so we listened to a lot of Ritual de lo Habitual and Nothing’s Shocking and later stuff he had done with the band and we sort of took that kind of vibe and incorporated that into what we do: like not just be heavy all the time. Don’t forget the melodies and don’t take too much out of a song. If it’s a part and it’s weird and only happens once, let’s not necessarily take that out. We don’t want to just follow a format with songs that are just verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge format. We gelled really well and worked really well together.
When it comes time to making an album, how much does the digital availability of music factor in?
Actually I don’t really ever think about it. I’m all for getting our music out there but I guess I’ve never thought about it much. I know a lot of bands will be against selling singles on iTunes. People are going to get your songs half the time for free from their friend and they’ll listen to one song and that’ll be it. I think people are overwhelmed. Obviously that’s hurt record sales, but honestly I’ve never made money off record sales, so in a way I want people to have our music. I want them to buy the album for the artwork and to feel like they’re getting something tangible, but I don’t care if they get it online either. I just want them to have it so they come to our shows. That’s how my career keeps going. It’s our connection with people every night that keeps it going. I just want people to like this band and to search us out on their own.
I see that you’ve been on tour for awhile now. Have you had a chance to try out the new material live?
Yeah, we’ve played three new tracks about every night. On the Stimulate This tour that we’ve been on, we’ve only had a 35 minute set so we can’t necessarily put three new tracks in there that people don’t know. So basically it’s all singles except for one song, “Sleep Apnea,” which is the first song on the new album. On this tour we’re playing to a lot of new people. It’s a very Top 40 mainstream tour and we’ve never been in that market, so we play a couple new ones and the old ones that they know. But when we get our headline set [on the next tour] we’ll be playing a lot more new stuff. Maybe even an acoustic song or two to switch it up.
What’s your approach when it comes to performing a live show? Do you try out new things on stage or just try to play the songs as they were written?
You know, we do try to reproduce what people know and love. If they came to your show, they probably want to hear what they know. I think it’s fine to go off on a tangent in a bridge or whatever or extend the ending of a song. I think that’s really cool, but as far as when it comes down to certain things, like the melody of a chorus. we don’t change that. I toured with a band that did that and it just killed the vibe, so I learned early on that that’s not a direction I want to go. I feel like I want to give people what they know. It’s that familiarity that we go to a show for, right? Unless you’re the Mars Volta, where they just do anything.
With so many albums under your belt, how hard is it to come up with a setlist – to decide what to put in and what to leave out?
It is tough. With five albums, we have a lot of “pickens.” It’s so much easier when we have our own show. We’ve been swapping songs in and out a lot on this tour, but it is tough to make a setlist. Once we get to our headline run we’ll probably play a lot of older things and we’ll probably have to play a two hour setlist at least, so it’s gonna be fun.
Chevelle is currently touring on the Stimulate This tour, and will be headlining their own tour this Fall.
Sci-Fi Crimes is available in iTunes now. Learn more at ChevelleInc.com
