Featured Artist ~ January 2006 |
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Rachel Harrington
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Interview |
photo courtesy
of www.badcatphoto.com |
How old were you when you started writing songs?My first song was written when I started playing guitar at 13. But I wrote very few songs until later in life. I was 30 when I was pregnant with my second child, and he died about 6 months into the pregnancy. A mother holding her dead infant must be the saddest thing there could ever be. Devastated, I took that next year off of work to recuperate. I played guitar everyday for hours, and a couple of months later, a song called Halloween Leaves came out. Then another. Then another. And another . . .Who were your major influences?I was raised on gospel and Motown and Stax, so I think my tastes always run to the soulful side. But I’ve always loved early country music too. As an adult, my favorites are folks like Richard Buckner, Guy Clark, Gillian Welch . . . It’s got to have storytelling, and soul. I’d like to think that my favorites are also my biggest influences – I sure hope they are.How would you describe your music?In a word, acoustic. Nine times out of ten, when I hear someone play live and like them enough to buy their cd, I take the cd home and play it and don’t like because it’s just got too much stuff on it – everything is always so so so overproduced. I just don’t care for that at all.For me, good songs are songs that can be played with a guitar and a voice. If the song needs more than that, it’s because the song isn’t strong enough and needs re-writing.Too many artists rely on gimmicks, like overproduction, or a pretty smile, to get them over. In just the past three weeks, I’ve seen two different female artists in photographs in which they were posed nude with their guitars. Then I listened to their sound clips. If they spent half as much time in the mirror and twice as much on their instruments re-working their songs . . . ah, but that’s rant isn’t it : )I appreciate minimalism. If you can play it with fewer instruments, do. If you can say it with fewer words, do.What was the most thrilling part about your first recording process with your EP project "Halloween Leaves" and how involved were you in the recording process?I recorded Halloween Leaves in my living room. I was given a digital 16 track recorder for Christmas one year and let it sit in my closet for about 11 months – when I finally forced myself to get it out and figure out how to work the darn thing. So I decided to lay down four songs that each had four tracks, and just chose four songs I’d been working on lately that I had arrangements for. When I was done, I played it for my then-husband who, unbeknownst to me, later took the disc with the songs on it, had it mastered and duped and at Christmas that year, I opened a huge box of 1000 cds – with my name on them! And the title was “Halloween Leaves.”So I’ve always felt ambivalent about that EP. It has a few moments – but it was certainly never intended for anyone outside my living room to hear.Are you working on any new projects now and when will they be released.I am currently in the studio – January and February of 2006 – recording my debut full-length cd with two-time grammy winner Garey Shelton. Danny Barnes on banjo, John Reischman on mandolin, and some other very nice backing musicians. There is interest so far from Signature Sounds and from Blue Rose – but if I have to I’ll release it myself late this spring, May 2006.What special honors, awards, or features have you had with songs from your first release?My only real notable honor was winning the Gig Harbor Folk Festival songwriter competition this year and getting to play there with David Wilcox and Lucy Kaplansky – that was fun!What is your favorite venue to perform live and why?The best concert I’ve played so far was just last month at the Bainbridge Island Center Hall, on Bainbridge Island in Washington state. It’s a real old building – turn of the century - reminds me of an old one-room school house – all wood – rustic - just gorgeous. We played to a full house of folks of all ages, in folding chairs. One of the best audiences I’ve ever had!What does Indiegrrl mean to you?More than anything, community. A shoulder to lean on. Indiegrrl has been an invaluable resource for me. So many talented, experienced women all in pursuit of music, and all helping each other get wherever they want to go. Truly invaluable!What are your career goals?More than anything, I’d like to be able to make a humble living just playing music full-time.To read more about Rachel visit her website at: www.RachelHarrington.net
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