Joe Macdonald Interview
Q: Can you tell us a little bit your musical history? You mention that you more or less stepped away from music for twelve years. What made you get back into it?
A: I was late to music. I learned a few chords from Hank Willams' songs and a Beatles book and wrote some songs about girls I couldn't get. I played them for my friends in living rooms but nothing beyond that. Then I worked with a guy in a restaurant and we formed a band named Rustbucket. Kind of alt-country. We made a record that sold about fifty copies. Then I was in another band called Sawdogs. We made a similarly successful record. It seemed like it had run its course so I stopped. I didn't write a song for over a decade and I mostly thought it was because I'd quit smoking and was happily married. I only got back into it because I wrote a song for some friends who were having a baby, “Time to Come Home,” and it unlocked the songwriter in me. And I wrote about fifteen or twenty songs in eight or nine weeks after that.
Q: Your album sounds very warm to me. The production fits the songs very well. Can you tell us about your aesthetic decisions? Did you have an idea of how you wanted the album to sound prior to recording?
A: I had no idea. I never intended to record anything. They were all written on acoustic guitar at my kitchen table, usually after midnight and usually in very dim light. The only aesthetic choices I made were to not use a pick so that the guitar would be softer and would force me to sing more softly and with more emotion. And I tried to sing at the top of my range as much as possible. As for the production itself, I owe that to producer and multi-instrumentalist Jim Bryson and his musical friends Peter Von Althen and Philippe Charbonneau. They took four-chord acoustic songs and made a record of it. Jim said he wanted it to still sound like me. And it does.
Q: From your perspective what are some of the themes and concepts that run through Bridge and River Songs?
A: The joke working title was One Song about Being Born and Nine About Dying. Both my parents had just died and someone close to me attempted suicide. It seemed like everything was changing and becoming more dramatic and permanent than ever. I didn't need to look very far for inspiration. It was in my day-to-day life and in my head as I lay down to sleep. I couldn't escape it. Every song except “Emmett Till and The Other Side” is biographical about me or someone close to me. They're all about one kind of passage or another.
Q: What’s the creative process like for you? Lyrics first or melody?
A: If I find melody, it's usually dumb luck. Words and ideas come first with me. Tom Waits once advocated writing with your mind rather than your hands. I'm a limited musician so I have to somehow translate the lyrical ideas I have into music. I tried to keep it simple and direct this time. I wanted to say exactly what I wanted to say and if things didn't rhyme or I repeated lines, it didn't really concern me too much.
Q: The album sounds so cohesive to me. Are there any songs on the album which stand out to you now that the album has been released?
A: They're all my children, as they say. I really like the production on “Emmett Till.” That was the hardest one for me to write. I really like how “Bridge Song” turned out. That was very personal and it was a conscious choice to make it a repetitive almost oppressive two-chord song. And for personal reasons, I really like the last one “Before the Fall.” It's about my father and I wrote it after most of the record was done and it was one of those magical studio moments for me. Jim left to make coffee for his wife and mother-in-law and just left the tape rolling. It was a single take on the third try.
Q: What does 2017 have in store for your music? Can we expect to see you on tour?
A: I really don't have any concrete plans. This might have been a one-off. I'll send it to people but I have no expectations for it. I think I've sold about twenty-five so far so it's not a financial windfall. What was important to me is that I did it and I stepped out of my comfort zone to do it. That in itself is a reward that I'm grateful for.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit your musical history? You mention that you more or less stepped away from music for twelve years. What made you get back into it?
A: I was late to music. I learned a few chords from Hank Willams' songs and a Beatles book and wrote some songs about girls I couldn't get. I played them for my friends in living rooms but nothing beyond that. Then I worked with a guy in a restaurant and we formed a band named Rustbucket. Kind of alt-country. We made a record that sold about fifty copies. Then I was in another band called Sawdogs. We made a similarly successful record. It seemed like it had run its course so I stopped. I didn't write a song for over a decade and I mostly thought it was because I'd quit smoking and was happily married. I only got back into it because I wrote a song for some friends who were having a baby, “Time to Come Home,” and it unlocked the songwriter in me. And I wrote about fifteen or twenty songs in eight or nine weeks after that.
Q: Your album sounds very warm to me. The production fits the songs very well. Can you tell us about your aesthetic decisions? Did you have an idea of how you wanted the album to sound prior to recording?
A: I had no idea. I never intended to record anything. They were all written on acoustic guitar at my kitchen table, usually after midnight and usually in very dim light. The only aesthetic choices I made were to not use a pick so that the guitar would be softer and would force me to sing more softly and with more emotion. And I tried to sing at the top of my range as much as possible. As for the production itself, I owe that to producer and multi-instrumentalist Jim Bryson and his musical friends Peter Von Althen and Philippe Charbonneau. They took four-chord acoustic songs and made a record of it. Jim said he wanted it to still sound like me. And it does.
Q: From your perspective what are some of the themes and concepts that run through Bridge and River Songs?
A: The joke working title was One Song about Being Born and Nine About Dying. Both my parents had just died and someone close to me attempted suicide. It seemed like everything was changing and becoming more dramatic and permanent than ever. I didn't need to look very far for inspiration. It was in my day-to-day life and in my head as I lay down to sleep. I couldn't escape it. Every song except “Emmett Till and The Other Side” is biographical about me or someone close to me. They're all about one kind of passage or another.
Q: What’s the creative process like for you? Lyrics first or melody?
A: If I find melody, it's usually dumb luck. Words and ideas come first with me. Tom Waits once advocated writing with your mind rather than your hands. I'm a limited musician so I have to somehow translate the lyrical ideas I have into music. I tried to keep it simple and direct this time. I wanted to say exactly what I wanted to say and if things didn't rhyme or I repeated lines, it didn't really concern me too much.
Q: The album sounds so cohesive to me. Are there any songs on the album which stand out to you now that the album has been released?
A: They're all my children, as they say. I really like the production on “Emmett Till.” That was the hardest one for me to write. I really like how “Bridge Song” turned out. That was very personal and it was a conscious choice to make it a repetitive almost oppressive two-chord song. And for personal reasons, I really like the last one “Before the Fall.” It's about my father and I wrote it after most of the record was done and it was one of those magical studio moments for me. Jim left to make coffee for his wife and mother-in-law and just left the tape rolling. It was a single take on the third try.
Q: What does 2017 have in store for your music? Can we expect to see you on tour?
A: I really don't have any concrete plans. This might have been a one-off. I'll send it to people but I have no expectations for it. I think I've sold about twenty-five so far so it's not a financial windfall. What was important to me is that I did it and I stepped out of my comfort zone to do it. That in itself is a reward that I'm grateful for.