DB: Your most recent album is Blue Boy. What do you think that this album offers to your new and long-time fans?
RS: I guess it's a not-so-new album anymore. It's the first record that I did without Mitchell Froom, so I knew that it was going to be different. I think Steve Earle (who produced Blue Boy) wanted it to rock a bit more than my previous records, so it's the whole other side. It's a guitar-heavy album and much rougher sounding. I found that in some places it wasn't always peoples favourite. Some people prefer ballads. Still, I think it was a step forward. It was the first record that I got to play piano on and it jumps around a bit stylistically. There's like a ska tune, and some blusier numbers. Stuff that I didn't try before.
DB: Each time that you are making a new album do you approach the album-making process the same way?
RS: Not really. For me it's hard because generally you begin with more songs than you end up using. Then you sit with the producer and he's got the list of songs too and you start to whittle away at the list depending on their personality or the songs that they are gravitating towards. You have your preconceptions. I remember going down to Nashville and thinking that we were going to make like a cart-on-a-gravel-road sort of record and the last thing Steve wanted to do was that.
DB: How did you enjoy working with Steve?
RS: We had a blast. I've known him for a long time, but this was the first time that we got to spent a lot of time together. I loved being in Nashville. I loved the superficial things like the hotel room that I was staying in. The room had a big piano in it. It was a great experience to wake up and walk to the studio and make music all day and then walk back to this little apartment at the end of the day. We worked very fast. It was great to have Don Kerr on it as well, since he's been my drummer for so long, and he was always involved in the records in the past but not as much as he would have like to been.
DB: Do you think Steve's direction or approach differed from Mitchell's?
RS: It was a lot more by the seat of the pants. Mitchell was very methodical. I love working with Mitchell. There would always be a week working in pre-production, arranging all the songs so that when we go in the studio we would have this very definite game plan and we would sort of go about getting the songs down. With Steve there wasn't really any time for that. We went into the studio and just started playing. The songs would change on the spot. It was very communal and the whole thing moved very quickly and we enjoyed having each other around. There wasn't any weirdness or tense moments.
DB: What do you enjoy most about the song-writing process?
RS: I love being in the middle of the new songs. There is always a fear that I will wake up one day and that I won't have anything. When I hear great songwriters or a great new songwriter, I find that very inspiring. There are people that will tell you that all the great songs have been written, which is nonsense. There are only so many notes or so many chords, but you can always find a new way to do it. I'm not trying to reinvent anything. I'm not a Radiohead kind of artist that is in a studio sculpting a record.
DB: You just mentioned the fear of waking up and not being able to put it down. Do you ever encounter writer's block?
RS: I've had times when I wasn't really coming up with anything. I've been lucky that I've been able to write on the road. I have a whole new album finished and I have a whole new batch of songs that I am working on so I feel like I am really ahead of myself. There is so much time when you are waiting for a record to come out and in that time you travel around and get all these ideas that come into focus when you have time to deal with them.
DB: What do you think is the music industry's perception of singer-songwriters?
RS: I don't think that they really know what to think. It hasn't been a very popular genre of music for a very long time. There was an article in Billboard recently that featured my picture on the front beside Rufus Wainwright. Just the idea that maybe it's our turn to get the spotlight again. I get a bit frustrated from time to time wondering when it's going to be my turn. It's just hard to say. I try not to obsess about it.
DB: Is that the thing that bothers you the most about the industry - the lack of airtime?
RS: I've never gotten any airtime. Even Ryan Adams -- whose record is doing very well -- doesn't get very much airtime. I don't think it's a big problem though, because people are still finding success. I've had bad luck with labels and mergers and things like that and I think it all has to come together at once where all of a sudden people look at you.
DB: If you were the head of a major label, how would you envision running the company… given the experience that you have had with different labels?
RS: I think the music industry got carried away in the eighties and nineties with people throwing so much money around. The expectations became so high that you could never be satisfied. Alanis' first record sold about 13 million, but her second record -- which "only" sold a few million -- was considered a failure and that's the kind of thing that I find ridiculous. You can't expect to maintain that kind of insane popularity. All that you can hope for is that you are left with the real fans. I would try to sign bands and artists that I love, with the idea that if I liked it that someone else would like it. I think that there was a time when there was a lot more artist development. Obviously they are in business to make money, but they are only focusing on the pop and the juvenile so therefore the music is suffering. You are getting a lot of squeaky-voiced girls who are not artists the way that Joni Mitchell was an artist. I think in a way they may like the songs, but they don't invest emotionally in the artist and in the long run if you are making quality music then people would have long careers again. Hopefully things will turn around and get back to the business of making great music that people care about. I think that artist development is very important and something that should be invested in.
DB: I know lots has been said about the whole Napster thing, but how do you think that the Internet will ultimately affect your career?
RS: I think it can only help. I never had Napster so I never really knew what was going on. Take David Grey, for example: Dave Matthew's sent out an email to his fan base telling everyone to go pick up David Grey's record, and overnight this had a huge effect on his situation. E-mails can be very powerful , and they are only one method getting the message out there. I think that people in general don't mind buying a record if it's an artist that they respect. My son, for example, is always making his own cds. He may buy a record but only for that one song and then he'll sell the cd when he gets tired of it. I think that's kind of sad. I used to go out and buy an album and come home a listen to every song and read the lyrics and it would become something important to me. The attention span on some of the kids today…it seems that they want everything so fast, and they don't take the time to read or watch a movie that doesn't have things blowing up. It's a bit disturbing. It's nice to have quiet time-to sit and listen to a record or read a book. I like to think that there will be a strong wave of this again.
By Dave Brosha, CanEHdian.com (March, 2002)
