This is the first half of an extraordinary interview between Allie Farris, a fiercely talented young performer looking for the secrets of songwriting success, and one of my musical heroes, David Wilcox. The end result is not just an overview of the logistical problems facing struggling musicians, but also a lesson in conscious and adventurous living that can apply to anyone trying to eke out a more creative existence. I feel privileged to have been at the right place and time to just put a microphone between these two.
I play several fragments and songs of Dave’s through the course of this show, and you can hear them complete and buy your own copies through the following links:
- Language Of The Heart from How Did You Find Me Here (1989)
- Leave It Like It Is from How Did You Find Me Here (1989)
- Perfect Storm from Airstream (2008)
- What You Whispered from What You Whispered (2000)
The second part of this talk will be available in two weeks, on Monday, August 8. Cheers!
Excellent episode, John, with GREAT stuff from David Wilcox!
Another interesting angle on the idea of feeling our way through creativity (and thus life, by extension) can be found in Lynda Barry’s writing-guide-memoir-comic-thing “What It Is”.
A pitfall on the way to the deeply felt is-this-better/is-this-worse decision making that David talks about is when our brain tries to apply good/bad, rocks/sucks judgments onto something that’s just trying to get born. Barry offers a really interesting (and spooky!) take on “where ideas come from” and some ways to circumvent that unhelpful brain action.
I find it a great place to start when generating ideas for new projects.