CIYH Artist Renewal Interviews
We like to interview our artists when they renew their memberships with CIYH. It's fun to bring them back in the limelight, and to see if house concerts and listening rooms are having an impact on their careers. Plus, we ask some crazy stuff too. Enjoy!
L.K. Potts Mar. 22, 2012
Describe your most memorable house concert experience.
My most memorable house concert experience was in 2010 in Salem, Oregon, in a beautiful meadow on a gorgeous property owned by high school friends, where I played on a deck in front of about 80 people who sat near a babbling brook...the sun, the sound, the afternoon was unbelievable. To share my original compostions with people who listened to every word and appreciated it mightily was one of the highlights of all my house concerts, although I've enjoyed each and every one for different reasons.
What's your best opening line? (from one of your songs, or one of your favorites)
Probably my best opening line has been, "let's talk a little about our four-footed friends...who has a dog they've love or have lost who stole their heart?" This is a lead-in to my song "Please Notice Me" written from my former best pal Shasta, a shepherd-husky-wolf who was my constant companion for 12 years. That's the fun song. As Temple Grandin says, "Dogs Make Us Human".
What song is most likely to make you cry? (if you were the crying kind)
There are actually two songs that are likely to make me cry: one, about a relative in the very last stages of life who had lost her memory (entirely) entitled "The Story of Your Life"...a true story that happened when a mother, in the last stages and has lost everything, is comforted by her daughter, who says, "mom, let's go over here and I'll lay down here next to you and tell you the story of your life." The song is beautifully produced and very moving. Just the idea of a mother who is filled in on the most important things she did by her own daughter is an idea that was both wrenching and healing at the same time. The other is about my dog Shasta, who, when I realized he was fading fast, I realized that our next time together could be "Our Last Walk"...the name of the song. You get the rest. When I was touring in Ireland, I got an email from my publisher in Nashville, who said, "you have no idea how close we came to getting this song cut...but they turned it down because it was just too sad." It's a dangerous song to listen to. All of us in the studio were bawling when we recorded it.
How many miles did you drive last year?
I drove for music gigs about 6000 miles last year.
What is your favorite thing about house concerts?
My favorite thing about house concerts is that people have come together to hear original music
and are excellent listeners, with no distractions. As an artist, when I get a chance to impart some ideas and feelings in ways that touch people, that's the biggest satisfaction for me. I get a chance to get out of my own way and try my best to create something very special. Here they are, usually a group of people who have shared these kinds of experiences with each other, sitting down with food and drink and fun and laughter and a camaraderie that says so much about community, about coming together for a common cause to celebrate our common bond in the love of music,....and together, we bond...well, That's IT.
If you could no longer sell your music on CD, what would you do differently?
I suppose If I could no longer sell my music on CDs, then I'd go to where I'm going more these days anyway... ITunes, and other download venues. And I get a check periodically from them...but I have to say, a CD is a package, and I'm proud of what I've done, what I've written, and the thousands of hours in writing and production and graphics and planning that goes into it. It's like a book...want to know what the artist is like? Get his CD. Look at it. Listen to it. It's more than a soundbyte. It's like a book. And as Thoreau said, "an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man"...in this case an artist is reflected in the whole way he or she presents themselves in a sequence of carefully crafted songs. You like it or you don't. It's all there to see, the whole package.
When is the last time someone critiqued your song, suggested a way to make it better, and you agreed?
The last time someone critiqued my song was when I was co-writing my song with George Merrill,
multi-platinum, grammy-winning songwriter (Whitney Houston hits, Boy Meets Girl: "Waiting for a Star to Fall" and tons of other hits by various artists.) We were working in his studio (two blocks from me here in Petaluma) on a song about my father called "Cowboy Kind" and we were caught on the way in which the story unfolds...that you don't know it's really about the father talking about his son until the last verse, when he says "one fence left to mend"...and it was a missing piece... the whole song swung on the one phrase, which defined the song in its entirety. We've written twelve songs together and are continuing... and even though I bring my songs to Geo 90% done, his 10% is worth 50%...or much more than that.
And his ear for melodic changes and production says it all about his professionalism, friendship, and extraordinary background. Oh, and once in a while, I help him too. (miniscule in comparison)
Have you ever watched yourself do a full concert on video? If so, what did you learn?
I watched myself in concert on video one time about 11 years ago and of course I was mortified about some things I was doing. But that was early on when it was logical I would have a deer-in-the headlights look at various times. Others thought I did great, but I was taken aback by the fact that I was trying so hard to make sure I didn't drop a lyric or make a huge guitar mistake that I was missing the bigger picture, and that was how little I was really connecting with the audience. Now that I've done so much more performing, in audiences from 40 to 200 people, and have so much behind me in anchoring my presentation, it's a whole lot better. But that was a big wake-up call. I'm working on a multimedia concert format that will give me even more presentation time...a kind of theatrical "song-story" event because there is so much American and personal history behind my tunes. I'm hoping people will like it when done.
Is there anyone you like to go to for songwriting help or advice? If so, who?
I go for songwriting advice to my friend George Merrill but before Geo I worked for 9 years on and off with Steve Seskin, a folk legend and a hit songwriter..Country,.(7 #1 hits, 40 in the top ten) over in Richmond CA where I dubbed the group, (after a particularly disastrous song rewrite) "Club Shred" because I got jumped on by my classmates (good natured sharks) for ruining whatever good I'd done to a song "Leaving Cheyenne"... turns out that after getting over my wounds and knowing then that I would never be so precious about a song, and fixing it finally, I got called back to Nashville as a publisher wanted Chris LeDoux to cut the song, and to pitch me, even in my older age, to an Americana label run by LeAnne Womack's husband. I always need other ears for my songs, and I often run it by friends who are songwriters, and another good buddy of mine and nearby Sonoma County great songwriter, Scott O'Brien who I've done numbers of house concerts with. He's a marvelous source and we've written quite a few together, including "Hometown Hardware' and "The Ballad of Black Bart".
What is the best stage name of all time?
The best stage name of all time? probably Lady Gaga. I go gaga over her marketing ability. She is just so public eye. I can't compete with that, unless, of course, I wear a frontier shift, wagon boots, a feather in my wig, makeup, and go by Penny Potts and the Larryettes.
Car you drive vs the car you'd most like to drive.
Well, I drive a Nissan Pathfinder to the shorter gigs but I found l997 Chinook motor home that's only about 21 feet long and has everything in it, and, I can stand up in it. At 6'4" now that's something.
So the tours are going to be far and ranging and whatever I save in hotel bills will be eaten up by
the exorbitant price of petrol. (only about 11 mpg) Go figure. But I'm really looking forward to touring in this mini-bus come this summer on the NW/Western States Tour. Cool sound system too.
What percentage of your songs are about love relationships?
I'd say about one quarter to one third of my songs are about love relationships...some more direct than others. "Hear Me Out" is about a guy who wants to say everything (too late) about getting his woman back... but it's rarely the case that words will do it. It's about heartbreak. "Don't Let Love Pass You By" is about a guy who believes he'll never love again and then get totally seduced by the woman of his dreams...a really country song that's been picked up (but not cut yet) by many publishers in Nashville. "Another Perfect Day" is a pop-type sailing song, very romantic, "Take it To The Heart" inspired from my son's relationship with his wonderful wife, and there are many others...love toward a grandmother (Grandma's Patchwork Star) , "Simply Beautiful" and the less obvious historical ones. I love the mountains, and "Home to Oregon" and "High Sierra" and others show love in different and unexpected ways.
You can bring back any dead artist, and be their apprentice for a month, who do you choose?
Hmmm..bringing back a dead artist. I'd say Roy Orbison. Have you seen the "Black and White" concert? The guy had such a groove and great lyrics. I'd go to school on that dude. Frankie Laine would be cool...I met him when I was ten and a total little buckaroo...we're talking Ghost Riders in the Sky all the way, and "Cool, Cool Water"... And Elvis. I need a little more Elvis in me. I could dress up in the white sequins and bring on the shades on southern swagger to my house concerts. Or not.
You can recruit anyone in the world to manage your artistic career, who is it?
If I could recruit anyone to manage my music career, I'd probably be working with the same lady
who manages me now, Annie Aronson of thismusicisreal.com From where I am today, that's as good as it gets. She knows me and books me into some very cool places. I can't think beyond that.
You can work with any living record producer. Who do you choose for your next project?
Working with any living producer? George Merrill, mentioned before, and Kevin Harris of Harwood Productions. Kevin and his family (Cindy and Cameron) our outstanding video experts who do programs on LiveatBay6 and have done 24 Singeer-Songwriters, full productions and interviews on their show. They've also had over 2 million downloads of all their programs, which include all manner of things like food, wine, health, quilting, you name it. But they're really pro's and I hope to be working as we have done in the past three years, Geo and me and Kevin together. If you listen to my records, these guys are amazing to work with. But I've had invitations to work with Lloyd Maines of the Dixie Chicks in Austin, TX...Lloyd picked up one of my songs called "Against the Grain" when I was a finalist in the Kerrville New Folk Festival a few years back. That'd be big fun to work with him too.
You must personally destroy every instrument you own, except one. Which do you keep? Which do you destroy first/last, and why?
Ouch! Destroy every instrument but one? Probably destroy my longneck banjo Washburn 'cuz I don't really know how to play it. Then 5 string weird stringed thing from somewhere in the South Pacific. Then my Tahitian Ukelele 8 string.Then my l937 Accordian, 'cuz I haven't yet done the great sea shanty on it. ("Hold Fast" is really a guitar piece) then my l905 Tenor Banjo (banjos always go first) then my Avalon l940s banjo Ukelele, then the upright piano in my friend's garage, rotting away, then...now it gets tough...my baby Martin (oww) that I love to take on long plane rides when I can't take anything else) then my ohhh...'69 Martin D-12-20, then my Line 6 Electric (I sold a '72 Les Paul and a '71 Gretsch Chet Atkins Deluxe) then my l922 Chickering Parlor Grand Piano, then my beloved Martin D-1 with the Ellipse pickup (oh hell!!) but I'd keep my '87 Curly Maple Guild G-45 Dreadnaught. That's my baby. But as I say, I have G.A.S. : Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. My wife says one more guitar and she serves the papers.
Top item on your bucket list.
Top on my bucket list: New Zealand and Australia. They're playing my songs there and it would be
so cool to have some gigs in those two countries, and of course see the sights...in Australia, avoid the seagoing crocs and the funnel spiders and the vipers, and in New Zealand, go to Lord of the Rings territories.
Cat, dog, or goldfish?
Cat, dog, or goldfish. None of the above. We do have unwelcome pet bats that have taken to roosting in our quite tall Victorian, and lemme tell you, they're not a whole lot of fun. Bat abeyance or exclusion as they call it now. They're on it. Used to have, as mentioned before, wonderful dog, and even some cats and canaries, but no more. Too much traveling going on to be fair to the animal world.
Writing retreat. You can go anywhere in the world for 2 weeks, where do you go? One instrument, one suitcase - what do you bring?
Writing retreat. I go to the Sierras. Haul my guitar, and my backpack or, now, my Chinook camper with lots of stuff in suitcase places, is going to be very very good. I sometimes take my old boat out on Lake Sonoma and do camp-in boating and stay for days. Written a lot there. I take my Martin or a small Martin with me. And enough beer, wine, tequila or whatever to sustain me in my creative reveries.
I'm writing a book on creativity, having researched the topic for three years....I'm a licensed MFT and a former high school teacher, so the creativity thing, esp. because I started so late writing songs, really intriques me and I hope I can be some help to people who struggle with wanting to fulfill their dreams in any variations on being creative. Oh. And I was struck by lightning and I think that's done something very odd to my brain,
and sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't.
Plan B, or no Plan B?
Plan B is where I am now. Now other plan B. Except hang out in Nashville more, and expand my touring to nationwide, driving my house on wheels. At 67, there are some good and even great years ahead. Every day above ground is great. And I have so much enthusiasm...songwriting has been the biggest blessing of my life. As much as I love performing and writing music, and as close as I've been to actually getting something cut, I don't count on it making me a pile of money...don't think I'd like having the pressure of finances to pay the rent. I'm lucky that way, but I've also earned it. And I am so grateful for the people I've met on the musical trail...wouldn't trade it for anything. The gift of giving a song is all she wrote.
