Caitlin Rose interview

I had the chance to sit down and chat with the wonderful Nashville singer-songwriter Miss Caitlin Rose before her show at Cargo the other night for Hive Magazine, where we discussed Linda Ronstadt, George Jones, country music and her new album Own Side Now. You can also read the results below: 

How’s the tour been going, you seem to have played a lot of shows in the UK so far. 

Yeah, it’s been going really well. I’m enjoying it. 

 

People have been calling your new record country but it seems more diverse than that. 

I don’t think the record is all that country. It’s got pedal steel on it but I wouldn’t call it country. But I don’t care what anybody else calls it. I don’t want to box myself into anything because I’ll be writing that for the rest of my life and I don’t want to do that. I’d rather change as much as I can and create something new. The whole point for me, is good songwriting. That’s all I care about. 

But I imagine your music would probably open people up to the idea of country music. 

Yeah, which I think is fantastic. I think everyone should listen to country music, at least try and see if they can enjoy it for what it is. And if they can’t then they’ll stick to indie. I like simplicity, that’s the main thing in country for me. I started out just playing songs really fast on the acoustic guitar. Once I started slowing down... I think that’s the whole point of country music when I started listening to it, what I loved about it is that the songs took their time. And coming from a live stand point, when I would get up on stage I was very nervous so I would play these songs as fast as I could. And then when I started listening to country music I decided I could try and slow them down, which was a good realisation. 

What was the country song or artist that converted you? 

I Think I’ll Just Stay And Drink by Merle Haggard is one of the first country songs I ever fell in love with. And I went out and bought my first country album, a Merle Haggard greatest hits and then George Jones came swiftly after. Because I love songs about drinking, I like miserable, miserable songs. 

George Jones is my absolute favourite. 

Yes! He’s got a strange voice. You know they call him the Possum? He goes into my friend Danielle's restaurant quite a bit and there’s always an interesting tale about him or two. One time he walked in and I don’t know if he was drunk, I’m assuming so, but he walked into the restaurant, he walked up to the counter where Danielle worked and she goes, "May I help you with anything Mr Jones?" and he goes [in loud voice] “WANTED!” and then walked out of the restaurant. And then one time apparently he drove off and left his family in the restaurant. He was like, “Nice to see y’all” and then walked out of the restaurant and drove away and they were kinda just sitting there wondering if he was going to come back. Possums are good at disappearing. But he's a tough old geezer. 

You can hear the country influence on the record but it also sounds like you've listened to your share of indie and punk rock too... 

I listen to a lot of country so obviously it’s going to sound like that, but that’s pretty dead on, country music and The Replacements and probably some Linda Ronstadt too. 

Linda Ronstadt isn’t someone you hear people talking about as much these days but her 70s records were great. 

I know, it’s kind of bullshit. I love her. She’s more than an influence she’s a hero of mine. Not many people know how much she did for music. I’m not going to say she made them famous, but she did a lot for the careers of Neil Young, J.D. Souther and James Taylor, not only by singing on their records but by cutting their songs and getting them to a whole different audience than they had. She’s a very interesting person. When she was younger she would end up in these producer sort of situations and make these sort of strange alt-country, groovy hippy records. They’re quite campy at times but also they show what she was capable of from a very early age, like when she was like 19 or 20 kicking ass and singing shit that nobody else could. I think they’re cool records. She was never much of a writer but she probably picked those songs, which I think is the best thing about her that she would pick the best songs to cut. That’s why I put covers on my record. I don’t think that I have to write every song, I think that if I like a song and it fits then it should be used. 

Speaking of covers there’s a great version of a Fleetwood Mac song [That’s Alright] on the record. How did that come about? 

We started playing that song live and it didn’t make sense to not have it on there. I think that’s one of the best songs I ever heard. I don’t think I can be friends with people who aren’t Stevie Nicks fans. I didn’t get into Fleetwood Mac until two years ago so it’s quite a new thing but I fell pretty hard. My favourite thing to listen to right now is a 1977 bootleg in Nashville and it’s really cool because it’s the Rumours tour, the big one. I got to see them last summer. It’s a good show, it’s quite... it’s nothing crazy. The best part is when Mick comes out bathed in golden light and does this five minute drum solo, which is fucking awesome. I went with my mom and it’s funny because she has trouble anticipating fun so even though she knows she is going to something fun she’s miserable and stressed out, “Oh I have to go do something, oh it’s going to be horrible, I’m so stressed out right now.” And she actually had a really good time at that show. 

Both your parents are in the music business [Caitlin’s mum is a successful songwriter in Nashville]. Did you feel a pressure to follow them into it? 

No, my parents didn’t know I was playing shows until I was about 19 or 20. I mean they knew I was going to clubs and stuff and hanging out but even I didn’t know that I was taking it that seriously. I’m still not taking that seriously. [Laughs] But they didn’t know that is was like a thing, wherever I disappeared to on Saturday nights until maybe two years ago it wasn’t really a thing and now it’s all we talk about together. 

You must have grown up with a lot of music in your house though... 

I’ve always listened to music. I listen to so much music that I don’t make enough of my own. Well, it means I have a lot of influences I guess, which is fun, but it’s true that instead of writing a song I’ll opt out and listen to one. But I love listening to music more than anything in the whole world. If I had to go blind or deaf I’d rather go blind. 

Where does the inspiration for your songs come from? They all sound like little stories. 

Usually it’s my life but I used to write a lot more about other people. Like Shotgun Wedding is someone else, For The Rabbits is about other people. I write mostly about me now, it’s sort of egotistical and stupid but it’s also easiest to write about yourself I think. I’m not much of a story writer, I’m more of a story interpreter. And if the story changes, that’s okay too, I just don’t want them to find out. 

Did you have an idea of what you wanted the album to sound like? 

No, I just knew I wanted to make a full band record and I wanted to make it fast and I wanted to make it right and I think it turned out right. I think it has a definite sound. We tracked everything live and then did overdubs and stuff but we didn’t do too much of it. A lot of the songs sound nothing like they do live and I think that’s really cool. 

That’s an unusual approach these days just to play and capture it live... 

I think that was the main point, to try and get a record out and make it a moment instead of a labour. It shouldn’t be a labour. You should labour over it, you should work really hard, but it shouldn’t be something that you look back on and think, god that took fucking forever. It’s miserable to think that, it’s not fun. 

You’ve been playing solo on this tour with Deer Tick but I know you’ve also toured with a band. Do you have a preference? 

I prefer playing with a band, a full band with drums. I mean, I like to do both but I got really comfortable doing the full band thing because I did the solo thing for so long. The songs are just different with a band. I’m usually drunker onstage when I have a band, which is probably a bad thing. [Laughs] But you have more to fall back on when it’s not only you and when people are talking you aren’t as concerned about it. I love rowdy shows and I love touring with Deer Tick but every night after playing I have to go and hide for a while because it takes a lot out of me now to play by myself. Just trying to fight the idea that someone is listening so intently to just me, it feels really strange. But it’s fine, I’ve just got to get used to it again. For my shows coming up I’ll have a full band and that will be a lot of fun. I like bands that play... like sometimes Deer Tick will do songs completely different, like they’ll do a punk rock version of a song off of the record, I like stuff like that. I like a show where you don’t know what to expect.