Interview with Pieta Brown

Pieta Brown, as you may know, is the daughter of singer-songwriter Greg Brown. She inherited not only his gravitational pull toward music, but also his odd knack for stringing together disparate scenes into one cohesive, heart-stirring narrative. But, as is true with so many children-of-artists, don't sell her short by tugging her too far under her father's shadow. Brown is pulling from her own complicated history, singing songs that are - truly and honestly - her own.

On her latest recording, an EP titled Shimmer (Red House Records, produced by Don Was), she shares seven songs of almost uncomfortable intimacy. It's a quiet record - so quiet you can almost hear the walls breathe in the studio behind her. Though Bo Ramsey's electric guitar makes some artful appearances, and Don Was lends a little upright bass, Shimmer is a lovely, raw, startlingly earnest album focused wholly on the stories Brown tells. It's a teaser for a full-length she'll be releasing in May and, as it turns out, it was all a happy accident. Following is my phone interview with Brown about this record and the next one, and recording in general, for that matter. Enjoy:

Tell me about Shimmer…I know the title comes from some of the lyrics. What was it about that lyric that made you want to name the record for it?

The thing about Shimmer was that I didn’t really make a record. I feel like it just happened. I went in on an afternoon in California and met up with Don Was, who produced the record. We intended to get together and record some songs, see what it was like to work together. Also to get a sense of what songs we might use if we made a record. It was good for me because there was no premeditation. I didn’t really have any ideas about making a record from those afternoons. There was something…one of those moments of magic when some of the songs really landed. When we looked back later, we thought maybe this is already the record we’d do together. Then we tried to figure out what the next move would be as far as releasing the record, which is a whole other thing. We spoke to Red House…and we just went for it. It kind of happened, kind of fast…

As far as the lyric “shimmer” goes...we were trying to hone in on a title for that group of songs and I noticed “shimmer” was in a couple of songs. And I’m an artist, I’m into light. That’s why it made sense to me.

Are you planning a full-length record with Don?

I am planning a full-length, but it’s not with Don. I actually recorded it in early October. I’m in the process of getting that record together. I’m really excited about that. That’ll be released in the spring [May 4, 2010].

Did any of these songs get on there, or is it a completely new collection?

One song got on there. We tried to record a few of them, but they didn’t want to be re-recorded, I guess. I read something the other night – I was reading an interview with Tom Waits that said something about recording songs being like trying to trap birds. So those birds didn’t want to get caught, I guess. But I think one song [from Shimmer] will get included.

How do you choose songs for a full-length? Do you just record everything you have then edit away what doesn’t fit, or do you go into the studio with a clear idea of the songs you want included?

I usually have some idea of what songs I think will make it on there. For me and my little-budget style of recording, I have to come ready to make a record when I only have a couple days to do it. I always have way too many songs to start with and then, through playing them with the other players, I can feel whether it’s going to happen or not. I think having such a limited time in the studio and the limited budget, it’s freeing because I can’t get too particular about things. I have to just go in and hope it gets at least somewhat close to the plan I have in my mind.

Maybe it’s different every time, but…once you’re recording, you gravitate toward what you’re more comfortable with. You start playing a song and if it’s not happening, you usually throw that one out and move on.

Do you think there are songs that will never work on record – they’re just meant to be in a room?

I definitely do. I think that’s why it was so refreshing to read that little interview – it was about recording, and it was so well-stated. Some songs weren’t meant to be recorded. There are some songs I’ve played in my live show that don’t work out recorded. I think some of them just aren’t meant for that world. I’ve recorded songs I’ve only played live once or twice and that was it. I didn’t want to go there. So much of the live thing depends on who you’re playing with and what kind of sounds they bring to it.

I always wonder, when artists start recording and focusing a certain amount of energy on making records they can support on tour, does it change your live show at all?

It definitely does for me, because I think you get to know the song in a different way. There’s a song on this record that will come out in the spring [like that]. I haven’t made a ton of records, but I’ve made several recordings and, so far, I’ve had to keep the songs away from the live shows before I record them. I don’t know where that idea came from [laughs]. I want to keep that fresh thing in the studio and have the energy left for the songs when I go out to tour behind the record.

But, on the record that’s coming out this spring, there are a few songs I’ve been playing in my live show for over a year. I knew those songs so well already that I didn’t have to get to know them through the scrutiny of a looking glass, with the big headphones over my head. I already knew them.

I’m really excited about this [record] – I worked with two drummers. It was all very live, so that was cool. I wish I had either the money or smarts to figure out how to take that show on the road behind the record. Maybe I’ll figure it out by May 4th. It was really fun to have two drummers there.

Did they play at the same time?

Yeah, they played at the same time. They’d never met before but, within twenty minutes of meeting, they said they felt like they were brothers. They played like that too. You can’t really distinguish the line there.

I noticed in your bio it said you started writing songs on piano. How is writing on guitar different for you? When did you switch, or do you still write on piano a lot?

When I started making music on piano, a lot of that was with no words. I spent a lot of time alone as a kid. I lived in Alabama with my mom, who worked 80-100 hours a week. We had a little apartment with a piano, so I spent a lot of time just playing the piano when I was really young. That was always a really solitary, open thing. There were often no words, but I was also writing in my notebook at a really young age. I’d get up in the morning and write in my notebook before I went to school. Somehow, when I picked up the guitar a little later on, it all came together, which makes sense. I think that the guitar is the singer-songwriter instrument for a reason. You can carry it around in a little case and sing over it. It’s a lot more practical [than piano].

Was that when you started including the words? They came with guitar?

Yeah I think that’s when it all started to come together. It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t sit down with the guitar and think, Now I can write songs with words. Once I started playing guitar, it just happened. I can’t put my finger on why or how. It just happened very naturally. It was very fun and comfortable. It was fun for me, too, because I really did not know how to play guitar when I picked it up and started writing songs on it. There was a basic element to it, which was good. My head didn’t get in the way early on. It was just really open.

How much of your songwriting is storytelling, and how much is autobiography?

I think a lot of those lines are really blurred for me. I tend to write first and then realize it’s somebody else’s story. A lot of times, I catch the blurbs written about my songs, it’s often that they’re personal and emotional. I feel like that’s probably just the way I relate to the world. Anybody’s story could be mine, really. That’s how I get other people’s stories…a lot of these songs are other people’s stories, even the love songs and the happy ones.

Growing up, I was a broken home kid. There was a lot of deceit and all those kinds of things running through. I feel like [songwriting now] is some blurry mix of both things: somebody else’s story and my own.

How much of the places you’ve lived has seeped into your songwriting? Do you think that where you are has anything to do with style and inspiration?

I don’t think there’s any way to avoid that. The early years, when I spent so much time alone, is something I feel no matter where I am. That’s something I take with me wherever I am, because I’ve had it for longer. I was just remembering the other day – the other thing that happened a lot when I was a kid, I’d go stay on other people’s couches, or we’d be staying at somebody else’s house, or I’d be staying at my 3rd grade teacher’s house because my mom was working all the time. We lived in Alabama and didn’t know a lot of people. I’d be in the car, waiting for my mom and listening to the radio stations down there…music always had this really connecting quality for me. There was a lonely quality about it. Or, it was something I did alone – that’s a better way to say it. I’d listen to it and play it alone. It’s what made me feel connected and comforted.

I think land and music are almost one and the same. You’re born, and you’re part land and part beat. There’s no way to separate those things. Generally speaking, anyway, music from Latin America sounds like music from Latin America, music from Africa sounds like music from Africa. Music from the United States, as layered as it is here, I think there’s still something you can hear in there - that Americana thing.

Are you touring this winter?

I’ve been touring behind Shimmer, doing a lot of Midwest dates. I’ll be out on the road in the bigness of the country next year. I’d encourage people to go out and see the live shows and support live music. I think it’s as important, if not more important than ever now, with the computers and everything.

Is Bo [Ramsey] going out with you, or are you playing solo shows?

It’s a mix. I do a mix of things. Bo is on all the dates through the end of the year. I have a bass player that plays with me, and then I do some band shows. I try to mix it up. I’m not sure how it’ll all work out in the spring, but I know Bo will be on a lot of those shows.

Pieta Brown's tour dates are available on her website. Here's a link to purchase Shimmer from Amazon.