Songwriters on Process

"I have my best thoughts in total comfort and complete boredom," Taja Cheek (known professionally as L'Rain) says. After all, who doesn't prefer a good couch or bed when they write? But when it comes to pure inspiration, Cheek likes to be "alone together": around people but deep in her own thoughts. That's why she loves the New York City subway and what she calls "intentional walking" on the city streets amidst all its distractions. But as you'll hear, nothing beats a good cab ride. 
L'Rain's latest album is fata morgana.

"I like to do things that make me feel integrated with the environment," says Margaret Glaspy. Broadly, Glaspy's process involves a general resistance to technology, which is why we had a great discussion about the benefits of cursive. It should also come as no surprise that Glaspy believes in pen and paper (and very specific kinds) for her lyrics. 
This resistance to technology is borne out the correct belief that it destroys our ability to focus, so Glaspy writes in fifteen minute increments punctuated by short breaks. Glaspy does this for as long as she stays inspired. And as you'll hear, sometimes there's nothing like walking the dog to maintain that inspiration.
Margaret Glaspy's latest album is I Am Both on ATO Records.
*ED NOTE: Listen to my 2021 interview with Glaspy and Sarah Jarosz here.

Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show is the first person I’ve interviewed to compare the songwriting process to feline copulation. But this unique metaphor actually reflects Secor’s deep introspection: only someone who reads all the time would even consider how these two events are related. And Secor reads. All. The. Time.
Old Crow Medicine Show’s latest album is Union Made.

"You need to be somewhere where you allow yourself to be totally stupid," say Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius. Not great life advice, but it's fantastic advice for the creative process. In other words, the initial stage of any creative process means getting out of your own way and releasing all inhibitions. It's about putting everything down on paper, no matter how stupid, and deciding later whether it belongs. 
Wolfe and Laessig's initial stage involves fantastic word games. One will open a book, close her eyes, then put their finger on a random word. They then write about that word for ten or so minutes in a freewriting exercise. In another game, bandmates try to discern what another band member is mumbling or humming. 
The new self-titled album by Lucius is out now.

Kyle Grim of Dogwood Tales was born in the wrong century. He really belonged among the Romantic poets, who saw the purity of nature as a source of renewal. I mentioned this to Grim after he told me that a large part of his process revolves around the wonderment of nature. He loves to walk, and in those moments he finds beauty in water, the shadows of trees, and even the ducks. Then again, Grim counts William Faulkner and Breece D'J Pancake among his favorite writers, so his actual influences are more modern. 
The first time I heard the Harrisonburg, Virginia band's song "McMemories," I was hooked. Their new album Every Star in Rockingham County on Born Losers Records is one of my favorite releases of the year.