Editor’s Note – Sue Barrett is an Australian music writer who occasionally contributes feature articles to FolkBlog. This article appears by the author’s permission.
By Sue Barrett
So if you need something when times get hard
You can probably find it in my dad’s yard
And if you need hope
If you’re coming apart
You can surely find it in my dad’s heart(Catie Curtis — ‘Dad’s Yard’)
Catie Curtis was once a teenager, playing drums and basketball. Then she became a house painter and a social services agency worker. These days, she’s a professional musician, with a string of albums, a documentary on her life and songs dotted through television shows and films. And now the Massachusetts-based singer/songwriter has a new CD, Hello Stranger (as part of a string band side-project).
As a songwriter, what feeds/impedes your creativity?
My creativity is fed by time plus coffee plus a little nervous energy plus love of guitar plus good conversation and books. And my creativity is impeded by a lack of those things.
How has your career, and your life as a musician, been affected by technological developments, such as CDs, websites, email, cell phones?
I can reach more people through technology, but then at the same time, so can everyone else! So there’s a state of saturation that is different from the mid-90s, when I was launched by EMI/Guardian Records. As a frequent traveller, I feel a lot safer on the road with the cell phone and GPS — that’s been life-altering. It’s a lot easier for me to be in touch with fans now, which I love. I update my own website, and write newsletters. But the best part is putting all that down and returning to the process of writing songs, which is by nature a slow, solitary, pencil-paper-guitar process. And performing remains, as always, about being in the moment.
When interviewed ten years ago, you had a friend with a chronic illness who was really struggling and you said you couldn’t play Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Should I Fall Behind’ (which you were learning for a wedding) without crying. Have you continued to experience songs/circumstances where singing is really difficult?
Funny you should ask. My friend Mary Reeve, who lived with ALS for 12 years and who I spoke about in 1999, died recently. I played ‘Look at You Now’ at her funeral. I had to get into the right space to do that. There are times at shows I lose it because I’m thinking of how a certain song applies to someone who I know is in the audience.
You attended Brown University on a basketball scholarship and you’ve maintained an interest in women’s college basketball. Have you written any songs about basketball or about female athletes?
No and I haven’t written any songs about dogs (which I also love) either. What is WRONG with me??!!
How do you arrange your touring schedule/touring arrangements so as to maximise the positive things and minimise the negative things?
I take 6 AM flights home, I sleep on planes, I take short trips, many of them. I don’t take every gig I’m offered. But I also get a lot of quiet time driving in the car. I have to admit to loving that. And I try to kidnap friends and take them with me on the road whenever possible. I love playing music, still, after all these years!
When you’re on the road, do you continue to “call home, once a day, at least”?
I call home incessantly. It’s a problem. I try to wait until I have a lot to say but usually it’s like, “hi just checking in. again”.
Have you ever had the chance to observe the reaction of your children when they hear one of your songs on the radio or on television or in a film?
When Celia was four, my song ‘Sweet Life’ came on the radio, and I said, “Celia, I got a song on the radio!”. She said, “I got a big fork and a big spoon”! And when Lucy was six, she heard ‘100 Miles’ in a Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movie and yelled to me “Ma, your song is in this movie”, sort of like “you left your shoe in my room”.
Over the years, you’ve made references to reading books. What have you been reading recently?
I read Anne LaMott and Rumi poems. ‘Fools’, from my last CD, Sweet Life, was written after reading a Rumi poem about living with courage. Lately I’ve been reading some parenting book about playfulness. There’s a lot to learn on this parenting journey.
You used to work for a social services agency and your songs include observations on vulnerable and disadvantaged people. Can you tell us about your New York City guitar initiative?
I was given a guitar when I was 15 years old. I have been wanting to pay it forward ever since then. So I started Aspire to Inspire, to raise funds to give guitars to young musicians. We gave away the first 15 guitars to kids hand-picked through the Fresh Air Camps by teachers from the ASCAP Foundation. There’s an online endowment at http://www.HopeEquity.org/catiecurtis if anyone wants to help give guitars to aspiring musicians!
How did you come to start recording in Nashville?
I’d always wanted to record in Nashville. The opportunity presented itself with Sweet Life because my label, Compass Records, is based in Nashville and they have a really great vintage studio in their building. Garry West owns Compass with his wife Alison Brown. Nashville is the perfect place to make a recording that sounds warm and friendly.
Catie Curtis’ new CD, Hello Stranger, is available through iTunes and Compass Records and includes a duet with Mary Gauthier of A. P. Carter’s song ,‘Hello Stranger’, and a re-recording of Catie’s song, ‘Dad’s Yard’.
More info:
http://www.myspace.com/catiecurtis
Select Discography
- Dandelion
- From Years To Hours
- Truth From Lies
- Catie Curtis
- A Crash Course in Roses
- My Shirt Looks Good on You
- Acoustic Valentine
- Dreaming in Romance Languages
- Long Night Moon
- Sweet Life
- Hello Stranger
Documentary
Tangled Stories: A Year with Catie Curtis
Select List of TV Shows
- Grey’s Anatomy
- Dawson’s Creek
- Felicity
- Alias
- Desperate Housewives
- Chicago Hope
- North Shore
Select Filmography
- 500 Miles to Graceland
- A Slipping Down Life
- Three of Hearts: A Postmodern Family
- Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School
- Our Lips Are Sealed
SUE BARRETT is an Australian music writer, with a special interest in women in music. Sue first interviewed Catie Curtis in 1999 for Rhythms magazine (Australia’s roots music monthly).
© 2009
