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A Conversation with Thad Cockrell
Puremusic: How's your day going? Where do we find you?
Thad Cockrell: We're about ten miles outside of Milwaukee.
PM: All right. And you guys have a Begonias show tonight?
TC: We do.
PM: I think that Begonias is a beautiful record.
TC: Thank you so much, Frank.
PM: I'm a fan of both of the artists involved. But I think you know the combination has really been fruitful, and that it's an unbelievable blend you guys have.
TC: Well, thanks. It's been fun. I wish we could have sung in the studio after we'd been out there singing night after night for two months.
PM: Right. Because now you must be really killing it.
TC: It's really amazing. I sit there and I hear it sometimes, and I'm not one to pat myself on the back, but it sounds beautiful.
PM: Yeah. And the voice, you know, it's such a God-given thing. So it's really no more patting yourself on the back than it is just being grateful.
TC: I fully believe that.
PM: Caitlin says that you guys are set up in duet fashion and face each other, and sing into each other's eyes. That whole setup is so great.
TC: We have Christmas lights on the vocal microphone stands. Yeah, we basically look at each other for the whole show. It's really cool. There are definitely people who think that things are going on after the show.
PM: I think my friend Brad Jones was a very interesting choice for producer on this record.
TC: Uh-huh.
PM: He's one of our favorite producers, and I was stoked to hear that you guys picked him. That decision produced a lot of tasty musical moments, I thought.
TC: Yeah, it was very interesting. Caitlin didn't know much about Brad, I kind of spirited that whole thing. From his other recordings I could just tell that he really understood music and how to capture something. And also what I really feel is great about his production is that it sounds forward leaning, and not too reverential. You can always tell that everybody that's worked on one of his records understands the history of music, and where things came from.
PM: I think you've put it interestingly there. It doesn't sound over-referential or reverential.
TC: Right.
PM: Because, as traditional as the tunes are, there are a lot of out-there moments on some of the tracks.
TC: Very much so, yeah.
PM: Both in arrangement and sonically speaking. And it really worked, in my opinion.
TC: Caitlin and I both feel that music shouldn't be too reverent, because then it can become kind of schticky, you know? And I just couldn't imagine doing that to something that I love so much, which is music.
PM: Right. Every co-writing relationship is so unique. What's the dynamic of the friendship and the co-writing aspect in particular, between you and Caitlin, if you could voice that?
TC: Well, it's really fantastic. Caitlin really tries to serve the song as best as possible. And hopefully, I try to do the same. And when you do that, songs tend to not fall into a formula as easily.
She's fantastic, and she has such a beautifully literary mind. When she shows up with the idea, it's usually fantastic. And her knack for melody is really stunning. Some of these songs I wrote mostly by myself, and then Caitlin would come in. And then some of these songs, we would literally start from one or two line ideas.
PM: Right.
TC: Bottom line, it's so easy to write with her.
PM: And I think that's, to some degree, what they mean when they talk about chemistry of certain songwriting partners: that you get with certain people and it's just easier, somehow.
TC: Exactly. There's definitely chemistry. And she's the first one that I'd ever co-written with. Since then I've written with others--with some people, it's turned out well. But with some, when you try to write, you just know there's no chemistry. I tried to write with a friend of mine a couple weeks ago. We were coming from different places about it. Within five minutes, I knew nothing of any consequence was going to come of it. So...
PM: Yeah. And it's perplexing, but you just have to cop to it. It clicks with some people, and with others, not. And you just have to find those people and then settle in and work with them. But yeah, it's always traumatic, to some degree, when you get with somebody--especially if they're a buddy of yours--and find that it's not happening.
TC: Yeah. continue
