A Conversation with the Be Good Tanyas (continued)
PM: That was a wonderful show that you guys played in Nashville recently.
FF: Oh, yeah, thank you.
PM: I had an awful good time. And I think Nashville is a very tough town, being a music town, but I thought everybody was very receptive and liked it a whole lot. What you're doing is certainly very original and very un-Nashville.
FF: Uh-huh. Yeah, we enjoyed that too--and I mean, especially the fact that Emmylou Harris was there and--
PM: That was amazing, right? Is she a new friend, or have you known her before?
FF: Well, no. Last time we were in Nashville we met Buddy Miller, and he said that she and Gillian Welch had planned to come down to the show, but that they were too tired and didn't come, and we were just freaking out at the idea of it. [laughs]
PM: Isn't Buddy a great guy?
FF: Yeah, he's really cool.
PM: Love him. [See our interview with Buddy & Julie in the archives.]
FF: Yeah. So then Emmylou did this interview for a press thing for us, talking about the band that day, and then she came down to the show with her ex-husband, Paul Kennerly. And it was interesting, because on the advance copy of Chinatown there's a hidden track that's me and my mom singing a song that Emmylou wrote with him. And they got to hear it. And it was just really, really cool, because I grew up listening to her and singing her songs with my mom.
PM: Your mom, was she a professional singer?
FF: When I was really small, she did some stuff in some clubs, but--she had four kids by the time she was twenty-four, and was busy just trying to survive, and didn't ever enter the music business or anything. But she always played around the house.
PM: So that was a big influence.
FF: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And we still sing together. Like we'll do shows together, and it's fun. We get a bunch of people together in the house and jam and play old songs and stuff.
PM: So you've gotten together in Nashville with Buddy and also with Emmylou. Have you gotten to meet Gillian and David yet?
FF: Yeah, we met them the same night! That night we went out for dinner, and then they came for dinner. And it was really cool.
PM: They're really nice, too.
FF: Yeah, they're really sweet. I liked how everything that night was just so no-attitude, and they were just like regular people. And it was all kind of amazing, and a really sweet thing.
PM: They're a particularly good bunch, as you guys are, so yeah, that must have been quite a fun dinner.
FF: Yeah, it was neat.
PM: We asked Trish most of our questions, but I wanted to ask you: if you could play an instrument that you don't play yet, what would it be?
FF: I think it would be the cello. Oh, and the drums. I'm learning to play the drums, actually.
PM: Really?
FF: Yeah, from Ike Eidness, our drummer.
PM: He's a good drummer. He's very tone-y.
FF: Oh, he's great.
PM: He had a nice feel.
FF: And he doesn't have a problem playing really quietly, which is important for us.
PM: Yeah. It's an art.
FF: Uh-huh.
PM: With all that you guys have done so far, any goals or heart's desires that you might be willing to share with us?
FF: Well, I think that I would just like to get back into a writing cycle and finish a bunch of stuff that I've kind of started and stopped because we've been touring so much. And I'm looking forward to re-exploring that more, and seeing what comes out of that.
PM: And it's a beautiful place, the writing place.
FF: Yes, and it takes discipline. It's like these dreams that you have, and you can't quite remember them, and you flesh them out a little bit, and they come together slowly. It's a very different reality than putting it out and performing. It's more internal, obviously.
PM: Don't you agree that as fun as performing is, the most fun in the whole bag, really, comes from writing a new song?
FF: I think, for me, it's definitely both. I mean, there are performances that are really, really special and amazing to me. In some ways I love that more. But then, also, I love the writing. And recording is also really fun. [laughs]
PM: Yeah?
FF: Yeah. The feeling when you get the final thing all in the can.
PM: Well, we're very excited to hear Chinatown, and we'll be reviewing it a couple of issues after the interview.
FF: Oh, cool.
PM: It was lovely meeting you recently in Nashville.
FF: Yeah, you too.
PM: And thanks so much for your time today. Say hi to Sam, and thank Trish for me, and Bernadette.
FF: Okay, and thank you. Bye.
PM: Take care.
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| print interview (PDF) | |
| listen to clips | |
| begoodtanyas.com | |
| nettwerkamerica.com | |
| photographers: | |
| Karl Greenow | |
| Kevin Atkins | |
| Eric Miller, BMI | |
