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A Conversation with Garrison Starr (continued)
PM: What kind of a girl were you growing up, and how are you different now?
GS: I think that the main way that I'm different now is just that I'm more open than I used to be.
PM: Ah.
GS: I mean, I think when I was a kid I was the way I am now. But then as I started learning about the world, I think, and growing up in the south in a very controlled like conservative Christian environment, I think it really sucked a lot of the life and passion out of me, in a way. It made me close up a lot. It made me go inward a lot. I didn't talk about my feelings as much. I wrote songs instead.
PM: Yeah.
GS: I didn't talk about my passions as much, and I didn't expose my feelings as much because I knew they weren't going to be accepted. And that was hard for me as a kid, because I was an only child, and I needed to be accepted. I didn't feel like I was safe enough to not be accepted. So I went inward, and I wrote songs. And then as I grew up, after I got out of those adolescent awkward years, and some experiences that I had in my early twenties and stuff, I moved to L.A., and I spread my wings a lot, and I started learning about myself and growing into an adult. And I think I've really developed into more of an open, expressive person. I don't really care what people think about me like I did when I was younger.
And that was the focus of my life and my family's life because of where they came from, too. I mean, everybody is so concerned with what people think. I think people are just mainly scared of themselves. You know?
PM: Yeah, or just really scared. Are you a spiritual person?
GS: Yeah, absolutely.
PM: In any certain way, or--
GS: I mean, I grew up Christian, and I would probably still consider myself to be a Christian, although I struggle with a lot of aspects of Christianity.
PM: Yeah.
GS: I struggle with the black and white mentality of Christianity and just the scary, egomaniacal, judgmental, self-righteous side of religion, and Christianity, specifically. I struggle with that. So I do have a strong faith, and I do have a strong spiritual life, but it's still something that I'm figuring out. And it probably will be until I'm no longer living. But I feel really good about my relationship with God today. And I feel strong in that. And I don't feel like I have to have that figured out like I did when I was younger.
PM: I don't really think there's any figuring it out. I mean, you just keep trying. But you never get to the end of figuring it out.
GS: Right, right. Yeah.
PM: It's a scary question for any of us, but what do you see up ahead? Where do you think this thing is going?
GS: Man, I think that it's going to be something incredible. I really do. I think I'm building an incredible story here. But I don't know what's going to happen next. I mean, I do know that I'm starting to feel inspired again. I feel like I'm in a good place in my business life. This past year I'm really focusing my energies on getting my career to a stable place and coming to be the president of my corporation. I've been blessed to hook up with, like I said, a good team around me, with my manager and my booking agent. But I think that's leading to good places, more self-sufficient places.
And I think that I'm going to be making a bigger name for myself this year by headlining a lot of shows. Instead of always being a great support act, I think I'm going to be my own person now, and that's good. I'm excited for my next project. I really want Neilson and I to go in the studio and just make a record together. I want us to be able to go in and make a record together and just play everything, and just go hole up and co-write songs and do the arrangements ourselves. I really want to do that. That's something that I've never been able to do with him, just me and him.
PM: Wow. It's an amazing partnership you guys have.
GS: Yeah. He's unbelievable. He's one of the most amazing people I've ever met. He's my best friend in the whole world. He's probably the person that I trust most, more than anybody. I mean, Neilson always knows that I can trust him with anything, anytime, anywhere. And he knows me so well, and he believes in me so much. I mean, it's magic when we sing together and make music together. When we were making music together in college, it was the most beautiful music I'd ever heard. And it's still what I love about music, I think about playing music with Neilson, and that always makes me excited. It gives me butterflies in my stomach whenever I think about it.
That's what music is to me, butterflies, and passion. And that's the way I feel when I play music with him. And so I feel like that's what I want to do next. I really want it to just be about me and him, and I don't care like... I don't care. I don't care about Vanguard, I don't care about any label, I don't give a shit about anybody. I just want to go in and do something that makes me happy. Like Songs From Take-off To Landing.
Songs From Take-off To Landing, that's the way we did that record. I didn't have any money. I just had Chris Fuhrman, who believed in me, and who was like, "Hey, we can do it on this new system called Protools." That's the way that record got made. And that's everybody's favorite record, across the board. Fans always love that record. And that's because it's real. Because don't buy into this bullshit, this formula business about the record business. Nobody cares about it. Nobody buys into that stuff. Nobody does. If you don't make a record that's true to you, people aren't into it.
And that's the way it is, because people can sniff that bullshit out a mile away. And I just think there's something cool and there's something very significant about the way that record was made, and about the way people connected with that record. And that's what I want to do on this next project, and I want to do it with Neilson.
PM: Wow.
GS: Because I think it'll be beautiful, first of all, and it'll be the story that I want to tell. I mean, he's one of my oldest friends. He's the person that I've been making music with the longest in my life. It'd just be so awesome to me and him to have that freedom.
PM: That's amazing. Well, when you get back to town, I want to have coffee with you and Neilson.
GS: Oh, Frank, let's do that. I've got two weeks in July that I'm totally off, from like July 3rd through like the 14th or something. So let's definitely hook that up. You've made my day. Thank you so much for taking the time do this.
PM: And you mine. It's my pleasure. And I look forward to seeing you very soon.
