A Conversation with Beth Nielsen Chapman (continued)

PM: When you tour over in the UK, would you do it with a small combo or solo?

BNC: I've done it all different ways. I mean, the last tour I did was pretty much sold out, and it was me and two or three other musicians, mostly two.

PM: English guys or--

BNC: Well, an Englishman named Maartin Allcock who's an amazing musician. He was in Fairport Convention for like twenty years or something. He was also the bass player and multi-instrumentalist for Ian Anderson, from Jethro Tull. Maartin and I had worked together quite a few years back, on my second album, which I recorded partly in Surrey, England. I worked with Paul Samwell-Smith, who is an amazing producer. He did all the early Cat Stevens stuff.

PM: Mmm.

BNC: Yeah, Paul Samwell-Smith had Maartin Allcock as well as Simon Nicol, who's also in Fairport--

PM: Right.

BNC: --had them come and play on my record. And that's how Maartin and I became friends. And then many years later, last year, I was emailing, and I found Maartin's email address, so I emailed him and said, "What are you doing?" We ended up reconnecting. He was so wonderful to work with.

And then I brought John Ragusa over. He plays flute for me. He plays all different instruments as well, but mostly flute and wind instruments. So between the two of them and me, we romped around Europe a few times. [laughs] It was great.

PM: And you're a very strong instrumentalist yourself, on several instruments.

BNC: Well, I play guitar and piano, and I little bit of dulcimer. And don't let me anywhere near a saxophone. It's very sad what I do to saxophone.

[laughter]

PM: How did the deal with Compass come together?

BNC: Well, I was actually working with a manager named Mark Tatori, and having a wonderful time with him. He had begun conversations with Garry West, who runs Compass Records with his wife Alison Brown. And they were very interested in putting the record out, and I guess, for quite a while, had been aware of my music. Then Mark was suddenly given an opportunity to run a larger management company, which was primarily country artists, which I'm not. So he had to go take advantage of that opportunity, and there I was looking for a manager. And he said, "You really ought to go over and talk to Garry West, because he seemed to really understand what you're about." So I went over there to talk to him. And we just hit it off.

PM: They're good people. Yeah, I like them.

BNC: Yeah. So Garry is actually managing me.

PM: Really.

BNC: And in the course of all of that, it just seemed like the natural thing to put the record out on Compass, which was originally what they were interested in doing anyway.

PM: Right.

BNC: So we've worked out a very great way to do it. It's a little complicated, but it's working fine. It's a rare situation where your manager is also your label. But a great deal of care has gone into the definition of things, so there's not really any problem at all.

PM: Considering some of the bad label experiences, it's kind of neat, in another way, to have your manager the head of your label.

BNC: If things are going well, of course, it's fabulous, and if things aren't going well, it's kind of hard to get your manager to go in there and yell at your label.

PM: Ah, yeah, right.

[laughter]

BNC: But what it comes down to is really just the type of people that you're working with, whether or not something like that will work.

PM: Right.

BNC: And this is so different than working with a huge corporate record company, which I don't miss at all, needless to say. Even though I worked with some great people in that corporation, I don't miss the corporate structure at all. I think my music is in a much more breathable place, and I'm very happy where I am now.

PM: And there's also something about being on a label where both of the principals are themselves fine musicians.

BNC: Yeah. It's great. Of course Garry still goes and plays bass, and works with Alison, and produces records. He just co-produced Paul Brady's new record.

PM: Right.

BNC: And so it's good. And a manager who understands all of those aspects--if you can just keep him from getting too busy, it's great. [laughs]  continue

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