A Conversation with Rebecca Martin (continued)

PM: Is this record going to be worked as a jazz release, or a singer/songwriter release, or both?

RM: No. The sad thing, at the moment, is that because of all of these categories, people are having a really hard time with what it is.

PM: I mean, will WFUV get on it, for instance?

RM: I don't know. What's been happening is, the radio promoters have all been a little bit shy of the record. They feel it's too jazzy to be Triple A.

PM: "It's not! Get over it." There's a bizarre fear of jazz in the singer songwriter world. "It’s just a few pretty chords, people. It’s no big thing."

RM: But also the jazz community is very threatened by somebody coming in who's not doing things in the way that they're used to hearing it.

PM: Absolutely.

RM: I have tried to just be open and say, "Okay. I'm looking for the people who are interested in hearing this, and are interested in more of what I'm going to do in the future with records." And I can't really say any more than that, because I don't know what's going to happen. I feel like it's very unknown. Like I said, the radio promoters at Triple A don't see this as a Triple A record.

So I'm sending it out myself, because I have people that I've gotten to know over the years, and we're going to do it ourselves and get it to radio. We're going to have to wait and see. There have been some really remarkable people who've come forward--people who are writers, who are doing stories like you are. And I think that stuff is all really, really important, and could change those other people's minds, the ones who are looking for a certain thing to get over on radio, instead of saying, "This is good. I believe in this. I'm going to work it." I think that this record is a little harder. It requires more patience.

I don't know if this is true or not, but I think sometimes that when you've been in the business and you have a story, it seems like it would be an important thing. You want music by somebody who has survived and who keeps coming and getting to a deeper place. But sometimes what these programmers or promoters are looking for is something that they can create from scratch, that they can maybe champion and be the hero of. Because some of the records that I watch people pick up, the singer might be a very talented singer, and there might be some gems on the record, but it's not ready.

PM: Right.

RM: But it's a 22-year-old male or female with a fresh clean slate.

PM: Right. And I get that, but it’s not where I’m coming from.

RM: Yeah. In the end, considering the long haul, the stuff that is coming my way at this point, some of it is challenging, because of course everybody is just trying to make a living, and that can be hard, but the things that come to me are just outstanding. Each year that I'm in this I meet a whole bunch of people who, had I not hung in there, I wouldn't have met. And I keep reminding myself about that. I mean, even going to England this year, to have a week with Bill, now, that's not an easy thing to pull together, to travel to England to write for a week.

PM: Oh, my God! How have I not asked you about that? That was on my list of questions. Before we get off we've got to talk about this week at Chris Difford's place. [Chris Difford and Glen Tillbrook were the nucleus of the legendary pop group Squeeze. Difford sponsors a writing retreat at a castle in England annually.]

RM: Well, Once Blue opened for Squeeze back in '96, and Chris and I became friends right away. And he invited me to Huntsham, which was the castle that it was held in '97, and I went. And at that point, I hadn't even--I only started playing the guitar in 1998.

PM: Wow...

RM: I know. I know.

[laughter]

RM: At that point I hadn't even picked up the guitar, so it was a different experience for me then. I wasn't able to contribute as much, but I had a great time. Also, because the partnership that I had with Jesse made it really hard for me to write with anybody else, and we were so entwined, it was just really a challenge. But I met great people. And then Chris, every year, was saying, "Come to Huntsham," and I just didn't go back.

Finally, seven years later, I'm like, "I'm going to go again." And then I get this email out of the blue and it's Bill DeMain, and he's saying, "Is this Rebecca Martin, the singer/songwriter, because I'm going to England, too, and I'm so psyched if this is who I think it is and we get to hang out." And I wrote back to him and said, "Yes, it's me, and I can't wait to see you." Because I had met him briefly when Richard [Julian] was recording with Brad [Jones] in Nashville.

PM: Oh, wow! You were in Nashville when he was recording with Brad.

RM: For a little bit, for a little bit. I was there for maybe three or four days. And I met Bill very briefly, as I recall. But, of course, the Sterling Huck Letters were there, and I've known all about that forever. Anyhow, we had mutual connections with Brad and Richard. So I get to the castle--actually it wasn't a castle. What did they call it? Oh, I don't remember. It wasn't qualified as a castle. But it was beautiful--and haunted, we think, in especially Bill's room.

[laughter]

RM: So I walked into the kitchen, and Bill and I instantly just registered one another, because we hadn't seen each other for a really long time. And yeah, it was like love at first sight--I mean, if we could have we would have closed the door and just written together for the whole week.

PM: [laughs]

RM: But there were 26 writers. Some of them are there to work and most of them are there to party.

PM: Really?

RM: Oh, yeah. This group--yeah.

PM: How many people did you end up actually writing with?

RM: Maybe a dozen.

PM: Oh, really?

RM: Yeah. You don't get to work with everybody, which is too bad.

PM: A dozen in a week's time? That's so intense.

RM: That's the thing.

PM: That scares the shit out of me, writing with a dozen people in a week!

RM: Every day you're matched up with two new ones.

PM: Wow. And you've just got to hang loose and do it.

RM: Every day. And you never know who it is. And some people's work ethics are different than others. There's ego, there's all sorts of things. It's like a little psychological experiment. And it's also, with that many songwriters in a house, it's a hot house, let me tell you. Lots and lots of things being fired around. But it was a huge challenge. continue

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