A CONVERSATION WITH LOUISE TAYLOR (continued)

LT: To me, the whole history of music and how it's gotten around the world is fascinating. And I see a lot of pockets of Irish music around the world.

PM: Oh, yeah. At times I've heard English or Irish music, and I've heard Indian music, and Persian music that, in a certain way, all sounds like it came from the same place.

LT: Yes. It really fascinates me. [laughs]

PM: As Coltrane said, "There are only twelve notes."

LT: And there's a few in between there. [laughs]

PM: Yeah, right, well, if you're playing Indian music, there's a couple in between.

LT: Yeah, yeah. And that's actually what I was going for on Velvet Town. I was trying to play some notes that were--starting to hear some things that are a little out there, as far as not really on a typical scale, and trying to mess with tone.

PM: Ah. And I wonder if one of your incarnations to come has something more to do with microtonal music, with Indian styled music.

LT: [laughs]

PM: There was quite a leap between Ride and Written in Red, more bluesy and more Celtic at the same time. There's an even bigger leap between Written in Red and Velvet Town. How would you describe that leap?

LT: Well, the main difference was to thin back the lyrics a lot. I really wanted to strip back the lyrics and make the songs have more openness in them, have more space in them, and have more room for music to happen, not just lyrics. And in doing that, it gave me more time to sing the notes, and play with the depth of the note and the tone of the note, which also got me into messing around with pitch. And then also writing larger melodies, writing melodies that had more depth to them, I felt, than some of my storytelling songs.

PM: Right.

LT: So that's the biggest change, and that's what I was going for. I wanted something much more musical.

PM: And I think it's vastly more musical in every way. Greg Brown once said to me that he thought there was an overemphasis on words, and that people ought to be more interested in laying down a good groove.

LT: Yeah. I think all the elements are important. And I've always approached each element separately. So I'll work on my voice for a while, and then I'll work on my guitar playing for a while, and then I'll work on songwriting. After my first record, I was really interested in lyrics, and getting better at writing better lyrics. I focused on that a lot, more than anything else, and kind of ignored my voice--not completely, but that became my main focus. Whereas when I was starting out, I was more interested in just singing. And I think I've come back around to the singing aspect, and sort of bringing all the elements to the fore. All the pieces are really important, and it's important to pay attention to each one. And I pick at it slowly.

PM: I think you really are singing your ass off on this last record.

LT: Thanks.

PM: Who are your recent influences in that vocal regard?

LT: I listened a lot to women from around the globe in the last couple years. I listened to an African jazz singer, Gloria Bosman. I was given a tape of hers by a woman who knew my music for many years. She worked with the International Institute for Learning that's in my town and she had been to Africa several times, and she said, "Oh, there's this woman who reminds me of you. You would love her." And she brought me a tape just before I went on tour. And I stuck it in, and I wanted to listen to that tape the whole time on tour. That's how I became familiar with Gloria Bosman's work. I don't even have her CD jacket. I don't even know how to get her stuff. [laughs] That's my excuse for that.

PM: We should surely track her down and turn our readership on to her music. [www.sheer.co.za]

LT: Yes. The record that I listened to was called Tranquility. And I loved it, it is just a beautiful record. Some of the rhythms that I picked up or got ideas for came from listening to that CD. Also different types of guitar playing that come out on Velvet Town, like on "Call My Name."

PM: Oh, yeah. Now, how was that beautiful African sound that you're making on "Call My Name" produced?

LT: That's a piece of paper. In the strings, woven between the strings.

PM: Ah, yes. And you're picking with picks or no picks?

LT: No picks. I dropped all picks for this record, too. That was the other thing that was really different from in the past. I've always played with at least a thumb pick or a flat pick. And I was trying to improve my guitar style. It was actually something Ray Bonneville suggested, that I try not using any picks.

PM: Oh, Ray uses no picks.

LT: No picks.

PM: Never did?

LT: I don't know if he ever did, but he sure hasn't in years. And now, in fact, he just uses two fingers.

PM: Yeah, he really gets around on two fingers.

LT: He sure does.

[laughter]

LT: A thumb and a finger. [see our review of Ray's recent release] So, yeah, he suggested I work on that, and so I did. And I wrote a lot of these songs without picks. And I improved my guitar playing a lot, and really changed the way I approached the guitar, too.

PM: I've gotten into playing with no picks recently, and I really love it. And that's the way I used to play. But it's a problem if you play an awful lot, then you really wear your fingers out. I get blisters, and I get really sore.

LT: Yeah, you have to build up calluses.

PM: I do, but then they break and--

LT: Yeah. It's a problem. [laughs]

PM: Yeah, it's really a job liability.  continue

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