People who make music out of pure passion, this is what I find truly inspiring.
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Willy Mason creates beautiful and meaningful music from the soul. As he sings there is no doubt that he has the ability to capture moments in time, he can hold on and release them with the strum of a guitar. After a 5 year hiatus, he recently released a new album, Carry On. GroundSounds recently caught up with Willy for an exclusive interview to talk about his new material and more, check it out below.
For those just discovering your music can you tell us a little bit about your background? What was it like growing up with folk singing parents? What was it like growing up in Martha’s Vineyard?
The vineyard is an island where resourcefulness is the highest accolade one can be associated with. This is a result of both the limitations of living on an island – the constant need to improvise solutions to everyday problems due to lack of resources, and also as a matter of pride – a way to differentiate the local culture from the leisure and convenience culture of tourism.
The other strong trait running through the island is music. For such a small place there is music everywhere. More than the bar scene can accommodate by far, so it spills over and accumulates in living rooms and community events. Because of this a high standard is placed on originality and honesty, since few musicians are getting paid to sell booze or making any money at all.
Having singers for parents is great. Aside from money anxieties life is good. I used to fall asleep to my mom working on songs. And they used to have great parties at which everyone was singing or playing or banging on something. These are happy memories.
You are currently on the road, what do you enjoy most about touring? What cities have really blown you away, and what cities are you really looking forward to seeing?
I like the adventure of it, and the particular camaraderie that grows between people passing miles together. Every day holds new problems to solve. You end up noticing the strangest things about a town as a whole. Particular trends in walking styles for instance. And you begin to notice overall patterns in city development over time. Hubs of industry, culture, academia and commerce that plant their flag at some point in history and create ripples that shape the surrounding blocks and neighborhoods.
Nashville is an interesting one at the moment. I stumbled into the 5 spot and found people of all ages dancing with freedom and passion to old rock and roll and soul music. A good dance culture is probably one of the best indicators of a healthy thriving social scene.
I’m most looking forward to New Orleans and Athens GA on this next tour. They’re both cities I’ve spent little or no time in and have a lot of curiosity about.
What was it like working on your latest album Carry On and bringing it to fruition? Writing it was slow and fraught – I was trying to go further with my writing and at the same time wondering if I belonged in the music business. I tried to think of something I could do the would allow me to stay outside and separate from my work. At some point on my last albums I’d started to feel like a block of wood that other people were trying to chisel into a shape. I’d thought I – the artist – was supposed to be the one with the chisel; making this album was all about the process of taking it back.
Can you tell us a little bit about the creative process and inspiration behind your track ‘Restless Fugitive’?
Oh that was a fun one. We must have had about 6 guitar amps going in the room at once between me and the clockwork percussion, plus Dan Oli and Sam on bass keyboard and drums. We played it all live except the vocal. And that I did in one take. They wouldn’t let me do another.
I admit I wrote the song when I was feeling sorry for myself. But not in that throw up your hands kind of way but rather when you’re able to get that rare glance of your life from an outside perspective and are actually able to sympathize with yourself for better or worse. But it hit me like a thunderbolt so I stored it in a song in case it was a potent thunderbolt.
Besides, who else but you is going to sympathize when you’re on tour alone and staying in a cheap motel in Denver?
What musicians or bands are you currently listening to?
Roger Miller, Jesca Hoop, KC and the Sunshine Band, Ralph Stanley
What has it been like working with Ben Lovett and Communion Records?
So far pretty exciting. It’s all pretty new and we’re all putting a lot of effort in.
What do you feel while creating and playing music?
When it’s good I usually feel a certain frequency in my heels and the back of my head that I imagine to be caused by a fella mowing his lawn in Japan. I haven’t imagined him a name yet but I see him in all different seasons… he’s always out there back and forth, back and forth.
What books, places, or people have really influenced your work and life?
My english teachers and my soccer coach. And all the musicians I’ve toured with… writer Alan Moore and song catcher Alan Lomax.
Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process and how you create music? Do you start with an idea or guitar riff? Do you have a creative setting that you prefer? A good song usually starts with an idea. It can be simple or complicated but one that gets stuck in my head for days like a raspberry seed gets stuck in your teeth. I poke it and prod it and pick at it until it loosens up and then it unravels verse by verse. The easiest time for me to write is when I’m walking. I used to walk to work everyday before I became a professional musician and would write verses both ways. Now I just wander when I have the time. I walked back and forth across Ocean Park back home for 4 hours one time to write a song. People must have thought I was pretty weird.
Do you have any life advice that you could share with us?
Weird is cool if it works.
After you get off the road, what’s next?
Gonna write some more songs and think about what I want to be when I grow up. Gotta put a new diff cover on the bus and figure out a way to stop the rust. Think about where to play shows next year and fix the stove and washing machine. I want to learn how to play the piano.
