{"id":20028,"date":"2020-11-17T17:57:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T00:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=20028"},"modified":"2020-11-17T18:45:20","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T01:45:20","slug":"slaid-cleaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2020\/11\/slaid-cleaves\/","title":{"rendered":"Slaid Cleaves"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Musician: <strong>SLAID CLEAVES<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h2>Video: \u201c<strong>One Good Year<\/strong>\u201d<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2mz0fDFRwTs\" width=\"660\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>SLAID CLEAVES AT BLUE ROCK ALIVE! <em>COOL NIGHTS 2020<\/em> <\/strong><strong>THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBE 19<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Slaid Cleaves will be featured at the Blue Rock aLive! <em>Cool Nights 2020<\/em> virtual concert series this Thursday, November 19. The series is \u201cfor the songs, for the artists, for all of us.\u201d You can buy a Season Pass for only $105\u2014and have a seat in the house by sending in your headshot. They will place the large headshot on a seat, so you will literally be <em>sitting<\/em> in the room.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Rock\u2019s innovation, quality and creativity is evidenced in concerts produced with broadcast quality audio-video from their renowned Texas room\u2014streamed straight to you. Individual tickets can also be purchased for $25: <a href=\"https:\/\/bluerocktexas.com\/events\">https:\/\/bluerocktexas.com\/events<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20035\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20035\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20035\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-02-Photo-credit-Karen-Cleaves-Copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-02-Photo-credit-Karen-Cleaves-Copy.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-02-Photo-credit-Karen-Cleaves-Copy-300x206.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-20035\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit Karen Cleaves<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In 1992, Cleaves was a winner of the prestigious New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Of his dozen studio albums, four were recorded and nationally-released on the Rounder-Philo label from 1997-2006. During that time, Cleaves had an Americana charts hit with \u201cBroke Down\u201d from his 2000 album\u00a0<em>Broke Down<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Cleaves intricately weaves thoughtful, introspective lyrics into simple melodies as he seems to effortlessly paint each masterpiece.<\/p>\n<p>We talked with Slaid Cleaves about his unconventional approach to songwriting, his love for telling stories, how hard work and determination eventually pays off, what keeps him hopeful and how his songs reflect his journey across the American landscape as he searches inward.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SLAID CLEAVES <\/strong>Interview<\/p>\n<p>with\u00a0<strong><em>M Music &amp; Musicians<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>magazine publisher,<strong> Merlin David<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us about one of the songs you will play at Blue Rock\u2019s <em>Cool Nights 2020<\/em>.<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cOne Good Year\u201d\u2014was inspired by a friend who was down on his luck. The song evolved, with the help of co-writer Steve Brooks, into a plea for relief\u2014for a change of luck. I\u2019m guessing most people watching the show will be able to relate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who originally inspired you to write songs?<\/strong><br \/>\nI listened to a lot of music. I started learning how to play my favorite songs. It\u2019s a tough step going from playing covers to writing your own songs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us about your songwriting process?<\/strong><br \/>\nI\u2019m always on the lookout for an interesting story, character, turn of phrase or something I am or someone else is going through. Then I write them down and hole myself in a guest room or hotel room to get away from daily chores. I look at the ideas\u2014combine them or extrapolate them and work them into songs. Eventually, I\u2019ll finish them.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20034\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-01-Copy-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"887\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-01-Copy-1.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-01-Copy-1-223x300.jpg 223w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-01-Copy-1-300x403.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it difficult to finish writing a song?<\/strong><br \/>\nFor many years, I had to actually leave the house to work on a song. Karen would pack a lunch for me and I\u2019d get in the car and drive out to a State park, a roadside stop or some peaceful place\u2014just to be alone. I sometimes got a few looks like \u201cWhat are you doing here, boy.\u201d But I told Karen I wouldn\u2019t come home until I wrote a song. Once, I wrote a whole album in my car. (<em>Laughs<\/em>) It was my first batch of Texas songs in 1992-93. I also had a rule\u2014once I wrote a song someplace, I couldn\u2019t go back to that place because the place was used up. It was just a superstition.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h1><strong><em>Slaid Cleaves intricately weaves thoughtful, introspective lyrics into simple melodies as he seems to effortlessly paint each masterpiece.<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Do you have any other rituals?<\/strong><br \/>\nIn the early years, I didn\u2019t have a place to go and be alone. For several years, a patron would offer me his guesthouse or a hotel room and I\u2019d go up there for 3 or 4 days. Now, I\u2019m lucky. We have a little detached guesthouse\u2014it\u2019s my office. That\u2019s where I write. I have to preserve the sense of actually leaving\u2014so I pack a suitcase with clothes, books and other things to inspire me. Karen packs me some food and brings me dinner every night\u2014but we don\u2019t talk with each other, all day. I get to pretend I\u2019m on the road. (<em>Laughs<\/em>) She\u2019s my booking agent so when I\u2019m in writing mode I don\u2019t want any business distractions. That\u2019s how I wrote the most recent album.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Was that <em>Ghost on the Car Radio<\/em><\/strong>?<br \/>\nYes. It was recorded in 2016 and came out the following year. It was the first album I released on my own\u2014without any label, since the early 1990s. I forgot how much work is involved in putting out an album.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What songwriting tip would you like to offer?<\/strong><br \/>\nOne trick I learned early on is to just add verses to another song\u2014like a Hank Williams song. The meter and melody is already there. Then, when you get three or four new verses, you just pull your verses back out, change the melody a bit and <em>voil\u00e0<\/em>! At first I thought this was cheating but then I heard Pete Seeger describe this as \u201cThe Folk Process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What instruments<\/strong><strong>\/equipment can you not live without?<\/strong><br \/>\nI used to scribble in notebooks, but these days I\u2019m dependent on a laptop for rearranging text and a cell phone for quick melodic ideas (before I forget them) and rough demos. Still have the same old Gibson guitar, though.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Which Top 5 Musicians\u00a0inspired you to become a musician?<\/strong><br \/>\nMy Dad played guitar around the house, when I was very young. He and my Mom shared an inspiring record collection that I was constantly exposed to. They set me on my path. When I was still a teen, bands like the Clash and U2 were stressing the DIY attitude that welcomed the untrained musician to join in the fun. Springsteen\u2019s <em>Nebraska<\/em> album, with its bare bones production, showed me I didn\u2019t need a big band or a studio\u2014just songs, good songs, and a guitar.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20032\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-03-with-guitar-Copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"843\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-03-with-guitar-Copy.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-03-with-guitar-Copy-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-03-with-guitar-Copy-300x383.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>What are your Top 5 favorite albums of all time?<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Nebraska<\/em> (1982) \u2014 Bruce Springsteen<br \/>\n<em>Rain Dogs<\/em> (1985) \u2014 Tom Waits<br \/>\n<em>Mission of the Crossroad Palms<\/em> (1995) \u2014 Steve Forbert<br \/>\n<em>Hard Times in Babylon<\/em> (2000) \u2014 Eliza Gilkyson<br \/>\n<em>Dear Danger<\/em> (2015) \u2014 Billy Harvey<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s one of the most requested songs in your live shows?<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cBreakfast in Hell\u201d has somehow run up 4 million streams on Spotify and gets requested a lot, 20-odd years after I wrote it. It\u2019s the heroic tale of a local lumberjack I heard when I visited friend and producer Gurf Morlix at his summer cabin in Ontario.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you remember the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio?<\/strong><br \/>\nKevin Connor was on KGSR in Austin. He played my first CD that came out around 1992. It was a local show and it was great. I really appreciated it. But the bigger thing happened when \u201cBroke Down\u201d started getting in rotation at KGSR, other Austin stations and a dozen or two stations around the country\u2014that\u2019s when it was really exciting. I\u2019d hop in the car and boom\u2014there was my song. It was pretty thrilling.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20031\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20031\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-20031 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-04-Photo-credit-Karen-Cleaves-Copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-04-Photo-credit-Karen-Cleaves-Copy.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-04-Photo-credit-Karen-Cleaves-Copy-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-20031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit Karen Cleaves<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Any other memorable radio moments?<\/strong><br \/>\nI made <em>Broken Down<\/em> in 1999. The label [Rounder-Philo] didn\u2019t want to put it out until January of 2000. I kept waiting. January rolled around, it sold a couple hundred copies in a few weeks, but nothing big. Then, I headed out in a Dodge van I bought from the side of the road. I was all by myself, ready to start the <em>Broke Down<\/em> tour\u2014making my way to the Folk Alliance in Cleveland, Ohio. It was late January, early February, and I picked up five guys along the way. (<em>Laughs<\/em>) <em>Broke Down<\/em> seemed like my last stand. I hadn\u2019t built an audience and I was losing money every year\u2014couldn\u2019t get a crowd, couldn\u2019t get on the radio. I was determined to give it everything I had. On the very first day of this trip, I was on my way out of Texas and passed through North Dallas on I-35 for the first gig in Oklahoma\u2014when I heard \u201cBroke Down\u201d\u2014just as I was leaving Texas. I couldn\u2019t believe it. It was the first time I\u2019d heard the song on the radio. It was a good omen. By the end of the year, I finally had an audience, a crowd, airplay and all sorts of offers coming my way. It was a life-changing year for me. That <em>Broke Down<\/em> album was pivotal. It was the difference between going more in the hole and paying off debts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us a \u201cpinch me\u201d moment when you thought \u201c<em>Wow, this is really happening to me!<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em>As part of a Woody Guthrie tribute show I was singing some new, post 9\/11 verses I wrote for \u201cThis Land is Your Land\u201d\u2014while Pete Seeger was on stage with his banjo, just a couple of feet away. I was hoping he wouldn\u2019t object.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What makes Blue Rock such a special place to play?<\/strong><br \/>\nA few years back, I played an in-the-round show with Eliza Gilkyson and Bruce Robison. Billy and Dodee have created an amazing place to play music.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20030\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-05-Copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-05-Copy.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-05-Copy-300x124.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the best advice someone has given you?<\/strong><br \/>\nIn the mid-1990s, music manager Mike Crowley gave me some free advice: Claim <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slaid.com\/\">www.Slaid.com<\/a>, and make a website filled not with promotional material, but personal, unique content. I ended up writing a bunch of short essays that are still up on my site.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What advice would you give upcoming musicians?<\/strong><br \/>\nOne of the essays I wrote was \u201cAdvice to a Young Musician\u201d:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.slaidcleaves.com\/stories\/2013\/3\/25\/advice-to-a-young-musician\">https:\/\/www.slaidcleaves.com\/stories\/2013\/3\/25\/advice-to-a-young-musician<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you remain hopeful in this strange and unique socio-political time?<\/strong><br \/>\nBy turning off the damn phone, walking out in nature and talking with my neighbors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where can new fans get more info and stay updated?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slaidcleaves.com\/\">www.SlaidCleaves.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Instagram: @slaidc<\/p>\n<p>Twitter: @slaidc<\/p>\n<p>Facebook.com\/slaidcleaves<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20029\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-07-Copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-07-Copy.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Slaid-Cleaves-07-Copy-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Musician: SLAID CLEAVES Video: \u201cOne Good Year\u201d \ufeff SLAID CLEAVES AT BLUE ROCK ALIVE! COOL NIGHTS 2020 THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBE 19 Slaid Cleaves will be featured at the Blue Rock aLive! Cool Nights 2020 virtual concert series this Thursday, November 19. The series is \u201cfor the songs, for the artists, for all of us.\u201d You [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7725],"tags":[12431,8271,12432,11644,11616,9481,11385,12433,12434,12435,969,9490,12436,12437,12438,3627,12439,12440,9755,12417,1594,4338,11646,11799,12441,12442,141,12443,12444,7566,3010,12445,7978,12446,12447,12448,796,12449,10276,12450,12451,12452,12453,8724,12454,12455,11320,7233,12456,3184,3656],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20028"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20038,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20028\/revisions\/20038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}