Steve Klingaman Loose Talk

On songwriting

For me, writing a song is sort of a process of receiving dictation, a participatory dictation. You get in the right frame of mind and things just start to come, like some kind of channeling. Often there comes a moment like half-waking from a dream, when you realize you are in the middle of it, it’s still coming, and you think, “Oh no, please, don’t stop.”

So much of music is about tone and feel. I have always loved Eric Clapton’s work for its tone and feel.

I write songs to please myself.

Songs drive the music business. Nashville is the new Tin Pan Alley, with its insatiable need for new material, but most artists are self-contained units now, writing their own songs, often to good effect. The world can always use a great new song, whether it's a hit or not. Writing reviews for the webzine, Minor7th, I am struck by the fact that many younger artists are not swinging for the fences in their songwriting. They're more focused on the sound. Big mistake. The song is the driver.

On Packwood

It's not useful to explain songs. That’s the job of critics, it’s an entirely different thing. Packwood, for example, is the story of my family, a place both imagined and real, based on stories my father and others told me—and things I remember from my childhood. But the tone is mine. My dad was entirely upbeat about his experiences growing up there. I shaded it towards the shadows.

I took seven years to make Packwood. I’m more than a little embarrassed by that. I felt I had to do it all myself. So I built a studio in my basement. When I moved to Minneapolis and I had to do it all over again. It took me forever to complete the Montreal sessions. My mixdown dates got bumped by Lucinda Williams. The CD even had to be manufactured twice. I don’t know why, but it was supposed to take seven years.

I am tremendously appreciative of the radio airplay I’ve received for Packwood. These are college or public radio folk stations and the deejays that host them are incredibly dedicated. They know a lot about the music. You can’t fool ‘em. They don’t make any money at it, but they bring a real passion to their work. It becomes a bond they share with the musicians. More