I sat down with one of
UK audience’s favourite up-and-coming country artists, Cale Tyson on a recent
trip to London (you can read my review of his concert here). We chatted about why he keeps coming back to the UK, staying
traditional, law school, and life outside of music. Read on to find out more!
Ciara’s Country (CC):
It’s Ciara here and I’m joined today by Cale Tyson – first of all Cale, thank
you so much for joining me today. So I wanted to know, how’s 2016 been treating
you so far?
Cale Tyson (CT): It’s been good, good and bad, I feel like.
The record's been doing really well over here and I’ve been able to come over
twice already this year – this is actually my third time over and second tour,
but I really want to release the record in the United States which is where I’m
from but things have been taking a while. But things are starting to take off
there too.
CC: What’s holding
back the record being released in the US?
CT: Finding the right record label to put it out. It’s been
a little bit of a challenge but I think we’re on the right path now.
CC: Well I suppose
it’s a good thing for us in the UK that your album has been released over here
because as you said it’s your third time in the UK. What is it that keeps
bringing you back to the UK?
CT: I think it’s just playing show over here – they go so
well. It’s just every single show I feel like is a success over here and it’s
not always like that in the States. I think that’s a combination of the record
label over here doing a really good job and also the booking agency but it just
feels like every time I come over, there’s more people at each show, and
they’re so attentive and they really listen and get into it and it feels good.
CC: Do you find that
the crowd over here responds differently to your music?
CT: Yes absolutely, like I was saying at shows definitely.
Especially when we play listening rooms – I almost never play those shows in
the States where people are silent throughout the entire song and then clap at
the end, cause in the States a lot of the times we’ll be playing at a bar and
people will just be talking the entire time. Not everyone, but you know it gets
rowdy. So playing over here, it’s kind of fun to play like soft, intimate songs
just because you can really interact with the crowd.
CC: I suppose it’s
also your style of music as well – in this era when we’re moving more towards
crossover with pop and rock you seem to have gone in almost the opposite
direction by heading down a more traditional route. How did that style come
about?
CT: Well, I grew up on it, and then I kind of went away from
it as a teenage, and then I came back to it. I started playing music and taking
myself seriously when I left high school, but I was writing folk music and
everything started kind of steering towards the country genre, and I had like a
lap-steel player playing with me, and I met this pedal-steel player who came to
town, and he was like “these songs, they’re pretty much borderline country” and
I thought “what are you talking about? I’m not trying to write country music”
and then he reintroduced me to all the stuff I used to listen to as a kid, and
I kind of fell back in love with it. That’s where the musical direction took me
at the time.
CC: Can you tell me a
bit about the creative process for you when it comes to writing songs?
CT: It differs. Sometimes I’ll sit down and try to write a
song, play guitar and figure out a melody; and then other times it’ll just come
to me and I’ll write something down and come back to it later and turn it into
a melody. So it’s whenever it strikes you, you’ve got to get it anyway you can.
CC: And is there one
of your songs that you’d say was particularly interesting to write in terms of
the melody or the content?
CT: I think there’s a couple of songs that came really
easily, like surprisingly easily. One from my first record that I put out a few
years ago called Not Missing You and
I’d literally wrote that song while I was taking a shower one day. I don’t
know, I’ve been writing a lot recently and I just bought this little electric
piano and I’ve been learning to write with that and trying different chords I
wouldn’t be able to get to on the guitar, and different vocal harmonies. I’m
just trying to open it up because I feel like there’s a lot of different ways
to write a song, and each of those ways kind of gives you different
inspiration, or opens you up to different creative processes you wouldn’t
normally use.
CC: Well it’s clear
that music has been a huge part of what you’ve done since high school – do you
have any idea what you might be doing now had you not chosen to pursue this
path?
CT: I would probably be a lawyer and I would hate my life.
When I was a kid, my Dad told me that I could either be a doctor or a lawyer,
and I actually had the intention of going to law school when I was in college.
I actually signed up too late to take the exam to get into law school and count
that as fate, so I didn’t do it. I’d probably be making a lot more money
though!
CC: That would have
been very, very different! So how did you go from music just being a hobby to
making it your full time career?
CT: I think, you know, I was brought up with my parents
always telling me that it’s a great hobby but you need to study and do other
things, and then my last girlfriend, she was one of the few people I’ve ever met
who truly believed in herself and in her musical career. She didn’t think of it
as a hobby but as what she was going to do, and I’d never really had that
mindset before, but I think just being around her, and seeing how hard she was
working for it kind of changed me and changed my mind like maybe I can do this
if I really work for it. And then things started happening that led to me
believing that I can make a career from this.
CC: Would you say
that you listen to the same kind of music that you write or is it quite
different?
CT: It depends. I honestly haven’t really listened to much
country music lately. I spent like two to three years, especially when I was
writing this record, only listening to pre-80s country music, and then
recently, within the past year, I decided to go back and listen to what’s being
made in the indie world right now, and I’ve been on a kick with that recently,
so I have no idea what my next record’s going to sound like. It’s really
important to not pigeonhole yourself into one listening pattern, cause there’s
so much other creativity to be taken in.
CC: That’s pretty
exciting though that you let your musical style change depending on what you’re
listening to at the time.
CT: Yeah, I think so. I also don’t want to make the same
record over and over, I want to evolve and try out different things. The first
record I put out here was just straight up traditional country, and the last
record had kind of a soul element that the first one didn’t have. So I don’t
know what the next one’s going to sound like but I’m excited to start working
on it.
CC: And I’d say your
UK fans will be looking forward to that too! So in terms of the kind of music
that you listen to, is there anyone out there who you think is underrepresented
and deserves so much more recognition?
CT: The two people I’ve been listening to over the last year
religiously, and I think they both have plenty of recognition, is this guy
named Cass McHolmes, and also Bill Callaghan. But to answer your question I
guess I’d say one of my friends, Pete Linberg who usually tours with me but isn’t
this time. He’s an incredible songwriter, he just hasn’t gotten into the studio
yet, but he needs to because he’s really good.
CC: I know we’re
coming to the end of the year, but do you think you’ll be making it back to the
UK at some point soon?
CT: Probably not this year, but maybe next year. I know that
I’m coming back to Europe in May so I’m sure we’ll work in the UK somehow.
CC: Cool! And then
finally, what’s one question you wish you were asked in an interview but never
have been?
CT: Oh man, that’s a tough one…I’m thinking of all the questions
that always get asked. I don’t know. What do I like to do other than music
would be a good one.
CC: Can you answer
that for me then?
CT: Ah, now I have to answer it I’m really confused! I don’t
know. I like to watch movies, I’m actually really into movies. My girlfriend
works for an independent arthouse cinema in Nashville so she drags me to movies
all the time. And I think that’s another thing – I’ve done a lot of interviews
lately where they’re like “where do you get your inspiration from, where do you
get the creativity from songwriting” and I think that inspiration comes from
everywhere. Like I think seeing a good movie can inspire you to write a good
song. Even going to a museum and seeing some art can really trigger something
inside of you. It’s not just hearing something and being inspired by that.
CC: So we can ask you
not only for musical recommendations but also movie recommendations.
CT: Yeah I think so!
CC: Maybe next time!
Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me tonight, and good
luck with the rest of the tour!
Cheers to Cale for
taking the time to catch up with me – you can keep up to date with all the
interviews and reviews I’m doing by following me on Twitter @CiarasCountry, and
be sure to check out @caletyson while you’re there!
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