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Stacey Earle
The Wonderful World of Americana
by Jay House
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With
Simple Gearle, her refreshingly unadorned 1998 debut, Stacey
Earle introduced herself to the music world as an endearingly evocative
singer-songwriter. Stacey's second album Dancin' with Them That
Brung Me was released on Gearle Records, the label she co-owns
with her husband, Mark Stuart. The album, (and her all-encompassing
touring schedule) features Mark as arranger, backing vocalist and,
especially, 'ace picker of all-things-stringed.' Backed by son,
Kyle Mims on drums, the record and the tour truly is a family affair.
Stacey also covers her celebrated brother's, "Promise You Anything,"
a touching reprise of her first professional recording - then as
a duet on Steve Earle's The Hard Way in 1990.
I was lucky enough to have a terrific conversation with Stacey from
her home in Nashville in January. We touched on everything from
the state of the music business to minor league baseball.
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WOMANROCK:
Something that's always interested me is how music is categorized.
The lines between styles are blurry. For example your music is called
country/folk but when I listen to it I hear blues and bluegrass
also, so I am wondering what you think about this.
Stacey:
That's funny because when I'm at a festival or something like that,
I'll draw a little box and I'll mark it "Stacey Earle music." I
guess they have to categorize it but it's a tough thing. That's
what's wonderful about having - that Mark and I - have our own label,
we have the freedom to go ahead. We were raised on artists writing
music, and we don't have a big label slapping our hand, saying 'that's
bluegrass on that record."
But [record companies] do restrict you because they have to have
one central place to send that record. I grew up, my generation
in particular grew up on a very large variety of music. There was
a lot of music that came and went … from Broadway musicals to Country
and Western and there also were the things we drug in the door.
Steve and my brother Mark, they drug in the Beatles, the Mamas and
the Papas. Steve started dragging songwriters in and I heard other
stuff, I heard Motown and all different types.
So it all bleeds in there - that's one of the reasons I never got
a record deal because Nashville loves [to categorize music] and
they didn't know what to do with it. "Well, how do you market it?
What do you call it?" That's the great thing about Americana. It
is a very wide, wide range of music, so I guess that's why they
call it Americana. That's what is so wonderful about the wonderful
world of Americana.
WOMANROCK:
So what do you think about all the plastic, copy cat bands like
Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and all the boy bands?
Stacey:
Oh, I'm okay with it. We gotta have 'em. I like to dance too. But
yeah, those are no-brainers. It's an art in itself. Before the music
industry had some depth to it, the singer-songwriters just didn't
happen, until artists formed up from the writers who wrote behind
the wall. Then the songwriters started to come in making their own
records, Steve was one of those. It amazed me when the industry
did finally jump on the wagon, they realized they could make more
money. But there was a time when you did not write and perform your
music.
WOMANROCK:
So do you think it's getting easier to be a singer-songwriter and
that Americana is growing?
Stacey:
Yes. It is growing.
WOMANROCK:
What do you think about technology and the way it's changing music?
Stacey:
I think it's pretty neat. CD's are a great format, but when I recorded
my first record, Simple Gearle, I actually sampled a record
on it. It's an old "Rubber Soul" record. You hear the scratching
at the beginning and at the end. And in the middle, what it is,
is the record being flipped over, the sound of it.
I never got to record on vinyl, we have the CD and it's great and
wonderful, but the difference with vinyl is we can get up, give
our ears a break and flip her over. We also lost the second chance
to sequence the songs. Side A and Side B were two entities on the
record. Analogue gives you more room to breath.
WOMANROCK:
You didn't have a straightforward journey to becoming a performer/songwriter.
Stacey:
No, I went in there kind of sideways. You know. Most people know
from a very young age. They hold hairbrushes, stand in the mirror,
play a broomstick. That was not how it was for me. I was a very
young mom so my dreams were different. They were things like food
in the cupboard, a picket fence, things like that. I couldn't afford
to go to the movies or nothing, or go shopping, but I played the
guitar. I played it and sang around the house.
I came to Nashville in 1990 to be a nanny for my brother Steve when
he went on tour. I was a single mom, I was struggling, having a
hard time making ends meet. Steve would hear me play and sing. I
think he knew that I needed something special to happen, so he asked
me to sing on "Promise Me Anything." So I sang the song and that
was about it, then he told me I had to take it on tour with him.
So my first tour, I was a guitar player and backup singer, and the
first stage I ever stood on was an arena in Australia. That's being
thrown in the fire, blindfolded. I fear nothing, because I just
walked out there and performed. Stage fright was never there.
But then I came home from the tour and just like that, it gave me
that bug. That's when I thought, "This is what I want to do." I
was allowed to dream it and this was the first [time I had] dreams
that were more like fantasy. So then I came back to Nashville and
just like everybody else, for eight years I sang in songwriters
nights. I was writing, trying to get published. But it just takes
time and you have to fight for it.
Producers would say, "Oh I wanna do a demo with you," but at the
end of the day it became their music. I would have to relearn my
song. Some people would say, "Oh let 'em make the record. Go for
it." But those songs are very personal, they are about are my life.
The sound, the melody, the arrangements are just as important as
the lyrics. They all bring things to the conversation. They wound
up taking it away and it just broke my heart. So I would take those
[demos] and actually go throw them in the garbage.
WOMANROCK:
What are your goals for your music? I have heard you talk about
doing a live recording.
Stacey:
Well, we've already recorded it. It's been recorded over the last
year. I think CDs are important, but the live shows are everything.
Usually you make a CD and then go on tour to support the CD, but
I'm backwards. I make a CD to support my tour. I tell stories between
the songs, but it's also going to be a duet form between me and
Mark. But definitely, the CDs, all they do is support the tour.
They are something people can take home afterward.
WOMANROCK:
You obviously really enjoy touring, but do you think you're going
to get tired of it?
Stacey:
No, I don't think so, I mean I'm 40, my kids are grown. When I had
my first child I was very serious. I was very aware of my responsibility,
I loved my responsibility, and I gave them 99%, but they're grown
now. They still need me, and I'm still there when they do, you know,
but now I'm 40 and I feel like it's time. I've seen plenty of home
and I'm ready. I told my husband, "we're still young."
WOMANROCK:
What is it like touring with your husband? How do you handle the
different roles you each play?
Stacey:
We are together 24 hours a day. That can be trying. It can, but
we work so well together. It's been eight years, and you know what?
At the end of the night we remind ourselves that was business, we're
able to separate. When you work together, you can forget how to
separate. You know, I said "take a right, and you took a left."
And that can destroy a marriage after a while because then they
call it nagging, and say, "you're nagging me 'cause you don't like
me. You don't love me no more." And then it's gone. You know? Or,
you're there together all the time, and you forget to mention "I
love you." "You know I love you." "No I don't." Don't assume anything.
WOMANROCK:
How do you prepare yourself for performing?
Stacey:
I drink about a half a glass of water. Maybe clear my throat …
WOMANROCK:
Have things changed as you have started to get more recognition?
For example, people call you up and want to do interviews, so does
that make it harder, or exciting?
Stacey:
Well, it's exciting. I mean, there's times when it's kind of tough
only because you're not only touring, making records, and interviewing.
We're also running a record label and it can get very tough sometimes.
It gets overwhelming and then all of a sudden I look up and there's
no time for art, no time to write a song because I'm running around
with my head cut off. That's certainly sad. That I think is the
biggest difference, but as far as all of it goes, it's kind of like
finally getting the thumbs up. I need to know, we all need to know
that we are doing the right thing.
But I never complain about having to do it. I can't do it without
all those folks who are so involved. I wanted to re-record "Promise
You Anything." What better way to say "thank you, Steve you brung
me?" And for my husband Mark, I wrote "Is It Enough (I Luuuv You)."
What better way to say "thank you, you bring me." And there's the
people on Simple Gearle, and all the folks who helped, and
the press, and radio and the audience. That's one thing, when I
look out into an audience I remind myself, each person went out
and bought a ticket, maybe got dinner out, maybe had to get a babysitter,
but they're in this room for one reason and one reason only. I learned
that from Mr. Schmito [the owner of the minor league baseball team,
the Nashville Sound]. He would go stand by the gate at closing time
and shake every hand he possibly could and thank them. That just
always amazed me. He'd walk around in the crowd and make sure they
were all enjoying the game. The stadium was his dream and he shared
it. I felt good when he shook my hand, and I realized this stadium
was his dream. But, I also love the minor leagues because they play
with heart.
WOMANROCK:
Yeah, not with six million dollar contracts.
Stacey:
Right, that's where the heart comes in. You want something. I have
to go find it. Then again you get inspired, But I find myself, right
now writing a lot about that. I had someone say, "now that you have
everything you want, is your writing gonna change?" That scared
me to death. I couldn't even answer. It put the fire under me. I
find that no matter what, things are better now that I don't have
to struggle so hard to put my electricity bill in the mail. But
I have other trials, you know, my dad had to go into the hospital
to be put on a defibrillator. I have things like that, so we all
have those things. You could have everything but still, there's
always something.
WOMANROCK:
You probably don't have much time to listen to music, but I'm wondering
what artists you like to listen to if you get a chance.
Stacey:
There's Malcolm Holcomb, my very favorite in the world, he's out
of North Carolina. Whether he'll ever be heard of, I don't ever
know. One of the [victims] of addiction, whether he'll ever [beat]
it or not? But he's my favorite in the whole wide world. Him and
Steve are - their writing, it makes me wonder, do you have to go
there to write like that? If that's the case I ain't gonna go there.
I'll just sit and enjoy what they wrote.
Then I would say, in the mainstream vein, of course, Sheryl Crow.
I like No Doubt, she's too cool. I love Greg Brown. In the Country
world, I'm very traditional, I like Merle Haggard, George Jones,
I love Dolly Parton. She just makes the whole world grow, she's
incredibly creative and intelligent. I have to look up to her. There's
so many. In the Bluegrass world, the McCourys …
WOMANROCK:
It's a cliché, but there're so many records, so little time …
Stacey:
Yeah, absolutely, I think my favorite record, when everybody asks
me what my favorite of 2000 was, I'm still listening to Paul McCartney's
Flaming Pie. It's my favorite record for the year 2000, even
though it's from 1999. I haven't got over it yet. Why can't it be
my favorite from 2000, it's still in my CD player? Kate Curtis -
I've had her first CD in my CD player for five years. It holds six.
Tracy Chapman's Fast Car, I bought it five ago, it's still
in there. I have trouble moving on. You want to call them records
you can't get enough of.
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For
more information on Stacey Earle, check out:
http://www.staceyearle.com |
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_________________________________
Jay House is a freelance writer living in Long Island. Her work
can be found at Cybergrrl.com. , as well as WOMANROCK.com.
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