Songwriters on Process

"When you have a regimen, it's ok to let up on yourself. Because you know that tomorrow, you'll be doing it again." Madison Cunningham firmly believes in the writer's regimen. You have to put in the work every day. None of this "waiting for inspiration" stuff.  "Words on a page every day, even if it's not songwriting," she says.  So she starts each...

"If I have one piece of advice to give, it would be to write something the moment you wake up." Will Sheff of Okkervil River likes a good writing ritual. He believes in writing every day, just as a professional athlete needs to practice every day.  But as you'll hear in this episode, he's also a firm believer in loafing. Sheff's first proper solo album, out October 7, is c...

In most workplaces, falling asleep on the job is not a good thing. But if you’re in Metric , Emily Haines says it's a great thing.  In fact, she and her bandmates love it when they catch each other napping in the studio.  Because that means they're being productive. Listen to the latest episode now!

"I still have your cutlery, by the way," Butch Walker tells Matt Nathanson in this episode. Nathanson's latest album Boston Accent   was produced by Walker.  And while the two may have shared kitchen space and maybe even a utensil or two, their relationship in the studio worked because their creative processes were symbiotic: the limitation in one was offset by the complementary str...

People tell John Moreland that he writes "bummer songs," which we both agreed is ironic gives that he cannot be in a bummer mood when he writes. "If I'm doing anything creative, my mind needs to be in a good space," Moreland told me. "I need a measure of self-acceptance when I write." And when Moreland writes, he has a ritual. He likes to write between midnight a...

Kelsey Waldon finds the beginnings of spring and fall to especially conducive to songwriting. A good yellow legal pad helps as well. Her latest album is called No Regular Dog on Oh Boy Records.

Ready for some light summer reading? Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes isn't. He's currently reading Homer's The Iliad . This is the second time I've interviewed Goldsmith, and I remain in awe of his reading habits. He reads all the time. My PhD in English Literature ensures that I've always done a fair amount of reading, yet I feel silly around Goldsmith. What I love about Goldsm...

"This is gonna sound gross, but I'm a 34 year old adult and I've just started flossing for the first time in my life." Come for the process, stay for the hygiene! Yes, there is a connection between Kevin Morby's songwriting process and his dental health: it all has to do with organization. But while Morby may not floss and write at the same time, he does have a few rituals...

Martin Courtney of Real  Estate says that songwriting can be a "painstaking" process, so he's trying something new. "I'm trying to plow through it, take a step back, then chip away at it," he told me. He's also found fulfillment in writing about the small details of everyday life, trying to work those ideas into his songs. But he always has Strega Nona to fall ba...

For Laura Veirs , the songwriting process involves giving the muse a good, long side eye. That's when she's not painting, surfing, reading, or exercising--all while being a  single parent. "I try to do several things at once so nothing becomes too precious or too obsessive," Veirs told me in our interview. 

Six-time GRAMMY nominees The Black Pumas are not a found sound band. But Adrian Quesada loves nothing more than a good turn signal. "I’m always superimposing a 6/4 rhythm on them whenever I’m at an intersection," he said. So much so that that his wife often has to remind him when the light turns green.  This interview with Quesada and Eric Burton is from December 2020.

BJ Barham of American Aquarium & I were reading S.A. Cosby long before it was cool! But seriously, now that Cosby has received universal acclaim for his books RAZORBLADE TEARS and BLACKTOP WASTELAND, the secret's out. Listen to my conversation with these two master storytellers as we discussed the writing process!   (This interview is from April 2021).

"If the next record is about whaling, you'll know where that came from." Craig Finn takes it all in. He's the kind of songwriter who absorbs everything he sees and hears, and right now that involves reading "Moby Dick." Finn is a voracious reader, demonstrating something I've always maintained: the best lyricists read a lot. So when he sits down to write, he&apos...

Fresh off their new release Headful of Sugar , Julia Cumming (bass, vocals) and Nick Kivlen (guitar, vocals) of Sunflower Bean discuss how their sometimes divergent creative processes coalesce into an efficient whole. 

“If I’m drawing a lot, I’m writing a lot. Those two processes are closely connected.” Bardo Martinez of Chicano Batman is, in his words, the “supreme doodler.” Whether he’s longboarding or reading to his kids or drawing, he's always thinking about his next song. This interview is from July 2021.

"I like to have structure in my songwriting process in order to let chaos rule." Jonathan Russell of The Head and the Heart loves structure. It helps him in his domestic life: he often finds missing bridges in his songs when he’s cleaning the house, for example. “I love order,” Russell told me. “Clean kitchen, happy brain.” And he loves using lists to make his day easier. When I asked Ru...

"With the stuff I've been through, I would just go outside and immediately start to feel better."  S. Carey's (Sean Carey) new solo album Break Me Open was written during a time of tremendous domestic change: the dissolution of his marriage, the death of his father, and the growth of his children. Any three of these events, much less all three,  would be time for introspection....

Tim Kasher's latest solo album is called MIDDLING AGE. The Cursive frontman explains why he's a "militant reader" and why he doesn't subscribe to the Hemingway credo of "write first, read later." But does he believe that you should always write when you're hungry? Listen for the answer to that, and hear why he thinks songwriters always sing about "walki...

“I’m better at writing songs after I’ve processed an emotion. I have to let myself feel an emotion before I can write about it.”—Katie Pruitt. "I write the best when I’m not putting pressure on myself to write about what’s happening around me.”—Molly Tuttle. For Pruitt and Tuttle, dreams are an especially fruitful time for song ideas: both women have been awoken in the middle of the night by...

"The more evolved periods of my life are when I’m journaling. My journal is a backbone to my life, a conversation with my subconscious. It makes for a healthy mind and spirit.” For Grammy winner Paula Cole, the songwriting process is deeply contemplative and kinesthetic. But journaling is just one part of Cole’s very kinesthetic writing process. “I feel it in my body,” she told me. “It’s like...

Eric Pulido of Midlake takes a deep dive into his songwriting process on today's episode. Pulido is an avid runner, and we talk a lot about how that four mile loop in the local park is a great way to both get out of a rut and conjure up new ideas. Midlake's latest album is called For the Sake of Bethel Woods (ATO Records).

(This interview is from February 2021.)  Listen to old friends Sarah Jarosz and Margaret Glaspy talk about their songwriting process! Four-time GRAMMY winner Jarosz and Glaspy have known each other since they were teenagers, so this was a fun conversation. But we did this in the middle of the first COVID winter, so it's a stark reminder that songwriters are only now beginning to emerge from a...

This interview is from January 2021. You think you're prolific? Stu Mackenzie and his bandmates put out five albums in one year, and sixteen over the course of ten years. Not surprisingly, Mackenzie is always creating and gets anxious when he's not. He gets song ideas from everywhere: one song even came from the time signature of the alarm his car makes when he leaves the lights on.   

“My receptors are always on because I don’t want to miss anything I see or hear. I try to collect everything," says Steve Gunn. The songwriting process is 24/7 for Gunn. Even when he’s not putting pencil to paper, he’s creating.  This interview is from August of 2021.

"If I have anything to give the world as a songwriter, I'm trying to explore the middle ground. That's not the most effective for songwriters because the most provocative things are clear statements of good and evil," says Anand Wilder, formerly of Yeasayer. In this podcast, you'll come for the process and stay for the impressions! Sure we take a deep dive into Wilder&apos...