Ani DiFranco on American apathy, 2003

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about American apathy, you know just about our inertia, our consumerism as opposed to citizenship, how we can hardly be bothered to vote, most of us, let alone really be politically active or active in our communities. And the more that I do that myself, try and be a participant in democracy, try and help create it in my country, I realize it brings my life so much joy. It makes me all kinds of friends, it gives my life so much meaning, and sometimes I wish...I almost think that people don’t know that. You know it looks like a lot of work to get involved in your community. You have to start going to meetings or donate your time, and people are, I think, not as involved as they could be just because they don’t know that actually it’s a way of improving your own life.

Outtake from a feature on NPR's All Things Considered about on Ani DiFranco's quest to save a historic church in Buffalo. Listen to the story at the NPR site.

Online guitar chord generator

Guitarists: Check out this clever online program for finding chords in standard or any alternate tuning.

Find lots more links to useful sites, books, organizations, and more at my Songwriter Resources page.

Indigo Girls' Amy Ray on exploring guitar tunings, 1997

I just turned to tunings as an alternative, you know, to have fun with it. “Center Stage” [from Indigo Girls] was in open D. I remember hearing the B-52s, that guy Ricky [Wilson]--he died. He played every song they had in a different tuning. He never played anything in standard tuning, and I just remember thinking about that--it was really inspiring. The guitar became an endless spectrum at that point. I’m not a really good guitar player, so to change tunings opens up new worlds for me.

From the book Rock Troubadours.

You can read more thoughts from Amy Ray (including news about the Indigo Girls' deal with Hollywood Records and their collaboration with Mitchell Froom) at her personal Web site.

Patty Larkin on stealing from your favorite songwriters, 2002

It’s a known fact: Amateurs borrow, but masters steal. When someone asks me where my inspiration comes from, I tell them it comes from what I hear and love, from other artists. In the past I have admired certain songwriters so much (Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones, to name two) that I had to ban them from my stereo. Everything I was working on would sound like warmed-over versions of their songs. My process is still influenced by what I hear and like, but now it’s more like osmosis than conscious imitation. My mind pinpoints what is unique or special and files it away somewhere.... I am trying to create the feeling that someone else’s songs give me when I listen to them.

From the book The Complete Singer-Songwriter: A Troubadour's Guide to Writing, Performing, Recording, and Business

More on Patty Larkin.

Spins: Kris Delmhorst, Strange Conversation

I've been smitten lately with this New England singer-songwriter's fourth CD, a collection of songs inspired in various ways by poets and poetry. Songwriters will especially appreciate the opening track, "Galuppi Baldessari," in which the lyrics in one section call out the chord changes:

with the minor third so bitter
six chord like a sigh
suspension, solution
asking must we die, must we die, must we die
and the seventh says, well, fellas
life might not last, but we can try

In case you're wondering--I know I was--Baldessare was an 18th-century Venetian composer celebrated in Robert Browning's poem "A Toccata of Galuppi's"...which Delmhorst adapted for this song. If that all sounds high-brow and heavy, the song itself is anything but.

More about Kris Delmhorst and the CD here.

Spins: The Mammals, Departure

These self-styled "subversive acoustic traditionalists" beef up the rock component of their music quite a bit on this disc, with heavier electric guitar and drums alongside the core string band instrumentation. It's a great sound--deeply rooted but roaming free--matched by some fine songwriting. In a similar vein as Nickel Creek but more unruly.

I've been following the Mammals since hearing them in a cramped hotel room in Nashville several years back, during the Folk Alliance conference. I was reporting a story for NPR on the indie music business and loved the explosive energy of this band (then a trio). You can hear them playing during the close of the piece.

Download MP3s from some recent Mammals shows here.

Erin McKeown on balancing business and art, 2002

A mistake I made when I was just starting out was to try to do everything myself. While I am certainly a better businesswoman for understanding how the industry works, I neglected my creative life in the process. You have to have help—so find some good help and trust them. You can’t ever completely check out of the business side of your career (which I have also done at times to devastating effect), but you can definitely find a way to supervise without devoting all your time to it. It is a certain skill in itself to recognize someone who can help you, but if you never try it . . . you’ll just be sitting in Kinko’s a lot.

From the book The Complete Singer-Songwriter: A Troubadour's Guide to Writing, Performing, Recording, and Business

More on Erin McKeown.