Before you start reading this interview you may want to start the music. It will enhance your reading enjoyment.
Charlie Faye has just completed a tour of ten cities in ten months. Since January each month she has pulled into a new town, settled in, played gigs, put together a band, recorded a song, and said goodbye. Almost opposite of the typical one night stand tour, I wanted to find out more about the person who conceived and completed this adventure. So I asked.
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A primary concern of musicians today is if music is free how do you make a living. Musicians need to be creative to survive. Your city a month tour and The plan to have a cd and a book come out of it is one of the more interesting ideas I have seen. Where did the idea come from?
CHARLIE FAYE
I had just put out my last record, Wilson St., and I was talking to a friend about how I would tour to support the record’s release. He started talking about some friends of ours, a band called Poi Dog Pondering, who, in their early days, would go to a college town and hang out for a week before they played a show there. In that week they would hang out with the college kids, make friends, have jam sessions, and by the time the gig rolled around, everyone was excited to go see the show. Then, the next time they came back through those towns, they had friends to hang out with, places to crash, and an audience for the gigs. It sounded pretty genius to me.
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It sounds pretty genius to me too.
CHARLIE FAYE
I also have a love-hate relationship with traditional touring – the going from place to place every day and never really getting to catch your breath, or get a feel for the places, or get to know anyone – I think that part of touring pretty much sucks. So, I decided I would do this crazy long-term 10-month tour, and really try to settle in and get to know each of 10 different towns. Now I really feel like I have 10 sort-of homes all across the country. It’s pretty freaking cool.
As far as the book and the record go, well – I’ve always been a journaler. So, I’ve been writing about my experiences this entire time. People keep telling me I should write a book. So, when I get home I’m going to start editing and give it my best shot. (Sidenote: Someone please help me edit!)
The record wasn’t an intention from the get-go. It kind of happened once the tour was already underway. My first month, in Tucson, I wrote a new song called Broken Heart Maker. I played it for my friend Sergio, a musician in Tucson who works with Calexico as well as fronting his own band, and he said, “Hey, we should record that over at Wavelab. I’ll see if I can get Joey and John (of Calexico) in on it.” And so it was. After that, I thought it might be cool to try to do something like that in each city, record a new song, with local musicians. And the whole thing started coming together as a really amazing collection of songs for a new record.
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Why did you choose the cities that you chose to live in? Did you have contacts or did you go in cold? It would seem difficult to put together a band in each city without knowing people in advance. It would seem to me you would need an advance scout to set up housing, practice space, recording time, etc. Talk about how you pulled this off.
CHARLIE FAYE
Every city was a different story. A few places I chose because I had always wondered what it would be like to live there, or I had heard great things about the local music scene. One town I chose because a great venue offered me a residency there, another because I had a friend in radio who was going to let me guest-DJ at the station. And a few times, decisions were weighted one way or the other because of the weather that time of year.
I didn’t have contacts in most of the cities, initially. But I would put out the word to my friends before I went. I’d post on facebook “Next month, Burlington, VT. Anyone know anyone I should hang out with?” And responses would start rolling in. The bands came together similarly. I have a great (and now even greater) musical community and network. A friend of mine, a drummer from Austin, recommended a drummer in Nashville. An Austin friend who used to live in L.A. suggested an entire band there for me. But sometimes, I just end up playing with the people I meet when I get there. In Nashville, for instance, I ran into a guitar player whose name I had heard at a bar one night. We started talking, and he was drunk and funny and insisted that he should play a gig with me. So I hired him.
Housing I tried to set up mostly in advance. Most months I had my own place, and I’m thankful for that. I do a lot of socializing and going out and hanging out with new people – so when I am at home, I really want to feel like I have my own space. It’s been good for my writing, too. Some towns, I found a sublet through friends. Before I went to Tucson, I emailed the owner of a yoga studio asking about classes, and telling her what I was doing there for the month. She emailed me back with the class schedule, and said she would have loved to come to my shows but she was going to be in India studying with the Iyengars for the entire month. Need anyone to sublet your place? I asked. So I ended up with a great little adobe in Barrio Viejo. In L.A., a friend of a friend was going to be out of town for the month recording in the Bahamas with Iron Maiden. So I subletted his place in Culver City, which also happened to be housing for the Munchkins while MGM was filming the Wizard of Oz!
Some of the song recordings were planned more in advance, but many came together at the last minute. I’ve learned to have faith that something will come through, and that will be the right thing, and sometimes it ends up being more amazing than you possibly could have planned.
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How did you finance the tour? Monthly recording costs on top of normal touring costs seem burdensome.
CHARLIE FAYE
Oh yeah. This was the hardest part of the tour. I have to be honest and tell you that I accumulated some serious credit card debt this year. Gas, food, musicians, studio time, it all adds up and the gigs this year didn’t pay enough to cover it. I accepted a couple loans, which was hard for me. It’s really important to me to feel independent and self-sufficient. But it’s also really important to me to do what I love and what I know I’m meant to do. So I have to learn how to accept help when I need it, and be thankful and gracious that there are people out there who believe in me enough to offer it.
I recently started a Kickstarter Page to give people a chance to help out with the making of the 10 Towns record, which I hope will come out next Spring. Kickstarter is really an amazing site — it connects artists with the people who want to support the arts. If you’re interested in getting involved in some cool projects, check it out! I’m offering some pretty cool packages as prizes.
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I’ve got to agree with you there. I was one of the first people to contribute. I hope everyone takes a moment to check out your Kickstarter page.
Did you find time to write new songs during the tour along with all the other musical, social, and administrative activities?
CHARLIE FAYE
I sure did. I’ve written a lot on this tour. Some months more than others. Burlington was a really prolific time for me. I loved my house there, there was something really magical about it. And I got really sick for a few days, which put me in the habit of staying home. Being banished to the house, as long as I’m not feeling depressed, can spur a lot of writing.
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What is your favorite city? Experience? Musician?
That’s tough. You’re going to make me play favorites? I can, but I’m sure I’ll get blasted for it. My favorite towns were Tucson, Burlington, and Nashville. I loved Boulder too. And in Milwaukee I made a few incredible friends who I know I’ll be in touch with forever. There are people in each town who will always hold a special place in my heart. My heart feels pretty full. In most places, I found a best friend for the month – a particular person who I met and connected with who really opened their life up to me. It’s strange, being a person who they know is only around for that short time. Sometimes people are able to be more open than they would be with someone who’s already a witness to their lives and a member of their community.
My favorite experience? Impossible. Favorite musicians? I would have to make you a long-ass list.
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What about the downside of the tour?
CHARLIE FAYE
Well, it meant that I was away from Austin for almost a whole year. I felt like I lost touch with friends at home, being on the road for so long. I think, also, in the back of my mind, I was afraid of being forgotten, or being replaced.
I’ve had to say a lot of goodbyes this year – more and more goodbyes at the close of each month. A month is just long enough to form real relationships with people, to finally feel like you have real friends. And then, it’s time to leave. That’s not easy.
There really haven’t been a lot of downsides, though. I was tired sometimes. I felt down sometimes. But that’s just part of the natural rhythm of things, I think, no matter what you’re doing. And the tough moments were completely outweighed by the incredible experience of the whole thing.
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What would you like to share with your fellow musicians about your adventure?
CHARLIE FAYE
I would really love to connect all the people I’ve met this year with each other. I’ve been thinking about how to formally do that. In the meanwhile, if you’re going to any of these places, and need a guitar player, or a radio contact, or just a great person to go grab a bite to eat with, email me! I love being a people-connector, and I have met so many wonderful people.
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Would you do it again?
Oh god. Don’t even talk about it. I am finally almost done with this monster of a tour, and guess what? I’m planning on hitting the road again in February. As far as another month-in-each-town tour, I could be interested in doing something similar again, in a couple years from now — internationally.
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That would be fantastic. I’d like to remind you what an international city Knoxville is.
Find out more about Charlie at charliefaye.com. Watch her Kickstarter project video now.
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