Woodlawn Theatre + David Wilcox Interview:
David Wilcox is a singer/songwriter. Playing at WoodLawn Theatre Friday, April 12, 2024.
I’ve been a fan of David Wilcox since I first heard “Leave it Like it Is.” I think a friend of mine played a recording of it for me in college and shortly after, we got tickets to see him at the Handle Bar in Greenville, SC. That would have been around 2002. There was just something about his songwriting and his storytelling that was so compelling to me - like any great music (or sitcom or drama), his stories spoke to the interconnectedness and common sharing of the human experience.
Will Mason: Vulnerability is such a big part of songwriting - you’re putting a piece of yourself out there for public consumption. People might hate it, they might love it, but they’re definitely going to see a part of you that many others would be reluctant to show. Do you ever write something that feels ‘too vulnerable’ to share, or at this point in your career and life, have you reached a place of such security in yourself that you don’t even have that concern anymore?
David Wilcox: No - if you’re telling most of the truth, then you have a vulnerability. If you’re telling the whole truth, you’re safe.
WM: OK, guitar player question here - I remember teaching myself the main riff for ‘leave it like it is’ in standard tuning - BEFORE I realized that you were using an open tuning (cue me re-learning it for the next 2 days). Your songs all have such interesting guitar parts - I wonder how much of your writing starts as a guitar part and gets developed from there (vs a melody or lyric that gets music added to support it)? Do you have a well worn path for songwriting, or are you a rudderless ship waiting on a breeze to pick the direction?
David Wilcox: Leave it like it is actually in regular tuning - you know, sometimes you go all around the world and wind up back where you started. (laughing) I do have a well worn path - I know my way around at this point. If I know the heart of a song, if I know what it feels like, then I can find a way to make it work. That’s more about the lyrics, but you’re talking about guitar parts - does a song start as a guitar part? the best songs do, yeah. They usually start as a whole other tuning.
WM: Okay… well now I am going to have to go learn it again… for the third time.
WM: I read somewhere that you actually enjoy the process of being in the middle of writing a song more than the process of finishing a song - what kind of masochist are you? (Kidding) but seriously? I write some myself and being halfway through for me is where all of my best ideas die - any advice for taking a song from halfway through to the finish line?
David Wilcox: For me, songwriting has been a path of knowing my heart. It’s been a path of opening a channel for communication between heart and mind, and that’s the best thing I’ve gotten from songwriting my whole life. The part that you keep.
WM: OK, tell me about the week with you in Tuscany- but don’t tell my wife, she reaalllly loves to travel and Italy is on the list… What will people do with David Wilcox in Italy for a week?
David Wilcox: Yes, it’s lovely - come on. You ride bikes, you listen to music, you have great food, it’s a beautiful setting, it’s lovely.
WM: Growing up, who were you listening to? What influences can you hear in your music?
David Wilcox: I was listening to Joni Mitchell, well I was also listening to Sly and The Family Stone, depends how far back you want to go. I was listening to a lot of motown. That was the first music I listened to when I was in third grade. Before that, it was just what was being played around the house, which was a lot of interesting stuff.
WM: So our friends at Mason Music teach 1,000 music students a week here in Birmingham - any words of wisdom to share with young learners? What advice would you give to someone wanting to write songs (whether professionally or just for personal enjoyment)? How did you learn?
David Wilcox: I would reverse engineer songs that you love - take them apart and find out how they work. As a matter of fact, I would change them so they don’t work and find out why. That’s the whole thing about learning from a song that you love. Try changing it and find out why it’s not as good.
WM: You’ve been fortunate enough to have a career that spans many decades. You’ve been a touring musician through some major industry and social changes relating to our consumption of recorded and live music - from vinyl to tape to CD to streaming, from Napster to Itunes to Spotify, and now pre-pandemic to post pandemic - how have you preserved the fundamental heart of storytelling in your music and live shows as the world around you has changed so much?
David Wilcox: Well, what I wanted from music originally was for it to surprise me, for it to be my teacher, for it to be a way that I become more alive in every aspect of my life. So, I wasn’t after the music, I was after using music as a microcosm to understand my own sort of navigation system - my internal life guidance because my heart was most changed by music. I could use music as sort of an early detection knowing when my life was changing and follow that change.
WM: With 17 (or more depending on how you count the collections and live releases) albums under your belt - I’m sure you’ve approached the recording process a number of different ways. I read that you recorded “Turning Point” in a log cabin behind your house - That sounds like a dream to me. Is there an album that stands out as your favorite PROCESS (not necessarily your favorite PRODUCT) and why?
David Wilcox: Yeah, it’s a great studio. I’ve built a lot of wonderful studios, but we keep moving - it’s a drag… anyway
My favorite process would probably be “Revery.” That was a record that I recorded with a live audience, but in a studio. So there were two sets of mics. In the studio there were these great tube mics that were going to the multitrack. But, there was also the stage mics that were going to the PA speakers, but the PA speakers were not up by the stage, they were at the back of the room and they were set pretty low. The goal was - the people at the front could hear me pretty well acoustically, and the people at the back had a little boost so it was the same volume everywhere in the room and that meant there wasn’t a lot of ambient echoey sound, so it made for a great studio recording but we had the energy of the live audience.
WM: In preparing for this interview, I was listening to some live recordings on youtube and came across your live performance at the Camp House in Chattanooga recording on youtube and one of the comments really stood out to me. Usually the youtube comment section isn’t exactly a shining example of dignified dialogue, but today it was. @duffwoodside4108 says “I'd like to volunteer for some musical therapy. Today is the 2nd anniversary of my wife's death. This particular recording (the live video) has helped me through the pain, but anniversaries are for reflection. Thank God for David's gift of words and music.” I haven’t experienced what this person has, but I immediately felt this camaraderie and connectedness when I read that, listening to your music as the soundtrack. What does it mean to you to know that your music has played such an important role in someone else’s life?
David Wilcox: Fascinating question. I try to imagine that we’re talking about someone else’s music. It helps me respect music and know that it’s powerful. But it keeps me from taking it personally and as if it’s coming from me.
WM: What can your Birmingham fans look forward to at your upcoming show at Woodlawn Theatre?
David Wilcox: I will follow the energy of the night - so if they bring great energy and heart and expect their lives to be changed, they will be changed (laughing). That’s all.
David Wilcox is a singer/songwriter. Playing at WoodLawn Theatre Friday, April 12, 2024, 8:00 PM. Advanced general admission is $30.