Interview with Jon Randall (October 19, 2005)
By M. MacPherson, Editor
Jon Randall recently released his fourth CD, “Walking Among the Living.” Currently, on tour with Vince Gill, he took time out for an interview with North Country Music. Randall wrote or co-wrote all but one of the songs on the CD and has
written many other songs for himself and other performers. Songwriting is clearly a passion with Randall and quickly became the focus of the interview.
Q: What is the writing process like? Do you just decide today I’m going to write a song? Do you get an idea and then sit down to write?
Randall: “For me it works both ways. If I tell myself ok I have to write a song today, I won’t get anything accomplished. I can’t pressure myself into it. The best songs I’ve written are the ones where I was just sitting around strumming on my guitar and a little melody starts, it seems like the first line of a song and I don’t really even know its about to become a song. It’s weird, yet those are my favorite ones—they come from a burst of creative energy! You kind of start with the first chord and the first line on the song comes out and you really don’t know what the song is going to be about until you get to the foot. These are the best ones for me, because they tend to be really honest and, I don’t know, it’s like subconsciously you had something that needed to be said.”
Q: Is it different when you write with someone else?
Randall: “Co-writing is a completely different system. It’s interesting with different songwriters because every one of them approaches songwriting in different ways, they get to the same result, but there’s a hundred ways to get to that result. So I might get together with a co-writer and say something like “Hey, this might be a really great idea to write something about”--or visa versa – someone will come in the door with a great idea. You put it together as a partnership and that’s a completely different process.”
Q: You have written songs with a great many songwriters. Is there someone you particularly enjoy collaborating with?
Randall: “Well there are a handful of people I really enjoy co-writing with. When I signed my publishing deal I was really trying to find some new people to write with. It’s hard. You get people, and no offense to Nashville, but everyone is trying to write the next big hit. A lot of times, the very thing that makes a great song gets lost, which is the honesty. What really drives me crazy is when someone says “that’s a really great line, but I don’t thing anyone will sing it,” it’s not commercial, radio won’t play it. That makes me so mad because I think the whole craft suffers when you bring that kind of attitude in. I stay away from those people as co-writers.
“Bill Anderson obviously is not afraid to write anything (Randall co-wrote the Brad Paisley/Alison Krause hit, “Whiskey Lullaby” with Anderson) and I love writing with Bill because he’s an old school country songwriter. I learn something from him every time we get together. He approaches the craft with such an old school system you know. I love writing with Gary Nicholson (they co-wrote several songs on the new Randall CD). I love the songs I wrote with him. He’s got such a great energy, a great soul about him. We kind of hear things the same way. There are a couple of guys that just didn’t end up on this record. I’ve been writing with Guy Clark for a couple of years. He’s one of my heroes. I just love writing with Guy, we wrote a handful of tunes and he put two of them on his record. They were the two I wanted to put on mine (laughing)!”
Q: Do you write a song with a performer in mind or do you think about who might want the song after it’s done?
Randall: “The Nashville songwriting people will sometimes come out and say “were looking for songs for so-and-so” and everyone tries to get together and write a song in that style. That’s never worked for me the few times I’ve tried it and I don’t necessarily know that that’s the reason to write a song. I think, you know, that we get surprised as songwriters all the time. We bash everything that comes out that we hear (lots of laughing), “I could have written that” or “Who wrote that – that’s terrible!” But every now and then a song comes along that is just amazing. It was sitting in the songwriter’s bottom drawer that he never played for anyone but someone got a hold of. Take that song, “Here I Am” that Patty Loveless recorded that Arata wrote, that’s kind of a case in point. That was one his art pieces that the publishers weren’t into. Patty heard it and said I’ve got to record that. It’s an amazing song. But it’s hard to write for people.”
Q: Do you find it harder to write in Nashville where there are so many people doing it?
Randall: “Well, I think it just depends on who hears the song at the right time. It’s a tough question. These artists are just bombarded with songs and I really don’t know. I’m so into artist mode right now that I’m a little removed from what’s going on in Nashville.”
Q: There are several songs on the new CD with harmony from a variety of country stars – Patty Loveless, Alison Krause – and you do harmony on several other new albums, like Trisha Yearwood’s new CD, “Jasper County” (Randall sings with Yearwood in “Baby Don’t You Let Go”). Anyone you really like singing with?
Randall: “I love singing with Patty Loveless. She’s fantastic and we’ve recorded several duets together in the past. So when I wrote the song “I Shouldn’t Do This” I heard her singing in my head. I called her and begged her to come sing. I love singing with Patty. I love singing with Jessi Alexander. I’ve been singing with Sam Bush and John Callan for years. We were on the road together for a while and we really have a neat blend. I’ve been really lucky to have worked with some really great artists – I could pull some favors on my own record! (laughing)
Q: You co-produced the CD with George Massenburg?
Randall: “Yes. One of the great things about this record was the way we recorded it. George Massenburg is just an absolute genius in the studio. I had worked with him on another project for another artist. We recorded that sitting in a circle with no headphones, just playing and singing live. It was neat and sounded so warm. There was this ambience that you don’t get from a computer. So I wanted to record my own record that way – live, in a circle, everyone together – like they used to make records. Go for the live vocals, no over dubbed vocals, really going for the performance and it worked out so well that George just spent, I don’t even want to guess how much money, building a studio that is set up just to record in that way. He was so inspired by making this record that he built the studio where everyone was made to sit in one room without the headphones.”
Q: Don’t musicians and performers usually sit in separate room within most studios?
Randall: “Yes, and there is something to be said for that. The way Nashville makes records; they are always in a hurry (laughs). You separate everyone so you can’t hear everyone and some instruments won’t be heard over all the mikes, like the guitar won’t be heard over the bass player. So if the guitar player screws up, you go back and repair that part without everyone having to replay it. It makes sense and we’ve all made records like that forever. I just felt that personally since it was my record I just wanted to try something different. One, I thought it sounded better and two; I tend to lose something when I have to go back and sing on a track I recorded a week earlier. Or my head space changes and my phrasing changes when I’m not playing guitar. Its weird how different I am. I guess since I’ve performed live so much, it’s what I do best. That’s why we recorded everything live, because I think I give a better performance – get into the song a little deeper.”
You can hear and read about Jon Randall’s new CD “Walking Among the Living” on his website. Click here for a review of the CD. Click here for another article about Jon.
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