Bonus Post: Interview Part I
Origins
Today, I’m sharing something a little different. I was interviewed by a singer-songwriter named Joseph from a forum for songwriters in which we’re both members. We talked about how I got started, my creative process, and what’s next. In “Part I” we talk about how I got started as a songwriter. In “Part II” we’ll talk about my influences, my goals, and what I’m working on these days. I hope you enjoy this peek behind the curtain!
Q1. Vicki, what inspired you to start writing your own songs?
I loved singing as far back as I can remember. I had always assumed the ability to write songs was something a person was born with. If they weren’t born with it, they didn’t have it. Period. When I was in college, I “accidentally” wrote a song—in retrospect, not a very good one, but I impressed myself! I figured it was a fluke. And about that time I set a poem (by someone else) to music. Another fluke, right? That was about 1973. Then, in about 1976 or 1977, I wrote a couple more songs. One was a memorial to a friend who had been killed in a car accident. Another was setting words to a quote from the Bahá’í Faith to music. There may have been one or two other insignificant songs in the 1970s, but each time I considered it a one-off and that I really didn’t know how to write songs, that I wasn’t born with that ability.
“The Mark of the Chains” was written in 1993. I think “Awakening” and maybe a few others were written in the 1990s, as well.
Basically, I really wanted to be a songwriter, but I didn’t believe I was born with the talent (there’s a difference between talent—what you’re born with—and skill—what you deliberately develop through practice). I believed songwriters were born, not made. I expected my dream of being a songwriter would always be out of reach. That changed in about 2013/2014 when I took a free online class offered by the Berklee School of Music. It isn’t available anymore, unfortunately, so I caught it at the right time. In that class I learned there are tools a person can use for writing songs. That set me off and I’ve become much more prolific—and deliberate—since then.
Q2. In early 2020, you released a very beautiful ballad titled “One More Time”. Your lovely voice in the song is reminiscent of the late Karen Carpenter. How did the track come together creatively?
Thank you for the compliments! Being compared to Karen Carpenter is an honor. This song was triggered by death. My good friend and first college roommate died in March of 2019. Then one of my favorite old boyfriends died in June the same year. In both cases, I had strongly believed I would see them one more time. I had been encouraging my old roommate to come to a reunion each time one came around and I was sure she would eventually show up. The old boyfriend lived in an area where I knew he would sometimes be shopping in the same town I did, so I figured it was inevitable I would eventually run into him. Neither one ever happened. The song originally came together fairly quickly and I recorded it (Boydie did the production) for an album. Later, I had it critiqued by a professional songwriter and I made changes to it as a result. So there are two versions of that one.
Q3. How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you sing or perform before?
When asked this question, I usually say I sing mostly folk and/or sixties style of music. Which is also the style I write. I’ve tried to break out of that mold, but even when I am careful about trying a new genre, by the time it’s finished, it ends up the same old same old.
Q4. You also released another great track, “The Mark of the Chains”, produced by Paul Boyd (Boydie), and featuring your very cool vocals. Can you share how the song came to be, the meaning behind it, and what it was like to work with Boydie?
As I mentioned earlier, I actually wrote that one in the 1990s, before I really got going with writing. I just sat down one day, determined to write something rooted in my Bahá’í Faith...and in a minor key. The Prophet/Founder of the Bahá’í Faith is Bahá’u’lláh, Who was imprisoned for years in a terrible prison and He was made to wear heavy chains that left dents in his shoulders that never totally went away. So I envisioned that reality and the song grew out of it.
Working with Boydie is so easy. I gave him a track that I had done of the song (it had guitar and cymbals for backup) and he came up with a beautiful setting for it. Then I put his setting in my DAW and sang along with it. Singing with a great setting like that inspires my singing! Then I sent him my vocal tracks (I did the lead and the harmonies) and he mixed it all together. Funny story: I had been playing the wrong chords in one or two spots. For years. Until Boydie did the production. I argued with him at first, and he said what I wanted him to do didn’t make sense and wouldn’t fit. So I listened again and, sure enough, he was right.
To be continued—watch for Part II on March 13:
“Influences, Goals and What’s Next”
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🎶 This is a bonus post in my Songwriter Safari series
If you know a singer-songwriter who’d be a great fit for a future spotlight, email me at lateblooming@substack.com.
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