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Slaid Cleaves
The Man Behind the
Music
By Miss Lana
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Miss Lana & Slaid Cleaves
Photo taken by Michael Johnson |
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There is quite a history of how Slaid Cleaves found his way to
Austin, Texas nine years ago. His love and interest in music came at
the early age of three when he played Beatles' records on his toy flip-top
phonograph. His childhood memories also include listening to the
music of Hank Williams, The Louvin Brothers, Johnny Cash and Woody
Guthrie, just to name a few, with his parents, Craiger and Jenny
Cleaves. He grew up on roots country and folk music, and his dad
played the guitar around the house when he was kid. Slaid still
plays with that guitar today.
Growing up in a small town in Maine, he started out singing on
the streets of Cork, Ireland while attending college there in 1985.
In 1989, he returned to the states and formed the Moxie Men who toured the
New England area. In 1991, Slaid and his fiancee', Karen, made the
decision to promote his music in a more music-minded area so they headed
to Austin, Texas, where they have lived for the past nine years. In
1992, Slaid won the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival,
and he is now a regular main stage performer at this festival. Slaid
self produced his first three albums before signing with Rounder Records
in 1996. His new album released in June of 1999, "Broke Down", took
him on a tour of 35 states and 5 countries since January of this
year. He now sings both solo and with his band.
It was a true pleasure to talk with this talented young man and get his perspective on his music and his career, which is really just beginning to blossom after fifteen years of paying his dues. It proves that even when you have extraordinary talent, as Slaid does, it still doesn't come easy. I'd like to share some excerpts from an interview I had with Slaid Cleaves on September 8, 2000. Miss Lana: What area of the U.S. do you get the most response from your fans?
Slaid: Texas, I would have to say Texas. Texas is
proud of their music, and it has a big following. That's the reason
we moved here, and I had to start over again and just try to get
noticed. But luckily, my music fits in with Texas music, and I've
been able to do some things. Radio in Texas is so great, too, that
helps a lot. You don't have a lot of radio stations that will play
this type of music in the rest of the country like they do in Texas.
That exposure really helps.
Miss Lana: Now you've been to Europe before. How do they react to you there?
Slaid: Well, I think my "Americanness" is more of a draw
than anything else, kind of a cult thing. They are curious about the
whole western life style, western movies, western music, the whole western
thing...they're just really curious.
Miss Lana: What was the last CD you listened to?
Slaid: Hmm...Rod Moag. You know Rod? Rod is a
language professor at UT. He just recorded a Texas swing CD but it's
not released yet. It's a great CD.
Miss Lana: Who's your favorite artist right now? Slaid: I do have one. Mary Gauthier, You know Mary? She's a singer/songwriter originally from Louisiana, now lives in Boston. She's been called the female Steve Earle and even the Townes Van Zandt of her generation. She honors the truth of her songs. But my favorite Texas artist right now is Adam Carroll.
Miss Lana: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years
musically, career-wise?
Slaid: Musically? Oh, career wise? I don't usually think that far ahead. I've lost money every year, and I've lost more money this year than ever. So I'm just hoping to get some bills paid off soon. The sale of this record (Broke Down) has been pretty good, so I'm just hoping for some mailbox money later in the year to help pay some of the bills. That'd be nice.
Miss Lana: What advice would you give to a new artist
getting into the music business?
Slaid: Jokingly, he mused, "Quit now before you waste ten years of your life." Then more seriously he adds, "I can only look back at what's worked for me...just stubbornness, determination, being willing to do it and not have success for a long time. If the music itself keeps you going, then you'll keep going. If you're doing it for other reasons like for the fame, or the money or glory, it doesn't last very long. If the music really enriches your life and you have the determination to keep doing it, you'll survive. I don't know how far you'll go, but you'll survive...you'll survive." Miss Lana: Do you think being listed as an Americana artist limits the airplay your records get? Slaid: No, it definitely increases the airplay I get. Because before there was a label called Americana, nobody knew what to do with a record like mine, it just didn't fit all the regular categories, so I got no airplay. And now that there is a category, I get some airplay. I like to think of Americana as sort of the "mongrel" category. It's not pure anything it's not pure folk, it's not pure rock or pure folk or pure blues - it draws on all those styles. It's about time somebody made it official and made it its own category.
Miss Lana: If you could thank one person who has
supported you in your music career, who would that person be and
why?
Slaid: Somebody that's helped me a lot recently is Ray Wylie Hubbard actually. He had me do a bunch of opening shows for him in Europe and also in the U.S. and he's a role model for me. Not only in the way he writes and sings and plays and deals with an audience, but in the way he deals with people in his professional and personal life. He's just a good person. He's been very generous with his time and his thoughts, and he was very encouraging to me when nobody else knew who I was in Austin. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Man, you've really got something there, you need to keep at it". I was just starting out, so it really meant a lot to me. Miss Lana: What's your favorite venue in Texas that you've played so far?
Slaid: Gruene Hall is pretty far up there, it's a classic.
It's always good and sometimes it's really great. Sometimes we play
for four hours and I want to keep playing, it's amazing.
Miss Lana: What inspires your songwriting? Slaid: I have to give my buddies credit. A bunch of those songs I wrote with friends. I wrote a few on my own, but the majority I wrote with other people and there's a couple I didn't even write on my record so I do know how to pick good songs (laughing). Like Hank Williams, he didn't write a lot of his songs, but he knew how to pick an awesome song - like "Lovesick Blues", "Lost Highway" and "Settin' the Woods on Fire". I couldn't believe that he didn't write those-they're such great songs. Miss Lana: "Horseshoe Lounge" & "Broke Down" are two great songs, in my opinion. There's got to be something that inspires that kind of writing though. Can you tell me what it is?
Slaid:
Yeah, uh...desperation. I wrote "Broke Down" with Rod Picott who I've known since the third grade, and I wrote
"Horseshoe Lounge"
with Karen Poston who I've known since I moved to Austin nine years
ago. Both Rod and Karen and myself have been struggling for a long
time. When you struggle that long and you start writing a new
song...you know, you want to write something that really moves people and
something that is different and unique and really says what you want to
say in the most powerful way. You want to try to be powerful in song
writing, as powerful as the music that moved us to be writers, that really
gave us something to believe in when we were starting out. So I
think, when I look back on the songs on the record, I'm proud of those
songs and the contributions I made to those songs. You know, you
asked the question, "How do you get that kind of writing?" It's out
of desperation, I think, a lot of hard work, self-evaluation,
self-criticism and just not settling for anything less than something
really great.
***
I had the pleasure of seeing Slaid with his band at the Rockin'
R in June. That was a real treat. I thought it rather ironic
that Slaid was working on his van that night when I arrived. As
Slaid says, "Broke down...again." He played with his band that night,
and they put on a noteworthy show.
But the concert I witnessed the Saturday night after I did this
interview was total greatness. Slaid Cleaves, solo, opening for Ray
Wylie Hubbard at the Trinity Coffee House in Fort Worth, a smoke and
alcohol free venue located at the Trinity Episcopal Church. That
night a little bit of heaven came down to earth in the spirit of Slaid
Cleaves' and Ray Wylie's music. You could hear a pin drop in that
room when the music started and ended and during every song in
between. And believe me, you wanted to hear every note played...it was
that great. The church was packed with people, and they were turning
more away at the door. The pastor made a brief appearance before the
crowd to tell us they would have seating available for the 8:30 am show in
the morning (which was Sunday morning). Laughter filled the
room.
Slaid opened the show with "No Angel Knows", the title track of
his third CD, his debut album with Philo/Rounder released in February
1997. Horseshoe Lounge was next, which is one of my favorites.
Buddy Holly's "Well Allright" was his next song, which he said was his
first song as a professional musician. Before he played "Broke
Down", he explained to the audience that they learned "Broke Down" was not
a good name for a concert tour and next time maybe they would call it
"Getting Gigs" or "Making Money". The next song in the set was
"Horses and Divorces", the only song Slaid has written since the Broke
Down album which Slaid jokingly says, at that rate his next CD release
should be around 2009. This is a funny song with some "real life"
lyrics inspired by his parents' neighbor, Willie, who Slaid says gave him
the inspiration for this song in a fifteen minute conversation at his
parent's house one day. "Cold and Lonely" was next, a tune off his
"Broke Down" CD, a dark song with no glimmer of hope. "New Years
Day", "Breakfast in Hell", "Don't Tell Me It's Allright" and "Key Chain"
were the last four songs of the set. He had the audience join in to
help with "Breakfast in Hell" singing the "umphs" and "ahs" for background
effects as he sang the lyrics. What a great job Slaid did on this
song. Slaid was cheered back on stage by the standing-room only
crowd and came back with "This Morning I am Born Again". The lyrics
of this song were originally written by Woody Guthrie. Slaid
created the music for the song and included it on his new album.
Before he left the stage, Slaid thanked the crowd and said smiling, "Ray
told me this was going to be a great gig."
Both gentlemen were totally worthy of praise for their individual performances. However, when Slaid, Ray Wylie and Lindy Hearne collaborated on the encore, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and Slaid broke into the harmony while all three guitars wailed out the music, I really thought I had died and gone to heaven. Or at the very least, God was smiling down on us that night. Slaid Cleaves has proved that he's in it for the long run, and his music will endure the test of time. He's one of those imported Yanks that we're damned glad to call a Texan and a Texas music artist, with the key word here being artist. Slaid Cleaves is a true artist in every sense of the word. He is not just a songwriter. He performs his music as well as he writes it, and he does it all with the true conviction and dedication that it takes to be a successful artist in any field. Slaid has written some interesting stories that are on his web site that will give you more insight to the man behind the music. There are stories about "The Perfect Gig" (great reading), his day job (which he recently gave up, by the way, but is very interesting reading), "An Early Start", a nice insight to his early years, and "My Real Name" (funny).
Log on to www.slaid.com, you'll be glad you
did.
Written
by Lana Hughes, September 2000
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