This week we're opening up the chute for the amazingly talented, Terri Hendrix!
Photo Credit : Kim Maguire
Hi Terri.
After a few
years of back and forth emails, a faithful reader of GoatNotes and promoting
your gigs here in KellysCountry, I am honored to have you as a guest. Thank you
for joining me today.
Thank you for your support. It means a whole
lot to me. People like you help keep people like me afloat in a wild business.
I sincerely appreciate it.
1 – To say you’ve had a hell of a year is
an understatement. Lots of people have those periods in their life. How have
you pushed through to keep this project on track?
I wanted to quit several times. But I just
could not. I’m not sure why. The book is the hardest. I suffer from memory loss
due to seizures. My sister helped me with my past. She would help me remember
our childhood. Some stuff I remember and some stuff I don't. Anyway, I am
making my way through that final piece of this project. I will not quit. I owe
it to you. I owe it to those that pre-ordered, and I owe it to the OYOU. I have
a reputation to uphold.
2 – Talk To A Human is an incredible work
of art. You seem to have the innate ability of getting your message across in
such a way that folks ‘get it’, probably more so than if you spelled everything
out for them. For those who are a bit more dense, what is the undercurrent of
this album?
Thank you so much. “WASP” bounces off “Woman
(Who is Ann P5.4) and “WASP” bounces off “Texas Star” (Love You Strong P5.1).
“Talk to a Human” ties the record aspect of this project in a bow. It’s the
bookend to “Love you Strong.”
3 – You carry a variety of musical styles
in your arsenal. Who were and are some of your influences?
Man oh man. I am a serious music fan. On
this computer alone I have 26,000 songs. I used to have over 10,000 CDs but they were stolen when I moved to
where I am now.
Country Blues for fingerpicking … Happy
Traum
Sonny Terry for harp Paul Simon and John Prine and Nanci Griffith
and Mary Chapin and Indigo Girls for music A3 for production and style
4 – I knew before I even looked at the
One-Sheet, there were going to be some heavy hitter names on the credits list.
Aside from the incredibly talented Lloyd Maines, what were you looking for in
the artists you chose?
People I had worked with a long time. All of
us in those liner notes go back a decade plus. Lloyd and I are in our 22nd
year of working with one another
5 – Most artists release an album then move
on to something that may or may not be similar to the previous. You, however,
work in projects, releasing in parts over a period of time. Would you tell us a
little about your thought process behind ‘projects’ vs ‘singular project’?
Project was cohesively linking subject
matters and bypassing genres. CD and all singular album is like my Kid’s Record
and a classic country album we record this year or early next year. I genre hop
all the time. The Project 5 collection was more thematically linked
6 – Songwriters are a special breed. Really
good ones are rare. Have you always been a songwriter and what do you think
makes a really good song?
A really good song comes from the heart. I’ve
heard really good songs from people that have an idea and don't know how to
play it. I’m a bad one to ask about that. If a person finishes a song, they
win. If they never try to write one, I think they are missing out in life.
I started writing songs when I was in 4th
grade. I never stopped. I read once where Suzanne Vega said great songs read
well. I think she is onto something there. Well, depending on your style.
7 - For those not
familiar with your passion - OYOU, would you tell us a little about the
non-profit and why it’s important to you?
The mission of the
OYOU ("Own Your Own Universe" 501(c)(3) nonprofit) is to make
the arts accessible to everyone. Our events empower and transform lives by
connecting the mind, body, and spirit, through music and the creative arts. We
host a variety of workshops and events that champion diversity and inclusiveness.
October 6th, we will host the 2nd annual art and music
festival that features women I music. It’s important to me because the OYOU is
making a difference in this world. It changes lives. I’ve seen it happen.
8 - If you could see one change in our
world, what would you want to see?
Kindness. It all starts and ends with
kindness. It should be demanded that all those in public office be kind or lose
their job. Bullying is obvious.
Let's give a listen to Terri Hendrix:
You will find Terri Hendrix on a wide variety of social media platforms:
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