Circles: Interviewing Jenny Dalton (first of two parts...)

Hello. Today we're interviewing the singer-songwriter-musician-poet Jenny Dalton. I'm going to try not to take up too much of her valuable creative time, which is one reason we're splitting this interview into two parts. I'll be asking Jenny a few brief questions today and tomorrow.

First, I would like to make an observation directly to Jenny. The one thing that bothers me when I read articles about you is that you're generally compared to a small and select group of women musicians. That's fine, but let me make an exception to this...

I like the way you use humor, for example, at the end of the song Snow Mazes of Norway. This reminds me of Paul Simon. And there's something in your storytelling, on a song like Dear Paul, that reminds me of the late Jim Croce. Maybe it's just because of his song These Dreams, or maybe it's something more.

But let's start...

Is it true that you're a self-taught piano player or is this a web-fostered myth?

JD: It's fully true that I am self-taught. I still don't consider myself a real musician because I don't know how to read music or even tell my band what key a song is in. I took a 30-minute piano lesson once when I was in high school and couldn't handle it because, by that time, I was playing classical pieces by ear. I had no patience for Mary had a Little Lamb.

Do you take after anyone in your family in terms of your musical and creative talents and abilities?

JD: Not really. As far as I know, there are no other songwriters in my family. I think I was a genetic fluke! My dad and brother were both drummers, so I think I have a higher appreciation for percussion than most people because of that. Maybe that's also why I love the piano so much: it's both melodic and percussive.

How important is it to you to have your own independent career as opposed to, for example, being a single member of a relatively successful band?

JD: I'm not good at being in other band projects. My brain just won't let me work that way. I can improvise well enough, but I have no memory for what I play or for other people's song structures. It's kind of weird. So I have no choice but to do my own thing. And as far as the industry goes, I also have no choice but to do my own thing. Until the larger record label infrastructures figure out how to successfully deal with the changing landscapes, I think I'm on my own. I kind of like it that way though for now.

The writer John L. Parker, Jr. has indicated that for the true runner, running is as important as life itself. I get the feeling that this is the way you feel about music. Am I correct?

JD: Absolutely. I hate to think of who I'd be without the music. I know that while I was pursuing a more "standard" life track and ignoring the music part of myself, I felt really sick and imbalanced. It's so, so, so important to listen to the gut. If I didn't, I'd probably be a very unhappy, estranged girl by now. Despite the moodiness of my music, I'm actually a happy person.

These are the first four questions we had for Jenny, and we hope we've peaked your interest! We have five additional questions for her tomorrow, including two or three unique - we hope - questions.


http://jennydaltonmusic.blogspot.com

The Question of Favorite Music... (Part III)

Memories...

Music has been called the soundtrack of our lives and we tend to both like and remember songs that we associate with new and special events. In my case, for purposes of illustration, when I think of my first date I hear To Sir With Love by Lulu; first high school dance, Mr. Soul by Buffalo Springfield; first college party, Born On The Bayou by Creedence Clearwater Revival; first USC baseball game, Y.M.C.A. by The Village People; and the most recent wedding that Mrs. Bear and I attended, At Last by Etta James.

We also like songs that remind us of particular places. One morning I got off of a plane in Tucson, and as I climbed into the rental car and turned on the radio I heard Linda Ronstadt singing her cover version of Chuck Berry's Back in the U.S.A. Yes, she is in fact the "local girl made good" in Tucson, but I'll never be able to hear this cover without picturing a bright, sunny, morning in southern Arizona.

Similarly, to this day some of us visualize southern California when we hear the Beach Boys... Interestingly, Metro Media Radio's Million Dollar Weekends in the Southland always began with a Beach Boys song and the phrase: The Beach Boys are southern California, and southern California is the Beach Boys!

In My Life

Each year I used to visit a cousin in Palo Alto, California during the Christmas break period. That's when we would drive our bikes to White Front to buy the latest Beatle album. This is why, to this day, whenever I hear Beatles '65, Beatles VI, or Rubber Soul, I'm transported back to the clear and clean streets of P.A. and nowhere else. And this is probably why these are my favorite Beatle albums.

Invincible

The smart people who make movies, of course, know all about the connections we make between what we see (the visual) and what we hear (the audio). They understand that if viewing a select film is pleasurable, we'll want to own the music we associate with the positive visual images. The music then serves as the literal soundtrack of an acquired - if artificial - life.

I've Got A Name

What's quite amazing to me is how a film can not only cement our musical preferences - and don't we feel superior when one of our favorite songs is used in a film - but it can also cause us to re-examine and even reverse our preferences...

I was never much of a fan of the music of Jim Croce. That is, until I saw the film Invincible... The movie begins with Croce's I've Got A Name being played behind the highly visual opening scene. As soon as the film finished, I decided I wanted to hear more of Croce's work.

So today it is not unusual for me to play Mrs. Bear's copy of his original greatest hits CD. I'm also considering adding the new remastered and expanded 20-track collection of Croce's best to our music collection.

What a turnaround: I went from dis-interested to being interested and now very interested simply because a Jim Croce song was used in a key scene of an inspiring film!

Photographs and Memories

Jim Croce's music happened to be included on the soundtrack because he was born and raised in Philadelphia, and Invincible is the true story of Vince Papale, who went from East Philly bartender to member of the Philadelphia Eagles football team. On such a slim reed, I rediscovered and finally heard Croce's fine music.

Next in this series: How movies have heightened and revived musical careers and legends.