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Michael Conley (Warbling Creek Studios Episode)
2.4k Plays1 year ago
Michael Conley writes murder ballads, jukebox romances, and love songs in between.
Conley was in from Nashville and the SRTN hosted a magical set + interview from Warbling Creek Studios in Eugene, OR. This is something special.
Follow Michael on Instagram @isleepinmyjeans
Nothing Risked EP out now on all streaming platforms.
Recommended
Transcript
Life and Traditions Near Johnson's Creek
00:00:16
Speaker
I know all the rules around here Johnson's Creek floods twice a year We go dancing on Friday nights If Miller's drunk he'll start a fight Forty hours in
00:00:49
Speaker
And save my soul Forming on a factory line It keeps me fed most of the time And it might be a full disaster
00:01:19
Speaker
And you might see I have all I could ask for in life But nothing risked, nothing gained Half an acre piece of land A sheriff ends with my old man Business guitars on the porch
00:01:58
Speaker
And it might be a full disaster To live familiar with change And it might seem I have all I could ask for in life When nothing risked and nothing gained I was beyond the mountains
00:02:32
Speaker
Things I never know, things I've never seen, would I be fine?
00:03:06
Speaker
And I've no class since second grade And if I ask she'd take my name Raise her daughter and raise her son Just like my daddy and his daddy done And it might be a full disaster
00:03:43
Speaker
And it might seem I have all I could ask for in the light But nothing else and nothing gained And it might be a full disaster To say goodbye to all I've ever known And it might seem I have all I could
Introduction to 'Something Rather Than Nothing' Podcast
00:04:36
Speaker
This is Ken Volante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast, and we got a music episode, some of our favorite episodes we do here from Eugene, Oregon, otherwise known as Tracktown USA, also known as other nicknames. Warbling Creek Studio is our location today, a beautiful spot where the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast is put together
00:05:03
Speaker
created by the hands of Peter Bauer, and I'm your creator and host, Ken
Meet Michael Conley: Artist from Nashville
00:05:08
Speaker
Volante. We have Michael Conley in from Nashville. Recent release, nothing risked. So we got a good setup here, something rather than nothing and nothing risked with Michael Conley.
00:05:24
Speaker
Michael, I wanted to just start the conversation, write it off, and talk about you as an artist, your identity as an artist, musician. When did you see yourself as an artist, as a creator?
00:05:42
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. I've always been the creative type. Growing up, I drew a lot. I wanted to be a comic book artist when I was a kid. I played violin up until
00:05:57
Speaker
up until high school got into theater and Choir and then picked up guitar right out of high school and I've always had that creative itch I've never really I could never pinpoint of when I've considered myself an artist. I'm always self-reflecting on the
00:06:16
Speaker
the art that I am producing, whether or not it's good or whether or not it's bad, but the fact that I continue to strive and create and self-reflect is kind of how I approach that part of myself as a creator, as an artist.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah, in hearing about different ways of looking at art, I was thinking in audio and visual, and of course, lucky enough to hear the song that you played here, just a beautiful experience of listening to that sound and songwriting.
Artistic Integration: Audio and Visual Elements
00:06:57
Speaker
But also for you and with a visual and some of the things that you've encountered and looked at as far as visual arts,
00:07:05
Speaker
One of the things I found very interesting in doing the podcast is the primacy of the audio like in the podcast format and talking to folks who are really proficient and skilled in that but also hearing about like the visual aspects of how those things are keyed in as well. Do you feel in your creating particularly with your focus as a musician, you able to integrate both of those things that are important for you or do you feel sometimes you have to
00:07:36
Speaker
focus a little more on the sound, primarily as a musician.
00:07:42
Speaker
I have a very, the way that I write and the way that I play music, I don't, it's very interesting, my approach, because it's all encompassing in just my voice and my guitar. I don't have a really good sense as to production around it. I lean heavily on friends. And this is true of the past, in past bands that I've been in is where I,
00:08:10
Speaker
I can write a song, but I don't really have an understanding as to how to build that song out into
00:08:17
Speaker
into like the actual art of it. The production of it. I do not have an understanding of
Empathy and Storytelling in Art
00:08:24
Speaker
that. And when it comes to actual, the music part of it is half of the stuff I'm playing, I don't know what the chords are. It's just, it makes sense to me melodically, just the feel of it. The way that I approach the songwriting and kind of in all of my art and now thinking about it,
00:08:41
Speaker
It's very humanistic. I would always draw people and when I'm writing songs, I'm always writing about people I like the empathetic side of art of like capturing capturing the humanness of everyone in whether or not you are The villain in the story or if you are the hero in the story you have to have an empathy of Approaching their story to them in a meaningful way
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah, I within the within the podcast, we have had a natural gravitation towards stories in like singer songwriter like storytelling primarily as and there's something so so deeply powerful. And one of the things I wanted to mention is I saw, you know, a description when I think that's difficult for musicians to describe you.
00:09:34
Speaker
What is it you do? What kind of music? And I enjoyed that you'd written, write murder ballads, jukebox romances, and love songs in between. And I felt I captured, like, somehow captured the vibe of, you know, of what you're doing. Big question to ask, and there's been a lot of talk, it's one of the big questions of the show, and it's related to, you know, your identity as an artist about
00:10:05
Speaker
What is art and what you think art is? Because one of the ways I pose it is that people create, dedicate themselves so much to creating art, like countless thousands of hours. And I'm just interested in the deep question of what it is and what you're trying to do. So the question is, what is art? I mean, for me, art is an expression of
00:10:35
Speaker
Again,
Defining Art: Humanizing Untold Stories
00:10:36
Speaker
just like that storytelling, whatever medium that you're using for your art, if you are storytelling through paint, through charcoal, through acting, through songs, through writing stories,
00:10:58
Speaker
I try to combine the storytelling and the music part of it, encapsulate that in my songs. I think that when it comes to art and how I think of it, it's just being true to myself, wanting to convey stories that don't necessarily get told all the time, humanizing these situations.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I really, I really, I really appreciate that.
Collaborative Songwriting in Nashville
00:11:33
Speaker
Um, talk about Nashville and I'm gonna, I'm gonna, when, when I'm kind of naive about things, I, I'm gonna admit it like out loud, right? So I'm a, I grew up in Rhode Island, so I'm a Northern or Yankee. And I don't know, I know there's shows about Nashville and I know country music and there's production and there's a lot of people go through Nashville. So I know that narrative, but I don't know.
00:11:56
Speaker
Nashville at all I am one of the things I was interested in is I know you've had some experiences kind of coming in contact with other artists and collaboration and learning and I think with the podcast that like coming in contact with artists is like the heart and soul is like, what are you up to? What are you doing? And why are you trying to do it?
00:12:19
Speaker
So is there a way you can convey what those experiences have been as far as helping you develop as a songwriter in Nashville that you could convey? Yeah, definitely. Prior to moving out to Nashville, I had never done any co-writes. I had never sat down and had one of those experiences where I've shared a songwriting experience like that.
00:12:45
Speaker
we've uh and going into a room especially when you're writing for somebody else is it's it's very hard to approach if you're not used to it. I've learned a ton from those experiences some things that I've
00:13:04
Speaker
I've definitely taken to heart and done some self-reflection on my songwriting prior to having those experiences, and then also taking that information and using it going forward in my songwriting.
Evolving Songwriting Style and Commercial Pressures
00:13:18
Speaker
For example,
00:13:19
Speaker
I was notorious for writing six-minute songs because I thought that I needed to say all the things that I needed to say. And now looking back at some of the songs that I've written in my past, it's like, what am I doing here? Am I actually progressing the song forward at all? Or am I only using this time to kind of flex on one line that doesn't really move the story that is not
00:13:48
Speaker
progressing anything for the listener. And just the structure of the songs and really, I've learned a lot from some of the people that I've written with. There is a very commercial side to Nashville where
00:14:08
Speaker
They say if you can't write a song that's three and a half minutes, it's never going to get played. And there is some real truth to that, where people are looking for songs that they can instantly plug, that they can sync, that they know that is going to have somebody's attention for the appropriate amount of time, and then they'll move on. Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:35
Speaker
One of the things I've enjoyed is talking to artists and different geographies and one of the things that I delve deeper which
00:14:47
Speaker
I've known, but really digging into the experience of a scene. So I'll give you an example. I knew about Seattle in the 90s and some of the background culture, but as I dug into it, it became very apparent how radical, transformative, and unique it was, both with written form and music and cultural and changes in politics as a scene.
00:15:13
Speaker
So I became interested in places and what they do, like to develop art. Another example I'd give is the DC Underground, which I've had friends, DC Underground punk from the 90s, which is a unique movement. And just one of the things I like to do is kind of get the feel of your experience in the place, you know, in the place that you are. How long have you been in Nashville? Five years now. Five years. Yeah. Yeah. And have you gotten to play with
00:15:42
Speaker
just like uh people you might have known of like really wanted to play with or you know, what's what's it been like as far as collaborating and performing i've been doing a lot of um i've i've been very fortunate and um fell in with some very very um talented people out in ashville um people in east nashville where there tends to be a bit more of it's less country it's more um
00:16:09
Speaker
more Americana or pop, that movement out there. Very fortunate working with them. Done a lot of writers rounds. I have a show next Wednesday at the basement with one of my good friends, Meredith, and it's her birthday, and basically it's going to be my EP release show. Yeah, right. But that's going to be a lot of fun.
00:16:35
Speaker
But yeah, I've had a lot of fun going and playing these writers rounds where you get on stage with three or four other people and you don't know them at all and you just trade off songs for an hour.
00:16:52
Speaker
And the amount of networking and the amount of people that I've met through those scenarios and those experiences has been great. Some of my closest friends have come out of those experiences. I've scheduled rights and gotten great songs out of those experiences. It's very, very cool being in a city where
Supportive Music Scene in Nashville
00:17:14
Speaker
Everybody is a musician and everybody wants the same thing. Everybody wants to write songs. Everybody wants to perform songs and you are just absorbing everything around you. And the cool thing about that town is that for the most part,
00:17:32
Speaker
everybody wants people to succeed. They want you to succeed because then you succeed, then I know you and then you just move like a pot of gold and pot of fish going through the ocean. I'm going to take this, that we're all moving through this together. I've been there for five years and I'm
00:17:55
Speaker
witnessing a lot of the people that I move there around the same time with in their groups of friends having a very similar rise and experience of where they're going out on these big tours supporting larger acts. My friend Meg McCree, she's opening for Marcus King Band this year. Things are happening for people that are very close to me, which is really, really cool to see.
00:18:20
Speaker
Yeah, I really appreciate you sharing that. And that's the piece of understanding how that happens. And I do think it's a big question that you bring up and underlies the show at times is the idea of the market and what the market demands and what does competition do to further potential to force you to become sharper and what does competition do to
00:18:46
Speaker
That might be a little bit more pollution in the system. So I really appreciate your comments around that and learning a bit about your experience. OK, there's no good way to ask the big question I always ask in the show. The big question about what your thoughts about why is there something rather than nothing?
The Importance of Art for Personal Growth
00:19:13
Speaker
If I had to put it in the context of art, I think it's more of...
00:19:22
Speaker
You can think of all of the reasons why not to do something and it will prevent you from growing. And I think that with doing art and expressing yourself, if you're not continuing to do that and exploring that, it's very limiting. Going out and approaching a song that you don't know how it's going to end.
00:19:51
Speaker
you don't know if it's going to be the worst song you ever written or it's going to be brilliant but if you
00:19:59
Speaker
don't even attempt to approach it because it's too big of a, of a concept. You'll never write it. Um, I think so. I would lean towards, you know, something more than nothing as in what you're producing. What, what are you doing? Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
Stage Performance: Vulnerability and Connection
00:20:21
Speaker
I wanted to ask a very different question because I've been interested in it for a while. It's about, um,
00:20:27
Speaker
being on the stage there as a singer and guitar. Like, one of the things when I talk to guests who do performance, I get excited about, some have to do some of the thrilling stuff. I think of, I brought up stand-up comedians, right? It's like the thing I could be most fearful, like someone I really deeply want to try, but I can honestly admit that it is so scary.
00:20:51
Speaker
And I've always thought that those who perform in the content of the songs and the intimacy of love being made a fool of all those type of things creates such
00:21:10
Speaker
Intimacy is there something different about being a singer-songwriter and sitting up there with your type of songs that it's just It's right there. It's a little more raw When I perform I don't look at anybody yeah, like I keep my eyes down I know a lot of people who engage and engage with the audience and very well, but I've never been able to do that I'm not sure if that's if that's just
00:21:37
Speaker
because I get sidetracked really easily, or if it is because I feel like I'm being judged. I mean, it could be both, honestly. But I definitely feel like...
00:21:50
Speaker
playing on stage and having that guitar, there is a sense of you're guarded with that guitar there. And if I ever have to play without a guitar, I feel so awkward. What if I do it up here? Yeah, like doing karaoke, for example, like just keeping up and singing, like my hands in my pocket, I like feel so awkward. But getting up on stage, initially,
00:22:20
Speaker
was terrifying.
00:22:22
Speaker
But going up there and playing, I've definitely gotten used to it. And especially in writers rounds when you're not the only person on stage and it's similar to like playing in a band, like you are a collective. Like you always have people next to you experiencing the exact same thing with you, which decreases the anxiety. Now to your example of doing standup comedy, that's gotta be really, really tough. Yeah, that sounds terrifying.
00:22:52
Speaker
I talked about times like observing the high wire act in art set time when you're seeing it and just just watching, you know, for me, that could be some great wrestling clips in the 1980s from the World Wrestling Federation as well as just seeing seeing the absolute, you know, risk in in front of everybody. So
00:23:18
Speaker
I just want to thank you for doing everything you do and listening to music. I do think it's special. One of the things that Peter Bauer, our producer, and myself really like to try to do is we get excited about music and we get a podcast and we're like, people need to hear about this.
00:23:39
Speaker
You need to hear this music because it's that good and it's that excitement So you're definitely right there within within the realm of that and I'm very pleased That you'll be sharing some some more songs with us not no pressure anything but any just general words about the the songs that you have and We'll be playing
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah, I have a song that I wrote with my good friend Henry Braille called Vision of You. It's about a trucker who's pining after a hitchhiker that he picked up years and years before, and I had this vision of, you know,
00:24:24
Speaker
Henry had the first line of Bible in the dresser, but we weren't there for prayer and how that kind of, how that evolved into like this roadside motel and then that roadside motel turned into a trucker and then it just kind of built and built and built and then just, we put it to bed for a while and then came back to it and I said,
00:24:52
Speaker
I want it to be about a trucker like every time he sees like the back of a hitchhiker that that's the person that he like he picked up years ago and is pining after this this person that is It's never that person. He's looking for that that moment again
00:25:08
Speaker
Let's do Dead or Alive. Dead or Alive. That's a song about a bounty hunter. I tried making the bounty hunter death at one point, but I backed myself into a corner.
00:25:29
Speaker
And when I told my mom about that story, she goes, that's an interesting take on that. But how would he hear the person? I said, death, mom, not death, death. What else could I do? I could do the jukebox song.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yeah, for the record, I was listening to Josh Ritter and Kathleen, his song Kathleen came on. In that song, there's a line called, there's a song, in that song, there's a line of warlets or heart. And I thought, what if a jukebox was actually like a person and in love with a bartender in some like CD bar?
00:26:20
Speaker
What would that be? And that just kind of evolved from there.
00:26:49
Speaker
Open window, broken AC That Tennessee weather Settled on our skin while the ice machine Hummed its unholy symphony Paid by the hour To spend forever Wonder what you're doing now
00:27:24
Speaker
Nameless trace in your name across my chest Left a less cigarette burning Learning language we spoke in silence Breathlessly violent then Still I think of it now Still
00:28:03
Speaker
Vision of you, did you make California? You were far as I could go when we parted ways Left the motel, so did and shamed Was that all I was for you? A welcome distraction in a Super 8 A few miles down the road and some pocket change Dimes for the diner
00:28:35
Speaker
Wonder what you look like now, do you remember? Fingers, aimless, tracing your name across my chest Left I lay, cigarette burning
00:29:02
Speaker
learning language we spoke in silence breathlessly violent then still i think of it now still
00:29:27
Speaker
The vision of you, each tattoo in every scar The way we wrestle with what we are You fell asleep inside my arms If only to get back to fingers
00:29:54
Speaker
aimless trace in your name across my chest left a less cigarette burning learning language we spoke in silence breathlessly violent then still i think of it now still
00:30:33
Speaker
to only get back to that vision of you that vision of you
00:31:21
Speaker
you cross the river at daybreak pass the fire but the colds are still warm you could have gotten far caught your shirt on an old dead tree
00:31:43
Speaker
Money boat bridges to the creek, and that's all I have to go on By my hand, oh, I hang man's rope You're gonna pay for what you stole
00:32:14
Speaker
Dead all the life You cut a man down in which you talk Over a game of five-card draw and a slide To your pride Girl, you're here to change your name
00:32:42
Speaker
I still see your face through it all And it won't take long For my hand or the hangman's rope To make you pay for what you stole
00:33:12
Speaker
Dead or alive Better sleep with a 44 Better keep one eye on the door There's not a question of if But when I'm gonna drag you in
00:33:39
Speaker
Someone will talk, someone will sing Someone who don't owe you a thing and all it takes Is for some bones to break Save your tears, save your remorse When you see my big black horse on the rise There's nowhere to hide
00:34:13
Speaker
Fry my hand over a hangman's robe You're gonna pay for what you stole Buy my hand over a hangman's robe
00:35:10
Speaker
Dead or alive?
00:35:21
Speaker
Every night it's the same scene You wipe the lipstick from the glass Stack the stools and count the change And I count the seconds till we're alone at last
00:35:49
Speaker
When you finally lock the door, honey And throw your apron behind the bar I watch you slowly sweep the floor, sugar You put a little skill And it's a world that's a heart How you tease me How you leave me
00:36:20
Speaker
Waiting and waiting for the moment to come I'm yours for the record, baby Honey, I'm yours for us all We've been doing this dance for what feels like years, honey
00:36:45
Speaker
You still light me up without change Now feel every groove in A-22 Send my head spinning when your hips begin to sway How you tease me How you leave me Burning and yearning to be in your arms
00:37:16
Speaker
I'm yours for the record, baby Honey, I'm yours for a song
00:37:54
Speaker
How you tease me? How you leave me? You push my buttons, baby Oh, let alone I'm yours For the record, baby Honey, I'm yours
00:38:17
Speaker
Daddy, I'm your horse for a song
00:38:41
Speaker
Thanks so much for the music, Michael. I wanted to make sure the listeners of the show have a chance to find where you play, to find your new EEP, to find out about the art that you do. What can you tell everybody where to find you?
Where to Find Michael's Music Online
00:38:59
Speaker
Yeah, so thank you so much for having me. This has been a great experience. If anybody is interested in following and listening to the music, I have an EP that just came out on Friday that is available on all streaming platforms, wherever you want to find it, under Michael Conley. If you want to follow me on social, I sleep in my jeans on Instagram. That's where I'm most active.
00:39:29
Speaker
Yeah. And then if you are ever in the Nashville area, I play out once or twice a month. So please follow and like and subscribe and all that stuff. Yeah. Thank you so much, Michael. I know we got a track we're putting here at the end from your EP called Shadow of the Cross. I've had the opportunity to listen. It's a really beautiful moving track. Anything else you want to mention to folks as that song takes us out?
00:39:58
Speaker
Yeah, this song is one of the favorite songs I've ever been a part of. My friend Hadley Canary, who is an amazing singer-songwriter in Nashville, I brought this to her in a co-write. I was listening to, I think it was right around the George Floyd time, and there was an
00:40:24
Speaker
interview on NPR about tattoo parlors giving out free tattoos to cover up hate speech tattoos and I thought that that was a very interesting like the person who would be going to this who had that kind of hate speech on their skin realizing what they had on them and approaching it in
00:40:48
Speaker
getting it washed away from themselves. And that kind of tied in a lot with the conversations that I was having with friends who were really struggling with continuing to go to church as well in that time specifically around how ugly the country had gotten during that time. So I brought that idea to my friend Hadley and we wrote this song in an afternoon and it's one of my favorites.
00:41:18
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, thank you and those powerful themes of cleansing redemption and Thank you for the track and everybody enjoy shadow of the cross Oh Mama Take a look at what I've done
00:41:45
Speaker
It's written in my skin It's running through my blood Oh, mama Where the hell have I become? When all I ever wanted Was to be my father's son But all the things I've lost In the shadow of the cross The hate manifest by faith
00:42:17
Speaker
And all the false prophets paved a road of empty promise And I don't know where to go, but I can't stay here
00:42:49
Speaker
I know you never met me hard You couldn't see the darkness for the center of his arms Oh, mama I'm not here to point the blame It wouldn't make a difference No, it doesn't fade the shame From all the things I've lost In the shadow of the cross
00:43:20
Speaker
And I don't know where to go But I can't stay here
00:43:47
Speaker
you
00:44:18
Speaker
But all the things we've lost In the shadow of the cross That ain't manifest by fear And no, we follow our promise Down a road of empty promise And I don't know where we go No, I don't know where we go
00:45:00
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.