Christine Lavin
by Alex Teitz
Christine Lavin a singer-songwriter of many talents, has been performing and recording for nearly twenty years. For over a decade Lavin was signed to the Philo/Rounder Record label. That ended and now Lavin produces her own material on Christine Lavin Records.
Lavin has been instrumental is promoting emerging artists. At her time with Rounder she put together The Four Bitchin’ Babes which included three other singer-songwriters to do both CDs and touring. Under her own label she was instrumental in The Stealth Project, a compilation CD of emerging artists.
Lavin’s newest CD is Getting In Touch With My Inner Bitch. This live CD demonstrates Lavin’s wit, and talent once again. For more information visit christinelavin.com
Due to time constraints, this interview was conducted via e-mail.
FEMMUSIC: You draw inspiration for your songs from many sources. Describe your songwriting process.
CL: It’s as mysterious to me as it is to non-songwriters. Every few weeks (or sometimes months) something will happen or hit me in such a way that I know a song is trying to emerge from it. I can’t predict it, I can’t control it, when I’m in the ‘zone’ of writing it’s a great place, and when it’s over and the song is written I’m exhilarated (and onto the next phase of editing and perfecting it in performance) which is then followed by a ‘down’ phase where I wonder if it will ever happen again. I never get too worried about that, however, because I now know that every songwriter that I know well feels the same way after they’ve written something good. Is that it? Will it happen again? It’s a safe bet that it will, but you can’t automatically expect it. It’s what keeps us all so insecure and neurotic.
FEMMUSIC: Getting In Touch with My Inner Bitch is a live album. Why did you choose that format?
CL: I pay close attention to what audience members tell me at shows – and they’ve told me over and over again that although they enjoy my studio albums, it’s the live albums they really love because it reminds them so much of the good time they had at the live shows. Studio albums are a whole different challenge, very time-consuming and in some ways torturous, so they’ve never been my favorite way of working. I am a live performer who records, not a recording artist who performs live. Documenting live performances (ESPECIALLY when no one knows it’s being taped) makes for the most natural kind of album-making. My very first album (recorded live in 1981) was done at CBS Studio B in New York City — the audience was invited, EVERYONE knew they were there because a live album was being made. One person in particular wanted his whistle to be heard throughout the album and after every single song he whistled long and hard (you’ll get to hear this when the album Absolutely Live is re-issued on April 11th by Winthrop Records, though we’ve re-edited and re-mastered the album, so it’s much tighter than the original vinyl recording) — all that whistling got to be a bit annoying. That experience taught me it’s best to NOT let the audience know a tape is running so they behave normally. I think it’s also a more honest account of the evening. I have three live album that were done in 1993 (Austin, TX), 1997 (Bloomington, IL) and now this new one (5 different venues in 1999) and nobody — not even I knew at the time — that these shows would end up on disk. It’s just as important for me to not be focused on the recording process when I’m in front of a live audience. They matter most, not the tape recorder.
FEMMUSIC: You worked with Philo/Rounder Records for a long time. What made you decide to form your own label?
CL: Interesting question. I was lured away from Rounder/Philo by Shanachie Records, which made all kinds of promises of big promotion, but never followed through. Luckily, I had an excellent lawyer who made them put their promises in writing, and when they didn’t fulfill them, I was able to leave promptly. In some ways it was a hard learning experience, and I was very reluctant to sign with anyone after that — I was hurt and confused. I did a lot of thinking, and since by then I owned by own apartment, I was able to re-finance the mortgage and with the cash I had enough money to start pressing my own disks. A lot of people hate lawyers, but it’s important that you get yourself a good one who is your advocate and makes sure you don’t sign your future away. If you learn nothing else from what I’m saying, learn that: don’t sign your future away. Hold on to as much of your publishing as you possibly can!
FEMMUSIC: What has been your biggest challenging in running a record label?
CL: I don’t actually run it — my sister-in-law Sylvia in Rochester, NY does all the day-to-day stuff — orders from the internet, shipping the product to venues, dealing with the distributor — I wouldn’t be able to do all that AND write, perform and record as well. What I do handle is all the creative aspects — which is the foundation for the whole enterprise. I oversee all aspects of the mastering, editing, packaging — this is so essential.
I have spent hours and hours with Phil Klum at the Master Cutting Room here in New York (he has mastered all my albums for the past few years). He is a perfectionist when it comes to digital editing and mastering and we have a terrific working rapport. As far as marketing goes, I can safely say that if I was with an established label they wouldn’t let me have the cover I do for Inner Bitch. My face is nowhere on the package — I like it like that!
I am an observer of people. If everybody knew what I looked like I couldn’t spy on them like I do! But nobody can say ‘no’ to me because I pay all the bills.
FEMMUSIC: How has your music changed over time?
CL: I’d like to say it’s gotten a little more sophisticated as I have aged — I’m in a weird place right now because besides my ’81 album being reissued in April, I have another re-issue coming out in June — an expanded version of an ’83 -’87 album I did for Rounder/Philo that was called Another Woman’s Man. It has a new title now, The Bellevue Years because we added 30 minutes of live radio performances done between 83-85, which was when I worked at Bellevue Hospital. So in the past six months I have spent hours and hours listening to material that I wrote and recorded 15-18 years ago.
I think most of it holds up well, even after all this time — it made me think, though. Things like “why didn’t this sell back then? Was I ahead of the curve? When people hear it now will they like it, or am I deluding myself?” I guess in a few months I’ll get the answers!
FEMMUSIC: How has technology (including the internet & the cordless mike) changed the way you do business & perform?
CL: Well, the net is a godsend because it allows us to connect directly with people who like this music. I have extremely high hopes for all good music and all good songwriters who go the internet route. My wireless mikes (and now my Boomerang digital phrase sampler) have radically changed not only how I perform, but how I write. Two years ago I wrote a song called “You Look Pretty Good For Your Age” and the ONLY way to sing it properly was to leave the stage and sing it right up close in people’s faces. I thought to myself, “Why the hell did you write something that you can’t perform properly?” and then one day while exercising in the park I realized I COULD perform it properly if I was wireless. The decision was made by the song — not by me, but by my own song! I had no idea what wireless technology would encompass (I envisioned two small mikes and a little transmitter the size of a walkman). Well, guess what? It was way more than that, but I didn’t know! It’s a good thing I didn’t know, because I would NEVER have thought I could master it, but I have. If I can, anyone can!
FEMMUSIC: You’ve been doing projects to promote emerging artists (including 4 Bitchin’ Babes & The Stealth Project). Why is important to you to help emerging artists?
CL: Because if we don’t do it ourselves, we are left to the whims of the record companies — record companies who have to look at the bottom line to survive and don’t necessarily make decisions that I agree with as a creative person.
Most of the artists I have included on the compilations that I’ve produced, in my mind at least, are already ’emerged’ but just not well-known, though they deserve to be. I give a way one free copy of Stealth at every concert (to the audience member who is sitting farthest from the stage who has never been to a show at that particular venue before). It’s a way to make a new person feel included and encourage them to come to more shows — it’s also a way for me to promote the compilation from the stage without feeling like I’m doing a ‘commercial’ for it. We win our fans one at a time, but once people start exploring this music, for many it becomes a life-long passion, and as someone who IS making my living doing the music that I love, I want MORE artists to be able to do this, too. People don’t have just one CD on their shelves — if we’re lucky they have hundreds. There is room for everyone who is making good music.
FEMMUSIC: As a woman in the music industry, have you been discriminated against?
CL: For the most part, no. But I am very sensitive to the fact that at most places I perform, it is men who run the sound system, and I am very respectful and always use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ a lot — I never order crew around and say ‘do this’ or ‘make it sound like that’ — I’m not sure if it’s just my personality or if it’s that I’m a woman talking to a man that I automatically take the subservient position (but I was a secretary for years before I started making a living as a performer, so I was always taking orders, never the boss). About six months ago, however, I was part of a big group show in a 1200 seat theater in New York, and the sound man told me where I had placed the microphone for my guitar was completely wrong (I wasn’t using my wireless gear that night because I was only doing one song). But I had placed the mike where it had been placed hundreds — if not a thousand times– by sound crews for 10 years before I was wireless. He angrily put the mike where he wanted it, rolled his eyes at me, walked away muttering – I was stunned, and realized that’s what it feels like when you’re not taken seriously. I feel lucky that it doesn’t happen more often.
I also feel lucky that in folk music your work goes a long way to establishing your credibility. When people know you are in this for the long haul and that you take your work seriously, they treat you with more respect.
However, since a lot of people might recognize my name (if only a little) but not my face, I’ve been in countless social situations (by coincidence outside that same theater later that night) where I’ve met people in the business who I am complimenting on their work, they say ‘thanks’ then keep on moving, only to find out later who I was, then they come up and apologize and say ‘oh gee, I didn’t realize who you were when I was talking to you before.’
In my mind, they’ve blown it — when they thought I was just a fan, they kept moving, or treated me in a rather cavalier manner. Now they want something from me, but they’ve shown their true colors. That’s not really a man/woman thing, it’s more a ladder-climbing business thing. It’s kind of amusing to me, and luckily I don’t hold grudges, and have become better friends with some of these people who at first kind of ‘dissed’ me. That’s an important lesson to learn — the world of songwriting is actually a very small one — we need to be each other’s allies and helpmates. There can be natural rivalries, but there’s one thing that Dave Van Ronk said to me that I never forgot — ‘never root against someone who is doing good work. If they are successful there will be more work for all of us.’ I’ve never forgotten that.
FEMMUSIC: What would you like to see changed most about the music industry?
CL: Oh my, I’d like to see a lot less ‘sampling’ going on — I’d like to shoot the next person who does a duet with a dead singer (that way they can both be dead and harmonize in heaven) — I’d like to ban all vacuum cleaner commercials that use Fred Astaire (did you know that he had complete creative control over the filming of his dance scenes in films? He never allowed close-ups of body parts — you never see just the feet or just the hands or just the head, you always see the full body because that is how he choreographed the dance routines and that is how he wanted them presented on film). In those commercials they do close-ups — they have to! — or else they could never have inserted the shots of the vacuum cleaner. Shame on his heirs who allowed this!
In general, I’d love to see more well-crafted songs reach the top of the pop charts, and win the Grammys. Every once in a while a good song does break through, but it’s so rare! The good songs are being written and recorded, but the music business is so lowest-common-denominator driven that unless they can maximize their profit, the good stuff doesn’t potentially earn enough to warrant the big promotion needed to make a song a ‘hit.’ But I have confidence that the more artists keep taking back their careers from record companies (like Judy Collins is doing now — like Ani DiFranco has done right from the start) the better the music will be. It doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a lot of work. We have to take more responsibility for our work — it’s scary, but what’s the alternative? Let bean counters make your creative decisions for you? I don’t think so!
FEMMUSIC: What advice would you give to an emerging artist?
CL: Be prepared to travel, be prepared to re-locate if you must. If you can’t travel or simply can’t move to a hot-bed of songwriting (like Boston or Nashville) try to think of how you can do your work, having realistic expectations. One of my favorite singer/songwriters is James Mee — he lives in Vermont and plays almost exclusively up there is small clubs. He loves his life, though he would most likely have more money and more fame if he were more willing to travel, but he’s found a comfort-zone that suits him.
That’s very important. I also know some famous people who are miserable, so even though you might think they’ve got it made, they are not happy.
If you are just starting out, go and watch as many good performers as you can when they come through your town. I learned so much from watching others (I was a waitress at the Caffe Lena from Oct 75-March 76). I ushered at the Manhattan Theater Club when I moved to New York because I couldn’t afford to pay for tickets, but I had such a hunger to see live performers. I was a wandering minstrel in a Mexican Restaurant two nights week for six months (a horrible job, but it helped pay the bills and hey, I was working!) — now I try to catch Dame Edna three or four times a month doing her Broadway show –Barry Humphries/Dame Edna is in my opinion the greatest solo performer working today. I draw great inspiration from every performance I attend.
Practice your instrument as much as you can — if you can’t watch others live, watch them on The Tonight Show, or Conan O’Brien or David Letterman. What did you like about their performance? What did you dislike? Did the audience like them? Did their performance make an impact? Did it stay with you the next day?
Write about what you know, what moves you. If you hit a creative dry spell, learn a song by someone else, a song that you really like. Maybe the new, unfamiliar chord progressions will take you out of your dry spell, or the new rhythm or rhyme-scheme will unlock new directions for you. I listen to lots of other people’s work — I never try to imitate them, but I sometimes feel that their work can help improve mine.
Jack Hardy started — more than 20 years ago! — a weekly songwriters’ dinner in Greenwich Village — you could only come to the dinner if you had a new song to sing for everyone. It inspired hundreds of songs, forged friendships, collaborations — the whole Fast Folk Musical Magazine emerged from those dinners (and now will be reissued this year by the Smithsonian!).
A weekly or monthly songwriters’ dinner in your town can do SO MUCH to help the creative process. It’s important that it be held on a regular basis (if you make it a Monday or a Thursday night, once a week or once a month –stick to it! Never change it! Over time people will know there will be that one night a week or one night a month where they can bring their songs to play for other writers who can give them criticism and support. You never know where this simple process can lead. I know of romances and marriages that came out of these dinners, too. You never know! But you’ve got to start somewhere. If nothing is happening around you, and you are frustrated, start something yourself!
FEMMUSIC: What are your plans for the future?
CL: I plan to keep touring and writing and in the distant future I hope to do more radio (I did a brief stint on WFUV in 1997 as a host of a three-hour Sunday Breakfast show). I loved doing it, but found it was too much along with my other more important priorities as a writer/performer. But when the time comes that I won’t be traveling as much, radio is where I want to be, so I can spread the word about all these great songwriters I love! I also write freelance for the Washington Post, so I’m hoping to do more of that, too.
Being a performer onstage is such a privilege, and if I reach a point where I can’t do the travel and all that that entails, I will step aside. It breaks my heart to see performers reading lyrics off teleprompters — when you’re doing that, you shouldn’t be onstage anymore. If you’ve lost your zest for live performance, do something else. But live performing is what I love most and what I feel I do best, so I’ll keep doing it. It’s the greatest job in the world.