Stacey Earle
Stacey Earle is an honest songwriter. Her words and chords ring with a quiet simplicity that is reminiscent of Nanci Griffith. Speaking with a southern accent, she is an inspiration. A mother, a wife (who husband Mark Stuart tours and sings with her), a songwriter Earle has already made a mark in the industry. It is only as a side note that it should be mentioned that’s she’s Steve Earle’s sister and played backup on The Hard Way album and tour. Earle’s debut release, Simple Gearle, is necessary for any folk collection. For more information visit staceyearle.com
The rest must be said in Stacey’s words
FEMMUSIC: Describe your songwriting process?
SE: Usually something has to be going on. I’ve found that when I was doing a staff writing position in Nashville, which is a good job and a great art, it didn’t suit me real well because I can write, where a standard staff writer writes by a hook with what’s playing on the radio and so you would take a hook and put a melody that would be radio perfect in timing. Me, the best songs go down when something’s going on, but usually my songs will always come melody first because I tinker around on the guitar a lot. I’ll have a melody on, and then next thing you know something happens and I’ll write about it.
I guess you could say my writing is almost my journal. What’s going is some people keep journals and diaries; I write songs. Sometimes they’re sad, sometimes they’re happy. My records aren’t necessarily gloom and doom because I refuse my whole life to be gloom and doom but you can hear the low point and you can hear the happy moments. I share ’em both.
It just took me a while, in that staff writing, to realize it was the songs that I was writing about what was going on with me that folks were truly interested in. Those are the ones people would raise their head and go, “Whoa, that’s a wonderful song.” ‘Cause they’re written deeply from the heart and I think other people relate to them. There’s something there for everyone.
FEMMUSIC: Who have been your musical influences?
SE: That’s a tough one. People ask me that a lot. They always compare me to Nanci Griffith in her early days and stuff. I think that’s all wonderful because they have to have something to go by like if someone has never heard of me, you have to be to describe me to that person. That way they know whether they even want to mess with listening to me the first time.
But I didn’t have a lot of influences…Of course Steve was. Of course, and anybody that he was fond of because I would always be aware of that person. When I was a kid the household names in my household were Guy Clark, and Town Vansant, and so forth.
Because they passed through. Literally through the living room and out the back door. They were influences, but I didn’t have any direct influences like, for instance, my husband Mark Stuart. He and Steve grew up knowing exactly what they wanted to be when they grew up. Those type people they study music all their life and different artists.
I became a young mother at 17. I couldn’t afford records. I couldn’t afford a radio. I never had one work in my car. It still doesn’t. I listened to music but from a distance. Other what came directly into our living room which I said was like Steve, Guy Clark came through. His whole band used to stay at the house. I would hear their music directly. It wasn’t something I studied on a daily basis. I had a guitar, but I learned how to play my own melodies. I taught myself how to play. Matter of fact I think my technique is very bad. Some people say, “Cool.”
See what I’m saying. I didn’t have a stack of records to listen to. To be influenced by and that’s why I came up with what they consider, a new sound. It does sound somewhat like people, but everybody’s got a double. It’s allowed me to create my own music. I guess you could say that was my entertainment. Couldn’t afford to go out dancing so stayed at home and played and wrote songs. Wrote about what was going on, but it was a big joke that I married my husband for his record collection.
There was an incredible amount of music. Like places where I was waiting tables and stuff like that. You always hear music piped in the back. Or when I heard the radio, you would only hear a top 40 selection, but I never heard what was in-between on those albums because I didn’t own ’em. There’s a lot of cuts on records you never get to hear unless you actually own it. So my husband has spent the last ten years playing me everything in-between those top 40 releases. I’m hearing some great music now, and also touring. There’s artists out there. Some I wasn’t aware of and some that I was.
For example I did not out about who Nanci Griffith was until five years ago. And it was because my husband said, the same thing a lot of people do, “You sound like the early Nanci.” And finally he took me to see her, and I went, “Oh wow!” My money went on diapers not concert tickets.
FEMMUSIC: This CD, Simple Gearle, was done in a very short time. Can you tell me how the CD came about?
SE: Three days, and that’s including mastering, and art I think. It was actually recorded in two days. Recorded in two. Mastered on the third day. I had played so much, my pre-production was all said and done. So I walked into the studio, they set a chair down in the middle of it, and I said put a mic on here, and give me a vocal mic and I sat and played every song back to back, live. I think I started over one time on “Wedding Night” because I was too slow on it. I listen back and there are some tempo issues with me now that bug me a little, but I did. Played ’em back to back. It was the only way we could figure we could capture me live. ‘Cause I’ve been produced in many forms in Nashville. I’ve had producers take me and put thirteen pieces on it, but at the the end of the day it didn’t sound like me, and it didn’t sound like the song I wrote. Those are in the garbage. I’ve never listened to ’em more than once, and I don’t even know where the DATs exist or not. They were someone else’s production. At the end of the day, they take my guitar away and stick me in a vocal box, and THEN tell me how to sing my song.
But this way I just sat down and recorded it song after song. That was all done in an hour and ten minutes. Then Mark went in and played his parts. His parts took about an hour because he had playing them a thousand times. We’ve been playing together eight years. Then we listened to it that afternoon and decided what else needed to go, and we added flavors. Little accordion. The bass player and drummer had it a little tricky job. They had to play according to my tempo and fill. There’s no click tracks to go by. There’s no counts, but that allowed for a natural feeling going into it. Say like when you’re talking and that’s how I write is how I talk. You don’t necessarily talk in time. If you sometime stall when you have to think about something, or if there is an emotional moment within the conversation you tend to stall a little. I sing it how I talk. If you have a click track that’s when it starts to moving out too much. Yes that would be hard for a dancer.
FEMMUSIC: Your family has been very involved in the CD, and the touring. What role have they played in your musical development?
SE: Steve is encouragement. One the writing process and stuff like that. Not that he listens and picks apart everything; I just know eventually he’s gonna hear it. It’s a mental thing. It’s a mental thing to write my best and everything because at some point it’s going to trickle down to him.
My dad and mom have always been supportive of Steve and I. One hundred percent. Since he was sixteen, my dad sat in coffee shops with guitar strings in his pocket waiting for him to bust one.
My dad, the day that CD, he was there watching me record it every single day. He’s always with Steve watching his (CD) being recorded. He helped me with one line in “Losers Weep” so I gave him co-write. They go to work for me.
Mark and I started Gearle Records ourselves. There’s my mom and dad right along. They come over, and they help me stuff, usually about seven hundred promotional CDs go out on the first day of the of a release. They helped me stuff every package and hand address it. They’ve helped me hand address eight-hundred at a time mailing lists when I used to do the mailing lists by mail and stamp ’em. That takes hours.
My dad and I, the first day we tried to tackle radio for Simple Gearle, him and I pulled up on the website every radio station across the United States that we might thought would play Simple Gearle, which was 300 something stations. Pulled up their websites, then dissected out each e-mail address for each program director and DJ. Then spent four days and four nights e-mailing each and every one of them. “Hi. My name is Stacey Earle. I have a CD out called Simple Gearle. Would you please consider playing it?” And I’ll be darned. They all e-mailed back within two weeks. All but three.
FEMMUSIC: Wow!
SE: Yeah, but my dad helped me do all that.
My son tours with me as a drummer. He’s playing on the new record. The new record will be released in April. He is the official drummer. He’s earned a spot. John Gardner played on Simple Gearle, but Kyle toured it, and earned a spot on the new record. Plays wonderfully and beautifully and he’s only seventeen. Took me a while…I didn’t realize he was the man for the job. John Gardner couldn’t do one of the shows, so I went to Kyle and said, “I’m in a bind. I need a drummer. Do you think you can handle it?” He’s got a like punk and a ska band. He plays country and western music on weekends. He’s pretty well rounded for a seventeen year old. He’s been playing since he was like twelve. He said, “Yeah I can handle it.” So we had one rehearsal, and he nailed it. Who would’ve ever thought. I didn’t think about it.. he’s heard my music all his life. So he just fell right into it, and a lot of it’s written about them as well. So he has a wonderful feel for it.
And what more can a mother ask than to have her husband and son on stage an ten pm. I know where my husband and son is. I try to separate business and personal but every now and then on stage if one of them screws up, you’ll see either that motherly or wife look.
“You do that again Kyle, I’m going to take your sticks away!”
FEMMUSIC: You’ve been very involved in the Nashville songwriting community. Could you tell me a little bit about your work at Jack’s Guitar Bar, and what you’ve been doing since?
SE: Well Jack’s Guitar Bar was a wonderful thing. When I first came to Nashville in 1990. I did the that tour with Steve. Came home and decided that’s what I wanted to do for a living.
Then I had to do just like everybody else. It did not come easy. I had to pay my dues like everybody else. I was starting from scratch. I was taking songs to publishers in ’90. They were considered “bad songs” now. I listen to ’em. “No wonder they didn’t sign me!”
But I beat the streets just like everybody else. I used to go to The Bluebird, and Douglas Corner to their writer’s nights. And I would stand in line at three in the afternoon in order to be on stage by six. In order to sign up. I did that religiously but the thing about them was you would go in and be able to play two songs and be off the stage.
And that’s when I was at Jack’s Guitar bar, actually just shooting pool and him and I just started talking. I think he wanted a little beer joint, and he loved the music, and he was a retired gentleman. He just wanted to start something musical in his club so I asked him, “Can I start a writer’s night here? ‘Cause I go to these writer’s nights. They only let me play two songs, and they’re so stiff. Only twenty people get on them.” It’s not that I cut down. I wanted to do something a little more relaxed. I developed it actually to develop the writer before he goes to the big ones like The Bluebird, and Douglas Corner. So I opened a writer’s night at Jack’s, and I developed it where the people could come in there, anybody could sign up. I’d be there ’til three in the morning ’til everybody played. No one left without playing. I think the latest one ran about two-thirty, but we’d start at seven at night. I would end up with up to sixty people on the list is the highest number. I’d let them play three or four songs. If they messed up, I’d encouraged them to start over. If they never sang through a mic I’d encourage them….Mark and I worked really hard. One if they were a newcomer, never sang through a microphone we would show them what to expect. How close to stand to the mic. What to expect out of a monitor, and we would do our very best to make them sound as good as they possibly could through the system before we even let ’em take off. So it was not a rushing process. And then I would encourage them after they were really nailing their songs and feeling comfortable. I would encourage them to go to the bigger writer’s nights because there would be a better chance there would be someone from the music industry out there to see them.
At the same time, Jack’s after I’d quit doing it after two years, someone else carried the torch. I think it kept going for five or six years, The Wednesday Night Jack’s Guitar Bar. I actually had two nights a week there. I did the Tuesday Night Tommy Tucker Sing for Your Supper. That’s where I fixed a big pot of soup, and anybody that sang their song got to eat free in order to keep writer’s fed. It’s a motherly thing to do. (Laugh) And Wednesday night was the regular writer’s night.
I ran another one at The Courtyard Cafe, and another one. So I did it nearly almost four or five nights a week, but that allowed me an opportunity to be on the stage every single night was one of the reasons. I wanted to perform so I had to make a place. It helped me develop into a performer because playing with Steve in 1990 as a sideman is a whole different thing from standing and being the frontman at that mic. There’s no shield.
FEMMUSIC: You came very late to wanting a career in music. What made you decide to pursue music professionally?
SE: It was that tour that sparked it. I guess at first I never could dream it because being a young mother my dreams were different. Food in the cabinet things like that, but coming in 1990 to tour with Steve, which was not a plan. I came to Nashville actually to be a nanny for Steve, but he asked me to sing on that record, and next thing I know he’s asking me to go around the world. It was coming home from that tour because one, he paid me well. He always pays his band members well. I was able to stash money back. And to have the feel of the stage. For the first time I was allowed to dream it. That’s what sparked it. I guess you’d say that was basically what sparked it. I just didn’t ever think dream I would ever think about it before then because it wasn’t an option.
That’s when I began and started it. I’m glad I didn’t come right in ’90 from the tour and get a record deal right away. One my songs were awful. I did not deserve it. Two, I’m glad it didn’t finally develop and find something to write about ’til now ’til almost forty because now I can do it.
It’s different. I’m ready. I can appreciate it. Every second of it. Everything that comes from it. I can do it with a clean conscience because my children are grown. It’s kind of like having your cake, and eating it too. I did watch my children grow up. They were number one. I guess I couldn’t have put a hundred percent into it because I always gave them ninety-nine. They’re both grown now. It’s just the timing. Now I give music ninety-nine.
FEMMUSIC: You’ve been touring the US and abroad. What’s been your best experience touring?
SE: My best experience touring (Pause) Festivals are great because I benefit from them too. I get to see great acts all at once. Usually we pass each other. We see each other’s posters on the wall.
It’s a neat thing. I just came from Folk Alliance. It was like family reunion. It’s all the people I’ve been performing with at every festival all through year. Once we know each other, we walk into a venue. I can’t tell you how much it means, to walk into a venue. You’re tired. It’s been cold. You’ve been driving through snow, and you just see a familiar face. Someone you actually know. Their poster on the wall. They’re going to be there next week or they were there last week.
It’s kind of like, it brings you home for a moment. Someone you know. That would be all the great people I’ve met in the last year. There was a time I only had time for acquaintances. It’s much more than that now.
FEMMUSIC: As a woman in the music industry, have you faced any discrimination?
SE: (Pause) No. They could be talking behind my back but I don’t know. But no. I’m pretty straight-forward and stubborn. I think they’re kind of scared of me. Usually when I grab someone on the phone or in person I make sure I’m the first one to talk and the last one. I think they go, “What was that?!”
And I think that’s the only way you can approach it. One, being an independent. Two, just coming out of nowhere and being a female you almost gotta walk up and slap ’em in the face. They usually don’t know what happened. I know this is my last chance so I’m real insistent and straightforward. So no, if it’s there. It’s behind my back, and bless their hearts.
FEMMUSIC: What one thing would you like to see changed in the music industry?
SE: I guess I really don’t have any complaints. I wish there were knobs or more dials on the radio station to make room for something I truly want to hear. I don’t ever really complain about the radio that’s even playing now, and industry determines that. That’s not my format or my thing. I’m not going to criticize anybody else’s thing. I guess nothing because I have separated myself so far and I do not claim to be mainstream.
I don’t claim to be challenging or racing against anything. I just end up where I am. I guess I really can’t find anything because I really don’t think about it. I really, truly don’t think about it. I think if I thought about it too hard it might determine what I did.
FEMMUSIC: What advice would you give to an emerging artist?
SE: Make something happen every single day. No one’s going to do it for you. If you’re lucky you might get some big company to come along and sign you. Sweep you off your feet. It happens, but even then (pause) keep some control. As long as you know you’re not selling yourself out, and you’re going to be happy. Make sure you’re happy. I guess the motto for Gearle Records is “Making something happen every day.” No matter what size. Even little things happen.