Published:
December 30, 2009
Few artists are as consistent in producing deeply affecting music as Denton's Doug Burr. He has explored American music ranging from rock-and-roll with the band The Lonelies to folk on his recent solo records. His song "Slow Southern Home" won the 2008 Dallas Observer Award for Best Song, and his work has been featured on Fox's "Gossip Girl" and ABC Family's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager". Burr recently took time out of his Christmas holiday to talk about his upcoming album and his creative process.
MyDentonMusic: What have you been working on lately?
Doug Burr: I've been working on recording a new full-length record.
MDM: Now, your previous three albums alternated between spiritual material, non-spiritual material, then back to spiritual. Will this new album follow that trend and be non-spiritual?
DB: Well, I would say that they're all spiritual, but some of my records are spiritual in more of a focused way than others. This new album will be in the same spirit as 2008's On Promenade, a collection of songs with overlapping themes, some loose plot lines and characters; definitely, less of a focused spirituality to it than 2003's The Sickle & the Sheaves, a concept gospel record, and 2009's The Shawl, which was a record of Psalms verses.
MDM: How do you approach writing spiritual songs as opposed to the non-spiritual songs?
DB: The Sickle & the Sheaves was a record where the idea for the record was conceived before most of the songs. So I wrote the songs around the idea of the record. Similarly with The Shawl, the idea was conceived before the songs, except I didn't write those lyrics - I took contiguous sections of verse from the Biblical Psalms and arranged them to melody and music. With On Promenade, and with the current album, they are really just a collection of songs I have been writing over the last few years that seem to fit well together.
MDM: What is your songwriting process like in general?
DB: Well, I don't have a formula worked out, but I try to channel a feeling into some sort of sonic emblem if you will, that people can pin on and that will resonate with them every time they look at it or touch it or remember it's there. I want to remind them of themselves without them realizing it. Sometimes I start with a line or a phrase - just words - a thought in my head. Sometimes it's a melody that comes first. And sometimes it is words or a melody suggested by music. And I think over the years I've gotten better at knowing when to push for more, and knowing when to back-off a song or idea, and just let it percolate in my brain. That percolation process may be one or two years. I might revisit it hundreds of times, and just check up on it, and it either grows in value or lessens in value to me.
MDM: You recorded The Shawl in an abandoned building in Tehuacana, TX, and On Promenade and your new project in a formal studio. How much do surroundings and atmosphere affect your recording process?
DB: Everything I've done except The Shawl has been in a studio really. And everything else but The Shawl has been done over an expanded period of time as well. For The Shawl, I wanted it to be very much about a special occasion - a time and a space - not just the songs and the idea only. So we went to the most cathedral-like place we could find because I wanted it to have a majestic and dreamy quality, and we recorded everything in one weekend, a total of about twenty-seven hours. In fact, all the basic tracks were recorded in one night, back-to-back, almost in one sitting - with some short breaks. I wanted that record to feel as unique as I believe the idea was. And I wanted us all to feel that all the way through the recording. So going to Texas Hall in Tehuacana provided that experience, and very much lent itself to the sound we wanted to capture.
MDM: Some artists seek out influences to help steer the direction of their work. Others discover music more naturally and find the influence seeps in. What are you listening to now, and how do you find it influencing your new material?
DB: Let's see, the newest records I have dug into since Spring are probably Band of Horses and Bon Iver. I love both of those - but I can't say it's really influencing anything I do. The material for my current record is from songs I've been working on for the past few years, and I would say this material is very much inspired by early American music in general, which I'm a big fan of.
MDM: Such as?
DB: The Anthology of American Folk Music - which is a great compilation of early American music.
But, as far as a single artist - hard to pin that down - lots of influences have seeped in over lots of years. Some big ones for me though would definitely be Will Oldham, Blind Willie Johnson, and Tom Waits.
MDM: Finally, what is Christmas at the Burr's like?
DB: Nowadays, Christmas at the Burr's is crazy. But really, everyday is crazy since we had our fourth kid last September. Three little ones - four years and under - and one ten-year-old keep us putting out fires, and leave no time for relaxation or catching up on projects. But it's a different kind of blessing - more rewarding than it is exhausting. And being right here with my super, amazing wife, building a family, is probably the most fun I've had in my life. Even more fun than making music.
