Interview with singer-songwriter Tracey Browne

                       UK singer-songwriter Tracey Browne has spent over a decade crafting genuine, gutsy, heartfelt folk-rock songs. Having toured extensively with fellow UK recording artist Thea Gilmore, Browne is currently at work on a brand new album, Doctrine of Song, the first since 2012's 'Everyone Is Ordinary'. Here Tracey talks about how she got started, what and who inspires her and offers some grounded advice on the pitfalls and misconceptions of the music biz, "No-one is better than the next person just because they’ve got a shiny poster and some quotes telling everyone they are ‘one to watch’." says Browne, "I have been humbled by the fact that there are a million other singer songwriters out there, because we are putting something positive into the world by being honest enough to create and let it be seen." Cultivating community, putting both shoulders to the wheel and letting the songs land where they will, a humble, worthwhile and necessary calling. 


AHC: What has this journey in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way?

Tracey: I feel like in some ways, I have come full circle from first writing songs, with no ambition other than to express myself; through professional playing and ‘career chasing’, to the point now where I’m back to really enjoying just the process of songwriting and the joy of performance. It’s a funny thing where if you have some talent, there is suddenly a lot of well-meaning pressure from other people to make it a career. But a musical career can’t be measured in the same way as others, which is where things get confusing. Highs and lows is really a good way to put it; you create, perform, hone your skills and there is this misleading idea floating around of a ‘big break’. In reality, there are one-off opportunities and you kind of have to string them all together to show them off and market yourself as something special. The moment your music is played on national radio for the first time is a celebration, but then you might wonder who is going to pick it up and play it next, instead of just enjoying the fact it was played at all. I have definitely learnt that the special part is being able to write something that touches other people, which is what I knew in the beginning as well and is one of the reasons I started to write in the first place. No-one is better than the next person just because they’ve got a shiny poster and some quotes telling everyone they are ‘one to watch’. I have been humbled by the fact there are a million other singer songwriters out there, because we are putting something positive into the world by being honest enough to create and let it be seen.


AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them?

Tracey: My parents both love music – neither of them would count themselves as musicians, but my mum likes to sing in a choir now in her retirement, and my dad used to play the 3-tier organ, with foot pedals. You know, those 70’s looking things that people had in their houses, but not quite a Hammond organ. He always said he was tone deaf, but he could read music for the organ so he used to play like that. There was one in my grandparents’ house as well, and I used to play it after we had lunch to get out of washing the dishes every weekend when we visited them (learning the advantages to being a musician early!). Both my parents had acoustic guitars stashed away in the attic from when they both tried to learn when they were young.

Dad used to put records on to wake us up early at the weekends. Everything from the Kinks, the Stones, to country music, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley and a wealth of female singer-songwriters. There would always be tunes in the house if we were decorating, or making lunch, or just chilling out and reading. I was very lucky to have piano lessons from a young age and mum used to run me around to exams and singing competitions wherever we lived. I fell out of love with playing the piano in my early teens and taught myself to play guitar instead, working out the chords from the piano notes and learning the chord shapes logically like that.

The first song I can remember being very affected by was ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries – I had a lot of empathy and emotion about the troubles in Ireland and that song just went straight to my heart. It was the first song I taught myself to play on the guitar and I still gig it now. It’s universal, no matter which audience, which country it’s played in, everyone knows the words. It’s so human.

AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote or played? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper?

Tracey: I remember really enjoying writing short stories at school, but I didn’t get into the idea of writing songs with lyrics until much later. I used to write instrumental pieces on the piano, just sit in my room and play with my eyes closed and let out whatever teenage emotion I was experiencing that day. It wasn’t until I was around 14-15 years old and my brother gave me a Tori Amos album (Under The Pink) that he had bought, but couldn’t really get into, that I started thinking about how to write lyrics. I listened to that album on repeat and I loved her lyrical style – that stream of consciousness writing, which doesn’t have to be specific in defining what she is talking about, but conveys overwhelming emotion. I think that piano, as an instrument, is the best medium for that type of lyric. What you can get out of a piano, the contrast by using both hands, can express more than words and it’s a very different thing to strumming a guitar and telling a clear story.

Writing with the piano was a very personal, intimate experience and I didn’t feel ready to share that with other people. So I took up guitar and started playing around with that, just writing down whatever came into my head for a couple of years, but I didn’t really come up with a proper ‘song’. Then, when I was 17, one of my best friends died in a car accident. I had a dream of him the night before the funeral, which was so vivid, and my first real song came out of that. It just arrived, lyrically, and it was just honest and from the heart.

AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers, teachers/mentors etc?

Tracey: Tori Amos for teaching me to open up and write anything, also for bringing me back to playing the piano again. I was sick of learning classical pieces that I had no connection to, but she was a classical player writing contemporary songs. It was the perfect blend, challenging to learn but interesting to play. I have also learnt a great deal from other musicians that I have been lucky enough to work with over the years – playing live for Thea Gilmore really upped my game as I had to pull everything together and focus on playing things right, every night. I did have a tendency to let my attention wander when it came to music and I wasn’t sure that I would be good enough to tour professionally. I had got away with the minimum effort all my life but I couldn’t get away with it anymore. I had no choice but to give it my all, and now I know that I can play anything if I put the practice in (which seems obvious, but it’s easy to avoid taking up the challenge out of fear). Nigel Stonier, Thea’s producer and husband, said something which helped me to turn a corner and start to approach music professionally – you have to give yourself permission to do it. We put so many obstacles in our own path out of fear, but I trusted that he believed I could do it, and in time I felt capable of doing it. I’ve gone from strength to strength since then. Collaborating with people who are more competent in a certain area than you is also useful. I made an album with another singer/songwriter called Raevennan Husbandes and she has a background in advanced grade classical guitar. I use guitar for accompaniment and I don’t consider it my first instrument at all, but playing alongside her made me play better. I’ve learnt not to compare myself point for point, but trust that what I bring is complementary.

AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak? 

Tracey: There is definitely a feeling that you get when you’re writing and something just fits perfectly, right at the beginning of the writing process, where you know it’s going to be good. It’s really important to note that, be aware of it and remember that it was there, because as you get used to the song and play it in more, you can start doubting it. I always keep that moment in my head, because if you felt it at the beginning, anyone hearing the song for the first time will feel it too and you have to trust that. Sometimes you write a song all the way through and it’s there, other times there is something stopping you from finishing it (usually because you haven’t experienced the rest of the story yet, so it will come when it’s ready). I had a song on the go that I couldn’t get a final verse for until 5 years after I started it, but it felt right to wait because it was authentic. Now, I know the value of making space to write and putting that time aside, but back then I only used to write when the feeling came to me. They’re both valid ways of working, but I think I used to fear that I wouldn’t have any ideas if I just sat down in a room and  tried to write without having that ‘lightning strike’ of inspiration. I get song titles or just a line or two that I like and put it in my notes on my phone these days, then when I come to sit down and write I look there for a starting point.

AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing art, the perfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, a state of rupture/rapture, hope lost and regained? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener?

Tracey: Definitely – I do use songwriting as a tool to make sense of the world. I do it naturally, but if I break it down logically, my songs usually have an introduction, a main point and a conclusion. The scene is set, the questions are asked and usually answered in a way that gives closure, or a new sense of hope. I analyse emotion. I love music for purging feelings that can too often be held in and cause harm. Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Surfacing’ album is an extreme example of this. It’s beautiful but exhausting at the same time. It’s an album which is in the pit of despair with you, but also shines a light from above; to listen to something so raw from someone, but know that they are still surviving, can give hope. Her songs also have a duality to them; if you’re not feeling that way, you can still listen to them as beautiful, melodic, satisfying songs. But if you are, it’s like there is another message below the surface and it’s there just for you. How wonderful that music is able to do that.

AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road?

Tracey: My favourite musical times have been when it’s been just me and some of my best friends getting together to play each other’s music. There were a couple of really sweet years where four of us, all singers/players and songwriters, used to form a band for each other when we had gigs to play. Everyone’s lives have changed quite a lot since then, and we don’t really get to do that anymore, but it’s what inspired my song ‘Kate Rusby’. We just used to gather in my living room with a cajon, a few guitars, a piano and just sing together. My partner loved it and so did our cats!

I really enjoy being on the road, on tour. It’s a bit of a break from life as all you have to think about is travelling and playing, living in the moment – it’s quite zen. There’s something about playing live that centres me. If I don’t gig for a long time I start to feel disconnected and like I’ve lost my way somehow.

The most vivid memory I have though, is when I was just falling asleep one night, around 2am, and my phone buzzed with an email. I don’t know why I didn’t ignore it, but I picked it up and it was an alert from Twitter saying that one of my songs was ‘now playing’ on BBC Radio 2. That’s a massive thing for a UK singer/songwriter and I jumped out of bed and woke my partner up and basically went crazy, running around the house to find a radio to switch on. Janice Long, who used to have the ‘After Midnight’ show on the station, said some lovely things after the song had been played and it felt surreal. I couldn’t sleep for hours after that. Janice has always picked up on new music and supported it, one of the few national broadcasters who still seem to use that discretion.

AHC: When you set out to write a song, how much does 'where the world is' in its current moment, culturally, politically, otherwise, influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell?

Tracey: I used to only write from the ‘inside’, things that were personal or specific to me, and share them with a view to letting other people know how I was feeling. Recently, I’ve broadened my scope – there are only so many stories you can tell about yourself and I think I’ve worked through everything I’ve needed to for myself up to this point. When I was writing for my new album, I started writing songs that told other people’s stories. There were a few tragedies affecting my friends over a short period of time and I found myself writing their feelings, instead of my own. A good friend lost his son to a hit and run driver and he asked me to write his experience. He sent me something that he had written at the time, which was so full of anger and pain. I couldn’t translate it straight from his words into a song that I could sing, and make sense of, so I wrote it from the point of view of his son, answering the things that he had written down. It’s not what he had in mind, but it’s the only way it felt right to me; I really struggled up until that point and then it just came through. I don’t know where the melody came from, but it sounds timeless. It’s called ‘My Father’s Love’.

I’ve never really set out to write political songs, but I’m a socialist and a humanist at heart so perhaps that comes across. The closest I have come is another new song, called ‘The Lauded Gun’, which conveys a general dismay at the state of the world, but encourages the good in us not to give up. I don’t use music to wear my political colours on my sleeve, I think that is a skill in itself and I know many excellent protest and historical/political songwriters who have that talent. It’s not really how my creative brain works, but I love to hear a great message in other people’s songs.

AHC: Do you have any words of advice for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process?

Tracey: Don’t take advice as gospel. Write the music that feels right to you, because it all stems from there, no matter which path you end up taking with it. What feels right will change and progress over the years, and that is a good thing. Go with it and when you feel lost, or like everyone is telling you to do different things, come back to what feels right. Life is long, there is time. In a practical sense, it’s also really worth taking the time to figure out the paperwork side of things, registering your songs for royalties yourself, directly with companies like PRS and PPL or their equivalent in your area. It may save you from getting into agreements with third party companies who only fill in the same form as you would, on your behalf, but then take a big cut of your royalties when you come to perform or get airplay. Go direct to the source and do it yourself, it’s very satisfying.

AHC: Do you have any new projects you'd like to mention?

Tracey: I am recording a new album at the moment, which is due for release in the autumn. We are about 75% through the recording process and I have just launched a Kickstarter campaign Doctrine of Song - new full length album from Tracey Browne to fund the rest of the studio days and pressing. If you haven’t heard my music before, it’s all up at www.traceybrowne.bandcamp.com but this album will feature piano as a lead instrument for the first time since I started releasing my own music. I’m really loving writing and performing with piano and it’s taken my songs in another direction. I’m so excited to put them out into the world, finally.

I’ve also been involved in a great project recently, with another UK songwriter called Matt Hill (aka Quiet Loner). He was commissioned to write a show about how the right to vote was won in Britain, both for women and also for working-class men. It’s a fantastic collection of songs, which bring the history alive and the human stories to the forefront. He is hoping to take the show into schools, as it’s a part of our history that isn’t really taught a great deal. The album is called ‘The Battle for the Ballot’ and it’s on his Bandcamp page as a free download – www.quietloner.bandcamp.com


www.traceybrowne.co.uk/
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