Songwriting Zen

Songwriter Spotlight – Cal Williams Jr

Today I would normally blog about my guitar lesson with Cal Williams Jr.

However, as I had a four day break without my guitar I wanted to spend another week practising before receiving new information so instead I thought I’d introduce a new category to the Songwriting Zen blog called “Songwriter Spotlight”.

I want to showcase other songwriters that I know or I want to know and ask them a series of questions about themselves, how they got into writing songs and their songwriting process.

It’s my hope that their answers will spark something in your own mind about what you do and how you write.

I know it will for me.

The first songwriter to be put under the spotlight is Cal Williams Jr himself. It’s the least I can do for canceling my guitar lesson with him.

Name:
Cal Williams Jr

URL:
www.myspace.com/calwilliamsjr

Musical Genre:
Folk/Blues

Years writing:
15 years

Words or music first:
Music

Why do you write:
I write because it is natural for me to be creative.

I love the feeling of carefully crafting a song and watching it twist and turn underneath my fingertips. When it is complete I love hearing it evolve and grow independently of me until it becomes a song for everyone.

Songwriting to me is a limitless expression of life’s journey that changes and colours with new experiences. When I make a record it is a record of new friends, new loves and new places.

How do you write:
When creating a song I usually play around with the guitar melodies first and work my vocal lines around the notes I play in the scale or chord. The lyrics are constructed first as working lyrics and then allowed to form naturally at repeated sittings with the guitar.

What inspires you:
My first real songwriting musical influence was the late sixties/early seventies era British fingerstyle folk/blues guitarists such as Nick Drake, John Martyn, Bert Jansch, Davey Graham, Dick Gaughan and John Renbourne. I was also inspired early on by Delta Blues guitarists such as Son House, Skip James, Lightning Hopkins and Blind Willie Johnson.

Literature wise I am a huge fan of 1950’s beat poets such as Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and the writings of Kurt Vonnegut and Charles Bukowski.

I find I also gain incredible songwriting inspiration from classic seventies road movies such as Paris Texas, Vanishing Point, Five Easy Pieces, Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider.

Inspiration for me also comes in the form of train journeys, sunsets, oceans, conversations, good friends and late nights.

Most important aspect of songwriting:
The most important aspect in any kind of human emotional communication is honesty. Songs that are written purely from the heart achieve more longevity as they are sincere reflections of a particular emotion and/or experience.

Advice for beginners:
My advice for anyone starting out on the road of being a songwriter is to stay focused.

Songwriting is a craft that evolves with experience and the more you write the better you become. Songwriting is very much about the journey and not the destination.

Keep challenging yourself with new chords and tunings and musical genres. Absorb as much music as you can and learn how great songs are made.

Never compare your songwriting progress with any other songwriter. We are all on the road travelling at our own pace and in different directions. Comparison will only lead to negative emotions such as jealousy and inferiority.

Protect your creative mind by avoiding negative and unconstructive criticism and controlling your inner critic.

Feed your creative mind with a healthy diet of books, poetry, music, art and film and avoid watching too much T.V.

Always write from your heart and enjoy the process of creating a song that you are proud of. The true rewards of being a songwriter have nothing to do with monetary gain.

Songwriting goals:
My songwriting goals are simple. Keep on writing.

There are so many musical avenues to explore as a songwriter that the possibilities are literally endless. As I have said, songwriting is the journey not the destination.

The moment you feel that you have ‘arrived’ at the best song you will ever write and feel you have exhausted all songwriting directions is the day you stop being a songwriter.

Fortunately for most of us that day will never come. There are always new chords and scales and tunings and poets and books and music to discover that will take your songwriting in new directions.

At the moment I have released seven albums of original songs.

I love seeing them sitting on the shelf as they are all testaments to different stages in my life. I remember the subject matter, where I was, the musicians I recorded with, the studio and how I was feeling at the time.

Those memories are now sealed inside each and every song I have written and I enjoy looking back and remembering how I felt.

My goal now is to write the next album. And then the next and then the next.

Anything else to add:
I would like to leave this conversation with an excerpt from a poem by Charles Bukowski. I was introduced to his work by a good friend in Leeds, England who I met whilst busking and travelling in the U.K.

This poem is one of three main poems that have inspired me at different stages of my songwriting career. The other two being ‘Song of the Open Road’ by Walt Whitman and ‘Essentials of Spontaneous Prose’ by Jack Kerouac, both of which I highly recommend seeking out and reading.