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An Interview with John Sheehan 6.22.09
by HolleyHall, 22 Jun 2009 07:51 PM |
 John Sheehan EZ Folk profile Link: http://c1.ezfolk.com/bands/70/index.phpEZ folk Radio Station: http://c1.ezfolk.com/bands/70/index.php | |
I am sure I am not the only one here who dreams to be able to play everything to the point of total perfection as John Sheehan! If I lived in New Jersey I would be signing up for lessons as I have heard he recently has some openings for a couple students. John was one of the first artists I discovered here on EZfolk and became have been a fan ever since! All I can say is here is some of the most breathtaking guitar music you'll ever hear! Some favorites of mine just a name a few are "Together we Dream", "Let it Rip" , Jump into the Fire" "Buggy Ride" & "Freedom Place" though its really hard to choose because they are all very outstanding and well worth your time to check them out! Thank you John for honor and the opportunity of this interview. Look forward to catching one of your shows if you make it out this way in CT. HOLLEY HALL: What is your music background? JOHN SHEEHAN: After a year of copying my brothers Peter Towsend like strumming and barchords I went off into fingerpicking and quickly to beginning Classical Guitar.Within 4 or 5 years I was accepted to the music program at William Paterson College as a Guitar major/Vocal Minor. HOLLEY: Do you prefer to play music as a profession or a hobby? JOHN SHEEHAN: I have been making my living fulltime as a Guitarist/Musician/Teacher/Performer/Songwriter since around 1973.The last job I had that wasn't music was selling shoes...that lasted 2 hrs.A Guiness record for shorterm employment and intolerance perhaps! HOLLEY: When and how did you first become interested in music? How long have you been playing music? What instruments do you play? JOHN SHEEHAN: My earliest memory has to be singing 'I've been working on the Railroad' in Kindergarden.I can recall marching home from the school singing this song constantly for a mile to my house.This may have taken over an hour as there were frogs,snakes bodies of water to explore and other things to look at and wonder about as well as people to run into and talk with. The movie "How the West was Won" had 'Greensleeves' all over it and I recall really loving that melody at something like 7 years old...still do. My mother played and taught me the melody in something like fourth grade, in 2003 I finally recorded my odd version on my Instrumental Solo Christmas CD.By the time Booker T and the MG's released their recording ,"Green Onions", I really loved music but still didn't think I could be anything but a baseball player. At 16 I dropped the glove and picked up the guitar and never doubted again. HOLLEY: Does anyone in your family play music? JOHN SHEEHAN: A fairly musical family,yes. As an 8 of 9 child I had the benefit of sisters and brothers singing and playing 50's folk and pop music while I was still failing to wipe my nose and speaking incoherently. Also Mother and Father playing classical piano and violin was an early imprint. Brother Bill was a huge influence. He was three years older and I had to do what he was capable of or I didn't feel like I was any good. HOLLEY: What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?) JOHN SHEEHAN: My songs are my concerns about my personal well being as well as all other living beings. Sometimes I just write about what happened to me or someone else. HOLLEY: Who are your musical influences? JOHN SHEEHAN: Classical Guitar Repertoire, John Fahey ,Leo Kottke,Davy Graham,John Renbourne,Dylan,Knophler, Prine,Grateful Dead,Tull,Dire Straits...can I stop now? HOLLEY: What live performance experience have you had? JOHN SHEEHAN: shared the stage with, guitar greats Tal Farlow, John Hammond, Peter Kaukonen, Jorma, ,John Renbourne, Adrian Legge and Tom Doyle as well as, singer/songwriters Steve Forbert, Chris Smithers, Jonathan Edwards, Greg Brown and Slaid Cleaves. HOLLEY: Any industry showcases? JOHN SHEEHAN: No just over 30 years of gigs of varied types... Bands /solos/duos/trios etc.. HOLLEY: What are your musical goals? JOHN SHEEHAN: Continue to gig and work with students and write/perform and record my own fingerstyle songs and Instrumentals. HOLLEY: Have you recorded any previous CDs or posted any audio files on the Internet? JOHN SHEEHAN: I produced 4 of my own recordings but did them in studios. The 1st and 2nd CDs were done in Mixolydian studios with engineer/mixer Don Sternecker. The 3rd and 4th at Hungry Goat studios with engineer/Mixer John Kurgan. HOLLEY: Do you have CD’s/Audio files for sale? If so, where can they be purchased? JOHN SHEEHAN: Discography: “Instrumental Solo Guitar”,” Modern Man”, “Notes From Suburbia”, “Instrumental Solo Christmas Guitar” voice, Guitar ,banjo and mandolin appear on these other albums; Picking and Sliding the Blues by Larry Amato, Nice Hat by Bobby Syvarth, Parhelion, Scott Appel (One Man Clapping Records) and Nine of Swords, Scott Appel (School Kid's Records) Barrelhouse, "Eclectasy" ,Terrie Erskine's 'Niche" ,The Cannonballs ,"Metro Melodies", J.L. Hannah's,' Sumvoices", Ed Ackerly's ‘Iron Mountain Banjo’, www.johnsheehan.net, CDBaby HOLLEY: In what ways does the place where you live (or places where you have lived), affect the music you create, or your taste in music? JOHN SHEEHAN: Hikes bring out the songwriter in me and so does travel. HOLLEY: When was the last time you wrote a song? What can you tell us about it? JOHN SHEEHAN: About three months ago after a Marcia Ball concert...A song called 'Old Man'...combines my love for fishing with a memories of an old men I use to know as a kid and a young adult. HOLLEY: What inspires you to write music? How do you go about composing songs? JOHN SHEEHAN: Approaches can be purely intuitive (going by sound only and not knowing the notes you’re playing ) , writing in a standard genre which has it tendencies, or by combining intuitive ideas with rational developmental ideas like key changes ,changes in mode, meter ,tempo and other devices. As far as 'Trip to Spain' is concerned ,it was the result of ‘making up’ my own tuning. I knew that an A minor chord was composed of A, C and E notes so I tuned the strings of standard tuning to their closet A minor note. This tuning being somewhat ‘flubby' I moved everything up a half step to a tighter Bb minor. The lesson for me here was ‘make up’ a tuning and work out somewhat unusual sounds that are easy to find. An intuitive ear approach. With 'Beauty Road' and 'Sleepy Eyes' I started in a tuning I was limited in; Eb which is really just commonly played Open D or Open E.With my desire to find the right tightness for my guitars setup and gauge strings( D was too flubby and E was too tight) Eb solved the problem. When I ran into trouble developing these two pieces I switched back to standard tuning ,developed a chord progression that complimented what was already done and then went back to Eb tuning and found ways to play those chords. A knowledge of transposition learned at school was put to use. A combination of intuition and rational thought process was developed with this method. At other times I learn a few tunes by other artists and after a few nights of dreams start finding ways to disguise them into my own songs. LOL With standard tuning songs I usually just start feeling out a mode or scale and look to develop phrases or themes sometimes just developing chord progressions sometimes working from riffs or developing melodies. A really cool way to play is think a rhythm and then work out the pitches and riffs that fit the rhythm. This helps developing ideas that can be altered later to be more effective or achieve a better balance. It is very important to hear the music coming out of your inner ear as opposed to thinking it. Also write and play within your means honing anything difficult or not relaxed into a better more communicable phrase. My first CD was compositional in that I wrote out all the songs in notation.The 'Modern Man"'and 'Notes from Suburbia' CDs were more simply written and retained by ear with a few exceptions.My guitar and Banjo pieces are available for sale at: http://www.johnsheehan.net/SheetMusic.html The Christmas CD was arranged and sketched out in form and variations were improvised in the studio. HOLLEY: Lately what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener? Old or new music? Music like yours or different from yours? JOHN SHEEHAN: Different usually, like two jazz radio stations out of NY City and Newark NJ. WKCR and WBGO respectively. Been meaning to buy an Oscar Peterson trio collection. He's great! Also like to listen to the British fingerstylists a lot,Graham,Renbourne etc. I make a lot of arrangements for students so arranging is a great learning and creative process for my guitar playing. HOLLEY: Name a band or musician, past or present, who you flat-out LOVE and think more people should be listening to. Early Davy Graham recordings What's one of your all-time favorite recordings by this band/musician? JOHN SHEEHAN: "The Guitar Player " HOLLEY: Do you teach music? If so what age groups? Method of teaching? JOHN SHEEHAN: Everyone is an individual I prefer working with people who want to, or better yet do, write their own music. I enjoy working with students on the "CAGED" system of envisioning the guitar Fretboard. This works well for lead players and soloists who want to be more daring than the strummers. With Songwriters,chord scale practice and Form and Analysis is often what I stress. Mostly ,I like teaching men and woman who use to play more but had families and lifes necessities that made them miss the guitar. I feel they are the ones I can please the most! HOLLEY: When is your next live performance? JOHN SHEEHAN: See http://www.johnsheehan.net/gigs.html HOLLEY: Do you have any advice/experience you would like to share with fellow artists you think would be helpful? JOHN SHEEHAN: Be happy with who you are, develop your own persona and dont worry about copying or being like someone else. Learn to soak in your surroundings but dont get sucked into losing focus of what's most important and necessary for personal growth and a balanced relationship with your specific needs and wants and those around you. Dont go for personality Cults. Individuality is precious, platitudes and comparisons to stars aren't. HOLLEY: Where do you have your music posted online? JOHN SHEEHAN: http://c1.ezfolk.com/bands/70/index.phphttp://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/70/ HOLLEY: Any Music Videos? If so what are they about? Here are some links to live performances of original and cover songs. JOHN SHEEHAN: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendID=381516429&n=381516429&MyToken=4195e9ff-2320-40f2-9060-017119f386a7 Freedom Place Jump into the Fire Me and My Uncle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDvDuU9vCAQ Sold out Peter Kaukonen show at Warwick Valley Winery 7/6/07: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB2gXLptqSo&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m7ueT5av6Q&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=innrrITKbeE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFTeuFwl5AA&feature=related Keep on Truckin' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwKzuMetwpA&feature=channel_page Water Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulgSsvHJLNw&feature=related Ripple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uCN20tPIIQ Friend of the Devil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBGgUqLc-Yk&feature=related Shanty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSR8m7fB_Qw&feature=related CC forums: http://ezfolk.com/forums/view_topic.phpid=7445&forum_id=36 | |
