A Conversation with Carly Ritter – HuffPost 8.28.13

Mike Ragogna: Carly Ritter, it seems you have a new album called, coincidentally, Carly Ritter.

Carly Ritter: I do indeed!

MR: What can you tell us about this new self-titled debut?

CR: Well, I’m just overjoyed that it was made. When I started recording some of my songs, I never really dreamed that a whole album would come out of it. But these angels, Joachim Cooder and Juliette Commagere, who I knew from high school, heard I was venturing into music and they offered to help and then they got this whole album done. I really had amazing people come to my side. Really, these two incredible families, the Cooders and Commageres, carried me through the process. I feel like you can hear in the songs a lot of support. I’m really excited about it.

MR: Yeah, the names “Cooder” and “Commagere” are familiar in some way, though I just can’t put my finger on it…

CR: I know! [laughs] You may have heard of them. But as a beginner in this process, I had never recorded before, so to have Ry Cooder play on every track–he plays this beautiful guitar and mandolin–and Joachim and Juliette and her brother Robert Francis, another amazing musician and songwriter, they taught me so much during the process. It was very humbling, but they have been just the most supportive, wonderful people.

MR: That’s terrific you had such a great experience. And you had Robert Francis in the mix, another amazing artist.

CR: I know!

MR: Robert has a song called “Junebug” that I feel should have been a Top Ten record. I don’t know what happened there.

CR: Yeah, he’s one of my favorite songwriters and singers and musicians. I love all of his albums so much, they should be known around the world. He also played on every song and we got to sing a duet, which was a dream come true. It’s been an amazing journey.

MR: It shows. There’s a real family vibe to this record.

CR: Yes, absolutely! The only musicians on it are Joachim, Juliet, Joachim’s dad Ry Cooder and Juliette’s brother Robert. It stayed within that family. Wildly enough, yeah, I went to high school with Joachim and Juliette, but Juliette drove me in a carpool, and I had always admired them for the music they were making. They were just always creating wonderful music. I really never dreamed that I would get to collaborate with them, but it just changed everything for me.

MR: Now speaking of musical families, “Ritter” seems to be a familiar name, too. I’m wondering where I’ve heard it. Something about the Texas and horses comes to mind.

CR: [laughs] Yeah, my grandfather was a great cowboy country-western singer, and it’s amazing because through all of it, I’ve felt so much more connected to him than ever. I never got to meet him; he died before my parents met. I was in Texas last August and got to hear all these stories about him. The people who knew him have been so supportive to me as I get into this. He left a lot of good will behind, and I’ve just been listening to his music constantly, getting to know him better. He’s been a huge influence both as one of the great voices of country music and also as the kind of man he was.

MR: Generations adored him; kids grew up wanting to be him. So given the connection to Tex Ritter, there’s an interesting path here. I look at cowboy music as being not so much country music as it is an offshoot, a separate genre. I feel the same way with regards to your music. You’ve been sort of put in a “country” catalog, but no, I think it pushes the boundaries. I would say it’s a roots-y sixties music!

CR: Yeah, absolutely, and I think Joachim and Juliette, as they were producing it, were trying to get this sort of sixties and seventies folk sound and certainly some of the older country influences as well. But yeah, I think it is under the “California” sound. It doesn’t quite fit in just straight country, which I love because there are so many genres that I’m passionate about. One thing that I’ve read about my grandfather is that he was studying to be a lawyer, and then he went to the University of Texas in Austin and knew John Lomax, a collector of cowboy songs, and then J. Frank Dobie, who was collecting all this folk music. College is when I got exposed to all this folk and country and old blues and stuff. So I felt like there are so many different influences that are important to me, I’m glad that you can hear more than country.

MR: Absolutely. Carly, who were some of your other influences?

CR: A lot of the songs that ended up on the album, the ideas came to me while I was listening to Hank Williams. I’ve got to give him credit. I love his writing style and he’s just one of the greatest poets. Woody Guthrie, I know that I grew up with a lot of Beatles and especially John Lennon, a lot of his solo stuff, and the theme of love and the importance of love. I think that also comes through on the album. Judee Sill is a wonderful songwriter and, of course, Joni Mitchell. But Judee Sill definitely influenced some of my thinking of themes and topics to write about.

MR: Awesome, Judee Sill. How did you discover her?

CR: Joachim and Juliette! I guess in the early demo that I sent them, they were like, “We’re reminded a little bit.” I don’t know what reminded them, maybe because some of the songs had religious imagery. But they were like, “You should hear this woman,” and then I got everything I could find on her. I love her. I love her voice and her songs are just incredible.

MR: Yeah, sadly, she’s one of the great artists who fell under the radar.

CR: I know! I was shocked that I had never heard of her before.

MR: Well, you get to carry on her tradition in some respects.

CR: Yeah, maybe I’ll bring a light to her if I can.

MR: I also want to talk about your growing up in the Ritter household. Your dad, John Ritter, has been gone for a while. But I bet your parents were influential as far as what you liked musically.

CR: Yeah! The great thing about my parents is that they love so many different kinds of music. My dad was playing a lot of rock ‘n’ roll, my mom would take us to the opera, and she sang us Leonard Cohen songs as lullabies in French. There was a lot of different exposure. Because they were both so open to new things, my dad would introduce us to the music that was happening as we were growing up, and we were like, “Wow, our friends are playing this, how did you know about it?” They encouraged that curiosity of listening to new things and supporting all kinds of creativity and art. They left the door wide open for exploration.

MR: Are there other artists out there that you might be casually listening to and being influenced by? Maybe even artists that are coming on the scene now?

CR: Sure. My cousin is in a band called Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers. They’re just starting to make a name for themselves in the Americana genre. I love her voice. She really harkens back to Linda Ronstadt and those great singers. They’re all writing songs that I’m just loving. They’re just really fun. I did my first tour earlier this year with Matt Costa and he’s incredible. I have just been listening to a lot of his music, too. He went to Scotland, I think, for his last record and I love that because I’ve been to Scotland and that inspired me in my songwriting, so he’s definitely been influential, too.

MR: Hey, what advice do you have for new artists?

CR: You know, it took me a really long time to decide to go for it. I’ve always loved music and I grew up playing piano and harp, and the one thing is I always kept it so private. If my family would walk into the room while I was playing piano, I would stop. I think it took me a while to get to the point where I was like, “I’m just going to do it and do my best and whatever happens, kind of leave that up to the universe.” Once I made that decision, it was like everything I could read about, both the business and creative sides. So listen to as much music as you can and as many genres as you can so you’re not limited. Then the lucky part for me was that I just new these incredible people and they came to my side. If you have friends or family who can help you and support you and give you advice, just be open to that. But yeah, follow your heart and then work really hard.

MR: And you’ve worked really hard, too. You’ve not just been a musician, you’ve also had to earn a paycheck. You’ve been out there doing all sorts of non-musical things, too. Do you think that expanded your perspectives within your writing?

CR: Absolutely! I think just in my various jobs I’ve had… I’ve worked in Colorado on a ranch and then I’ve done a lot of administrative jobs and non-profit work. The great thing about that is that I’ve met so many incredible people, and for songwriting, not that you want to use someone’s story as a means to an end, but if you’re really open to getting to know people, everyone has an amazing story to share. I can point to who influenced different songs and some of the stories I’m sharing. There are also aspects of me in every song and it’s also personal, too, but I’m like, “Oh, that came from that friend that I met in Colorado.” So I think all of that comes back into you never know when something you’ve been through is going to come up in a song.

MR: As far as the songs, I feel you set up the mood of the album perfectly with “It Don’t Come Easy.” It does feel like there’s a bit of an “everyperson” theme going through it. Is that fair to say?

CR: Absolutely, yeah! I always try to go back to the main theme of it, but love can always sound trite and be simplified, so I love starting out with “It Don’t Come Easy,” which is from the perspective of someone really struggling with it and wanting to love but also wanting freedom and to respond to the call of the open prairie or whatever it might be that you feel that inner tension. Each song kind of deals with love in a different way, from letting it go or maybe rejecting it, but then letting it come back to you; or there are a couple of songs with parent-child relationships. There was something my dad said years ago. “There’s no such thing as a perfect parent or a perfect child. The only thing perfect is love.” I remembered that recently and I thought, “That’s kind of the overall theme.” Human relationships are broken and fragile, but when there’s that little thread of love, I hope there’s some tenderness conveyed even when it gets rough.

MR: Beautiful, really well-said. What is your creative process like? Do you find yourself hit with it out of nowhere sometimes?

CR: It just comes when it comes. But the one thing I would also say is there’s a certain amount of just sitting down to write as often as possible. Even when ninety percent of the time, or ninety-five maybe, for me, whenever I sit down to force myself to write, nothing ends up being what I want. But maybe one line or one idea just gets the mind starting to think and then all of a sudden, I’ll be walking and the whole song will just come. It’s kind of like you have to put in the time, but then the moments of inspiration can happen any time. A lot of times, you’ll be in traffic in L.A.

MR: So you have a very, very long time to work on songs.

CR: Exactly, I know! That’s one of the best times to get your mind wandering.

MR: I’m inspired by what your dad said to you about love. Is there any other advice that had a profound effect on you?

CR: When I was just starting out and really unhappy with how my voice was sounding or that my songs were not good and all this stuff where you start comparing yourself to other people, my friend said, “The worst thing that anyone could ever tell you is, ‘You sound just like this person!’ or ‘You write just like this person.’ You have to find what you uniquely have to say and then just be yourself.” I was like, “That’s great!” So yeah, I think every time where I feel like I should be further along or I’m just starting out and it seems overwhelming and I have so much to learn still, I just try to bring it back to I’m doing the best I can. I’m always going to work hard and try to grow as an artist, but then just keep listening to my heart and try to find what I have to say that is unique.

MR: Nice. When are you going to end up on the road?

CR: We’re trying to figure that out now. The album comes out August 27th, so we’ll definitely have a release show, and then I know in September, we’re planning on going to the Americana music festival in Nashville and, hopefully, we’ll get another tour going in the Fall, because I’d love to get out there and share the music.

MR: And may I ask, are you married?

CR: No, I’m not.

MR: Robert Francis isn’t married either.

CR: [laughs] I know, he’s a little bit younger, but he’s great. He’s become a wonderful friend.

MR: [laughs] I’m just saying.

CR: Yeah, hey!

MR: Well this was lovely. I really, really appreciate your time.

CR: Thank you so much!

MR: You had such a good debut, I can’t wait to hear what else you’ve got coming down the pike.

CR: That means so much to me, and thank you so much for taking the time to talk.

MR: You’ve got it. And don’t forget Robert Francis is out there.

CR: I’ll tell him you told me.