A Conversation with Gavin DeGraw – HuffPost 7.8.11

Mike Ragogna: Gavin, you’re releasing your album “Sweeter” soon, which is your fourth studio album, right?

Gavin DeGraw: Exactly. It’s my fourth album that I’ve made, and it’s my third major release.

MR: Plus you’ve had a couple of live albums in the mix, too.

GD: Yeah, I’ve done a couple other types of recordings. One of the more creative things I got to do was a stripped-down version of my first album, “Chariot,” that I called, “Chariot (Stripped).” I was able to have an awesome creative conversation with my record company, and they went for it and allowed me to basically re-cut every song on my album as an acoustic version, but with a band playing more acoustic performances. Rather than being amplified sounds, it was more of a beatnik and kind of soulful performance, sort of like an earlier Donny Hathaway “Everything Is Everything” type of record.

MR: Nice. “Chariot,” of course, was a big record for you, not only the original album, but also the stripped down version and also that single. A lot of people probably know you because your song “I Don’t Want to Be” became the theme song for the television show “One Tree Hill.” Can you tell us how that happened?

GD: Sure. I had already made my album, and it was on shelves for about a year. I got a phone call from one of the creative guys from the show, a guy named Joe Davola — where you get the name “crazy Joe Davola” from the “Seinfeld” days. Joe called me up and said, “Hey, dude, I know you’ve never met me, but I listened to your album and heard your song, and this particular song, I think, would be great for this show I’m coming out with.” I said, “OK, great. Which song?” He said, “It’s ‘I Don’t Want to Be,’ and I think it would be perfect for what we’re doing. Tell me some of your favorite movies.” Well, one of my favorite movies is that old flick, “The Outsiders.” He was like, “Well, if I could put it in ‘Outsider’ terms, this is a coming-of-age-type show. This song would be a great match-up with the show.” I said, “That sounds great,” and he said, “Well, help me help you. I just need the ‘OK.'” So, I said, “Great. Do it. It sounds great to me.” It paid off my college loans, bro. [Laughs.]

MR: You also had an appearance or two on the show. You sang in Lucas’ mom’s place, Karen’s Café — I think the songs were “Chariot” and “I Don’t Want to Be.” You’ve also done some interesting cameos. Tell me what that was like.

GD: Cameos are funny. Just the idea of being on set of a TV show or flick — my world, the music world, is organized, to a degree, but no one’s telling me where to stand during a certain part of my song while I’m performing on stage. When you’re working in the TV world, it’s like, “You see this X here, made of tape on the floor? That’s where you’re going to stand when you say this line, and go to this X over here by the time you get to that line.” It’s just kind of funnier for me to see how incredibly orchestrated the film and TV worlds are, but it’s flattering any time you get invited to go do it, and it’s a lot of fun. Everybody has in their mind the romantic idea of being an actor at some point in their life, so I figured, why not? Honestly, I think being linked up with that program, particularly at that point in my life, was really the deciding factor whether my single “I Don’t Want to Be” was going to go big or go home. That really opened doors or at least cracked open doors to be pushed open, and it gave me opportunities that really wouldn’t have come my way had I not been linked up with something bigger than just a guy traveling around the country, playing music. You need a story.

MR: Also, of course, that was a top-10 record.

GD: Fortunately.

MR: Where were you when you first heard it on the radio, and what was your reaction?

GD: I don’t remember where I was the first time I heard that track on the radio — I was kind of hearing fragments of it around. I remember the first time I heard any song of mine on the radio — it was the song, “Follow Through,” and I was in Washington, D.C. It came on right after a song that I was saying, “Oh man, this would be a cool cover.” It was that song, “Don’t You Forget About Me.” I thought, “Man, I should really work that out and play it in a concert.” Then, “Follow Through” came on right after that, and I was like, “Oh man, this is amazing. What a great experience.” I was sitting in the car at the time with a buddy of mine, and my buddy’s dad was the singer on that old ’60s tune that goes [singing], “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…” It was just the right company to be in, you know what I mean?

MR: And that, sir, would be The Tokens. I just have to throw that out because I’m an old dude, and I have to go there.

GD: [Laughs.]

MR: Hey Gavin, we actually met two years ago in New York City at the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and I went back this year, but sadly, you were not there.

GD: I was not there this year, no.

MR: Yeah, I remember embarrassing myself when we met because in the hallway coming back from the men’s room or something, I approached you, saying, “Hey, you’re Gavin McGraw.” I immediately thought, “Crap, did I just say Gavin McGraw?” With my last name, I’m pretty sensitive to getting things like that wrong, you know?

GD: [Laughs.] I get that all the time, honestly. It’s an honest mistake. I think we’ve all been conditioned by like, “Quick Draw McGraw,” you know what I mean?

MR: [Laughs.] Exactly. You’re a good egg.

GD: It’s hard to rewire yourself, especially after you’ve grown up watching cartoons.

MR: That’s pretty funny, right on. OK, since you were talking about covers, I wanted to ask you about your version of “We Are the Champions” on the “Killer Queen” compilation.

GD: Yeah, I loved that record.

MR: Wait, there’s more. You did “Jealous Guy” for the “One Tree Hill, Vol. 2” soundtrack.

GD: Yeah, man, an amazing John Lennon track, and a beautiful song. I was inspired by the Donny Hathaway recording of that song, which is one of my favorite renditions. He happens to be one of my favorite interpreters, you know what I mean?

MR: Sure, mine, too. I love his duets with Roberta Flack, as well. What is your favorite Donny Hathaway song?

GD: My favorite is — that’s tough to say. First of all, “Jealous Guy” is up there for me. And I love his version of Leon Russell’s “A Song for You.”

MR: Donny Hathaway has been a favorite of mine for years.

GD: Oh, man, just amazing, right? His singing is limitless.

MR: It’s good we’re referencing him; most people immediately go to Marvin Gaye or Al Green as their favorite soul artist. It’s refreshing to hear someone loves Hathaway.

GD: Right.

MR: OK, you had another big hit with “I’m in Love with a Girl.”

GD: Yeah, we did alright with that one. That was an important moment for me. Anytime you take a minute off from the pop world, it’s always time to worry, you know what I mean? We had taken five years between the release of “Chariot” and the release of “In Love with a Girl.” It makes you worry about being gone too long, and you hope that people are still going to be receptive. So, fortunately, that song did well for me and kind of reintroduced me into that realm. Then, just following that record, I released an album a year later called “Free,” which was a lie — it wasn’t free.

MR: [Laughs.] How un-free was it?

GD: I don’t know. Probably $10 to $20, depending on where you live. [Laughs.]

MR: Well, I imagine for a lot of Internetsters, it was free.

GD: Exactly. I think albums might as well be free.

MR: Yeah, it seems like the introduction of the Internet marketplace has created an environment where it’s almost like recordings don’t have the value that they did years ago. On the other hand, though, they are, especially when one spends thousands and thousands of dollars going into a studio to record.

GD: It’s an awful lot of money. Not just recording, but with promoting it and things like that, it could cost millions of dollars. It’s pretty crazy.

MR: You know, I usually ask this at the end of interviews, but let me ask you right now: what is your advice for new artists?

GD: My advice is to accept the environment for what it is, and get into if for the right reasons. Then, you’ll be able to deal with it. If you get into it for the wrong reasons, then you won’t be able to put up with some of the things that you can’t change. The fact is, the things you’re making to have the opportunity of having your dream job will satisfy the curiosity of, “Wow, I wonder if I can do this or not?” It’s worth it, and to me, the curiosity always outweighs just about everything because I just want to see if I can. I just can’t help that about myself. I’m the guy who puts his finger in the cigar cutter just to see if I can pull it out before it gets cut off.

MR: Dude, you’re scaring me.

GD: I know. One of these days I’m going to show up with half a hand.

MR: [Laughs.] OK, getting back to your music, I wanted to talk about “Not Over You,” which was co-written and produced by Ryan Tedder.

GD: Right. He just built a studio in Denver, and that’s where we ended up for writing and producing that song. The first song we did, we met up in Nashville at this great recording studio called Blackbird. It was one of the most impressive recording studios I’ve ever seen, with the most incredible collection of gear — a large portion of the Abbey Road Studios is in this place.

MR: John McBride’s place, right.

GD: So, we wrote our first song there, and it was really funky, masculine and kind of sexy. We were like, “Man, this is really cool. Let’s get together and do another one of these when we get a minute.” So, a few weeks later, we met up in Denver at his recording studio, and he played me this little piano riff. I said, “I could work with that,” and we took it from there. We wrote for a couple days and we had the song, “Not Over You,” which we felt was a good choice for a first single on my next album. You can write with somebody and it might be a good song, but it might not be the right song for your album, or it might not be a good single for your album.

MR: Now, when will “Sweeter” be coming out?

GD: It will be coming out Sept. 6, and I think that will be almost the perfect time for it — just the right climate.

MR: Gavin, you’re touring this summer, right?

GD: I will be touring with Maroon 5 and Train this summer, mostly in the U.S. and a little bit of Canada. Then, we’ll probably do some more touring in the States, alone, and then off to Europe.

MR: Nice. Are you having fun on the road?

GD: You know, the road is something that you miss when you’re not on it. It’s almost like you say about being a New Yorker — when you change the pace, you kind of miss it, and it’s great for a couple days, but then it’s like, “Oof.”

MR: [Laughs.] So, with “Sweeter,” are you doing the rest of the project with Ryan, or is it going to be a mixed bag?

GD: It’s definitely a mixed bag, but it’s an exciting bag. The album really is across the spectrum of music from more vulnerable stuff to the more masculine stuff, to more sexual stuff and intimate things. In the intimate material, you’ll be able to tell that it’s intimacy by somebody who has actually experienced intimacy. [Laughs.]

MR: No, I get it, as opposed to just the concept of it, which many writers resort to.

GD: Exactly.

MR: Gavin, are you taking your brother Joey on the road?

GD: I’d love to take him on the road if he’s up for it. Right now, we’re opening another bar in Nashville — we own a bar in New York called The National Underground, and we’re making another one in Nashville now. We’re right across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel, right where all the honky-tonks are right now. We’re trying to bring kind of a New York vibe to Nashville.

MR: Nashville is changing a lot right now, isn’t it.

GD: Right. It’s a really incredible music town. I love that style of music, but there are also a lot of other styles coming out of there — Kings Of Leon came out of there, as well, and they’re more like big, modern rock. It’s a huge variety of styles coming out of there. Even in L.A., I bumped into Desmond Child a couple of years ago, and he was like, “Hey, when are you coming to Nashville?” I said, “Desmond — Nashville? You’re in Nashville?” He was like, “Gavin, everybody’s in Nashville.”

MR: Yeah, even though L.A. still has the stereotype of being the place that you need to be, Nashville is valuable when it comes to spreading your wings and really exploring what you’re doing musically.

GD: Exactly, and that’s because Nashville has a community vibe, and that’s missing in a lot of other towns.

MR: And now more than ever, it seems like if you’re trying to break out, this is one of those places you’re going to have to go.

GD: It’s a great place for it.

MR: Well, Gavin, thank you very much for talking with me today.

GD: Thank you, man.

Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney