A Conversation with Jolie Holland – HuffPost 5.8.14
Mike Ragogna: Jolie, Wine Dark Sea is your latest album. Can you take us on a tour of the material and the recording process?
Jolie Holland: This album represents my first attempt to heal my saxophonophobia. There are two full drum sets on every song, and sometimes four electric guitars at once. I’ve always been trying to get a band to sound this way. I basically put out a call to a number of musicians I’ve always respected, many of whom had been in my band for years. Nine of them were available, and I ended up working with seven. Most people these days don’t cut rock albums with large live bands: this kind of recording is a challenge on several levels. The musicians admirably rose to the occasion. Large ensemble Dylan recordings like Blonde On Blonde served as an inspiration even though many people are playing at once, each player’s voice is clear. I produced Wine Dark Sea with Douglas Jenkins. We mixed with Larry Crane of Tape Op fame. It was a great experience to work with this band and these engineers. Everyone brought so much soul and focus to the project.
MR: What’s your creative process like these days and how has it changed over the years?
JH: Songs come to me when I’m walking down the street or riding the subway. I haven’t tried to write a song since I was 14. Ever since then, I make them come get me.
MR: Do you consider yourself a “dark” writer?
JH: Not if I remember the sunscreen….
MR: If you weren’t a songwriting performer, what other creative field might you have gone into?
JH: I write non-fiction. And I cook. But I hardly ever make visual art anymore. I was headed into fine art before music took over. Music also ruined my career as a cocktail waitress.
MR: What is the most revealing song about you on Wine Dark Sea?
JH: The songs reveal the listener; as Nanny Burks Freeman used to say, “every gesture of perception is a self-portrait.” Anything the songs might seem to say about me would only be a reflection of the listener.
MR: When you perform live, how do the songs evolve from their studio versions into their live approaches?
JH: We devolve to reptilian forms. Except for guitarist Adam Brisbin. He goes rhinoceros.
MR: Anything in the news catching your eye?
JH: Child welfare and issues of cultural diversity always get to me: Here in North America, Lakota children are being removed from Lakota homes at a horrific, literally genocidal rate. The kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls are breaking my heart. Exiled Malian musicians are starting to be able to come home now that the Taliban is losing it’s grip on Mali. The decade of Romani inclusion is at hand, and we’ll see how well this serves the Romani people.
MR: Do you have an extended vision of how you’re approaching music presently? Any frontiers you want to conquer beyond recording and performing?
JH: Music has always been a lot more to me than performing and recording. Music is a constant experience, like being married, except more reliable. It’s something you can’t lose.
MR: My traditional question, what advice do you have for new artists?
JH: I wouldn’t presume to give advice to strangers.
MR: Is there anything that you’ve never revealed before about Jolie Holland that finally can be announced in this interview?
JH: Just because my job involves getting on stage doesn’t mean I’m not naturally shy and private, like most people. The power of art is in the experience of the audience.