A Conversation with Lee DeWyze – HuffPost 7.26.13

Mike Ragogna: Lee, tell us a little something about yourself.

Lee DeWyze: Well, I love music and my golden retriever and my wife.

MR: In that order?

LD: No. Not in that order.

MR: [laughs]

LD: And my fans. I love my fans.

MR: You grew up listening to artists like Cat Stevens and Simon & Garfunkel, but can you tell us a little more about your musical upbringing?

LD: I grew up in a pretty musical household. My mom always liked to sing and my dad was always listening to music. The first music I ever really fell in love with was Cat Stevens’ Tea For The Tillerman was the first record I recall listening to on vinyl. I remember when I first found the record, I saw the picture on the front and I was just enamored by it. I was like, “Oh, what is this?” My dad was like, “Let me play it for you,” and I fell in love right then and there.

MR: What were some of your favorite songs from that? I’m guessing “Father & Son” is one of them?

LD: “Father & Son” is a great one and definitely one of my favorites, but I think that “Miles From Nowhere,” “Longer Boats,” “Wild World,” and “Sad Lisa.”

MR: Was this album your gateway to other music?

LD: Yeah, that definitely opened up the door to Kris Kristofferson, Simon & Garfunkel… In my opinion, Paul Simon is one of the greatest lyricists of all time. So when I listened to that self-titled album, I fell in love. And my love for melody and harmony came from my love for Simon & Garfunkel. No one did it better than they did.

MR: Agreed! With Cat Stevens and Simon & Garfunkel as your introductions, you’re definitely in for a penny, in for a pound when it comes to the singer songwriters. It’s hard to stop.

LD: Yeah, really, that’s exactly how it is. I was listening to this stuff between eight and fourteen, that was my heyday with all those sixties and seventies folk and the singer/songwriter thing. Then as I got older, I got into Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Radiohead and all that stuff and that obviously progressed. Even now, I think Chris Cornell is one of my favorite vocalists of all time. I really just fell in love with music as a whole; I love music and not just listening to it. At a young age, I loved everything about it, the stories and the songs. When I finally hit the point where I was like, “You know what, this is what I want to do,” that was when I started writing my own songs. I can’t say they were very good ones, but when you’re thirteen or fourteen years old writing your first songs, they are what they are.

MR: Personally, I think that’s around the right age for the trajectory of a conscious songwriter.

LD: Yeah. I really love the storytelling aspect of it, too. That’s what’s important for me in my writing. I like connecting to the songs and I like telling stories through the songs and I think that’s what really creates the connection between the listener of the song and me. That’s really what brings us together on an intimate level, because we get to connect through that experience and that’s something that I really love, being able to create those kinds of things.

MR: At what point did you decide you were going to make a living out of music?

LD: You know, I always knew I loved doing it as a hobby, but I didn’t really start “dreaming big” about it until I was about sixteen or seventeen years old and I started picking up a hundred bucks here, a hundred bucks there, playing in bars, definitely underage. I played for a few hours at seventeen, eighteen years old, I’d make a hundred bucks here for three hours a night, hundred bucks there for three hours a night and I could do that three or four times a week and make a few hundred bucks. It wasn’t really even about the money, it just felt cool. It felt good. I was like, “Wow, I’m playing music and I can get paid to do this!” and that’s cool for a kid. I moved out when I was young–I was like seventeen or eighteen, somewhere in there–and to pay the bills was really one of those things. Then college came around and that thought crossed my mind, but I realized my real passion was in performing, paid gigs or not. I played every open mic known to Chicago. I just loved playing. It was like a drug, almost. I was addicted to it and I just needed to play. I wasn’t happy unless I was playing. That attachment formed and it became a part of me.

That’s when I knew, “This is what I’m going to do. Come hell or high water, I’m going to be playing music, one way or another.” As I got older, American Idol rolled around and for a guy like me who’s into the music I’m into, that seemed like a really left field idea, trying out for a show like that, you know? It was really more influence from friends and family. “Give it a shot, give it a shot!” I didn’t really have any expectations. It wasn’t like I set out there to rule the world, I was just like, “I’m going to see how far I can get and have fun with it.” Initially, to be honest, I thought of it as a cheap way of doing it–“selling out,” as people say. But then, it’s like, selling out what? Living on my own in a sh**ty apartment? What am I selling out, exactly? It actually turns out that Idol was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I couldn’t be further from the truth and I really believe it’s a great platform for people to get out there and make it, because nowadays, it’s not just, “Hey, kid, you want a shot? Let me hear your record.” It doesn’t work that way anymore.

MR: So you won American Idol during season nine and here you are a couple years later with your new album Frames. This one is your first one on Vanguard, right?

LD: With Vanguard. I put one out after Idol with another label, but this feels like my debut album.

MR: Why is that?

LD: I think the reason is there’s always too many cooks in the kitchen. Of course, when I was younger, I put out some records, very indie. I love those songs. My whole life, I always dreamt of making that record. That record that I remember looking at when I was younger and my being like, “I want to do this.” I’m like, “I always wanted to make a really cool record. I want to make a record that’s me. I want to tell stories through my songs and I want to write beautiful harmonies and stuff like that.” I always wanted to make that record, and I don’t feel I ever did.

MR: A perfect example of what you’re talking about seems to be found within your single, “Silver Lining.”

LD: Exactly.

MR: Can we go into that song and its significance? Would you consider that some sort of a turning point for you?

LD: Absolutely. “Silver Lining,” to be honest with you and not sound cliché, everything is open to interpretation. But to me, “Silver Lining” is finding the light when there’s dark and finding the good in the bad. To me, this record is the silver lining to my career thus far. Not to say that everything’s been bad, but I don’t feel that everyone’s, on a larger scale, gotten who Lee DeWyze really is as an artist. As an artist with American Idol and all that, I don’t think that I’ve ever been able to put my emotion with my heart and my mind into music the way I have on this record. With “Silver Lining,” I think people go through different things–depression, people have the blinders on, and sometimes you need a helping hand to pull you out of it and see the silver lining. Sometimes you need to be the one to do that for someone else. That’s really what the songs’s about. It’s really about finding that within yourself. In the chorus, I talk about, “They don’t know our hearts, they won’t break us apart, and all we need is us,” because at the end of the day, I think the human connection and human nature itself really is where you can find true happiness and true love. It’s the connection with people. That’s really what the song’s about. When I finished that song–I finished it with Drew Pearson–I kind of sat back and was like, “This is good.” Not the song, necessarily. It was like this feeling I had was good. Something’s happening here and I like what’s happening.

Then I went on to write a song called “Fight” and a song called “Like I do,” and it kind of started snowballing and honestly, it’s like I took my dose of medicine and all of a sudden, it was very clear to me that this was the time in my life I’m supposed to make that record I’ve always wanted to make. Writing isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s hard, especially when you’re going through different things and settling on what’s good and what’s not and what you like and what you want to get across. But it was a process that Vanguard really trusted me to steer. They heard those first couple of songs and we decided this was going to be a great fit and it wasn’t based on anything other than the music. They liked the music; it wasn’t, “Hey, let’s sign this American Idol guy.” It wasn’t about that. It was about, “We love the music,” and that was a huge stepping-stone for me, because to have my music representing me in the proper way, the way I want it to, and have people understand it and react to it and connect to it like that has been the goal all along for me. I believe that this is the record that I’ve always wanted to make. I believe this is the record that I knew I was always capable of making and I think it’s the record that the fans always wanted me to make. The fans are the gasoline for the engine, so without them and their motivation and their inspiration and all those things, you wake up and you’re like, “Man, I don’t know what to do.” Then to see the outpour of anticipation and excitement for this record really kept me driven. That’s not to say I’m not proud of the other albums I put out, but I feel like everyone gradually goes through a process in their life whether it be music, a job, a relationship, and this is where I’m at now and it feels really good I’m proud of it, I’m excited, I’m nervous. I think when people hear it, they’re really going to get a good sense of who I am and what I am. Shaking the “Idol Guy” thing isn’t something I look at as a negative thing. I’m always grateful and appreciative of where I come from, but it’s easy to be like, “I’m a real artist!” but I don’t want to tell people that. Just listen to the music and I think you’ll understand that. That’s what’s so exciting for me about this whole process, being able to show people that and to really just drill the music out there and know that I stand by everything I’m doing wholeheartedly 100%. There aren’t any reservations. I wrote these songs and I poured everything, literally blood, sweat and tears into this album. It’s my baby and I’m excited.

MR: I imagine you also love the music you made in Chicago, right?

LD: Of course. It’s fun, people that have heard the new music are like, “Wow, Lee’s playing banjo, and Lee’s using standup bass and he’s using a thumpy kick drum,” and that’s where music is right now anyway. But anyone can go back and listen to what I was doing when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, those are the kind of records that I was making then. I just wasn’t able to put them out there like I am now. I was also in a different time in my life. Now I’ve seen more, I’ve been through more, I understand more and I really, really know who I am as an artist, I really know what it is that I do. It’s not necessarily that I’m saying to myself, “I’ve got to make this kind of music,” because the album itself is definitely versatile. There are different things going on and that wasn’t intentional or unintentional, I just went into the studio and wrote what I had inside of me. I put it out on the record and that’s what it is and that’s why this album is a true reflection of me.

MR: You went back to American Idol to sing “Silver Lining.” What was it like returning to the show?

LD: Well, going back on the show and singing “Silver Lining” was a moment for me. To return to the stage where I was playing covers and turn around and play that song off my album in that fashion on that stage, to return fully “me.”

MR: It went full circle in a way, didn’t it?

LD: Yeah, it went full circle. There were nerves, of course, returning to that place, but they weren’t bad nerves, they were good nerves. To have the response that we got, everyone was like, “This is the Lee we’ve been waiting for!” It just feels like I’m finally able to do what I wanted to do and it feels amazing. To go back on that stage…those people are incredible. I got to see all the people backstage and the producers, and everything was really cool. Like I said with the fans, their response to it was incredible and without them, I don’t know where this album would be. And my wife…we’re coming up on a year of marriage, now. July 21st is our one-year anniversary. She has been a driving force, she really has been my rock through this entire process, and has picked me up when I needed to be picked up and has really pushed me. Her sacrifice and her ability to be an actress in all these things and also support what it is that I’m doing has been incredible. I’ve had a great support system around me throughout this entire process including Vanguard and 19 Entertainment, all of them getting me back on that Idol stage to perform “Silver Lining.” To be honest with you, a huge part of this album is the result of my manager Brett. From day one, we started working together and when he came on board, it was like we didn’t know where we were going with it and he pulled out the map and was like, “This is what we’re going to do, and I’m going to help you get to where you need to get to make the record you want to make.” Without him, this record, one hundred percent, wouldn’t have happened. I’ve got a great team around me.

MR: Lee, what’s your advice for new artists?

LD: My advice for new artists is, again, not sound cliché but never take “no.” Do what you feel is right. My biggest advice is put people around you that you trust and learn to trust the people around you. That would be my number one key advice for anybody that’s getting into this industry. Another thing I want people to know is that everything I’m feeling is positive. There’s no, “I’m gonna show them,” it’s not like that. It’s very positive, it’s very forward, it’s very optimistic. I feel I’m in the best mental place I’ve been in a long time. I just feel really good about everything, I’m really positive about it. I’m very excited.

MR: You’re going to be on tour for a while, right?

LD: Yeah, I definitely want to throw that out there. I’m going to be on tour with Serena Ryder in August, we’re doing a bunch of dates with her, we’re doing some headlining dates and then we’re doing some with Toad The Wet Sprocket. We’ve got a whole bunch of dates and of course you can go to http:/www.leedewyzeofficial.com for all that. Something else really cool that we’re doing, coming up on the nineteenth, is a “Stageit” show, debuting a bunch of the new music. We’re going to perform it live through the web so people will be able to log on and see that. You can go to the website http:/www.leedewyzeofficial.com. It’s five bucks and you get to log on and watch us. And then, of course, the album is coming out on August twentieth. We’re looking forward to that.

MR: Cool. All right, Lee, I don’t want to keep you much longer…

LD: No man, are you kidding me? I really appreciate talking with you, I appreciate the questions. The real message that we’re trying to get across is that this is the album that’s going to really let people know who I am. I want the fans to know I appreciate them and if it wasn’t for my family, my wife, and all them, we wouldn’t be where we’re at and I’m just excited to let the world see what it is I’ve been doing for the past year.

MR: That’s a beautiful place to be in, congratulations. All the best, and let’s do this again.

LD: All right, man, I’m looking forward to it.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne