Interviews

There’s a difference between rock musicians and acoustic musicians, not entirely dissimilar to the way they present their craft, and themselves. An interview with a ‘rock star’ would require going through his ‘people’, being met at a stage door and ushered to a room, where the ‘rock star’ is presented for a strict 20 minutes before the scribe is marched back out of the stage door again. Acoustic musicians are different. Thea Gilmore is happy to be interviewed in a small café in Nantwich, the pretty market town in Cheshire where she lives. There’s no problem if I’m a minute late. No time pressure, just a conversation with a musician who would firmly deny that she is famous, but she very much is – collaborators include Joan Baez, and committed fans include Bruce Springsteen.

We are meeting to discuss Thea’s latest work, which has seen her compose music to accompany recently discovered lyrics by the late folk legend Sandy Denny. The project follows Thea’s decision to record the entire Bob Dylan album John Wesley Harding, and our conversation began with the story behind that record. ‘It would surprise people if they knew how often I am asked to cover Bob Dylan songs,’ Thea begins, her soft, warm speaking voice almost lost in the tinkle of cups and murmured chatter around the café. ‘It’s not something that I like to do, mainly because I don’t feel I can bring very much because the originals are just perfect. So every time I was asked to do a Dylan cover, it was John Wesley Harding that I returned to each time. I think it’s because it is composed in a folk idiom, and because the songs suit my voice, so I thought I would record it from top to bottom and see what happened.’

And from there to Don’t Stop Singing, the album featuring the lost lyrics of Sandy Denny with music and vocals supplied by Thea, who explains the background behind the album. ‘Sandy’s estate approached me to see if I wanted to put some music to the books of lyrics that they had found. I believe they were planning to approach a number of female artists; whether they did or not, I don’t know, but they sent a book of lyrics to me. They asked me to send them anything I came up with, and I did. I didn’t think too hard about it, but I remember it felt quite strange, really, sitting with photocopies of lyrics in Sandy’s handwriting. I think it’s a good job that I didn’t think too hard about it, because if I had, I may not have done it. So I read the lyrics, and one set of lyrics really leapt out at me and instantly suggested a melody. So I put the lyrics and my melody together and recorded it, and sent it off to them, and didn’t really expect to hear anything back because there are a million projects like this out there and most of them never develop into anything tangible. But they wrote back and told me they had ditched the idea of anyone else working with the lyrics and they wanted me to do all of it. That’s when I started thinking about it seriously, and whether I actually wanted to do it. As I writer, if I were no longer here, I wonder if I would be happy if someone took some lyrics of mine and put music to them, but of course, you can never know that. I have no idea what plans Sandy Denny had for her lyrics, or if she would like me as an artist or what I have done with her words. I decided that what I would do is see what I came up with in terms of music for the lyrics, and if I felt it worked and they were good songs I would go ahead and do the project, and if not, I would tell the family that this was not for me.’

So Thea could have talked herself out of the whole idea quite easily … ‘Oh yes. There was a danger of finding out too much, because from the bits I have read about Sandy it seems that her mind worked in a similar way to mine, so I wanted to keep that distance. There will be people who will be sceptical about the idea of the album or what I have done with the lyrics, but I am happy with it, and Georgia, Sandy’s daughter, and her stepmother, are happy with it. John Kirkpatrick, who is on the album and who knew Sandy and worked with her, said he felt I was the best person to do this record, and when people like that are supportive I feel better about it. The thing is, the folk community are incredibly protective of their own, and they have never really adopted me, which is fine, and neither have the rock community. I am like this figure that dances outside various genres, which is exactly where I want to be. There may be folk fans who think the project should have been given to someone more firmly entrenched in the folk tradition, but I got it, and I made the record, and I can’t endlessly worry about who thinks it was the right thing to do or not.’

The album is released through Island Records, which brings the conversation round to another acoustic musician on the label, Nick Drake, who never achieved the fame in his lifetime that mushroomed after his tragic death. Thea ponders the similarities and differences between the two. ‘I know that most young people today, if they have a vague interest in music, will have a Nick Drake album on CD, or on their iPod, and it’s always intrigued me that Sandy Denny never seemed to retain that level of appeal. There are similarities between them – neither of them achieved any level of fame when they were alive, but whereas Nick Drake has become a massively popular artist posthumously, Sandy Denny has just gone back into the folk audience, and I hope that what we have done may go some way towards increasing an audience for her work.’

So exactly how do you approach the notion of taking lyrics from someone no longer there to advise or approve, and put original music around them? Thea explains how it worked for her: ‘It wasn’t easy to work with Sandy’s lyrics. Some suggested music straightaway, and others meant working and stopping, finding out where she was going with the lyric. The difference in our styles was apparent with the project. I am quite structured in my writing, which people who write on a guitar tend to be, but Sandy was definitely a piano composer; I can tell that from the way the lyrics fit together. There were times when I brought my husband Nigel in to help, because I don’t play piano and the music for the lyrics I was dealing with could not be written on guitar – they were too free-form and floating, so I needed some help. Nigel has a much greater knowledge of Sandy’s back catalogue as well, so he brought that with him, which was a great help.’

Did Thea envisage a range of guitar sounds for this album? ‘I am very lucky that my household has a wide range of acoustic guitars, and they span a broad sonic spectrum,’ she replied. ‘I don’t really like new guitars – every instrument we have is from around 1980, or earlier. We have two Martin D-28s, which have very different voices. Mine was born in 1979, the same year as me, and has a really nice, rich middle. Nigel’s has a great bottom-end sound and is very bright. My absolute pride and joy is a Gibson J-45 that was built in 1965, and that has the best bottom end of any guitar I have ever heard. We organise a festival here in Nantwich every year, and the week before last, Mike Scott from The Waterboys was sitting in my front room playing my Gibson J-45, and he said it has the best bottom-end sound he has ever heard, and if Mike Scott says that, then it’s good enough for me! Nigel also has an old Guild that has a really rich, mellow middle tone, so we have the brilliant spectrum of sounds so we can play more or less anything we want. Some people treat their guitars like precious objects, and if they get the slightest dink or a scratch they have it buffed out immediately. I don’t subscribe to that attitude at all. To me, a guitar is a living entity, and if you treat it like a museum piece it will not play well. My J-45 has a big scratch down the front; it almost has a hole in the soundboard under where the pickguard is, and it needs a good clean, but it sounds amazing.’

Discussing music with Thea Gilmore in the café in the middle of her hometown feels a galaxy away from the notion of ‘fame’ that seems to be the goal of all the young wannabes who clamour for the nation’s attention. So does Thea see herself as an antidote to that notion of success? ‘God, I hope so!’ she responds with a vigour that underlines her passion for her life as a musician for whom success has been fought and won with work and ability. ‘I really hope you are right about that. I don’t see myself as any kind of role model, I see myself as a musician trying to make a living through music. I’m not setting myself up as superior in any way, but if anyone sees me and wants to do what I do, then that’s great.’

Andy Hughes

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