Pittsburgh: Shannon Curfman Interview by Monica L. Yasher

Shannon Curfman is an artist who is young and full of life. She means it when she laughs, and has quite a sense of humor when she thinks of some of the events in her life. I met up with Shannon this summer at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival. She was quite popular with signing many autographs and meeting her fans. As we walked to our interview spot, the fans still pursued her. And, at one point someone actually interrupted the interview. We talked about Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, and her Mom and Dad as she had her BBQ just waiting to be eaten in front of her. Blues, BBQ, and me talking to Shannon. Here’s how the conversation went.

Monica: I’m with Shannon Curfman today. Shannon, Why the blues?

Shannon: Why the blues?

Monica: Why the blues?

Shannon: Originally I got into the blues through Jonny Lang. We are both from Fargo, North Dakota and our families grew up together. So when we both started playing… right around the same time… we both started playing guitar… and …when he started his band and got to the big bang… I guess at that point… I knew that it was possible to actually pursue something like he did at a younger age. The cycle was to always finish high school and during that time save up enough money to book a band with and start playing across the charts thing. You know that kind of thing. And then I found out the older musicians would play with people our age. So I started going out to Jonny’s shows and playing them. We both had fun discovering the different blues musicians. You know, like Robert Johnson to Albert Collins to Albert King, Luther Allison and you know we both really loved to sing kinda blues guitar. So it was actually neat to have someone… that starting at the same point…as myself. Because we were able to discover things together, and at the same time we were both a before and after. He is older than me. So you know at that age it is a pretty big age difference.

Monica: Not now, right?

Shannon: No. But, he humored me pretty well. (Shannon laughed)

Monica: Did he? Of your influences have you played with any of them?

Shannon: ½ of them are dead. Most of them are dead. (Shannon laughed).

Monica: What about like Robert Cray coming here here to the Pittsburgh Blues Festival this weekend?

Shannon: I pretty much played with all of them. I played with Buddy and BB and...

Monica: I saw some pictures of you and Buddy Guy out there. I went through your slide show.

Shannon: He says that he’s my Grandpa! (She laughs)

Monica: He’s your Grandpa!?

Shannon: He’s clearly not! (She laughs)

Monica: (I laugh) Uh oh.....I’m not asking!(we both laugh). You started off with Artista records correct? How hard was that to obtain? Was that cool? That’s huge at such a young age.

Shannon: It wasn’t something we actually ever shot for. I never even thought about being signed. Ah, it wasn’t something that we, you know, thought out. What happened is I recorded an album. ......ah from that, that’s when we decided it was time to move from Fargo to Minneapolis..just so there wasn’t so much travel and all of that.

Monica: And, your parents did that for you?

Shannon: Yeah

Monica: That’s awesome.

Shannon: Yeah. My Dad worked on the railroad and he worked from Vicksburg to Minneapolis anyway. So it was starting at one point rather than another. My Mom worked for the IRS. (Chuckles) She was ready to quit THAT. (She laughs) So, it was, you know, an easy move. My oldest sister lived there already. So we moved to Minneapolis and started playing around in town quite a bit, and that was part of it. It was too much travel. We did Loud guitars. Released Loud Guitars independently. It kinda exploded! We really had no intention, no idea of what was really going on. We started selling like 5000 albums a week. And now at this point we started to record the ....tracks..



Fan tells her she is great here.

Shannon: Thanks for coming man! Unbeknownst to us, I guess. The labels….that’s the way they find acts apparently. We were selling 5000 copies a week (she laughs), which we didn’t even HAVE in our hands. But, they tracked us down that way. And, we were just playing our normal bar gigs.. and people.. you know literally in suits, town cars, limos would come out and see us. We were like ooooohhh. And, here there were all these executives. Laughs. That’s when it started. No one ever asked. I had a manager, just a guy in Minneapolis. He never asked is this what you guys want? It was just who do you want to sign with? We never really thought about what we were doing. People just told us what to do, so we did it. I didn’t mind it.

Monica: Is there a lesson learned for a younger artist or was this a good thing?

Shannon: There is no way that I could have gotten the exposure that I got without being on a label. At least back then. Now people will actually put indie artists on their show. I never would have gotten Good Morning America, Letterman, Leno or things like that without a major. But at a certain point it ended up hindering what I wanted to do. I wanted to continue to be a blues artist or even just roots music in general. They weren’t quite for that. So that’s when I kinda disappeared for a few years and…because I was under contract, they controlled whether I toured, whether I put out music, what I put out, what kind of music they would let me record… and …so… I went to my cave. They had to let me go. There was no reason to keep me on their label, if I wasn’t going to work with them.

Monica: Let’s talk about your label now. It’s yours right?

Shannon: I started purdy records a few years ago. I don’t have arguments with the president anymore (laughs). There is just me and a few people who do everything. And, it’s been great, awesome. I love my work obviously. It’s a much smaller team. I know where everything is. I know where the money goes. I know where it’s all coming from. I can do whatever music I want to do.

Monica: Are there other artists on your label?

Shannon: No. Actually in 2007 we decided we could take on other artists or have a kid. So, we had a kid. I would never do to another artist what kinda happened to me. I would sign someone with giving them every opportunity they deserve. Just let them be themselves.

Monica: Let’s talk about your songwriting. What inspires you how do you go about it? Do you start with the lyrics first or the music? Or vice versa? Or, It’s just a song and it comes in many different ways? What works for you?

Big pause.

Monica: I know you write a lot.

Shannon: This is going to be a pretty boring answer. I write in all different ways. I guess because I play an instrument as well you know, sometimes it’s a guitar riff that I hear, sometimes it’s a piano, sometimes it’s drums. A lot of times actually it’s the drums which is kinda strange but…

Monica: No, that’s how Michael Jackson…I watched TV the other night and there was a clip of Michael and he said he started a lot of his songs with the drums-the beat.

Shannon: Really?

Monica: Yeah.

Shannon: That makes so much sense, especially being a dancer and was so percussive with his melodies.

Monica: Yeah. Not weird at all. If you made your debut at age 14 what age did you really start on your guitar?

Shannon: Ten.

Monica: So four years?

Shannon: Yep. I started play guitar at ten. A band at eleven and that was actually a pretty cool thing too. I never actually thought I would have a band. My guitar teacher at the time had a band but needed a singer. And I was a singer that loved to have a band! So we started playing together and that was kinda that.

Monica: What is the best advice you can give to someone starting out young?

Shannon: I’ll tell you what...the most important thing.. you can only say so much to a kid. But what it really comes down to is.. what will the parents...will let them do. What their parents will have them do. I have been doing this...my first paying gig I was seven but I was just singing at that point. Since then, it’s been about 15 years or so…I met a lot of kids and their parents. And the worse thing..And, it happens all the time. I sign autographs after every show and I get all these parents bringing their kid up and going this is my daughter, this is my daughter. You know they play guitar and could you tell them they need to practice more and the need to blah blah. And, I’m looking at the kid thinking are you kidding? This kid clearly doesn’t want to do what you want them to do. You know. It’s sad and the worse thing….

Monica: You loved it from the very beginning?

Shannon: I loved it! My parents didn’t really have a choice. They supported whatever my sister and I were into and I happened to be into guitar. They supported me in doing Taekwondo and all that stuff, just as much as music. But yeah. I’ll tell you what…for me. I’d rather say to the parent that don’t put out that fire in your kids. Don’t push them. That’s…I’m telling you…I don’t think ½ of these people even know they are doing it. They think they are doing something great for their kids and you know try to kill them in all that structure. They are taking that flame away from them and they will just rebel. I mean the label did that with me and I quit playing for years.



Monica: My son’s eleven and I couldn’t get him to practice. You know. He took his guitar in school for some music thing and played Ironman.

Shannon: Yeah yeah. Alright

Monica: He comes home and I asked him how did it go. And, he goes, well mom at recess all the girls wanted to be on my kickball team! (we laughed) He practices NOW. He just needed that extra spark.

Shannon: There is a certain thing. I can see now the parent side of it. A kid asks for guitar lessons and they’re paying for guitar lessons. They should be expected to practice their guitar ½ hr a day. Just don’t kill the passion. Any passion a kid has…you can put that out so fast in a kid.

Monica: What’s next for you? Another CD?

Shannon: Yeah, another CD. We’ve been taking it pretty easy on touring this year. This summer. We do tour but do maybe three shows a week or so. Then during the weekdays, I’m home finishing the album. Once that’s done…it’s more rockin’ blues. It’s not real produced or anything like that. A couple guitars drums, bass, keyboards…and keyboards are only on a couple of the songs. It’s more stripped down. Should be out in October. Once I’m done with recording. I will start really focusing on the next tour and we’ll be out all over after that.

Monica: I also hear your songwriting hits you up with other artists. You are having some success in that arena?

Shannon: That’s really what I did when I wasn’t touring. Writing for other artists. And writing for specific movies, television, networks. For television it was mostly HBO or the WB and movie stuff-any of the different studios. I did a lot of pop stuff. Some blues. I don’t know..Ana Popovich. I don’t really pitch my songs…But if people ask for them I have them. I write all the time so I have a million songs that I don’t use. I’ll use them at some point but it’s just a matter… I can’t just throw 11 songs on an album and they don’t fit together. We try to get it so they at least make a little bit of sense.



Monica: Well Shannon I’m sure it will make sense. Thank you for your time.

Shannon: Thanks for your patience.

You may also like to read about another great female guitarist: Ana Popovich

Copyright © 2009 Monica L. Yasher. All Rights Reserved.
Photograph Copyright © 2009 Maureen Ceidro. All Rights Reserved



To purchase the rights to reprint this article, please email info@americanbluesnews.com.

Pittsburgh: Interview with Chris Smither by Monica Yasher

I first met Mr. Chris Smither this summer at a Summersounds concert in June. At that time, we talked about his new release and doing an interview. I met up with Chris a week ago via the phone and we talked a lot about songwriting, acoustic guitars, and how Bonnie Raitt found his song, Love Me Like A Man. I personally learned a lot about songwriting in this conversation. So, why don't I begin to share the conversation with all of you?


Monica: Hey! A new album, Time Stands Still. Thank you so much for the copy. I was listening to it this morning. Thank you.

Chris: Your welcome.

Monica: And why are you so excited about this new piece of work?

Chris: Because it’s a new one (Laughing). I’m always excited when a new record comes out.. I don’t know.…I work and I work and I work on it and I don’t let it out of my hands until I think they’re good. You know. They have to be good and then I’m excited about it. How did you know that I’m excited about it?

Monica: Well you should be.

Chris: Oh OK.

Monica: That’s right you should be! Why would you put out something you weren’t excited about? I noticed in my interviewing all the artists…it’s a passion… it’s your passion so you have to be excited about it if it’s your passion!

Chris: That’s right. And, if you’re not, there’s something wrong.

Monica: Right, right. So lets talk about… that you said you work on it and work on it…. let’s build on that. How long did it take to write the songs…to how did it come about?

Chris: Well. How long did it take to write the songs? Well you know in a certain sense it took 3 years to write the songs.

Monica: Did it?

Chris: Because that’s when the last record came out. But, that wasn’t steady work. I guess from the time that I actually really started working on it to it was done...was probably eight or nine months.

Monica: Wow.

Chris: Then a couple of months spent playing them and practicing them and trying to figure out what makes them work. I don’t think it took us more than three days to make the record though.

Monica: Oh really?

Chris: Yeah. It was very fast. You actually work and work and work on it. I mean this…it’s the only thing on my mind for months at a time…. and there is a certain amount of worry and anxiety involved too because I start every project…. that with the over riding thought that I will never get this done. It’s never going to come out right.

Monica: Oh?

Chris: And, every time I make a good one, I think that’s it because the next one will have to better than this (Laughs) and I don’t think that I got it in me.

Monica: Are they usually though?

Chris: Yes they’re fine. Every single one of them has something about it that I like better that the ones before.

Monica: Which one is your favorite on this one? Do you have a favorite?

Chris: Do I have a favorite song on this one? I like so many of the songs on this one. A favorite. A favorite. Not really you know. There are some that are fun to play. And, also some are kind of easy. And, I like that aspect of it. The first song, Don’t Call Me Stranger, is like that. Time Stands Still is like that. And, I Don’t Know. The one that my daughter actually wrote.

Monica: I love that. That one is my favorite. And, I loved to see you do that one in person more than listen to it. So I hope that whenever the audience gets your CD that they actually see you perform that song, because it’s cute how you perform it. It’s all through you. As you perform it…when you go… I don’t know. I don’t know if you realize it or not, you nod your head as a child saying I don’t know. (He laughs) That song is all through you and I really enjoyed watching you perform it.


Chris: Well the audience loves it and it’s always a standout at the show. Most people get into it.

Monica: It’s great. Who do you think your listener is for this CD?

Chris: Everyone who listened to me before. In a way I try not to think about that. Because I just put the songs out there. I don’t write for anyone in particular. I write for myself. So when they’re finished there’s no point in worrying about who’s going to listen to them. I mean, I’m not kidding you, I find myself at times wondering if anybody is going to like any of this stuff. You know, is anybody going to like this stuff? Then I say it doesn’t matter. I don’t really have another choice. All that I can do is what I do. But you know if you ask me in general what kind of person likes my songs probably people who are more literate than most. I think they would appeal to people who read.

Monica: OK As a songwriter do you still have…in quotations… practice songs even after you’ve been doing this for as many years as you have? Do you still have practice songs or are they all usable, viable songs as a songwriter?

Chris: I never finish a song that can’t be used.

Monica: OK.

Chris: Yeah. I think the last record, Leave the Light On. I was having a terrible time getting started on that record. And, I finally wrote one song. I just pulled out every little songwriting trick that I knew, to try to get something down. I knew if I could just finish just one song that would sorta open up the gates and it worked! And, the song turned out to be quite good! In it’s own way it’s a one of the better ones on the record. That’s the only time I can think of that I have ever done anything like that. As far as writing a song, as you put it, as a practice song. No. It’s too hard to write songs for me to write one that not’s going to be useful. Too much effort involved. You know at having said that. I know a lot of artists who write 100 songs and throw away 90 of them. That’s a whole style of songwriting. And there’s lots of songwriters who do that. I just don’t write that many songs. It’s too hard for me to do it.

Monica: Thank you. In regard to when I asked you who you’re listeners are you said someone well read. Let’s talk about being well read and you are part of a book.

Chris: Oh yeah. You mean the short stories?

Monica: Yes, do you want to talk about that?

Chris: I was approached by the editors and they said they were putting together a project of songwriters writing short stories, because songwriters are always writing in three and four minute batches-very short chunks. They were wondering what they would do if they had a chance to spread out a little more. And, so they asked me if I would be interested in writing a short story. I said what do you mean by a short story? They said well about four thousand words (laughs). And, I said that’s doable ‘cause that’s only about ten pages.

Monica: OK

Chris: Then I said yes I would like to do that and I had a lot of fun doing it. I really did. I enjoyed it. It was great. It was very different from songwriting.

Monica: Let’s talk about your acoustic guitar. Number one-do you ever play electric?

Chris: Occasionally. I have played occasionally on records and on other people’s records. I have them kicking around the house and I like to play with them around here. But I don’t play them on stage.

Monica: For acoustic guitar you were voted within the top three for being the best acoustic guitarist which was way cool. And, I see that you have a DVD acoustic guitar instructional.

Chris: That’s acoustic blues guitarist not just acoustic guitarist.

Monica: OK. Thanks!


Chris: It was nice. It was nice. I was in some really nice company there. You know. Me and Jorma and Keb ‘Mo. I know both of those guys, and you know, I thought it was nice to be grouped in there. I don’t know what to say past that. I think it’s very nice. Basically the leadership of acoustic guitar is probably in front of the most sophisticated artists for this kind of playing that you will find. Believe me. To be ranked like that is nothing’ to sneeze at.

Monica: I only asked for 20 minutes of your time. So how about one blast from the past kind of question. Could you tell me how Love Me Like a Man got into the hands of Bonnie Raitt?

Chris: Oh, she lived down the street.

Monica: Really?

Chris: Yeah. We were friends, good friends before either one of us ever made the record. So, when she started making records she turned to her friends. Yeah. When she started recording. The songs she picked were songs that were songs she liked. When I first wrote it she kept saying, I gotta do that song. I gotta do that song, and she did!

Monica: Whenever I saw you perform it, that was the first time that I heard that song performed from a male perspective..

Chris: Yeah I’m about the only guy that does it. So you may never hear it again. (laughs)

Monica: I’ve been telling my guy musician friends that they have to do that song. It’s awesome! And I guess it’s true when they say….when you’re trying to pitch a song….when you get the demo singer always try to get the man, because a woman will always do a man’s song but a man will never do a woman’s song.

Chris: That’s it.

Monica: I’m seeing that to be very true.

Chris: You know they won’t turn it around. They won’t. The thing that is brilliant about Bonnie’s version is that how she changed the song to being a woman’s perspective. You know. She put these little lyric changes that changed the whole thing. And, she slowed the tempo down and it was great. And that ‘s the best kind of cover when someone makes it their own song.

Monica: I want you to know that I really enjoyed yours ….the man perspective. It was way cool. I keep talking to my male friends to get them to do it.

Chris: Well. God Bless You. You know maybe you’ll get someone to do it. And it will be a hit all over again.

Monica: I don’t think I have that much clout. I think about that song your little girl inspired and I think the opening song to a children’s show on PBS.

Chris: Really?

Monica: Yes, that’s what I thought! That’s perfect.

Chris: I had another friend tell me that if I took out the second instrumental bridge I would have a Grammy for sure for children’s songs.

Monica: Well who says you can’t put yourself in the running just as it is?

Chris: Well, we’ll see what happens.

Monica: Why not? One last question. I did try to tap my foot with your music as you do front to back front to back. How do you do that ALL NIGHT LONG?

Chris: The front of your shin starts to hurt, right?

Monica: Oh, I couldn’t even get to that point. That’s like training for a marathon I’m sure.

Chris: I know.

Monica: It sounds fabulous and the crowd really loves that you do that. But, I sort of felt your pain for a while.

Chris: It doesn’t hurt. I’m totally not conscious of what my feet are doing.

Monica: It’s amazing. How you sing, play and do that. It’s just amazing. I don’t think people know how hard it is to get to all that working together.

Chris: The funny thing is it was never a conscious effort to learn to tap my feet. I can’t not do it. I can’t not do it. If you were to hold my feet still, I can’t play.

Monica: Like I said when you are nodding your head in the child’s song the music runs all through you. So you have just reaffirmed it, huh?

Chris: Yep.

Monica: Your new release is September 29, right?

Chris: Yes that’s right.

Monica: I would like to thank you for your time.

Chris: No problem at all.

Monica: And, you have good luck with it. I’m a fan. And, I wish you best.

Chris: Good luck to you too.

Monica: Thank you. Bye Chris.

Chris: Bye.

Here is a song from the performance I caught Chris at in Greensburg, PA.





You may wish to read my review of Mr. Smither's show.
If you enjoyed reading about this acoustic blues act, you may enjoy this one:

Izzy and Chris