Exclusive Interview with Charlie Treat

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What are your thoughts on trends in music? 

They’re the same as the trends of the herd, as in group emotional trends, group psychological trends, group spiritual trends. Music is a symptom of larger societal, emotional, spiritual forces at work. Of course, it’s at once being changed and doing the change. Trends don’t let trends drive drunk though. You have to be weary of going off the road, meaning, be true to your own path. 

Do you follow any trends when it comes to your music?

Yes. No one is sublimely unique. I follow all the trends and combine them into one big trend-mill that often feels too fast for me. But it gets me in shape. 

What trends do you try to stay away from?

Sexuality is dangerous. It’s built into all of us. It’s not inherently a low vibration but when wielded improperly it can be perverse, sick, and hollow. Sexual energy is on the other end of the wheel as wisdom. Sex symbols haven’t taught us much, aside from dance moves and a little liberty. I think you’re better off opening books and binders than buttons.  

Forming your own self as an artist can be difficult. How do you make sure you don’t get caught up with replicating another artist? 

You don’t. The Beatles wanted to be Little Richard and Elvis. The Stones wanted to be Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Bob Dylan wanted to be Woody Guthrie. This doesn’t make them disingenuine, it makes them authentic passion fire, links in the chain, fevered legacy. Good artists borrow, great artists steal. Very few things are invented out of thin air. The best vocal runs, licks, dances, songs, looks, styles come from a culture, especially a convergence of cultures, and giants within those cultures. If people weren’t looking at and learning from each other they would be like ships passing in the night. The key, actually, is absorbing all the other artists without being a mime.  

Influence is important though, are the influences you pull from?

I pull from the giants, from the land, from the church, from my idols, from what I read, from my friends, from my parents, from old blues documentaries, from the moment.  

Do you ever get compared to an artist? 

Yes: Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Felice Brothers, Neil Young, Warren Zevon. Those are ones I get most often.  

How do you want to trend in music?

I want to bring great folk songs, standards and originals, into the future. Wrap them in a pop bow so the kids can appreciate the greatest songs ever written without having to be folkies or grassers. 

What is your latest and greatest that you want to talk about with your music? 

I recorded a bluegrass record in February: great musicians, all new songs, very autobiographical, we made it in 4 days. It will be released this November with 3 singles approaching. 

Learning more and more from each project you do, what has been the most invaluable experience as of late? 

My friend Todd was in town for a week. He made chili and curry and I invited friends over and we tracked 10 of his songs over the course of 3 nights. We experimented with “democratic production” so everyone had a say in how the songs went down. We stayed up til sunrise, we had the time of our lives, no slowing down. No money was exchanged; it was purely for the love of the art. It changes the way you think about making records. And it shows you real deal musicians want to play and collaborate, even if it’s just for chili and beer. Everyone left saying “THIS is why I moved here”. It’s good to not only rethink something, but also rethink the process in which we make something. It’s so easy to get used to a process as the standard when in reality there’s a million ways to do it. We made better music, faster, with more fun doing it, than the majority of sessions in this town. All those concepts feed and support each other too. 

Give us your favorite thing trending now that has nothing to do with music but makes you smile! 

CORN KID!

Leave us all your music here so our audience can smile too! 

End of Interview