featuring: nigel wright.

the following message landed in my inbox about four months ago - "hi caroline, here’s another tip for you. maybe you’ll like it." a link was attached but that was it, no further information or any explanation at all. blindsided at first, i had no idea what to expect. little did i know that i was in for a special treat. the link brought me to nigel wright’s website, a few more clicks to his song solid muse and that pretty much sealed the deal. 

when you first hear that nigel lives by the blue ridge mountains in georgia (usa) and that he plays folk music, it seems like he fits right into this cliché of folk and perhaps even alt-country singer-songwriters. but nevertheless, nigel wright’s debut album millfoil shows that there’s much more to his music. millfoil has a clear line running through it from advance to the title track at the end. it’s an eclectic mix of well-crafted songs with vocals that seem extremely strong but yet so fragile at the same time. imagine william fitzsimmons’ songs with tom fleming on lead vocals. it’s not quite the same but it comes close. the fact that his voice sounds so unbelievably mature for his young age, easily got me hooked right from the beginning.

the influence of 70s folk musicians like james taylor, cat stevens or even carole king in his music is unmistakable, but nigel wright moves beyond this tradition of early 70s folk and creates a sound that leaves you not only impressed but most of all moved. i wouldn't say he invented a new genre, but his music is clearly about more than just a pretty voice, some simple lyrics and a guitar beat that you can tap your foot along to. it’s not hard to convince us that he’s "kind of nice to have around" (upside) and when he sings "you make me feel so safe" (solid muse), that’s all there is to it. his music indeed makes you feel safe, makes you forget everything around you in pretty much the same way as josh tillman helped us to do so over the last couple of years, especially with year in the kingdom. 

with millfoil, nigel wright definitely proves that it’s easy to be true to a certain genre and still add a modern touch to it by combining it with the sound of an electric guitar for example. all the songs on the album seem to follow the same pattern, yet they all can stand on their own. each song tells a different story and therefore makes the album so diverse, but they also easily work together as a unit. nigel’s new single anna/clear eyed plans is only one of many different sides millfoil has to offer (even though the single is not actually on the album).

"folk singers may be of an ilk that rarely goes multi-platinum, but their work truly resonates with people of all walks of life, and their legacy is astounding" (kim ruehl)

i certainly do hope that nigel will get the attention he deserves but either way, his music already has an immense impact on the way people (or at least i) look at singer-songwriters in folk music - or even in general. 

anna (live - church sessions) 

ever since i first listened to nigel’s music, i wanted to find out more about him, his motivations and his music. luckily i had the chance to do so by asking him a few questions myself and here’s what he had to say.

 

question: both of your parents are painters (the wrights gallery) and you’re doing music, so there’s no doubt that your entire family is obviously talented. how come you chose to do music? did you want to do it professional right from the start or did you have a plan b? 

nigel: since my dad sang and played guitar in a celtic band during the 80s i've been interested in playing guitar since i was 14 and he helped me get started with a few chords - but it wasn't until a year later that i really started to experiment with song writing. my renewed interest came after i heard two records. the first, and most importantly, was a record called for cedar by eleanor murray, my cousin. i was fascinated and inspired by how she accomplished such intense feelings in her music with such minimal arrangements. the second record was bon iver's for emma, forever ago, which increased my fascination to the point where i actually sat down in front of my eight track and started to try things. after i had gotten my first bad songs out of the way, and actually had one worth keeping, the experience had given me such a joy that i asked my dad what i needed to do next if i wanted to do this professionally and have a chance of making it my life. he said first write an album, and so i wrote millfoil. since then i've tried to approach music as professionally as i can. 

you’re signed to the german record label butterfly collectors, which is based in berlin and haldern, and you’re living in georgia, usa. how did this professional relationship come about?

after the artistic duo springerparker founded butterfly collectors last year, to distribute their music on their own terms, they were on the look out for artists that they felt fit into the vision of their label. a friend mentioned that they should check out this new zealand based ambient noise musician called nigel wright. what ended up happening though was that when they searched for him on the internet all that they could find was this other musician, also called nigel wright, who wrote singer-songwriter music. they got in touch with him (me) on facebook, and explained what they were all about, and asked if i would be interested in being their first artist. it was easy to say yes after seeing and hearing their work. 

didn’t it feel a little unreal though or simply too good to be true at first?

definitely. it took me a few weeks to get used to the fact that this was happening. working with a label was something i had frequently dreamed about, but i never expected it to happen so soon. 

you’ve just been to germany to record some live sessions with your band (clay dean and jamey merritt), and to switzerland for the one of a million festival. while in switzerland, you did a radio interview with tina nägeli for soundsofa on drs virus. you said in that interview that you started writing songs when you were 15 and that most of those songs ended up on your debut album millfoil. when you sing those songs now, do you still feel the same way about the lyrics as you did when you wrote them? or do sometimes think "well, this could’ve been better"?

i definitely feel i've gotten better at writing lyrics since then, but that fact doesn't make me "roll my eyes" so to say, when i play the millfoil songs now. though there are things in the millfoil lyrics i would avoid in a song i might write now, those things just add to millfoil's charm and specialness for me. (just to clarify, i was writing songs when i was fifteen, but the good ones came after i had turned 16, and all of those became millfoil.) 

what or who inspires you to write songs?

good music and good books, especially good music that i hear in the perfect context, even if the context is a simple one, for instance, just driving down the mountain to the store when spring begins to kick in. after those moments pass, i'm usually left with a feeling of yearning to create something that might have the same effect - might make someone else's trip to the grocery store, or wherever, the greatest. 

some musicians say that the best songs take ages to write – would you agree or do you think even songs that were written in a short matter of time (or simply very easy to write) can turn out to be absolutely great?

i think it's more complicated than that. writing great songs can come easily and/or quickly at times, but to even have the chance of that happening, sometimes you have to slave over other ideas for weeks. it's all about having a strong work ethic for developing your "voice" without compromise. when you do that, even if that song you slaved over never came together, the things you learned, despite if you didn't understand the lesson, will contribute to some others in the future. nothing's wasted - at least, that's my theory. 

when you came to europe in january, did you experience the typical culture shock? i remember from living in the united states that it took me a while to get used to a few things. was there anything that really struck you while you were here?

the shapes of things - if that even counts as culture. everything from the shapes of cars to toilets to doorknobs to food containers and kitchen utensils freaked me out a little. other than that, i didn't feel like it was that hard to adjust. 

millfoil is available digitally now, the cd version will be released on march 16th and you’re already confirmed to play at this year’s haldern pop festival in august. what else can we expect from you this year?

i will be touring europe in the summer and also for a month or two sometime in the fall with my band, during which vinyl copies of millfoil and the anna single will be available. also, a total of seven live music videos will be released online, four feature me performing solo and the other three include the band. the four solo videos, titled "barefoot sessions volume 1" will be digitally and physically for sale at the end of may. finally in october, a studio version of the millfoil record will be released, which features all the songs with 3 piece band arrangements. this will also come with a "scrapbook" documenting the summer tour.

barriers (live - barefoot sessions)

you will of course find the other five videos from the church session and the barefoot session, as well as all upcoming tourdates, here on the blog.  anna/clear eyed plans is available as a download in all good online music stores, such as amazon (us/uk/germany etc.) and itunes. millfoil is already available as a download too via the butterfly collectors website, where you can also pre-order the cd version. you can find nigel wright on facebook.

many thanks to mirko bogedaly from haldern pop for introducing me to nigel's music, special thanks to oli parker and maik springer from butterfly collectors for making this interview possible and of course massive thanks to nigel wright for answering my questions and most of all his wonderful record.

clay dean, jamey merritt and nigel wright