Here's an interview from the latest issue of Infuze magazine:
http://www.infuzemag.com/interviews/music/jeremy_casellaby Matt Connor
Meet one of the quietest members of the Square Peg Alliance. Of course, you've all heard of some members like Derek Webb, but there are thirteen members total and all of them are worth your time. Jeremy Casella's latest album, Recovery, is one of the strongest singer/songwriter releases this year - a combination of quality musicianship and honest, piercing lyrics. In this interview, Casella tells us about his mentor Phil Keaggy, this place within the Square Pegs and how to properly write about tension.
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Matt: Within the spectrum of musicianship known as the Square Peg Alliance, what is your place within that?
Jeremy: I'm a member of the group and we've loosely associated ourselves with one another's work. We are all friends who live and work as musicians in Nashville and wanted to band together to support one another however we can. That's the central idea I think. It's a group of friends who happen to be artists. I suppose my place within the group is pretty similar to everyone else's which is to say that we're endeavoring to come out into the open as artists, to be known and then to be refined in our craft. Hopefully, we can encourage each other in the process. Healthy community does that to you... it changes you for the better and as a result you connect to your real identity in a truer and deeper way. I've been changed by this group of folks and I consider myself fortunate to be part of whatever the Square Peg Alliance is. Most of us have known each other for over 10 years now.
You answered my question about Square Peg by defining the group, so I think I didn’t frame my question well. Who are you more like within the group than others? What niche within that group do you fit? Your own musical place within that, if that makes sense.
It's hard to say because I think we're all similar in some ways, primarily solo acoustic artists with folk or folk-rock backgrounds, but we’re each pretty different too. I wouldn't say I'm super introspective or use a ton of imagery in my writing like [Andrew] Peterson or [Randall] Goodgame or some of those guys, but I don’t have as much of a rock leaning as say Andrew Osenga. I can't think of any one person who I'd compare myself to. Honestly, I think the thing about the Square Peg Alliance is that there aren't really any niches within the group. We draw inspiration from one another, but we each have our own style and approach to creating. I guess musically, I'd like to think of myself as one of the more experimental people in the group, especially when it comes to trying out new sounds and instrumentation.
You seem to be close with Phil Keaggy -- how did that whole relationship come about and how has it continued?
I first met Phil when my friend Bernie took me over to his house for lunch one day. That was about 6 years ago. We hit it off as friends and started hanging out from time to time. We'd go mountain biking at Percy Werner Park or just spend time talking and smoking pipes down in his studio. Occasionally I open for him at his concerts which is always humbling and thrilling. I was in my early twenties when I first met him but I had been a fan since I was sixteen. Phil has been gracious enough to let me walk alongside of him a little bit so that I can watch and learn. After six years, I'm still taking notes...
Would you say that Phil is a mentor for you or is it not that purposeful?
Phil has definitely been a mentor and trusted friend to me. He's really encouraged me in what I'm doing and has definitely offered valuable wisdom and advice from his experience in the music industry. He told me once that I should think of ways to serve the audience, and that's something I'm still conscious of when I play shows. As an artist, Phil's ability to just let the music speak and flow out of his gift so freely is something I've tried to apply to my own writing habits. He really feels what he plays. There is a joyful sense of adventure to him -- especially on acoustic guitar. I think Beyond Nature is a total masterpiece.
Switching gears a bit… you’re a singer/songwriter living in Nashville of all places? In some ways, I could see that as a great asset and in other ways, I could see it being just one face in a sea of many. Have you found your space in Nashville? What constitutes the good and the bad of that?
Nashville is a great town. My wife and I love it here and we have years of friendships here. Our roots run deep... especially in East Nashville where we live. Over the years I've heard folks talk about the city as if it were almost this mystical sort of place... but I don't buy into it. It's just a city. People are people wherever you go. I think you just do what you've got to do... dig into your story and let it speak for itself. If it's true and beautiful then it will find an audience. Nashville is where my family and friends are and that's about it for me.
Out of curiosity, why the lack of vowels on the latest album?
Great question. That was something that surfaced while designing the packaging. Jett Butler, (our graphic designer in Austin) came up with it as sort of a way to play with the idea of recovery by implying the word without saying it outright. It's a fitting theme. There are lots of understated things going on in the lyrics of the record, too, where what is happening in the chord structures corresponds to the lyrics as they are being sung.
Can you explain the recording process of Rcvry? Was it largely a DIY effort?
It was. Recovery was written and recorded over a year's time. I knew I wanted to incorporate both classical and electronica elements, so it took a lot of late nights and cups of coffee to sort through my ideas and get it to make sense musically. I wrote and arranged the string parts, and came up with various beats and sounds in my home studio. Then when it was time to record, I co-produced it with Monroe Jones and worked very closely with Jim Dineen on the engineering side of things. We recorded most of it at my house while also working a good bit at Monroe's studio and a studio downtown called Fireside. Making this record was a true labor of love -from start to finish. I was determined to take the songs as far as they could go. As a songwriter, the challenge is to get what you hear in your head out on tape which is a really tricky thing sometimes. It just takes a lot of patience and work to wait and listen and get it all out. Of all the records I've worked on, I learned the most from this one. It was a demanding effort and I was tired by the time I got done. I was happy to finish it.
I just did an interview where the artist discussed the importance of "serving the song" and how that was the utmost importance for this band when they entered the studio. Is that what you mean when you describe the grueling process of recording this album?
My goal while writing and recording this album was to get at truth and beauty. That's it. Those two things It was grueling because I heard it all in my head and basically had to learn how to get it out and onto tape. It just took me a while to grow up into the songs I was reaching for. If serving the song means to chisel away at it bit by bit until it reveals its potential, both lyrically and musically, then yes, that was an important factor, and a somewhat grueling one, for me. But I think it was worth the effort.
When you take a song "as far as it can go" what does that mean? Do you have a tangible example?
I think you take the idea of the song, the essence of what it is and push as hard as you can to make it the best it can be. This takes a lot of work and re-writing and editing. Sometimes it means you scrap what you've done and start over again. "Distress Signal" was a song that took so much reworking but in the end it's one of my favorites on the record. I thought that song would never be finished, and it wasn't until my final days in the studio. I had to push to get those lyrics, or maybe waiting on them is a better way to put it. They took their time showing up, and there was a lot of rewriting. And the music for that song had several evolutions too. It had a lot more electronica in the beginning stages but I wanted to make room for strings and for the song to be well-rounded and feel a certain way. I don't think I could have taken it much farther.
What is the artistic responsibility to take it that far? I mean, do you see it as that: a responsibility?
I do. Artists tend to say for other people what they can't say for themselves. Music is a spiritual language that we all understand. Not everybody can speak it but everyone understands it. I want my songs to be meaningful to people, so I feel a responsibility to make good art and give them something that's at least worth the time it took to create it.
If I can quote back to you some of your lines or concepts, it seems that the word “tension” would aptly describe a lot of your music over the years and even on the new album. On “Recovery,” it’s about faith and hope “making its way through these dark times.” On “Distress Signal,” you write about being suspended “between grace and gravity.” Would you agree?
Bob Dylan wrote a song called "Everything Is Broken" and I agree. I think that tension is everywhere and nowhere is it more evident than inside my own bloodstream. To ignore it would be dishonest and foolish. As an artist, I'm interested in naming the tension and asking it questions, and I think that has definitely found its way into my song writing. There is no sense in being satisfied with anything less than honesty and vulnerability. Not addressing reality is beneath the dignity of individuals made in the image of the Creator.
This theme of tension seems to be something that a lot of Christian artists won’t deal with directly and it takes a fringe artist to ask the questions or describe the environments that are the most realistic. Is this intentional on your end?
Rich Mullins had a great line in a song that said "let the road wind tie our hair in knots, let the speed and the freedom untangle the lies". I think that's a good picture of reality. As far as my intentions go, I wouldn't bank on them. That would give me too much credit. I just want the absolute truth. Is that too much to ask for from myself and the world around me? I spent a lot of time on the outer edges of myself while writing these songs, trying to get down in the marrow. Redemption can happen in even the darkest of places.
