Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
A walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's an out of body experience for me. I don't
really know what I'm doing. I just have like the
pen in the paper, and I feel like it's a
it's a spiritual thing no matter what you believe in.
I feel like there's some I always write on the floor.
I don't know why. I think it's just energies and like,
you know, something moving through you. But it always happens
(00:21):
at the weirdest times, and you never know when it's
it's kind of fun. You never know, like if you're
gonna write, you know, the best thing you've ever written someday.
I think that's why I love it so much, because
there's so much wonder in it, you know.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Welcome to another episode of Taking a Walk with your host,
Buzz Night. Buzz speaks with musicians of all genres, from
rising stars to Hall of famers, and everyone in between. Today,
Buzz is joined by a rising star from Glass Note
Records who hails from Nashville, Tennessee. Cecilia Castleman is one
of the most intriguing voices in music today. She's been
(00:56):
making waves with her introspective songwriting and mesmerizing performances. She
has new music produced by the legendary Dawn Was and
she's here to talk with buzz on Taking a Walk
right now.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So, Celia, thanks for being on the Take on a
Walk podcast. So nice to meet you.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So nice to meet you too, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So How to growing up in Nashville influence your musical journey?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Gosh, so much? I think I just you grow up
around some of the best songs in the world and
some of the best writers, and I think it, you know,
being in Nashville from the start, it makes you realize
how you got to be on top of things. When
you get into a room with people, you got to
know what you're doing early is fake it if you don't.
(01:46):
And so I think the musicianship was so high, and
so it taught me to be hopefully really good at
my craft and always, you know, aspire to be, you know,
better than I was the day before.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Nashville is very much like it and it's a great
place to sort of go to school if you will,
on the music business on so many aspects. There's the
university side of things. There's so much of the history
there as well. What parts of the history in Nashville
have really influenced you.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Gosh. I mean you can drive down the road in
all the studios. RCA is a big one. They recorded everyone, Elvis,
Dolly Parton, Jed Atkins, all the records that I grew
up loving and still love. When I drive by that place,
my you know, I get like the the jitters because
it's it's such a cool and inspiring place.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You talking about the quantt Hut. Yeah, the r c
A Victor Suit Yeah, yeah, that's uh. Have you you've
been inside?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yes? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Did you do you feel a aura of spirit in there?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, there's there's such a presence and just all the
pictures on the walls and yeah, it's such a beautiful,
beautiful place.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, that one is a special one. But there's so
many special places. The Ryman obviously is like going to church, right,
I mean, it's pretty pretty incredible. What were some of
the earliest shows that you saw in Nashville that had
great impact on you.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
My mom took me to see Stevie Nicks. She took
me to see Tom Petty on his last run. I've
seen Darryl Scott. He's incredible. Gosh, there's so so many
Alison Krause, I got to go to Willie Nelson's one
of his birthday tribute parties at bridge Stone and everyone
(03:43):
everyone played. Gosh, there's so many and there's some that
you know happen every night you go down to the
Bluebird and there's incredible writers who play riders rounds every night,
So there's always something.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Would you have imagined when you saw Tom Petty and
Heartbreakers play that a few years later that you'd be
putting out music and benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers would
be on your album.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
No, never in a million years. No, that was such.
That was like one of the coolest days of my life. Yeah,
when when I Dons, who produced the record, we were
in there and he was like, this needs like organ
and I'm like, okay, do you want He goes then
my attention, I'm like and I just remember thinking like
can I be there, you know, because I didn't you know,
(04:34):
they're they're all so big. I never know, but yeah,
we got to go and I remember seeing the coolest
thing to me, which is so dumb looking back, was
was the you know, the reserve parking spots. It said
Don was Cincily Kasman and benmont Tench, and that was
like the coolest thing to me. I have pictures of
it on my phone. But yeah, he's the best. It
(04:56):
was such an honor to just watch him do that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
And how did you get connected with Don Was? Who
produced your album? He's a legend, Yeah, he is.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I always knew I wanted Don to make my record.
I would like look at the backs of CDs growing up,
and his name would always be on it. So it seems,
you know, sort of a long shot, but I was like,
what the heck? So I asked my manager and he
sent Don some of my music and I don't know
how it happened or why it happened, but yeah, we
(05:31):
got to go in for a month and make a record.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So are there particular learnings from Don Was that you
picked up that you could share.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Sure, he's very much so about the artist craft, and
he doesn't try to change anything. He just tries to enhance.
He's very good at it. It's almost like hurting cattle,
like he's just very good at his presence in the room.
But he's not. He just sits back sort of watches,
and he sits in the room when we track live,
(06:05):
and he just sits there with his blueberries and her shoes,
and he's I know, there's no one like Don. Those
are the main things. Is he's just kind of an
observer with little touches here and there, and he knows
and he knows how. He's so kind, he knows how
to say things, and everyone feels good when you're in
a room with Don. And he's good at lifting spirits
(06:26):
and lifting the music.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
A bit of a zen master, I might say, very much.
So yeah, I've ever had the good fortune, but I've
loved everything he's been involved with throughout his career. Can
you walk us through what for you is a typical
songwriting process?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Gosh, I mean it's it's different every time. I mean
some nights I'll just won't be able to sleep and
I'll pick up with a guitar. Some nights, I know,
if I have an anxiety attack, I know a song's
coming about an hour later. It's like those kinds of things.
It's a super quick process, and I don't really know
how to explain it. It's just sort of there. But
(07:08):
normally it always starts with the guitar and some sort
of melodic hook, and then I try to mumble. I'm
a big mumbler. I just record when I'm mumbling and
then I listen back and figure out what I'm trying
to say. It's super subconscious. Yeah, I always write with
my heart first and then I go.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Back and I dit, Well, you are a guest on
our Companion podcast. Music saved me, and it feels like
what you're talking about in terms of that process is
kind of the mystical aspects of what music is about.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Oh yeah, yeah. I don't know where it comes from
or why, but there's plenty of reasons.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Do you think to some degree, you know, they talk
about athletes who get into the zone and they're sort
of their subconscious really takes over or there athleticism. Do
you feel there's a similar zone of performance or writing
that takes place?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
For sure. I think it's always like it's an out
of body experience. For me, I don't really know what
I'm doing. I just have like the pen in the paper,
and I feel like it's a it's a spiritual thing,
you know, no matter what you believe in. I feel
like there's some I always write on the floor, there's
some sort of I don't know why. I think it's
just energies and like, you know, something moving through you.
(08:35):
But yeah, it always it always happens at the weirdest times,
and that you never know when it's kind of fun.
You never know, like if you're gonna write, you know,
the best thing you've ever written someday. I think that's
why I love it so much, because there's so much
wonder in it.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You know. So let's talk about the new music. Maybe
you can highlight some of your favorite songs that are
part of the project, your self titled album.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Some of my favorite Oh gosh, I've been living with
them for so long. That's kind of a new one
every day right now. I love there's a song called
Winning on You that I I. It's super guitar heavy
and jamming, and that's mine right now, I think is
I'm just rare to go and get this record out.
(09:24):
But there's a song called Cadillac and then Pick and
Lose that closes the record. It's it's sort of all
my secrets are in that song, like I kind of
give everything away at the end.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
How do you deal with any moments where you've got
creative blocks or you're going through self doubt in a process,
How do you sort of break out of that? Do
you go take a walk. Do you what's the method
for you that sort of frees you when you need
to be freed.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I love to pain. I love to to say. You know,
if I if I'm not coming up with anything musically,
my mind's probably on like films or photography or painting
or films are a big one for me. There's like,
you know two that I that I watch over and
over that I it just keeps. I like to keep
my mind just so I don't get blocks. I sort
(10:19):
of try to always be taking in something creatively, so
I always have something to pull from. So I'm lucky
at list and plus two, I'm everything's so new to me,
and I'm I'm lucky that I'm so inspired right now,
that there's so much to this world that I haven't seen.
I there's a lot to take in, and so I
haven't had a lot of blocks recently. Knock on wood.
(10:42):
But yeah, if I do it, it's it's movies.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
What are the movies? Just curious?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
There's two or there's three. I Love Calling Me by
Your Name. I think that's such a beautiful film and
and I just I love the words, and I I
think it's it's it's so beautiful And I love Dead
Poet Society. That's another one that keeps my mind going.
Good one Hunting. I love Finding Forrester. That's a great movie.
(11:14):
All them TUTSI you know, those are like the ones
I always watch, I think as I watched them growing up.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So how do you envision that your evolution as an
artist is going to take place?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Oh gosh, that's such a hard question. I think just overall,
just being true to who I am and not compromising.
And I don't know. I want to make a lot
of records. I want to do a lot of things.
I if I can have people come to my shows
and listen to me live, I think that's like my
(11:51):
dream is, like, you know, playing substantial venues and keep
that sort of live base going. But I think just
me evolving, you know, as a person and growing and
getting better and learning about myself and writing better songs.
And I don't know, I think the music will evolve
(12:11):
with with me, with how I evolved.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
You ended up with a tremendous label and Glass Note Records.
How did that come about that you got connected there
and ultimately became part of Glass Note.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I got a publishing deal when I was eighteen, I
got signed a big Yellow Dog Music in Nashville. And
that's all thanks to Carla Wallace. I she sent my
music around to some labels and and I loved Class Note.
I thought they were the coolest, and I love so
many other artists, and yeah, that's how all that happened.
(12:50):
But it took a hot second to get everything going,
but yeah, I love them as the best.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So in closing, is there any thing that you wish
you knew when you were first beginning this musical journey
that you now know.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I wasn't real good on the patience. I was pretty
still am. I'm very restless, and I don't realize that,
you know, things need to take time. And I was
just so round to go. And like somebody asked me yesterday,
like what would you tell your younger self back then?
And I was like, I wouldn't tell her anything because
she wouldn't have listened. But I think it's just that
(13:30):
things take time, and they're meant to take time. And
I'm twenty three. I got a long way to go,
but yeah, that's probably it. Just like calm down for
a second.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Well, you have a tremendous calming force about you. In
the midst of your brilliant creative force as well. Congratulations
on your new music, Cecilia Casselm, and good luck on it.
And here's too many more successes. And I hope we
can to have you on as a returning guest and
(14:02):
hear about well your new collaborations, whoever they might be
with and all your brilliance. But thank you so much
for being on Taking a Walk, Cecilia, Thank you, thanks.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So much for having me.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
This is awesome, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
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