September 23, 2025 • 27 mins
Episode Description
Join us for an intimate walking conversation with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Cam as she opens up about her deeply personal new album “All Things Light.” In this heartfelt episode of Takin A Walk with your host Buzz Knight, discover how motherhood, vulnerability, and musical evolution have shaped one of country music’s most authentic voices.
From Bulgarian folk songs to Joni Mitchell influences, pandemic parenting to psychology research, Cam shares the raw and beautiful journey behind her most ambitious musical project yet. Plus, hear touching stories about her grandma Marvel and why embracing imperfection creates the most powerful art.
Show Notes
Guest: Cam - Grammy-Nominated Singer-Songwriter
Episode Highlights
🎶 New Album Deep Dive: “All Things Light”
• Cam’s most personal and sonically ambitious project to date
• How motherhood and life’s unexpected turns shaped her latest music
• The creative process behind her most vulnerable songwriting yet
👶 Motherhood During a Pandemic
• Navigating the terror and wonder of new motherhood during COVID-19
• How becoming a mother influenced her artistic perspective
• Balancing family life with a music career
🎸 Musical Influences & Inspirations
• Eclectic playlist spanning from Joni Mitchell to Bulgarian folk songs
• How diverse musical tastes influence her songwriting process
• The beauty of untrained guitar playing and embracing musical imperfections
👵 Family Stories & Personal Connections
• Heartwarming story about her grandmother Marvel
• Dream walk companion: exploring the family ranch in Southern California
• How family relationships ground her artistic expression
🌍 From Psychology to Music
• Background in psychology research and how it influences her songwriting
• Academic experiences that shaped her understanding of human emotion
• The intersection of mental health awareness and music creation
🎭 Industry Collaborations & Future Dreams
• Working with renowned producers Tyler Johnson and Jeff Bhasker
• Desire to collaborate with emerging musical talent
• Behind-the-scenes stories from her music career journey
🧘 Vulnerability as Creative Strength
• Using honesty and openness as songwriting tools
• Stripping away societal expectations to find authentic expression
• How vulnerability connects artists with audiences
🌟 Themes of Resilience & Self-Discovery
• Central messages woven throughout “All Things Light”
• Music as a companion through difficult life transitions
• Finding strength through creative expression and personal growth
Key Topics Covered
• Country music songwriting
• Artist motherhood experiences
• Creative collaboration process
• Mental health and music
• Family influence on artistry
• Pandemic-era creativity
• Musical vulnerability and authenticity
• Singer-songwriter development
• Grammy-nominated artist insights
Listen & Subscribe
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#TakingAWalk #CamMusic #AllThingsLight #CountryMusic #SingerSongwriter #MotherhoodAndMusic #PodcastInterview #GrammyNominated #VulnerabilityInMusic #WalkingPodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm buzz night and welcome to taking a Walk. Some
voices don't just sing, they speak to you. I'm taking
a walk today. I'm joined by Grammy winning singer songwriter Cam,
whose music blends heart, storytelling, and a bold spirit all
her own. We'll talk about the journey, the lessons, and
(00:21):
the moments on the road that shape the songs. Next
with Cam Taking a Walk. It's so nice to meet you,
Cam on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh, thanks for being here. So we'd like to open
the podcast with our signature question here since we call
this podcast taking a Walk, Cam, if you could take
a walk with somebody living or dead, who would you
take a walk with and where?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I would probably take a walk with my Grandma.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Marvel, because as I miss her, she's kind of like
the light of our family, huge personality, matriarch, and I
think I would probably take a walk with her at
their ranch in southern California.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
That would be probably beautiful, I'm guessing Camp, Yes, so
it's gorgeous.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
It's like, I think people have this misconception that California
somehow isn't country like all the Texans and the Oklahomas
kind of have like a choke hold on it. But
you know, we had our own oge migration, and we
have our own dance halls, and we got our own
country music, and we got barns and there's just palm
(01:40):
trees sometimes in the mix exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So the new album, All Things Light, it's been called
your most personal and sonically ambitious project yet, can you
share how motherhood and your recent life experiences have so
beautifully shaped this record?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Yeah, beautifully in the way that you know how they
describe AWE, like AWE is this thing that's like kind
of a mix of like terror and wonder at something
that's sort of unknowable.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
And that's how I felt.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Coming into motherhood and the pandemic at the same time.
It was like a normal sort of identity crush and
shift that happens, but then to have it happen while
the whole world was going through like an identity crush
and shift. I'm laughing, but they have to laugh from
like it was just so intense and I I'm not
(02:45):
someone that can be met with like an existential crisis
and then just go, oh, I won't think about that today.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'll think about that tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I'm like, I get sucked into it and I have
to stare it dead in the face and come to
terms with that, like fix it or accept it. And
that's the only way I know how to do it.
So in that time of like you know, early early
baby on my lap and not knowing what was going
to happen, I started spending some time by myself in
(03:17):
the studio and these songs started coming out, and it
was like it felt like a new well that I
was like tapping into somehow.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
So it's it's.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Kind of like my patchwork of beliefs, of things that
I needed to hear in questions I needed to ask,
and like foundational like touchstones that I needed to carry
me through that period.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I often feel asking musicians what's on their playlist shades
the way I think a new creation comes to light
in its own regard with those influences that are on
a playlist. So what would we see on your playlist?
Speaker 4 (04:04):
My playlist is all over the place, which maybe is
why people say things like sonically ambitious, And I think
it's because my normal is like a very big wide net,
Like I grew up in a children's choir, so I
learned how to sing in like Bulgarian folk songs and
(04:25):
like varities requiem and so I have things like musical theater,
like soundtracks to classical music to folk music to like,
I just everything all around to like I got really
(04:46):
on a kick of like sixties French pop music for
a while, and.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
There's not many things I dislike. Maybe that's maybe more
of an.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Issue any particular artists at least on the folk side
that you want to single out.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, well I think you can hear it on the
album too, Joni Mitchell for sure. And yeah, I just
love My mom loved folk music. And I remember, like
in college getting really into Bob Dylan, and I was like, Mom,
you're not gonna believe this guy named Bob Dylan. And
(05:24):
my mom was like, I was smoking pot and Quilton
to Bob Dylan before you were a twinkle in your
daddy's at you know. Like, it's so it's so fun
now having recorded music and getting all of us getting
to experience it at the right time in the right.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Age, you know, and then reconnecting with everybody about how
that affects everything.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
So the Weavers, that folk group, which side are you on?
Which side? Are you on love that too?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Oh? I did?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I have to confess something whenever a guess because you
sings a little bit just like you did, you might
be able to notice that I was blushing with joy
when you did that.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I like doing it, so I just I couldn't resist.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Telling you that. But aw, are you a fingerpicker with guitar?
Speaker 4 (06:19):
You mean?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:20):
I am an untrained, unskilled and somehow people think it's
like inventive.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So yes, there's no pick involved.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
There's like there's kind of a strummy thing happening, and
it's not.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I don't I won't recommend it to.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Anyone, but every now and then I'll play on a
record like I got to play on Sam Smith record
that we did together called Palace.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
And everyone's like, what is that tone? It's like the
tone of ignorance and just pure emotion. Oh, come on,
it sounds beautiful.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah, but it's the I think some times being untrained,
You know how they say like for meditators, like being
a beginner is like the best thing because you don't
have the expectations.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
You don't have any of those.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
You're not trying to force it to be anything. And
I have my guitar skills. I'll keep around beginner level
for that reason.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I don't know about that. Do you feel in today's
world of the way studios and you know, software works,
that the beauty of imperfection has sort of been left behind? M?
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Yeah, yes, And then I think there's this other like
symptom that comes up with it that people will overly romanticize.
I'm so a fault of doing this too, Like live,
very very live, raw music, and the opportunity we all
get to get into recording spaces now, like there's not
(07:58):
the inherent same gatekeeping, which is amazing, but also like
you didn't have to work so so hard playing live
and touring it for years and then finally get in
and play something live. So the abilities of people to
play live and play raw and unfiltered and have happy accidents,
(08:19):
I don't think they happened as much either, because people
are just we don't.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Practice it the same way.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
We just show up with crazy ideas and we want
to record it and then we.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Go tour it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
The lead track on All Things like turns out that
I'm God correct me if I'm wrong. It was inspired
by Alan Watts, wasn't it?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And Alan Watts lecture and Deep Introspection. What drew you
to those themes and how did they find their way
into your songwriting.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, I wasn't raised religious.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
My dad was a Catholic and then decidedly not a Catholic.
And my kind of like I think, did a couple
of Christian science things one time, but never really. They're
both very you know, spiritual people but not religious, and
I loved that growing up. And then I hit this,
you know, unsure time, like I was telling you, and
(09:15):
I needed something more, and so I think reaching for
anybody that wanted to talk about being spiritual but that
had a language that I could understand as someone that
wasn't raised in religion.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It's like I kind of like.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
I don't have the vocabulary to just jump in in
a lot of spaces. And so Alan Watson, you know,
he's kind of like self admittedly entertainment or er most
of the time. Even so him just like I just found,
I don't know all of us like new agey people do.
We just get into these philosophical lectures and that one
(09:53):
I remember sitting in the studio and listening and being like, whoa,
what if we're all God and we've just forgotten, like,
why does that feel so.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Important to say to me?
Speaker 4 (10:06):
And why why is it so hard now that I'm
on the other end of it singing it to people?
Why is it so hard for some people to hear
and accept? And it's very interesting to me the effect
that song has on people and the people that need it.
Just it makes me want to cry. How wonderful it
(10:28):
is to hear people like finally say that about themselves
and recognize the divine in themselves and what a comfort
that is. And yeah, and it's very very interesting to
hear people that they can't they can't or won't or
don't wanna, don't.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Want to hear it.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
So you had some some interesting collaborators on this project.
Tyler Johnson, Jeff Basker, anybody I'm leaving leaving out that.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Yeah, actually tons, because Tyler is kind of like my
musical brother.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
We came up together.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
I met him a boyfriend of mine a long time ago,
shared an apartment with him, and we were just like,
let's make music. And here we are, all these years later,
still making music, which is so fun. And Jeff, I've
worked with on the past albums too. He's you know,
obviously a huge name. And then it was so fun
because Tyler and I set up shop at East West Studios,
(11:25):
which is where they did Mamas and Papas and Beach
Boys Pet Sounds.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
It's, you know, obviously iconic and you can hear it in.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
The room, you know, and it's such a fun spot
to sort of sit in and brainstorm and come up
with ideas. And then we'd have, you know, in Los Angeles,
you'd have really talented people just swing by and help out,
like Ethan Gruska and Michael lu Zaruu. And it's it's
like I joke that it feels like kind of like
(11:54):
a little sitcom or something, because I walked through the
door like, hey, you know, and that's what fun thing
are we going to do to day?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
And yeah, Tyler and I said, we just had the best.
This is probably the most fun.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
We had making a record because obviously we're very I
don't know if it's obvious, but I'm pretty serious when
it comes to like the music and the content of it,
and he can be very serious about it too, But
I feel like we held it much more lightly this
time around, so it made it made for a really
fun time between us and with you know, all these
incredibly talented people coming in and how they could work
(12:27):
with us.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So you studied psychology and you worked in research labs, yeah,
and then you made the big leap into into music.
How do those experiences outside of music sort of impact
you as you kind of reflect on it.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I think being slightly older and having just like had
another job that in itself helps because I think a
lot of young people that they're like, I don't you know,
they don't go to college and they come straight into
the music business and it'll just eat us all alive.
So I think I felt slightly more grounded, although you're
(13:19):
never quite ready for all the punches that get thrown,
but the psychology of it, I think the same thing
that like drives me when I find like a concept
or a line or like a melody and I'm like,
I can't let it go. I dream about it and
I think about it and I have to. I have
(13:39):
to shape it into something that is like I have
to make it. And that feeling I think it it
was like a related distant cousin that I was sort
of like trying to figure out how to chase it
when I was doing psychology research, because it was like.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Why why do I feel these things? And why does
everybody feel these things? And what is the point? And
what is it? What does it mean?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And kind of framing it different ways in these different labs,
like there was a lab that was about relationships and
how you do conflict resolution and relationships, and there's a
lab about attachment theory, and there's a lab about cultural
differences and like the emotions we want to feel, and
all of it was like starting to get at, like
(14:25):
pulling at the threads of I think this sort of
through line that goes in me and it's finally I
think I landed on it with music where it was like, oh,
this is this is the method that's going to help
me I don't know execute my purpose. That sounds really heavy,
(14:45):
but it's just there's something to it all that. It's like,
it's very discovery, discovery oriented.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
The psychology of the song Slowed Down really spoke to
me immediately in the world around us. Do I have
that right?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Yes? Yeah, I hope, I mean, I hope it spoke
to you. I feel like it's it's very fun singing
that song for people that haven't heard it yet, because
they're like I've I've watched grown women like shed a
tear and people just be like, WHOA, I needed this
right now? And I yeah, our culture is not built
(15:27):
for uh. I think full presence. You know, in all
of our moments, we're very rush, rush, busy, busy. What
did you would you get done today? That determines how
you feel about yourself? And my first time experiencing like
outside of that, I went to Nepal after college and
(15:48):
time and like efficiency and like all these like super
I didn't realize like American like practices and behaviors like
it just it completely out the window and it was like, oh,
you don't have to live like.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
This, And it blew my mind.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
And so I've been trying to It's a reminder for
me to have been trying to live slower, especially now
that I've got a little kid I want to spend
time with.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You've written for some massive artists you mentioned Sam Smith earlier,
Beyonce obviously, while also forging your own unique path. What
lessons do you take from those experiences and how have
they influenced your solo work.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I think.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
I've been so lucky to work with people that an
artists that are doing it in the light that I
get to see them for like art's sake, like they're
making it, which sounds so maybe obvious, but it's not obvious.
I think there's a lot of people who are doing
this because either they love being the.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Center of attention.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Or they are they think that there's like money to
be made, and I don't think the same money is
around to be made anymore. And I think some of
those people, I'm hoping that weeds some of them out selfishly.
But the people that even at those levels that they're at,
they could be in cruise control and they could say, well,
(17:28):
I'll just you know, do what I've done for eight
more records and be done with it, and they don't.
They push themselves into they're chasing something too, you know,
artistically or there they have a their purpose is to
be making something and they're following it.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
And I love being around that energy.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, I used to sometimes scratch my head when I
don't know, you could fill in the blank with any
artist or band you know that is going back out
for the final retirement tour, you know, And yeah, I
would give the collective eye roll. But then the more
(18:11):
I kind of either listen to the artists or read
about the artists, it truly is the art that they're
chasing and that importance of community connection with an audience.
So I think and that I want to ask you
about how important for you is connection to community when
(18:34):
you go out and play live.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, it.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
I because I actually do weigh it, you know, do
I want to tour or not?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Like I take time between.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Albums, and I take time before I do things, and
I don't take it as a given. I'm on a road,
so therefore I must keep doing it. I like to
decide for myself every time. And I absolutely I get
so nervous right before I go out, as everybody does,
I think, and then I feel so like at peace
(19:09):
and welcomed.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Like my husband's so funny.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I'll be like, oh, I'm so nervous, I gotta get
you know, show tonight, and this is happening, and he goes,
you'll feel better when you sing, and it always happens.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I do just feel so much better.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
I get up there, I sing, I feel better and
you're looking out at these people and everybody it's like
they're there because they feel the same way and we're
all having some version of the same experience. And that's
probably the most you know, honest to God's spiritual experience
that I've had, you know, like, and I wish everybody
(19:42):
could feel it.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I think you feel it when you come to this
shows too.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
You have this like, Wow, this is like a whole
moment we're having together. You know, you're synchronized somehow. Yeah,
it's really special.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
We produce this other podcast it's called a Music Save Me.
It's about the healing power of music and what it
means in that regard. Do you personally believe that music
has supernatural healing powers?
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yes, one hundred percent. Like I gave like a.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Ten X talk one time about how healing music is
and how it's a part of every culture humans have
ever had since the beginning of humans, So we absolutely
need it is such a huge part of our community.
It's like not individual, it's like a community based behavior,
you know, and it just everybody. Every time I sing,
(20:41):
people want to come up and tell me how the
same thing that you're saying, like how it saved them
in a marriage, in an addiction issue, in just a
rough time in their life, in a like the valleys,
you know, and you're not always in a valley, so
you can be having a great time and go to
a show and just have a great time.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
But I think for music to like save you, save you, it's.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
When you feel like there's no way out and then
a song like just sneaks in to your heart and
it reaches you and it reminds you of something that's
outside of yourself and you, yeah, it's I can't imagine a.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
World without it.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Like, I think it's probably the thing we could maybe
be most proud of as human beings that love and music.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
You know, your work, in my view, explores vulnerability as
a strength. Why is honesty such an essential tool for
you as a as a songwriter?
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I sometimes I think it's because I'm really like like stubborn,
and I sat to refuse. Like if someone wants me
to do something and they tell me to do it,
I then all of a sudden, I go, I don't
want to do that anymore. And if you tell me, oh,
you shouldn't do that, and I definitely want to do it,
and I don't know exactly how it ties back in,
(22:06):
but there's something where like I have to feel like
it's my choice, and I know it's probably so obnoxious
in a lot of situations, but it's also like so
real and so me. And that's that's where I think
if I strip back anytime I'm being a people pleaser,
anytime I'm making sure I'm checking boxes that I society
(22:30):
told me I should do to feel successful. And you strip, strip, strip,
and then you get down to the heart of it,
and it's like, this is the thing that makes me
feel seen.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Or feel safe. I just feel like.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
That's the whole point. I feel it in my body
when I do it, too, Like I feel it in
my stomach, and it's like, that's that's what you're supposed
to be doing.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
But music is such a weird thing.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
You know, nobody really like you can go to music school,
but nobody really.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Teaches you like how to really know the feeling of
what's right and wrong.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
You know, talk about the song Kill the Guru. What
was the inspiration? There was sort of a period of
time where you were traveling and you were looking for something.
Talk about that.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Yeah, that song.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
I honestly I feel like anyone who says they have
all the answers is like the biggest red flag, Like
it's that you should run.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Away from anyone who says I know exactly how life goes,
I know exactly what you need, you know. It just
is like the scariest thing you can hear. But I
had to learn that the hard way.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
I actually like fell in love with and dated Guru,
like when I was on that trip in Nepaul.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
He was not Nepleese.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
I don't want to give Nepleese people a bad name,
but I and I found out the hard way, Like
just it's so intoxicating to be around someone who acts
like they know and they have all the answers, especially
when you're twenties, you know, and like I just, oh
my god. Of course he didn't, and of course he
was just a total narcissist. So kind of like this
(24:08):
is my you know. I love when there's like a
wink in there. It's kind of country too, to like
have you your singing something in the narrator is like
a false narrator, like sort of lying, like are you
feeling lonely?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
I know what to do?
Speaker 4 (24:20):
You know, Like I love when there's like a switch
like that, and yeah, it's like kind of also, I
get the last laugh by naming it killed the Guru.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I get the last laugh. I love that. That's outstanding.
You've had some great collaborations with folks such as Harry Styles,
Tim McGraw, Beyonce, Alicia Keys. Any future collaborations or dream
projects you want to reveal just between us, I love that.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I feel like, to me, I am just in a
spot where I am so excited for the right opportunities
that walk through the door, and I'm sort of I'm
sort of most excited about someone who hasn't like broke yet.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Like something of me is really excited.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
To meet somebody totally brand new, because those are my
favorite people if I have my full dream scenario, people
that have done it all and now do not care and.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
They're doing only what they want to do.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
And the people that are so brand new they don't
know any of the roles, so they don't follow them either,
and they just have so much hope and optimism for
what they can achieve.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
And those two types of.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Writers and musicians are like my favorite people to work with.
So I feel like I've met some people at the
top now and I want more brand new energy.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
So you're going to be hitting the road for a bit,
right and folks getting to see you out there. But
in closing, what do you hope that listeners take away
from the new album, especially when it comes to, you know,
the important themes of resilience and self discovery.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah, thank you for putting it so well. The first
line is I was busy waiting for someone to live
my life.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
And that's that.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Autopilot we can all find ourselves in that I found
myself in.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And then something happens and it.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Shakes you awake or is a very oftentimes negative, sad
event that can kind of break you. And I hope
that this album is like a companion to your grief
as it was to mine. And then the end of
the album is Try. I just say try a bunch
(26:47):
of times like stacked and I'm like screaming it, and.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
I just hope.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
People feel like they can hold space for the darker
things and then they still have this light that I'm
giving them to sort of walk through and it's for them.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
And it's for my daughter too, you know.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
I hope when she's older and feeling lost, this is
something that can be there with her.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I'm so grateful to have met you and to had
you on the podcast.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Kim, so wonderful talking with you so awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Congrats on all things light and good luck on the tour,
and all good health to you and all good health
to your family.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
I appreciate that right back at you.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm buzz night and welcome to taking a Walk. Some
voices don't just sing, they speak to you. I'm taking
a walk today. I'm joined by Grammy winning singer songwriter Cam,
whose music blends heart, storytelling, and a bold spirit all
her own. We'll talk about the journey, the lessons, and
(00:21):
the moments on the road that shape the songs. Next
with Cam Taking a Walk. It's so nice to meet you,
Cam on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh, thanks for being here. So we'd like to open
the podcast with our signature question here since we call
this podcast taking a Walk, Cam, if you could take
a walk with somebody living or dead, who would you
take a walk with and where?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I would probably take a walk with my Grandma.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Marvel, because as I miss her, she's kind of like
the light of our family, huge personality, matriarch, and I
think I would probably take a walk with her at
their ranch in southern California.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
That would be probably beautiful, I'm guessing Camp, Yes, so
it's gorgeous.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
It's like, I think people have this misconception that California
somehow isn't country like all the Texans and the Oklahomas
kind of have like a choke hold on it. But
you know, we had our own oge migration, and we
have our own dance halls, and we got our own
country music, and we got barns and there's just palm
(01:40):
trees sometimes in the mix exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So the new album, All Things Light, it's been called
your most personal and sonically ambitious project yet, can you
share how motherhood and your recent life experiences have so
beautifully shaped this record?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Yeah, beautifully in the way that you know how they
describe AWE, like AWE is this thing that's like kind
of a mix of like terror and wonder at something
that's sort of unknowable.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
And that's how I felt.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Coming into motherhood and the pandemic at the same time.
It was like a normal sort of identity crush and
shift that happens, but then to have it happen while
the whole world was going through like an identity crush
and shift. I'm laughing, but they have to laugh from
like it was just so intense and I I'm not
(02:45):
someone that can be met with like an existential crisis
and then just go, oh, I won't think about that today.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'll think about that tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
I'm like, I get sucked into it and I have
to stare it dead in the face and come to
terms with that, like fix it or accept it. And
that's the only way I know how to do it.
So in that time of like you know, early early
baby on my lap and not knowing what was going
to happen, I started spending some time by myself in
(03:17):
the studio and these songs started coming out, and it
was like it felt like a new well that I
was like tapping into somehow.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
So it's it's.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Kind of like my patchwork of beliefs, of things that
I needed to hear in questions I needed to ask,
and like foundational like touchstones that I needed to carry
me through that period.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
I often feel asking musicians what's on their playlist shades
the way I think a new creation comes to light
in its own regard with those influences that are on
a playlist. So what would we see on your playlist?
Speaker 4 (04:04):
My playlist is all over the place, which maybe is
why people say things like sonically ambitious, And I think
it's because my normal is like a very big wide net,
Like I grew up in a children's choir, so I
learned how to sing in like Bulgarian folk songs and
(04:25):
like varities requiem and so I have things like musical theater,
like soundtracks to classical music to folk music to like,
I just everything all around to like I got really
(04:46):
on a kick of like sixties French pop music for
a while, and.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
There's not many things I dislike. Maybe that's maybe more
of an.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Issue any particular artists at least on the folk side
that you want to single out.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, well I think you can hear it on the
album too, Joni Mitchell for sure. And yeah, I just
love My mom loved folk music. And I remember, like
in college getting really into Bob Dylan, and I was like, Mom,
you're not gonna believe this guy named Bob Dylan. And
(05:24):
my mom was like, I was smoking pot and Quilton
to Bob Dylan before you were a twinkle in your
daddy's at you know. Like, it's so it's so fun
now having recorded music and getting all of us getting
to experience it at the right time in the right.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Age, you know, and then reconnecting with everybody about how
that affects everything.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
So the Weavers, that folk group, which side are you on?
Which side? Are you on love that too?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Oh? I did?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I have to confess something whenever a guess because you
sings a little bit just like you did, you might
be able to notice that I was blushing with joy
when you did that.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I like doing it, so I just I couldn't resist.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Telling you that. But aw, are you a fingerpicker with guitar?
Speaker 4 (06:19):
You mean?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:20):
I am an untrained, unskilled and somehow people think it's
like inventive.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So yes, there's no pick involved.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
There's like there's kind of a strummy thing happening, and
it's not.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I don't I won't recommend it to.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Anyone, but every now and then I'll play on a
record like I got to play on Sam Smith record
that we did together called Palace.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
And everyone's like, what is that tone? It's like the
tone of ignorance and just pure emotion. Oh, come on,
it sounds beautiful.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah, but it's the I think some times being untrained,
You know how they say like for meditators, like being
a beginner is like the best thing because you don't
have the expectations.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
You don't have any of those.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
You're not trying to force it to be anything. And
I have my guitar skills. I'll keep around beginner level
for that reason.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I don't know about that. Do you feel in today's
world of the way studios and you know, software works,
that the beauty of imperfection has sort of been left behind? M?
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Yeah, yes, And then I think there's this other like
symptom that comes up with it that people will overly romanticize.
I'm so a fault of doing this too, Like live,
very very live, raw music, and the opportunity we all
get to get into recording spaces now, like there's not
(07:58):
the inherent same gatekeeping, which is amazing, but also like
you didn't have to work so so hard playing live
and touring it for years and then finally get in
and play something live. So the abilities of people to
play live and play raw and unfiltered and have happy accidents,
(08:19):
I don't think they happened as much either, because people
are just we don't.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Practice it the same way.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
We just show up with crazy ideas and we want
to record it and then we.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Go tour it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
The lead track on All Things like turns out that
I'm God correct me if I'm wrong. It was inspired
by Alan Watts, wasn't it?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And Alan Watts lecture and Deep Introspection. What drew you
to those themes and how did they find their way
into your songwriting.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, I wasn't raised religious.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
My dad was a Catholic and then decidedly not a Catholic.
And my kind of like I think, did a couple
of Christian science things one time, but never really. They're
both very you know, spiritual people but not religious, and
I loved that growing up. And then I hit this,
you know, unsure time, like I was telling you, and
(09:15):
I needed something more, and so I think reaching for
anybody that wanted to talk about being spiritual but that
had a language that I could understand as someone that
wasn't raised in religion.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It's like I kind of like.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
I don't have the vocabulary to just jump in in
a lot of spaces. And so Alan Watson, you know,
he's kind of like self admittedly entertainment or er most
of the time. Even so him just like I just found,
I don't know all of us like new agey people do.
We just get into these philosophical lectures and that one
(09:53):
I remember sitting in the studio and listening and being like, whoa,
what if we're all God and we've just forgotten, like,
why does that feel so.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Important to say to me?
Speaker 4 (10:06):
And why why is it so hard now that I'm
on the other end of it singing it to people?
Why is it so hard for some people to hear
and accept? And it's very interesting to me the effect
that song has on people and the people that need it.
Just it makes me want to cry. How wonderful it
(10:28):
is to hear people like finally say that about themselves
and recognize the divine in themselves and what a comfort
that is. And yeah, and it's very very interesting to
hear people that they can't they can't or won't or
don't wanna, don't.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Want to hear it.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
So you had some some interesting collaborators on this project.
Tyler Johnson, Jeff Basker, anybody I'm leaving leaving out that.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Yeah, actually tons, because Tyler is kind of like my
musical brother.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
We came up together.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
I met him a boyfriend of mine a long time ago,
shared an apartment with him, and we were just like,
let's make music. And here we are, all these years later,
still making music, which is so fun. And Jeff, I've
worked with on the past albums too. He's you know,
obviously a huge name. And then it was so fun
because Tyler and I set up shop at East West Studios,
(11:25):
which is where they did Mamas and Papas and Beach
Boys Pet Sounds.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
It's, you know, obviously iconic and you can hear it in.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
The room, you know, and it's such a fun spot
to sort of sit in and brainstorm and come up
with ideas. And then we'd have, you know, in Los Angeles,
you'd have really talented people just swing by and help out,
like Ethan Gruska and Michael lu Zaruu. And it's it's
like I joke that it feels like kind of like
(11:54):
a little sitcom or something, because I walked through the
door like, hey, you know, and that's what fun thing
are we going to do to day?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
And yeah, Tyler and I said, we just had the best.
This is probably the most fun.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
We had making a record because obviously we're very I
don't know if it's obvious, but I'm pretty serious when
it comes to like the music and the content of it,
and he can be very serious about it too, But
I feel like we held it much more lightly this
time around, so it made it made for a really
fun time between us and with you know, all these
incredibly talented people coming in and how they could work
(12:27):
with us.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So you studied psychology and you worked in research labs, yeah,
and then you made the big leap into into music.
How do those experiences outside of music sort of impact
you as you kind of reflect on it.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I think being slightly older and having just like had
another job that in itself helps because I think a
lot of young people that they're like, I don't you know,
they don't go to college and they come straight into
the music business and it'll just eat us all alive.
So I think I felt slightly more grounded, although you're
(13:19):
never quite ready for all the punches that get thrown,
but the psychology of it, I think the same thing
that like drives me when I find like a concept
or a line or like a melody and I'm like,
I can't let it go. I dream about it and
I think about it and I have to. I have
(13:39):
to shape it into something that is like I have
to make it. And that feeling I think it it
was like a related distant cousin that I was sort
of like trying to figure out how to chase it
when I was doing psychology research, because it was like.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Why why do I feel these things? And why does
everybody feel these things? And what is the point? And
what is it? What does it mean?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And kind of framing it different ways in these different labs,
like there was a lab that was about relationships and
how you do conflict resolution and relationships, and there's a
lab about attachment theory, and there's a lab about cultural
differences and like the emotions we want to feel, and
all of it was like starting to get at, like
(14:25):
pulling at the threads of I think this sort of
through line that goes in me and it's finally I
think I landed on it with music where it was like, oh,
this is this is the method that's going to help
me I don't know execute my purpose. That sounds really heavy,
(14:45):
but it's just there's something to it all that. It's like,
it's very discovery, discovery oriented.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
The psychology of the song Slowed Down really spoke to
me immediately in the world around us. Do I have
that right?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Yes? Yeah, I hope, I mean, I hope it spoke
to you. I feel like it's it's very fun singing
that song for people that haven't heard it yet, because
they're like I've I've watched grown women like shed a
tear and people just be like, WHOA, I needed this
right now? And I yeah, our culture is not built
(15:27):
for uh. I think full presence. You know, in all
of our moments, we're very rush, rush, busy, busy. What
did you would you get done today? That determines how
you feel about yourself? And my first time experiencing like
outside of that, I went to Nepal after college and
(15:48):
time and like efficiency and like all these like super
I didn't realize like American like practices and behaviors like
it just it completely out the window and it was like, oh,
you don't have to live like.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
This, And it blew my mind.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
And so I've been trying to It's a reminder for
me to have been trying to live slower, especially now
that I've got a little kid I want to spend
time with.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You've written for some massive artists you mentioned Sam Smith earlier,
Beyonce obviously, while also forging your own unique path. What
lessons do you take from those experiences and how have
they influenced your solo work.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I think.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
I've been so lucky to work with people that an
artists that are doing it in the light that I
get to see them for like art's sake, like they're
making it, which sounds so maybe obvious, but it's not obvious.
I think there's a lot of people who are doing
this because either they love being the.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Center of attention.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Or they are they think that there's like money to
be made, and I don't think the same money is
around to be made anymore. And I think some of
those people, I'm hoping that weeds some of them out selfishly.
But the people that even at those levels that they're at,
they could be in cruise control and they could say, well,
(17:28):
I'll just you know, do what I've done for eight
more records and be done with it, and they don't.
They push themselves into they're chasing something too, you know,
artistically or there they have a their purpose is to
be making something and they're following it.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
And I love being around that energy.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, I used to sometimes scratch my head when I
don't know, you could fill in the blank with any
artist or band you know that is going back out
for the final retirement tour, you know, And yeah, I
would give the collective eye roll. But then the more
(18:11):
I kind of either listen to the artists or read
about the artists, it truly is the art that they're
chasing and that importance of community connection with an audience.
So I think and that I want to ask you
about how important for you is connection to community when
(18:34):
you go out and play live.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, it.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
I because I actually do weigh it, you know, do
I want to tour or not?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Like I take time between.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Albums, and I take time before I do things, and
I don't take it as a given. I'm on a road,
so therefore I must keep doing it. I like to
decide for myself every time. And I absolutely I get
so nervous right before I go out, as everybody does,
I think, and then I feel so like at peace
(19:09):
and welcomed.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Like my husband's so funny.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I'll be like, oh, I'm so nervous, I gotta get
you know, show tonight, and this is happening, and he goes,
you'll feel better when you sing, and it always happens.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I do just feel so much better.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
I get up there, I sing, I feel better and
you're looking out at these people and everybody it's like
they're there because they feel the same way and we're
all having some version of the same experience. And that's
probably the most you know, honest to God's spiritual experience
that I've had, you know, like, and I wish everybody
(19:42):
could feel it.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I think you feel it when you come to this
shows too.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
You have this like, Wow, this is like a whole
moment we're having together. You know, you're synchronized somehow. Yeah,
it's really special.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
We produce this other podcast it's called a Music Save Me.
It's about the healing power of music and what it
means in that regard. Do you personally believe that music
has supernatural healing powers?
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yes, one hundred percent. Like I gave like a.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Ten X talk one time about how healing music is
and how it's a part of every culture humans have
ever had since the beginning of humans, So we absolutely
need it is such a huge part of our community.
It's like not individual, it's like a community based behavior,
you know, and it just everybody. Every time I sing,
(20:41):
people want to come up and tell me how the
same thing that you're saying, like how it saved them
in a marriage, in an addiction issue, in just a
rough time in their life, in a like the valleys,
you know, and you're not always in a valley, so
you can be having a great time and go to
a show and just have a great time.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
But I think for music to like save you, save you, it's.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
When you feel like there's no way out and then
a song like just sneaks in to your heart and
it reaches you and it reminds you of something that's
outside of yourself and you, yeah, it's I can't imagine a.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
World without it.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Like, I think it's probably the thing we could maybe
be most proud of as human beings that love and music.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
You know, your work, in my view, explores vulnerability as
a strength. Why is honesty such an essential tool for
you as a as a songwriter?
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I sometimes I think it's because I'm really like like stubborn,
and I sat to refuse. Like if someone wants me
to do something and they tell me to do it,
I then all of a sudden, I go, I don't
want to do that anymore. And if you tell me, oh,
you shouldn't do that, and I definitely want to do it,
and I don't know exactly how it ties back in,
(22:06):
but there's something where like I have to feel like
it's my choice, and I know it's probably so obnoxious
in a lot of situations, but it's also like so
real and so me. And that's that's where I think
if I strip back anytime I'm being a people pleaser,
anytime I'm making sure I'm checking boxes that I society
(22:30):
told me I should do to feel successful. And you strip, strip, strip,
and then you get down to the heart of it,
and it's like, this is the thing that makes me
feel seen.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Or feel safe. I just feel like.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
That's the whole point. I feel it in my body
when I do it, too, Like I feel it in
my stomach, and it's like, that's that's what you're supposed
to be doing.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
But music is such a weird thing.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
You know, nobody really like you can go to music school,
but nobody really.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Teaches you like how to really know the feeling of
what's right and wrong.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
You know, talk about the song Kill the Guru. What
was the inspiration? There was sort of a period of
time where you were traveling and you were looking for something.
Talk about that.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Yeah, that song.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
I honestly I feel like anyone who says they have
all the answers is like the biggest red flag, Like
it's that you should run.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Away from anyone who says I know exactly how life goes,
I know exactly what you need, you know. It just
is like the scariest thing you can hear. But I
had to learn that the hard way.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
I actually like fell in love with and dated Guru,
like when I was on that trip in Nepaul.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
He was not Nepleese.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
I don't want to give Nepleese people a bad name,
but I and I found out the hard way, Like
just it's so intoxicating to be around someone who acts
like they know and they have all the answers, especially
when you're twenties, you know, and like I just, oh
my god. Of course he didn't, and of course he
was just a total narcissist. So kind of like this
(24:08):
is my you know. I love when there's like a
wink in there. It's kind of country too, to like
have you your singing something in the narrator is like
a false narrator, like sort of lying, like are you
feeling lonely?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
I know what to do?
Speaker 4 (24:20):
You know, Like I love when there's like a switch
like that, and yeah, it's like kind of also, I
get the last laugh by naming it killed the Guru.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
I get the last laugh. I love that. That's outstanding.
You've had some great collaborations with folks such as Harry Styles,
Tim McGraw, Beyonce, Alicia Keys. Any future collaborations or dream
projects you want to reveal just between us, I love that.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I feel like, to me, I am just in a
spot where I am so excited for the right opportunities
that walk through the door, and I'm sort of I'm
sort of most excited about someone who hasn't like broke yet.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Like something of me is really excited.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
To meet somebody totally brand new, because those are my
favorite people if I have my full dream scenario, people
that have done it all and now do not care and.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
They're doing only what they want to do.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
And the people that are so brand new they don't
know any of the roles, so they don't follow them either,
and they just have so much hope and optimism for
what they can achieve.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
And those two types of.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Writers and musicians are like my favorite people to work with.
So I feel like I've met some people at the
top now and I want more brand new energy.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
So you're going to be hitting the road for a bit,
right and folks getting to see you out there. But
in closing, what do you hope that listeners take away
from the new album, especially when it comes to, you know,
the important themes of resilience and self discovery.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah, thank you for putting it so well. The first
line is I was busy waiting for someone to live
my life.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
And that's that.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Autopilot we can all find ourselves in that I found
myself in.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And then something happens and it.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Shakes you awake or is a very oftentimes negative, sad
event that can kind of break you. And I hope
that this album is like a companion to your grief
as it was to mine. And then the end of
the album is Try. I just say try a bunch
(26:47):
of times like stacked and I'm like screaming it, and.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
I just hope.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
People feel like they can hold space for the darker
things and then they still have this light that I'm
giving them to sort of walk through and it's for them.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
And it's for my daughter too, you know.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
I hope when she's older and feeling lost, this is
something that can be there with her.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I'm so grateful to have met you and to had
you on the podcast.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Kim, so wonderful talking with you so awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Congrats on all things light and good luck on the tour,
and all good health to you and all good health
to your family.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
I appreciate that right back at you.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
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