Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey there, it's justin Richmond. Today we're gonna hear
Speaker 1: a chat with one of my favorite artists from twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, Atlanta singer songwriter Faye Webster. We'll get into
Speaker 1: her backstory in a minute, but first let's hear her
Speaker 1: perform the title song off her new album, I Know
Speaker 1: I'm Funny ha ha live from the Shangarlock control room.
Speaker 1: Let's see. Don drink some sugame and we can argue
Speaker 1: out the same thing. Talk about neighbors, food, I wonder
Speaker 1: thing moving. I hope they don't know my one personally
Speaker 1: some of it told them offt in this thing. The
Speaker 1: fucking he kept my money you m h. I think
Speaker 1: your sister's so pretty good drunken afy could they met me?
Speaker 1: I made her laugh one time at dinner. She said,
Speaker 1: I'm funny. No I think too. I know I'm funny.
Speaker 1: Ha ha hm m M. I don't know. I keep
Speaker 1: China on. We go through faces overs, but now we
Speaker 1: both won will be rock stars. Got you base last
Speaker 1: June birthday, same one the garphone linkin park Place. M
Speaker 1: you look better with it anyways. That was Faye Webster
Speaker 1: performing her song I Know I'm Funny ha ha. Fay
Speaker 1: stopped by Changarla earlier this month, in between stops on
Speaker 1: her tour opening for Wilco. The twenty four year old
Speaker 1: singer Songwriters started releasing music independently when she was just
Speaker 1: sixteen years old. In twenty seventeen, her second album was
Speaker 1: released through Awful Records, home to the Atlanta hip hop collective.
Speaker 1: Faye was a bit of an outlier on that rap
Speaker 1: heavy label, but working with them gave her a different
Speaker 1: perspective on recording than she otherwise would have had. In
Speaker 1: the years since, Faye Webster has gotten critical acclaim from
Speaker 1: Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, and even ended up with a
Speaker 1: coveted placement on Barack Obama's twenty twenty Spotify playlist. On
Speaker 1: today's episode, I talked to Faye about artists like The
Speaker 1: Ramones and Garth Brooks influencing her writing style. Faye also
Speaker 1: played some songs live, as well as an early demo
Speaker 1: version of her song Years. This is broken record liner
Speaker 1: notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richmond. Here's my
Speaker 1: conversation with Fay Webster. How long you've been on tour already?
Speaker 1: Like for this tour only like two weeks. It's kind
Speaker 1: of short this stretch, but we had just got off
Speaker 1: tour from a month long tour before this. Yeah, okay
Speaker 1: on the East Coast. Was that your first tour back?
Speaker 1: It was? How was that? Going back at it? It
Speaker 1: was fun. I feel like the first like three shows
Speaker 1: were like weird, but after the fourth shows like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is completely like I understand because like the past year,
Speaker 1: I just been like sitting at home. So it's just
Speaker 1: like I forgot like how stressful of a hustle touring is.
Speaker 1: But it's also like such a normal thing to me
Speaker 1: at this point. Nice. So I think you just took
Speaker 1: a second to get back into the groove. Did you
Speaker 1: enjoy just staying at home for like a year year
Speaker 1: and a half? Yeah, I left it, Yeah I did,
Speaker 1: because when I'm not touring, I'm just like that's what
Speaker 1: I'm doing. Anyways, it's very normal to me. When did
Speaker 1: you first start toy? I think my first tour was
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. Twenty seventeen, so how old were you? I
Speaker 1: was born in ninety seven, right, so I think that
Speaker 1: sounds about right because my first tour I wasn't old
Speaker 1: enough to drink and then I went to Europe and
Speaker 1: I could drink there because the drinking age is low.
Speaker 1: I remember getting like a really drunken Europe on my
Speaker 1: first tour, and I like left my guitar and like
Speaker 1: some crazy city that I could not get back to. Um.
Speaker 1: I think I was in Glasgow, and then I think
Speaker 1: I went back to London or something without damn, I
Speaker 1: was hungover as buck and I left my guitar in Glasgow.
Speaker 1: That sucks any other good tour stories. Probably my concept
Speaker 1: of time is so messed up. Yeah, when I'm touring
Speaker 1: and I feel like I don't think of things until
Speaker 1: it's like, oh yeah, like I remember that, It's like
Speaker 1: when was that? Where was that? But I don't know,
Speaker 1: I have no idea. It's funny because I feel like
Speaker 1: for most people who don't like just go on tour,
Speaker 1: most people felt like the last year kind of warped
Speaker 1: time for them, like they had no way to kind
Speaker 1: of measure or account time. But for you, it was
Speaker 1: just like that might not have been the case. It's
Speaker 1: like normal if touring life just your normal sort of
Speaker 1: life is a musician cause you just sort of have
Speaker 1: that not being tethered to time, feeling yeah, was it
Speaker 1: like different for you then the pandemic. Do think you
Speaker 1: experienced it different? I guess so. I feel like it's
Speaker 1: so different per person anyways, you know. But I feel
Speaker 1: like over the pandemic time like flew by somehow, but
Speaker 1: also like it was nice because it's just like in
Speaker 1: the moment. But tour, it's like last week seems like
Speaker 1: last month to me right now when you're actually moving around,
Speaker 1: how do you enjoy it? I do. I feel like
Speaker 1: I enjoy both, Like I enjoy being home, but I
Speaker 1: also like I enjoy being on tour. It's like when
Speaker 1: I'm on tour, I'm like I can't wait to get home,
Speaker 1: and then when I'm home, I'm like, I can't wait
Speaker 1: to get on tour. And I was just going through
Speaker 1: this cycle for the rest of my life. When you
Speaker 1: were younger, did you want to be a professional musician?
Speaker 1: I go out, like to make a living touring and
Speaker 1: making records or not really, I mean I wanted to
Speaker 1: make music, and then it was like it wasn't like
Speaker 1: senior year of high school and there was actually pressure
Speaker 1: and it was like, hey, what do you want to
Speaker 1: do when you grew up? And like that moment of
Speaker 1: just like applying to colleges and stuff. I was like,
Speaker 1: I guess this is the only thing I know how
Speaker 1: to do. But I wasn't like, oh, I can't wait
Speaker 1: to be a touring musician and like putting out records.
Speaker 1: It was just like, I play music. That's all I
Speaker 1: know what to do right now, right, And I feel
Speaker 1: like that just like escalated into what it is. And
Speaker 1: you would already put out a record by that point, right,
Speaker 1: your first very first record, Yeah, you would put out
Speaker 1: in high school? Yeah I did. Yeah, Well, got you
Speaker 1: started playing music? Got you interested? My brother plays music
Speaker 1: and he's a few years older than me, So I
Speaker 1: feel like kind of just like sitting in my room
Speaker 1: and hearing him through the walls in the house, I
Speaker 1: was just like, that's kind of cool. What was he playing? Um?
Speaker 1: He was like a Ramones Fane and like whatever, like
Speaker 1: classic rock my dad listened to. I feel like he
Speaker 1: kind of fell into that. So yeah, he was just
Speaker 1: like in the basement setting up shitty amps and stuff,
Speaker 1: shitty microphones and just like playing music, playing blitz greeg bop.
Speaker 1: Yeah was it? And this was in Atlanta? Yes? Cool?
Speaker 1: When do you start discovering like the larger music scene Atlanta.
Speaker 1: When does that happen? Not? So like high school, I
Speaker 1: was playing open mics all the time because there's the
Speaker 1: only chance I had to play songs not in my bedroom.
Speaker 1: And I think that's when I started to meet people
Speaker 1: and be like, there's music that exists. That's not what
Speaker 1: my parents are listening to. That's not what my brothers
Speaker 1: listening to. Like that's crazy. I feel like it wasn't
Speaker 1: untill like high school that I figured that out. Wow
Speaker 1: were you writing at that time? Like, were you like
Speaker 1: the songs you're playing at the open mics? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean they sucked, but I was, yeah, I was writing songs.
Speaker 1: What got you writing? I don't know. I feel like
Speaker 1: when I learned a guitar, I was just playing covers
Speaker 1: over and over and like even going to guitar lessons,
Speaker 1: I would just print out lyrics and they would just
Speaker 1: like write the chord above the lyric, like what it's
Speaker 1: time to change to the chord, And I feel like,
Speaker 1: I mean, I have like ten binders full of these lessons,
Speaker 1: So I feel like I was just like, maybe I
Speaker 1: should try to write my own songs to where they
Speaker 1: can't do this to my songs like they can't tell
Speaker 1: me what to play when you know, would you take
Speaker 1: those into your teacher or would you would you just
Speaker 1: quit lessons? And like, oh, eventually I switched teachers and
Speaker 1: I started off with like a guitar teacher, and then
Speaker 1: I went to like, oh, maybe I'll try a songwriting teacher,
Speaker 1: and I would just like play songs. Just kind of
Speaker 1: terrifying because they wrote good songs and I didn't feel
Speaker 1: like I didn't even think about it, being like I
Speaker 1: want to write my own songs. I think I just
Speaker 1: like started doing it from all those guitar lessons that
Speaker 1: I first took, where they just wrote the chords above
Speaker 1: the lyrics. I feel like that's kind of when I like,
Speaker 1: I would eventually choose to change the key of songs
Speaker 1: just to like play those chords. Are those are the chords?
Speaker 1: Like if you sit down the guitar, you just start
Speaker 1: playing those more often than not. Flick. Yes. I don't
Speaker 1: even know who they are and I truly cannot tell you.
Speaker 1: And are there any songs that you've written using like
Speaker 1: those exactly those chords? Uh? Yeah, a lot? Anything you
Speaker 1: can play? Um, do you want to play a song? Sure?
Speaker 1: Student to want something better. It's been my time but
Speaker 1: nothing so pepe nothing you were so long for me
Speaker 1: to I'm so alone and here I'm with me. I
Speaker 1: went to what in such you mind? You seem pretty
Speaker 1: lucky butt and leave little fully up too same she
Speaker 1: wastes and no change his name and make it my
Speaker 1: will you William? Will you will you will you? Will
Speaker 1: you be with me? Will you will you will you
Speaker 1: will you Willia? Will you be with me? M try
Speaker 1: to eat truth, sleep, but everything seems born to me.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do. Got to friendsic see
Speaker 1: but they cut two jobs and a baby. I just
Speaker 1: want to see pending on her time apart. But the
Speaker 1: distractions are in there, insental wor only two A couple
Speaker 1: times thought you hear your likes, but I figured it
Speaker 1: will you will you will you will you will you
Speaker 1: will it be with me? Oh you will Lee bees,
Speaker 1: will you will you? Who you leep? Busy O beus
Speaker 1: O two chord songs. It's different, nice fucking love that
Speaker 1: man like you have a really nice groove. There's also
Speaker 1: a lot of repetition in your songs, which are like
Speaker 1: well won two chords like you said yeah, like the
Speaker 1: will you will you, and I feel like I appreciate
Speaker 1: that in songwriting, just like sometimes like it should just
Speaker 1: be simple, you know what I mean? Yeah, Like you
Speaker 1: can play two chords and write a song. You can
Speaker 1: play two chords and write a good song. The little
Speaker 1: things that get overlooked is the cool shit to me,
Speaker 1: influence creeping Yeah goodness, it's no shame in that it
Speaker 1: doesn't love the Ramons. Yeah, we'll be right back with
Speaker 1: Fay Webster. After a quick break, we're back with more
Speaker 1: from my conversation with Fay Webster. Do you remember the
Speaker 1: first song you wrote? Yeah, the first song I wrote,
Speaker 1: I literally just like used the same melody as a
Speaker 1: Miley Cyrus song and I changed the words, And I
Speaker 1: remember my best friend got so mad at me, and
Speaker 1: she was like delete this audio file, like you're going
Speaker 1: to get sued, Like we're like an elementary school. Like
Speaker 1: I was in like fifth grade, So I don't even
Speaker 1: remember what it was, like what it egan was. I
Speaker 1: just remember like I just changed the changed the lyrics,
Speaker 1: used the same melody, and I was like I wrote
Speaker 1: a song. My friends like no, what Miley song? What
Speaker 1: what song did you change it was? I think it's
Speaker 1: just called I miss you, okay, I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: like very early. It was like I was really into
Speaker 1: the song that she wrote with her dad on the airplane.
Speaker 1: I don't know that one on the show and my dad.
Speaker 1: I don't really get these references, but I don't Miley,
Speaker 1: how'd you record that? I feel like my brothers had
Speaker 1: like cool stuff, especially since he's older. Both of them
Speaker 1: were into like making movies for a little bit, so
Speaker 1: they had like the zoom recorder and like cool shit
Speaker 1: connected to our PC. And I feel like maybe I
Speaker 1: did it there. I don't even know. So fifth grade
Speaker 1: you started writing and recording like the earliest stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which is crazy to think about because I don't remember
Speaker 1: writing songs in fifth grade. But I remember, like performing
Speaker 1: at my fifth grade graduation in one of your songs.
Speaker 1: They did, but I sang the real one, Oh, the
Speaker 1: real one, not your Okay, I should have seen your version.
Speaker 1: I know. Did you play guitar? I performed that Did
Speaker 1: you play the guitar? And was playing guitar? Wow, that's
Speaker 1: fucking impressive for a fifth grader. But the first one
Speaker 1: I ever learned was Lola the Kinks. Yeah, it's the
Speaker 1: first one I ever learned. I don't know why. I
Speaker 1: guess because my brother. Yeah, it's classic rock radio staple,
Speaker 1: but the Kinks are incredible. Yeah, so classic rock punk
Speaker 1: rock early on, like a Ramons at least is what
Speaker 1: you were. That's just what you're hearing around the house. Yeah,
Speaker 1: or like that's what my dad would play and my brother,
Speaker 1: but then my mom would play like western swing music,
Speaker 1: which I think I gravitated towards more like Texas playboys
Speaker 1: and yeah, like a Sleep at the Wheel was one
Speaker 1: of our favorite bands growing up. Wow, Alison Krause, Garth Brooks,
Speaker 1: shit like that, Alison Krause, that's a really I don't know,
Speaker 1: that's that's pretty evolved taste. I feel like, do you
Speaker 1: think so? I feel like it makes so much sense.
Speaker 1: And that's interesting you say that because I've said that
Speaker 1: to people before and they're like, really, well, my mom
Speaker 1: is from Texas and like grew up listening to like
Speaker 1: soft country like that. I feel like they she just
Speaker 1: put me on before she put on all of y'all. Man,
Speaker 1: So what was it about Alison Krass that drew you in?
Speaker 1: Definitely her voice. I was like, this is crazy, like
Speaker 1: it truly sounds unreal. Like a cgi vocal woid. It's
Speaker 1: just like too perfect all the time. It's heavenly. But
Speaker 1: I also like that she played the violin. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: like tried to take violin lessons a bunch and I
Speaker 1: just sucked. I was so bad at it. I was like,
Speaker 1: I can't do this. But it's also like, I mean,
Speaker 1: growing up, I would only hear male artists, So I
Speaker 1: feel like, finally when my mom started playing me Alison Cross,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, like girls can do this too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fucking sick. She was very inspirational for me. And
Speaker 1: I gotta say, if you're only hearing male artis, especially
Speaker 1: if it's like the Ramones and like Zeppelin, you know,
Speaker 1: like your usual like her voice would really cut through
Speaker 1: the noise. Truly, I'm not super familiar with Atlanta. When
Speaker 1: I think of Atlanta, I think really great R and B,
Speaker 1: really great hip hop, you know, like I guess there's
Speaker 1: rock and roll bands around, Like I don't really you know,
Speaker 1: but I don't really think of it like that way.
Speaker 1: Was that like were you plugged into that stuff growing up?
Speaker 1: Was were you hearing that? I mean born in ninety seven, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: everything's hitting at that I like Atlanta because it's just
Speaker 1: like there's everything. It's like what do you want? And
Speaker 1: then you can find that there. You can go see
Speaker 1: like a garage rock band, and you can also go
Speaker 1: see like sick ass rep and R and B artist,
Speaker 1: and you can also go see like singers long writers
Speaker 1: at like a weird open mic. I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: like I really appreciate that about Atlanta. So once you
Speaker 1: got to high school sort of finding your own music,
Speaker 1: what were you finding? I feel like I was that's
Speaker 1: when I was finding like folk music or like folk
Speaker 1: rock music. I was listening to Daz's record Nothing Is
Speaker 1: Wrong a Lot in high School is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite records in high school. How did you end up
Speaker 1: recording your first record in high school? My friend had
Speaker 1: moved to Nashville, so I was just like going there
Speaker 1: a lot and it was just like it was really
Speaker 1: my dad that was like, you're you're playing these open
Speaker 1: mics all the time and then you have like nothing
Speaker 1: to give to people. I'm like, okay, do they even
Speaker 1: want something? Like I didn't even know, but I had
Speaker 1: these songs and it was just like I knew so
Speaker 1: many people in Nashville that made music. And how'd you
Speaker 1: know people there because my friend moved there that I
Speaker 1: met also in like the open mic stuff. When she moved,
Speaker 1: I would just like go visit her and like sing
Speaker 1: with her and like play music with her. It's recorded
Speaker 1: really well. It's just like in a house. I recorded
Speaker 1: both my first two records, and just like bedrooms. You
Speaker 1: had an engineer obviously on that, right, Yeah, because it's recorded,
Speaker 1: it makes sense that I haven't listened to it. And
Speaker 1: so long did you play anything off of that record?
Speaker 1: Stof No, I barely play stuff off my self titled record.
Speaker 1: Do you feel connection to any of the songs anymore?
Speaker 1: Definitely not my first record. There's some songs on my
Speaker 1: self title that I'm like, this still represents me in
Speaker 1: some way, Like at one point it did really well
Speaker 1: and it doesn't anymore. But I still like there's moments
Speaker 1: where I'm like, I enjoyed playing the song because it
Speaker 1: makes me feel like I just started playing music again.
Speaker 1: My Self Titled was when I was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm taking this seriously now, how do you get from
Speaker 1: that self titled or from the first record to the
Speaker 1: self titled which was like it's pretty experimental for like, yeah,
Speaker 1: Rold you might have been at the time. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I feel like the first one is like
Speaker 1: very Nashville esque, and then when I realized that I
Speaker 1: don't like Nashville, Like, I was just spending more time
Speaker 1: back home in Atlanta, and like my brothers moved to Athens,
Speaker 1: so I was spending a lot of time in Athens.
Speaker 1: And just the music scene in Athens is really really sick.
Speaker 1: What's that like? It's just like I literally call shit
Speaker 1: like Athens rock, Like I don't know what you call it,
Speaker 1: but it's like so I feel like it's it's like specific.
Speaker 1: Is there like a band we could listen to or something? Well,
Speaker 1: Rim is from Athens. Oh, I didn't realize that my
Speaker 1: brother's in a really cool band called way Yuka, but
Speaker 1: the wigs are from Athens. I don't know. It's kind
Speaker 1: of iconic. And I was just like spending a lot
Speaker 1: of time there and they had like shows and stuff
Speaker 1: that I feel like Atlanta didn't really have the same
Speaker 1: like intimate vibe as Athens did. A small town, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I think so, And just like it's also
Speaker 1: so supportive the way that Atlanta is supportive. So I
Speaker 1: was spending also a lot of time in the air,
Speaker 1: and that's when I was like meeting my brother's friends
Speaker 1: that make music and like truly experiencing like what it's
Speaker 1: like to be at a show or like what it's
Speaker 1: like to like watch somebody record music. And that's when
Speaker 1: I just like clicked with it and I've made on
Speaker 1: all the rest of my records there. But I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's really sick. How did you get on Awful Records
Speaker 1: for that second record? I was just a fan. I
Speaker 1: was literally a fan and was like messaging Etherial a lot,
Speaker 1: just like sending my music, and he would like send
Speaker 1: me his music eat humans would like sell photoprints at
Speaker 1: their shows and I would like buy photos from him
Speaker 1: and just like became friends. And then I think like
Speaker 1: the year I dropped out of college, I was just
Speaker 1: with them every day because I was just like watching
Speaker 1: and learning. And then when it got time for me
Speaker 1: to put out another record, they were just like like,
Speaker 1: you're already here. You're already here every day, Like why
Speaker 1: don't you just like do this with us? And how
Speaker 1: would you explain that label to people? I feel like
Speaker 1: maybe not. It's really like it was like a collective.
Speaker 1: Like it didn't feel like I was on a label.
Speaker 1: It just felt like I was a part of a
Speaker 1: collective people that just like made cool shit. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't even like all musicians. It was a very good
Speaker 1: learning experience, an iconic like in Atlanta specifically, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean to me, I was like when I joined,
Speaker 1: I was like, even though I've been around these people
Speaker 1: all day, it's like still some some people And I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's crazy that, like you want to hang out with me,
Speaker 1: Like I've just listened to your music for like so
Speaker 1: long and like idolize you guys at the time, would
Speaker 1: you say it was like pretty local, like a local
Speaker 1: yeah thing. Yeah, it really was. I don't know, it
Speaker 1: was so iconic. Yeah, I feel like I would I
Speaker 1: would have not wanted to have it any other way.
Speaker 1: It's really like unique stuff and it reminds me like
Speaker 1: not in not in terms of like the production sound,
Speaker 1: but just in terms of the vibe like of like
Speaker 1: the Memphis like the old Memphis cassette tape like rap
Speaker 1: scene like back in the nineties, or or even like
Speaker 1: the Bay Area rap scene, Like it just has its
Speaker 1: own really distinctive, unique sound that you don't hear anywhere else. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when I listened to those off When I listened to
Speaker 1: those songs from from Off, Agree, what was it like
Speaker 1: collaborating with them? I feel like everything was like so
Speaker 1: di iy in like a way that I prefer, Like
Speaker 1: I prefer to make music in a bedroom with friends,
Speaker 1: and I feel like, just like watching people just like
Speaker 1: make music when they felt like it was something I
Speaker 1: had never really seen before. Like I was so used
Speaker 1: to like people just sitting on songs forever and perfecting
Speaker 1: it and like I'm not going to make a record
Speaker 1: till I have twelve songs ready, and this way, it
Speaker 1: just felt like when they made music, it was like
Speaker 1: that's what it's supposed to sound like in this moment,
Speaker 1: which is kind of how I like to record to
Speaker 1: this day because it's like, yeah, I just wrote a
Speaker 1: song and it's like I need to get this off
Speaker 1: my chest now. Yeah, it's like if you sit on
Speaker 1: it for a month, like you might just like alter
Speaker 1: it or change it. And I feel like watching Awful record,
Speaker 1: just like one take it was like sound good, y'all,
Speaker 1: sound good to be like, let's put it out tomorrow,
Speaker 1: And I was like, dang, that's like what people should
Speaker 1: do more often and how you how would you put
Speaker 1: them out? We were using SoundCloud a lot, and were
Speaker 1: you making physical copies of things at all? No? Actually,
Speaker 1: my Self Titled didn't come out on vinyl until last year. Really, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I never had records until AMC. That was like
Speaker 1: the first time I was like really making records. That's cool.
Speaker 1: The songs and yourself Titled? Were those all written pretty
Speaker 1: quickly then and just recorded? Or were those songs that
Speaker 1: you'd been building from the time you did your first record.
Speaker 1: I was kind of building them, but I was recording
Speaker 1: them one by one, Like I think to make that
Speaker 1: record it took over a year because I would write
Speaker 1: a song and then drive to Athens and like play
Speaker 1: it and record it and then go back home and
Speaker 1: start over. You have a very different sound from most
Speaker 1: things on that label, yeah, like or in that collective?
Speaker 1: Was you music like a weird fit in a way
Speaker 1: for that? Or I mean I never felt like an outcast,
Speaker 1: Like I felt like that's where I belonged at the time,
Speaker 1: But it was also like, oh, yeah, they don't know
Speaker 1: what to do with me like like that, like I
Speaker 1: can't record like a whole band set up in this bedroom,
Speaker 1: Like I have to like go somewhere else and do this.
Speaker 1: What is it about the live band that you feel
Speaker 1: like works for your songwriting in your performance style? Like
Speaker 1: you never got tempted to just like write a song
Speaker 1: and like just do a quick production in your bedroom,
Speaker 1: right like on Ableton or something. I don't know how
Speaker 1: to use. I literally record all my vocals on garage
Speaker 1: band on all of my records. That's great, um, but
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean I grew up playing instruments,
Speaker 1: so it was just like I only knew instruments like
Speaker 1: my I love singing on ship, but it's like I
Speaker 1: could never make this, Like I can only like build
Speaker 1: instrument after instrument. I feel like it's kind of just
Speaker 1: all I've known how to do, like like dip into
Speaker 1: that world. But like then yeah, go back to You
Speaker 1: can send me a song and I'll sing on it,
Speaker 1: but I cannot make this unless you teach me how
Speaker 1: to use pro tool? Can you write to someone else's song?
Speaker 1: Like if someone sends you something and they're like, hey,
Speaker 1: can you or do usually send you lyrics? Just like
Speaker 1: hey sing this or will you come up with your
Speaker 1: own home? No? Yeah, I'll write my own works. How
Speaker 1: different is that for you than It's very different, But
Speaker 1: I feel like that was like one of the biggest
Speaker 1: things I also took out of being on Awful is
Speaker 1: like just because we're in the same room together and
Speaker 1: you happen to want to make music right now, it's
Speaker 1: like I'm the only person in the room, so it's
Speaker 1: like I'm on the song like just by de Vault.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's like I just kind of learned and
Speaker 1: like experimented that way, just like when it wasn't me
Speaker 1: in the spotlight and like somebody wanted to just like
Speaker 1: lend my voice or something. We'll be right back with
Speaker 1: my conversation with Fay Webster after a quick break. We're
Speaker 1: back with more from a Conversation with a Webster. Did
Speaker 1: you grow up playing in a band at all? No,
Speaker 1: I didn't. My brother did, but I did not. Have
Speaker 1: some members of your band with you today. How long
Speaker 1: have you been playing with these guys pistol and I'm
Speaker 1: a pedal steel player. We've been playing together for seven
Speaker 1: years now. That's kind of how I started, Like I
Speaker 1: feel like I was playing music and then I added
Speaker 1: him to the band, and then from there on for
Speaker 1: the rest of the time. It's just like who let's
Speaker 1: play with me and pistol, Like, who, let's be in
Speaker 1: our band? How did you guys meet? I knew I
Speaker 1: wanted pedal steel because it's just what I grew up
Speaker 1: listening too. And every time I said, hey, can you
Speaker 1: help me find a pedal steel player, it was like
Speaker 1: thirty people said the same person. There's nobody else, like like,
Speaker 1: this is the player that you need. That's cool. Let's
Speaker 1: have a hard time founding like a bass player, like
Speaker 1: a drum like a good drummer, you know, but like
Speaker 1: it's a high bar to find like a pedal steel player. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like we're really going to do this if I found,
Speaker 1: you know, right, found someone. But it's like you just
Speaker 1: have to like wait and really find the people that
Speaker 1: just like have the chemistry and get you and I
Speaker 1: don't have to explain shit, like you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: like just people that help me represent what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to get across. Do you always play in studio and
Speaker 1: live like the same? Yeah, crew, we always record everything live.
Speaker 1: That's great, and then I go home and redo vocals
Speaker 1: at my kitchen. That's so funny. What is it about
Speaker 1: like a band that helps you write. I think it's
Speaker 1: more just like I have this song, and I've written
Speaker 1: this song, and it's like, how can I make the
Speaker 1: best representation of me in this song if other people
Speaker 1: are going to hear it? Like I truly wanted to
Speaker 1: be the best representation it could be. So what's the
Speaker 1: process then, Like who would you go to first? You have?
Speaker 1: I don't show anybody until we're in the studio. I
Speaker 1: don't share I don't even like share it with our engineer,
Speaker 1: just because I don't want people like plotting on it
Speaker 1: be like oh this part, like it's so good to
Speaker 1: play something right here, and I feel like that kind
Speaker 1: of just like ruined not ruins it, but like I
Speaker 1: feel like in the moment is when it's more like,
Speaker 1: oh I just played that and it sounded good, So
Speaker 1: like let's just do that again, right, and like record
Speaker 1: it this time please? So you want people come up
Speaker 1: with their part. It's like on the spot, not truly reconceived,
Speaker 1: like oh I could do this and that's interesting. It
Speaker 1: doesn't happen a lot anymore. Yeah, which is I feel
Speaker 1: like from the other side of it, like if it
Speaker 1: wasn't my song and somebody made me come to the
Speaker 1: studio and record on demand, I would be freaked out,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's nice to be the only one that
Speaker 1: knows what's about to happen, right, going from the self
Speaker 1: title to Atlanta Millionaires Club, What was the jump there? Like?
Speaker 1: How did you go from those songs in that place,
Speaker 1: putting it out through Awful and then going to like
Speaker 1: atlant A Millionaires Club. I don't know. I feel like
Speaker 1: it was just like a natural evolution and it's not
Speaker 1: even that different of a record, Like I feel like
Speaker 1: throughout my three main records, there's always a song from
Speaker 1: the latter record that could have been on the earlier one,
Speaker 1: but not the one too before it. Otherwise it would
Speaker 1: have just been like this weird out of place song,
Speaker 1: Like too quick of an evolution, I feel like. But
Speaker 1: I don't know. I feel like it was just like
Speaker 1: the right time and place. I met secretly Canadian who
Speaker 1: I love and they just like feel like family to
Speaker 1: me at this point, and I just had more songs
Speaker 1: and I was like cains, like, I guess it's time
Speaker 1: to put out another record, And I feel like that's
Speaker 1: kind of when I noticed that it wasn't just like
Speaker 1: family listening to my stuff. Like, I feel like that's
Speaker 1: when I kind of like got put on the radar.
Speaker 1: It was truly the perfect time and perfect place in
Speaker 1: my life. You were saying, how there's like always a
Speaker 1: song like that wouldn't fit like a couple of albums ago,
Speaker 1: but probably within the last but I feel like there's
Speaker 1: and there's also I mean, your albums are like super very,
Speaker 1: and there's always a song that it feels like it's
Speaker 1: just a complete outlier just in general, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: like a landa Millionaire's Club, Like Flowers feels like a
Speaker 1: like a very, you know, and there's a couple even
Speaker 1: like Kingston sounds a little different than some of the
Speaker 1: others exactly. It's like that could have been on myself titled,
Speaker 1: but it feels on Run and Tell, then it would
Speaker 1: have been like, yeah, like who just hopped on the sticks?
Speaker 1: And then like on this new one too cheers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: even Overslept sounds kind of different from the rest of
Speaker 1: the Rapier. Yeah, could have been on AMC Like on
Speaker 1: those songs that are kind of outliers. Do you look
Speaker 1: to make a song that's very different from the rest
Speaker 1: of the album, or is it just happen. It really
Speaker 1: just happens, because I mean when I'm writing these songs
Speaker 1: at home by myself, like they're all pretty fucking similar,
Speaker 1: Like there's like they sound like they come out like
Speaker 1: you was the writing them songs all right home. It's
Speaker 1: just me being quiet as trying to write a song.
Speaker 1: And then it's like, there's no way that my shitty
Speaker 1: Cheers demo from my kitchen table sounds like what Cheers
Speaker 1: sounds like. But it's just like when it was time
Speaker 1: to like all sit together and save room and play it,
Speaker 1: it was like, oh, like this is how it has
Speaker 1: to sound or it's just gonna be weird. Was it
Speaker 1: always as loud as it was? I don't remember. I
Speaker 1: should go find the demo, but like I write songs
Speaker 1: on an acoustic guitar at home, so it's not like
Speaker 1: I'm like fucking rocking out. But then one and then
Speaker 1: once you took it to the band, though, like, was
Speaker 1: it like pretty like right away? Did it truly? Was? Really? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I feel like that song specifically, like people were scrambling
Speaker 1: because I started playing it. It's just like, oh, like
Speaker 1: it should definitely sound this way. But I don't own
Speaker 1: any cool shit. So I was just like people were
Speaker 1: like pulling pedals out of closets and stuff because I
Speaker 1: was like, my my guitar is just like I just
Speaker 1: pluged straight into my amp all the time. But yeah,
Speaker 1: just like ended up like that who cheers during the pandemic?
Speaker 1: Oh here it is. It's called it used to be
Speaker 1: called cheers to each other? And I was like, that's
Speaker 1: a horrible name. This is risky bad name. Sorry, it
Speaker 1: does kind of sound like that. It sounds exactly like
Speaker 1: the record. Let me see that. The chorus sounds like
Speaker 1: that sounds pretty pretty really good in your demos. It's
Speaker 1: just like at my in my badge in my kitchen,
Speaker 1: fucking great voice, thank you. That's crazy. Ever since I
Speaker 1: heard the album, and I heard the song before that
Speaker 1: albu because it came out before the album, but in
Speaker 1: a good way. The Spanish guitar or the classical guitar,
Speaker 1: whatever it'd be, I guess called on that song. How like,
Speaker 1: how did that happen? Yeah? Well, I feel like when
Speaker 1: I started to write a lot, that's when I was like,
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna like just try and buy different
Speaker 1: guitars because every guitar play makes me write something completely different.
Speaker 1: Like there's songs that I just like wrote on the
Speaker 1: classical guitar that I could have not written on my harmony, etc.
Speaker 1: And there's also moments in the studio where it's like
Speaker 1: the band is playing, it's like, bro, this is not
Speaker 1: the one for the pedal steel, or like bro, this
Speaker 1: is not the one for the worldly like and you
Speaker 1: need to go with like you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like it's just certain moments I feel like that song
Speaker 1: specifically was like this is how I wrote it, So
Speaker 1: I feel like that's what it like, let's switch it up.
Speaker 1: And I feel like I didn't really switch it up
Speaker 1: until AMC and ha ha. It was when I was
Speaker 1: really like, let's try playing other stuff. You wrote that
Speaker 1: song on a classical guitar. Yeah, really, And I only
Speaker 1: had like obviously my rhythm guitar and my vocals, and
Speaker 1: then I put like just the classical guitar, uh, like
Speaker 1: mimicking part on my demo? Do you mind playing a
Speaker 1: bit of a good way? Sure? I didn't know being
Speaker 1: usual me. I didn't know good from me too. He
Speaker 1: makes me on a crap hie on a good week.
Speaker 1: He makes me want a crab hie on a good wine.
Speaker 1: He makes me want a crab hie on a good week.
Speaker 1: He makes me want a crab high on a good wine.
Speaker 1: You ain't just as much as me, don't you. I
Speaker 1: can feel it when we took and I know you've
Speaker 1: been having my mind slately and I'm sorry A full
Speaker 1: sleep food. You make me Hi good. You make me
Speaker 1: crew Hi a good one. You make me a crew
Speaker 1: Hi cood. You make me a crew Hi one. Fuck
Speaker 1: this fucking nuts? And did you know you're gonna have
Speaker 1: the feature on overslept or how it? Or did that
Speaker 1: you wanted a feature? I just knew I wanted when
Speaker 1: because I just like, truly cannot finish it. And I
Speaker 1: was obsessed with me Yihara. I am obsessed though, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I was like, if she's not on it, then, to
Speaker 1: be honest, I'm fake. If I got anybody else on
Speaker 1: this record right now, I'm fake. What attracts you to her?
Speaker 1: And then also what made you? Have you heard her music? Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's so good and I feel like the first time
Speaker 1: I heard her, I was just like is this me? Like?
Speaker 1: Is this me and my band playing this song I've
Speaker 1: never heard before? Like I feel so similar to her?
Speaker 1: But it's also like her brain thinks of stuff I
Speaker 1: can't think of, but like that I wish I thought
Speaker 1: of you know what I mean, Just like the instrumentation
Speaker 1: and shit on her records are so good. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: just like, fuck, I wish I thought of that. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate, like especially in like old Western swing music,
Speaker 1: just like the really cheesy, classic traditional duo songs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: would you say countries like your main Like is that?
Speaker 1: Like is that the music you listen to the most?
Speaker 1: Would you say? Or even? But I feel like that
Speaker 1: is like perhaps the strongest route that I have. Then
Speaker 1: it's like from there, I'll just like add on other
Speaker 1: shit that inspires me. I feel like it does stem
Speaker 1: from country music. Yeah, it's funny because I never really
Speaker 1: thought of you. But like, you know, there's like obviously
Speaker 1: the pedal steel is kind of like a giveaway that
Speaker 1: you're into country, but like the songs don't sound particularly
Speaker 1: country at all. You know, there's so many different like
Speaker 1: elements in your tracks. You know, It's like there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of everything, and a lot of the songs,
Speaker 1: you know, like there's a lot of R and B feel,
Speaker 1: it's like a good R and B feel on a
Speaker 1: lot good like folk feel some country with the pedal
Speaker 1: steel and then even with like the adding the classical guitar,
Speaker 1: like the doubling on the on in a good way.
Speaker 1: It's like that sounds like a classic like ballad, you know,
Speaker 1: like move or something, and it's like all that stuff
Speaker 1: kind of like just collides in a really cool way.
Speaker 1: But I didn't really think of it as like country,
Speaker 1: like I do you when you hear songs when you
Speaker 1: write songs? Do you almost hear them most country songs? First?
Speaker 1: Not really, But it's just like the way that I
Speaker 1: know format is just like country music format, and what
Speaker 1: what do you mean? Just like even the chords that
Speaker 1: I prefer to write with that just feel like is
Speaker 1: a good representation of me and I just like use
Speaker 1: them a lot or just like like I said, the
Speaker 1: classic format of like okay versus then chords the like
Speaker 1: you know, Like I don't know, I feel like it
Speaker 1: definitely all does stem from just like growing up in
Speaker 1: years and years of listening to country music. Do you
Speaker 1: mind playing a couple of those cours just showing the
Speaker 1: chords that you is one of my favorite chords? Just curious,
Speaker 1: like what chords he gravitates us. See Jeff Tweedy was
Speaker 1: talking one time about how it just naturally every time
Speaker 1: he plays he plays a g You just like that's
Speaker 1: just the Cordy ghost too. Really, Yeah, that's it. I've
Speaker 1: definitely enjoyed watching Jeff play guitar every night. Also, the
Speaker 1: first show we played with him, I was like, are
Speaker 1: you not using in years? No? He was like, no,
Speaker 1: if if it's not coming out of a monitor, doesn't
Speaker 1: sound like music to me. He's that crazy. Have you
Speaker 1: been hanging with them a lot on tour. I haven't
Speaker 1: really been an opener in a very long time, so
Speaker 1: I kind of forgot what it's like, what it's like,
Speaker 1: But I really like and appreciate just like the offstage
Speaker 1: set up that they have, Like I feel like every
Speaker 1: venue we have played it's been like very like community space,
Speaker 1: backstage nice, and it's just like you're always running into people.
Speaker 1: You're always like hearing shit. Like they have a jam
Speaker 1: room before they go on stage, and it's like that's cool.
Speaker 1: I never thought about to warm up before, like the
Speaker 1: jam out together on a jam ra. Yeah, it's like, dang,
Speaker 1: like I don't know, it's so cool. Wow, have you
Speaker 1: gone into the jam room. You know, I'm scared. I
Speaker 1: don't want to touch their stuff. I'm like, I probably
Speaker 1: can't afford this. I'm not gonna touch it. If I
Speaker 1: was on tour with them, I probably just asked Nell's
Speaker 1: climb like a thousand and one questions. Dude, Nells is
Speaker 1: my favorite person to talk to. I told him in Vegas.
Speaker 1: I was like, my favorite guitar player is KK Slider
Speaker 1: And He's like, I don't know who that is. I
Speaker 1: don't know who that is either, And I was like,
Speaker 1: hell yeah, beat you at your own game. And the
Speaker 1: next day he looked him up and came back and
Speaker 1: we talked about it. It's been beautiful having you. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. This has been beautiful. Thanks to
Speaker 1: Faye Webster for coming through Shango Law and playing for us.
Speaker 1: You can check out a playlist of all of our
Speaker 1: favorite Faye Webster songs at Broken Record Podcast. Are you
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot
Speaker 1: com slash Broken Record Podcast. We can find all of
Speaker 1: our new episodes. You can follow us on Twitter at
Speaker 1: broken Record. Broken Record is produced with help from Leah Rose,
Speaker 1: Jason Gambrel, Martin Gonzalez, Eric Sandler and Jennifer Sanchez, with
Speaker 1: engineering help from Nick jag Our executive producer is Mail
Speaker 1: LaBelle Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. If
Speaker 1: you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider subscribing
Speaker 1: to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that
Speaker 1: offers bonus content and uninterrupted ad free listening for four
Speaker 1: ninety Ninemo. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcasts subscriptions,
Speaker 1: and please remember to share, rate, and review us on
Speaker 1: your podcast staff. Our theme music is by Kenny Beats.
Speaker 1: I'm justin Mitch Hund