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Speaker 1: Music Saved Me. There are times a song will come

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Speaker 1: to me so fast I can't write, and that's when

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Speaker 1: we know. We call it the song ads. And you

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Speaker 1: write and like when somebody says talk to you like

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Speaker 1: no no, no, no no, because if I forget that note,

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Speaker 1: I'll never get it back. It's like, if it's given

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Speaker 1: to you, you have to stop and serve it or

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Speaker 1: you forget it.

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Speaker 2: I'm Lynn Hoffman and welcome to the Music Saved Me Podcast,

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Speaker 2: the podcast that delves deep into the power of music. Now,

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Speaker 2: if you love this podcast, please spread the word. Thank

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Speaker 2: you so much and share this episode with others if

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Speaker 2: you don't mind. We also work with a very proud

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Speaker 2: supporters of an organization called Musicians on Call and all

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Speaker 2: the wonderful great work they do that showcases the power

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Speaker 2: of music. Our guest today is Danelia Cotton, an award

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Speaker 2: winning musician, singer songwriter known for her trademark gritty, rich

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Speaker 2: and soulful blues and rock and Americana. And she also

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Speaker 2: has some new music out that we're going to talk about.

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Speaker 2: But she's also an artist who deeply knows firsthand about

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Speaker 2: the power of music. Danelia, Welcome to Music saved me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 2: It's so great to have you. I want to start

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Speaker 2: off with a quote from Guitar World about you, because

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Speaker 2: I just think that it really gets to the heart

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Speaker 2: of why we're together today. Danelia Cotton, this is let's

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Speaker 2: start with a quote. Danelia Cotton has not had it easy,

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Speaker 2: but lucky for us, she channels her pain and suffering

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Speaker 2: into kick ass musical creations that we can all enjoy.

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Speaker 2: I can't agree more with that quote. And my first question.

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Speaker 2: We have so much to talk about in so little time,

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Speaker 2: but my first question is how did your journey as

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Speaker 2: a cancer survivor shape you as an artist and as

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Speaker 2: a person.

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Speaker 1: I think the fact that I had it late in

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Speaker 1: life and that I first didn't understand the severity of it.

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Speaker 1: Like the doctor even said, this is the good cancer,

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Speaker 1: what cancer is good? But he's like, I can remove

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Speaker 1: your thyroid and then it's gone. And the chances of

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Speaker 1: most people who have thyroid cancer is that it never

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Speaker 1: comes back. So I still have two appointments a year

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Speaker 1: where they check my blood and we monitor that kind

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Speaker 1: of thing. But it's been good for me. That operation

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Speaker 1: gave me another octave, which was not that, which was

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Speaker 1: very unexpected. But I've always worked with a throat coach.

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Speaker 1: The first time I went on tour, I believe it

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Speaker 1: was an Italy tour, and it was like six days

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Speaker 1: in this Mercedes band driving around, which seems like, oh,

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Speaker 1: that's so awesome. It was deep and I just sang, sang, sang,

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Speaker 1: and then drank red wine and sang and talked and

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Speaker 1: came back with like a scab scabs on my vocal cords,

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Speaker 1: which weren't nodes. But I was like, whoa, it had

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Speaker 1: never happened. So when I went to a odorologist here

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Speaker 1: in New York, Rosemary Delouch, who I love, who's done

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Speaker 1: like Adele and what have you, she recommended a vocal

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Speaker 1: coach who I have seen ever since and been with

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Speaker 1: for over two decades. And I, you know, my advice

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Speaker 1: to everybody there is that just like an athlete and

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Speaker 1: you have coaches and you have spring training, your your

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Speaker 1: voice is a muscle, and so having somebody teach you

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Speaker 1: how to use it in the correct manner. Like we

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Speaker 1: can all have natural ability. But I was an actress,

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Speaker 1: but I went to school, and you take that natural

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Speaker 1: ability and you apply it to whatever method Stanislawski, You know,

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Speaker 1: like it's we can all have natural ability of anything, sports, vocal, whatever,

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Speaker 1: but you need that person to help you sort of

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Speaker 1: develop it and help it and shape it, you know.

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Speaker 1: So that changed the way that I sang just her,

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Speaker 1: and when I got done with the procedure, I went

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Speaker 1: back to her, and then we discovered that I had

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Speaker 1: some more range in there that might have been walked

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Speaker 1: by whatever wherever the cancer was, which was a bonus.

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Speaker 1: And I think more and more even after that, I

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Speaker 1: really adhere to the correct way of singing because I

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Speaker 1: believe it's just my Buddha kind of way. We're here

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Speaker 1: to serve others, and so a lot of times when

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Speaker 1: you sing, it isn't about you getting off. A lot

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Speaker 1: of times you sing technically to get them off, and

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Speaker 1: it's me taking my story and giving it to them

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Speaker 1: and then finding their way in it and figuring out

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Speaker 1: whatever it is that they want to do. And sometimes

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Speaker 1: that has to be very technical. I tend to like

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Speaker 1: to be able to go back into it, but doesn't

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Speaker 1: always happen that way. And it's when it's for the audience,

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Speaker 1: you technically sing so that they get it and they

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Speaker 1: go where they go, and you don't always get that side.

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Speaker 1: You get the thrill and knowing that you moved them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so wow, experiencing that hard enough. I mean, let

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Speaker 2: alone the fact that nobody ever talks about cancer. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's it's like this, it's like mental health. Cancer. You

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Speaker 2: don't discuss it. But how do we learn and how

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Speaker 2: can we you know, get past? And speaking of that,

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Speaker 2: having faced a similar situation, racism, I mean, cancer is

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Speaker 2: hard enough, but at a young age, it can be

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Speaker 2: very painful and terribly confusing, especially when you're growing up,

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Speaker 2: and it can also kind of bring you to a

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Speaker 2: crossroads in your life. You know, do I go one

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Speaker 2: way or the other? You know, am I going to

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Speaker 2: be stronger or weaker? How did that experience lead you

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Speaker 2: to music to help process what you were dealing with?

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean cancer came later, but when I first

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Speaker 1: started to run marathons, which I did to raise money

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Speaker 1: for cancer awareness because my husband's father's brother was one

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Speaker 1: of the four guys that did Woodstock and we called

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Speaker 1: him Jock, but his name was John Roberts. And I

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Speaker 1: ran the first marathon because he died of leukemia, and

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Speaker 1: then I kept running for cancer, and now my other

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Speaker 1: half is living with mantle cell lymphoma, which is incurable,

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Speaker 1: so it is in our house. Like this year, I

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Speaker 1: will tackle At fifty five, I tackled two marathons. Now

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Speaker 1: I'm about to do three in Chicago. I'll be I mean,

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Speaker 1: I know they don't like you and say it, but

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Speaker 1: I'll be fifty seven, but they are. I'm doing Chicago,

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Speaker 1: Savannah and then Texas. And I run because it helps

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Speaker 1: me not think about everything, because we had such a

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Speaker 1: journey to get to this place with this little girl

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Speaker 1: that we had at fifty and I just felt like

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Speaker 1: the world everything was great and then bam, really Karma,

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Speaker 1: what did I do? And here's cancer re entering my

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Speaker 1: life again and the love of my life. But like

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Speaker 1: running and raising money and awareness has saved me. It's

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Speaker 1: I found Neil Young running. I found a lot of

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Speaker 1: artists running just listening because I put my little doctor

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Speaker 1: beats in and I run and I work through whatever

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Speaker 1: it is from that day. I just get through it

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Speaker 1: all because I don't really I live incredibly healthy, even

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Speaker 1: you know, since the cancer. I don't drink, I don't smoke,

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Speaker 1: so it's very I just the running really helps and

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I find somewhere in that rhythm and

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Speaker 1: the music and everything when I go walk back into

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Speaker 1: my house and greet my six year old or my

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Speaker 1: other half, who's usually in a good mood, but he

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Speaker 1: is a legal aid defender for and he deals only

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Speaker 1: in the murders, so that can be heavy in our house.

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Speaker 1: And then he has his things, so if I don't

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Speaker 1: come in in a good place, I can tend to

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Speaker 1: set the tone for the entire house. So it is

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Speaker 1: kind of good that I'm pretty balanced at this point,

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Speaker 1: because I think he's got so much on his shoulders,

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Speaker 1: and she's just a little girl, and so she's just

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Speaker 1: going to be whatever she's going to be, and so

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Speaker 1: I'm sort of I have to come in and always

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Speaker 1: balance it out, which probably was not my strength early

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Speaker 1: in my life, but now I've learned how to do it.

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Speaker 1: And music, you know, that's another place I can go

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Speaker 1: to just siphon whatever it is, or reacycle whatever pain

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Speaker 1: i'm having into something that somebody inevitably comes up to

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Speaker 1: me and says something. Even the last perfour months, a

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Speaker 1: painter I was going to quit, and I realize I

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Speaker 1: have some of her art and my walls that she was,

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Speaker 1: you know, inspired by me. I'm inspired by her and

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Speaker 1: somehow I touched her, she touched me, and that's kind

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Speaker 1: of what you live for those moments. So yeah, so

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Speaker 1: it's I mean, there's just so much, but everything is

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Speaker 1: shaped me.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: Answer remains a huge part of my life because until

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Speaker 1: they find a cure for what he has, it is

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Speaker 1: what it is. But I don't think about it every day,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I just wake up because the fact

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Speaker 1: is all of us could walk out the door and

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Speaker 1: I have one hundred and three year old grandmother who

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Speaker 1: is alive, and all five generations of my family are alive,

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Speaker 1: and so she'll tell you some story. Yeah, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean it led to the newest project, which is a

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Speaker 1: tribute to Charlie Pride, which is another genre I never

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Speaker 1: thought i'd go into. But my grandfather where I was raised, like,

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Speaker 1: my first album was called small White Town. It was

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Speaker 1: a small town, yeah, and it was primarily occupied but

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Speaker 1: not my color. But that so I found music. I mean,

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Speaker 1: people are like, how did a girl that looks like you?

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Speaker 1: They expect me to sing R and B or something,

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Speaker 1: And I walked out with rock and I said, I

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Speaker 1: wanted to have blond hair and blue eyes and I didn't.

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Speaker 1: And I heard rock and it sounded how it sounded

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Speaker 1: exactly how I felt. Boom. It was love at first

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Speaker 1: or first listen in first bar, and I was like, oh,

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Speaker 1: that's how I feel. And there I was. So it was,

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Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't that I wasn't, you know, exposed

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Speaker 1: to Stevie Wonder songs in the Key of Life, but

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Speaker 1: not a lot of the music that most kids who

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Speaker 1: were raised in a more black neighborhood. I was, you know,

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Speaker 1: exposed to Jonathan Winters and Bonnie Raid and you know

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Speaker 1: early Choka Khan, and my brother was listening to Todd

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Speaker 1: run Grant and you know Foreigner and Zeppelin. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it was just there was. And then my aunts were

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Speaker 1: backup singers and she had like a Dan Fogelbulga album.

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Speaker 1: Everything around me was intense. And then college I studied

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Speaker 1: with a jazz trumpet player who made me like he's like,

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Speaker 1: Holy Grail is the Johnny Hartman John Coltrane album. So

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Speaker 1: I was luckily around a lot, and I didn't feel

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Speaker 1: that I had to define myself by one particular thing.

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Speaker 1: So it doesn't it's not odd to me that I

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Speaker 1: would do this next project. You know, a song is

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Speaker 1: a song. You know it's going to be what it's

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Speaker 1: going to be, And all music is sort of in

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Speaker 1: some way inevitably influenced by another genre. So I don't know.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of a long answer to that.

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Speaker 2: I covered a lot of stuff there, and what was

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Speaker 2: my next question would be? Do you believe that there

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Speaker 2: is a healing power in music? And if you do,

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Speaker 2: can you help me pinpoint it? Because it's words, it's melody,

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Speaker 2: it's vibration. I mean, there are so many things that

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Speaker 2: happen because of it. Have you been able to figure

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Speaker 2: out what it exactly.

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Speaker 1: Knows that you know? It's just like being in a

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Speaker 1: black church and the choir starts and there's one person

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Speaker 1: standing up and everybody gets like ohh and they feel

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Speaker 1: the spirit. You can't really pinpoint it, but I mean

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Speaker 1: even biblically music singing, that gift is one of the

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Speaker 1: highest that you can be blessed with. And so for me,

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Speaker 1: oh yeah, it's where you can go. It is a

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Speaker 1: place to go and live when reality is either overwhelming

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Speaker 1: or too intense. It's a place to hide, it's a

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Speaker 1: place to revel in. It's a place to dance, and

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Speaker 1: it's a place to sort of be whatever it is

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Speaker 1: you want to be. And it can take you to

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Speaker 1: a high place, it can take you to a low place.

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Speaker 1: But I mean music is literally it transports on many

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Speaker 1: levels and in many ways. It can make people. I

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Speaker 1: mean in religions, it's always inspirational, in churches and synagogues

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Speaker 1: and what have you. I mean, it is a serious tool.

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Speaker 1: It is a high it's a deep thing. So I

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Speaker 1: think I feel blessed to be blessed with you know,

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Speaker 1: whatever it is. And there are times a song will

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Speaker 1: come to me so fast I can't write, and that

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Speaker 1: that's when we know. We call it the song ads.

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Speaker 1: And you write and like when somebody says talk to

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Speaker 1: you like no no, no, no no, Because if I forget

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Speaker 1: that note, I'll never get it back. It's like if

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Speaker 1: it's given to you, you have to stop and serve

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Speaker 1: it or you'd forget it. It's like the phone. The

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Speaker 1: best thing about the iPhone is that I could be

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Speaker 1: somewhere and you sing the melody. Keith Regers the famous

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Speaker 1: story about him having the tape recorder next to his

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Speaker 1: bed and he sang hyeah, you know, get no satisfaction

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Speaker 1: with somewhere in there on one of the tapes, and

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Speaker 1: then he hit it the next day and it was

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Speaker 1: there because it was right next to his bed, so

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Speaker 1: it could come to you at any time. It definitely

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Speaker 1: feels like a gift. And sometimes you were like, I

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Speaker 1: wrote that, and you know, so it does feel that way,

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Speaker 1: but it's definitely I go there. I mean, music was

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Speaker 1: everything for me as a kid. It helped me get out,

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Speaker 1: It helped me not have to be in my reality

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Speaker 1: or anything dark. It helped me fly when I couldn't.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I have immense respects for it.

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Speaker 2: You come from a huge music state, New Jersey. There's

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Speaker 2: so much that that you were surrounded by pretty much everything,

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Speaker 2: and also a place that you had to work hard

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Speaker 2: and you know, things that influenced you when you were

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Speaker 2: younger came from probably what you grew up around, which

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Speaker 2: seems to me that you were able to really, you know,

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Speaker 2: work your way through it through music. I'm curious, was

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Speaker 2: it led Zeppelin that you were the first huge family.

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Speaker 1: I mean I liked the one rock group where I

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Speaker 1: heard the song and I was like, and you think

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Speaker 1: it sometimes it would be like the most skilled singer

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Speaker 1: was I heard. I remember listening driving up state and

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Speaker 1: Ruby Tuesday came on on a tape and I don't

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Speaker 1: know like I was. It was like I was in

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Speaker 1: a trance and it's Mick Jagger. So it's you know,

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Speaker 1: which is my sort of issue today, was singing. It

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Speaker 1: isn't about runs and or my niece would say, don't

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Speaker 1: say that, okay, So I take that back. A person

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Speaker 1: with one octave can do so much. It's what you

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Speaker 1: do with it. It's telling the story and so it

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Speaker 1: isn't so much a technical thing. It's a thing which

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Speaker 1: I hope we don't lose that some older artists have.

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Speaker 1: That's just extraordinary. I was lucky early in my career

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Speaker 1: to go out with a lot of people. But I

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Speaker 1: remember going to see going to a concert in Colorado

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Speaker 1: and there was Chemo and there was all these people

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Speaker 1: performing and Joe Cocker got up and it was like,

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Speaker 1: it's maybe he's got one octave he was. I never

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Speaker 1: sat down, I was. He looked first. He was so intense.

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Speaker 1: I thought he was going to just combust and blow up.

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Speaker 1: It was so much energy. It was like nothing I

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Speaker 1: have ever seen, and it was I'll never forget it,

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Speaker 1: and that is like, that's what you do, that's what

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Speaker 1: you do, and so he connected. It was just it

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Speaker 1: was a power like nothing else. So it isn't it's

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Speaker 1: just it is what it is. I mean, Taylor Swift

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Speaker 1: doesn't do one run and she's you know, she's captivating

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Speaker 1: you know, billion people. So it's some people have the thing,

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Speaker 1: they tell, the story, they connect. It's the thing, just

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Speaker 1: like whatever it is. And I think if you get

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Speaker 1: far from that, then you've lost the art of what

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Speaker 1: it is to do what we do and the beautiful

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Speaker 1: thing that we can do with what we do. And

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Speaker 1: I think it's the calling of those who do it,

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Speaker 1: and that is it's far more than skill, and it's

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Speaker 1: much more than that. It's telling a story. It's like

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Speaker 1: inspire the human spirit, it's healing the human spirit. It's

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Speaker 1: a lot, it's a lot.

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Speaker 2: When did you first realize that your music affected people

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Speaker 2: in a way that you probably didn't expect.

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Speaker 1: I mean touring and you finally get in front of

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Speaker 1: big audiences and you're like, whoa and they sing your

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Speaker 1: song back. It's deep. But I think the first time

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Speaker 1: was an artist who came up to me early in

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Speaker 1: my first tour and said she couldn't paint, and she

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Speaker 1: put on Shame, a song on my first album, and

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Speaker 1: then she painted and I didn't even know what to say,

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Speaker 1: like she was choked up. I was choked up, and

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Speaker 1: I was just like wow, like you know, or and

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Speaker 1: then it just started along the way somebody pulls you

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Speaker 1: aside and tells you how something made them realize something

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Speaker 1: and they made the change, or it just yeah, it

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Speaker 1: had a profound effect in a moment in their life

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Speaker 1: that enabled them to either break a cycle or something.

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Speaker 1: And that's where you're like whoa. And then as an

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Speaker 1: artist that it pushes you to really take a look

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Speaker 1: at what you're writing and the stories that you're telling.

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Speaker 1: And the way I craft a song now is much different.

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Speaker 1: I don't do it as like, not that I ever

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Speaker 1: did it carelessly, but I sort of just say, oh,

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Speaker 1: that's good. Now. I think about the art of it

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Speaker 1: and the power of what it can do and what

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Speaker 1: you want to say and what I want to say,

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Speaker 1: And if I only get one last song, what would

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Speaker 1: I say or how do I want the person listening

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Speaker 1: to it to feel? And that's it. That's kind of

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Speaker 1: where I go now, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Well, on keeping on that and I we'll wrap it

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Speaker 2: up with this last question. What allows you I always

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Speaker 2: compare it to birthing a child, But when you're putting

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Speaker 2: your music out there for people to judge, it's not

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Speaker 2: an easy thing, and anyone who thinks it is doesn't understand.

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Speaker 2: And so being as difficult as it is what allows

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Speaker 2: you to be so transparent with your stories and sharing

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Speaker 2: with people and putting it out there each time you

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Speaker 2: do it. It's kind of a risk, it.

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Speaker 1: Is, but it's important to me to be able to

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Speaker 1: tell a story and for it to be moving. So

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Speaker 1: I'm careful about what I choose, which I said early

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Speaker 1: in an interview with MPR that which I learned actually

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Speaker 1: from acting. I don't go into moments that I can't

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Speaker 1: safely get in and out of, and so if I

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Speaker 1: haven't made peace with it, there's no way for me

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Speaker 1: to put it out there. And when an artist makes

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Speaker 1: a mistake of writing something that is really not something

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Speaker 1: that they've dealt with, you can see it. You don't

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Speaker 1: know what it is, but it makes your uncomfortable. It is,

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Speaker 1: I think. So I choose moments that I have had

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Speaker 1: and worked and moved through, and then this is that

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Speaker 1: story and I can go in and out of there

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Speaker 1: in a way that is powerful and valuable for the

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Speaker 1: listener at least that's what I think that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of a rule of thumb for me, and

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Speaker 1: you know that you have to be and if I

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Speaker 1: can't move safely in and out of it, then it's

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Speaker 1: going to have an effect that you can't explain and

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Speaker 1: you don't like it. So I just try to, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I have just I can only speak from where

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Speaker 1: I know a moment that I've moved through and that

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Speaker 1: has done something or changed me, and that's all. And

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Speaker 1: I hope that you can get what it did for me,

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Speaker 1: or that I can show you this thing that I

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Speaker 1: figured out too. So yeah, but I think clearly about songs,

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Speaker 1: and you know, you put yourself out there. It's you

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Speaker 1: hope when people don't like it, you just let it go.

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Speaker 1: In the beginning, it was a little bit different, but

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Speaker 1: you know, I did acting, so you get how many

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Speaker 1: times people tell you're not right for the part. So

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Speaker 1: I was kind of used to that part and this

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Speaker 1: just I don't know, I've been lucky so far. Once

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Speaker 1: or twice somebody said somewhere. I was like, ooh, ouch.

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Speaker 1: But you know, everybody's entitled to their opinion. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: I definitely try to choose things that I've made peace with,

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Speaker 1: whether it was big or Somon.

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Speaker 2: It's in your DNA. Isn't it like you're tough?

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Speaker 1: I mean Springsteen we're all talking about. Yeah, it's like

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Speaker 1: we're all trying to get out. I mean, we love Jersey,

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Speaker 1: but we want to get out of Jersey. But we

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Speaker 1: want to, you know, see the world. But we're still

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Speaker 1: but Jersey made us who we are. Okay, It's yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's a lot. It's a lot.

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Speaker 2: That exact quote you said came out of the mouth

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Speaker 2: one blondie also from New Jersey.

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Speaker 1: So the World Company.

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Speaker 2: Yes, where can people find you and tell us about

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Speaker 2: your tour? Your most current tour.

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Speaker 1: So you can find me. Danelia Cotton is such a

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Speaker 1: rare name that at Danelia Cotton at Instagram, at TikTok,

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Speaker 1: Dania Cotton website, it's all Danielia gut. But I will

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Speaker 1: be in Nashville next month during the Americana Fest and

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be one of the people headlining at Papapalooza,

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Speaker 1: which is kind of awesome during the Americana Fest that Saturday,

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Speaker 1: and I will be at Stephen Talkhouse out here back

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Speaker 1: in the Hamptons on the twenty six Beautiful the Hampson's

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Speaker 1: Beautiful like in the Fall. I'm trying to think that's

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Speaker 1: kind of what I know so far. The EP is

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Speaker 1: about to drop on the twenty ninth, and it is country,

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Speaker 1: but it's definitely Danelia. It's me sort of once again

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Speaker 1: going into another genre, and I like country. They tell

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Speaker 1: stories and it's I don't know that I can get into.

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Speaker 1: So that's great. And the you know, the only thing

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Speaker 1: I say is that this is a new age of

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Speaker 1: we have. You know, in this country, an older group

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Speaker 1: is what was considered old is sort of now running

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Speaker 1: the country. And so I hope for women and for

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Speaker 1: young girls. I took the long route. I went to college.

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Speaker 1: You know, I've had a career, I had some time,

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Speaker 1: I built a family, and I'm just now sort of

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Speaker 1: hitting a peek at this age, which means that you know,

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Speaker 1: you take care of yourself. It's different. We have different

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Speaker 1: tools in different ways to take care of us now.

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Speaker 1: So we go longer and you can live your life

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Speaker 1: and you can do some of those things that you

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Speaker 1: didn't have. There's no rush to the finish line. Just

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Speaker 1: take care of yourself and you can do it. You

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Speaker 1: can go there. I'd like that. Well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Danelia Cotton, you are truly inspiring with your story,

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Speaker 2: your music, and everything going on with you. I wish

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Speaker 2: you nothing but the best in your future and it

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Speaker 2: seems to me that you're on to great things and

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Speaker 2: continue on that path, and please come back and see

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Speaker 2: us again.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for being on music Save Me No, Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much. Thank you