BSA Member Lindsay Stroh took a four-day workshop with singer-songwriter Stephanie Corby at a conference in Virginia this summer. “Stephanie has this incredible, powerful voice, and this sassy, come hither attitude that’s so compelling. Her writing is so good, and varies from a sweet, reflective mood to downright bawdy. What a treat!”

LINDSAY: I enjoyed listening to the early blues songs that started our workshop, with oldtime singers who brought the blues to life, like Muddy Waters.

STEPHANIE: Actually, the first artists we really focused on were Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Sunhouse—those were the real original Delta blues players and singers back in the late 1800’s.

L. For songwriters interested in writing the blues, do you think it’s a good way to get started--to listen to some of those beginning “birth of the blues” recordings?

S. Yes, I think it’s important to listen to the original formula. I think it’s much easier to write when you break it down into its simplest form, and the blues that originated from the Delta were the simplest form of blues. The original formats and structures of blues are a good beginning, as a lot of the modernized blues kind of mix up the different structures. It might be a little confusing for someone considering writing a blues song for the first time. It’s easier to go back to the original structures.

L. We learned a couple of formats—the “hoochie coochie” format, verse and refrain, which I guess came from the title of the Muddy Waters song.

S. That’s right.

L. And the one I was more familiar with, the “say it and say it again” format. Now that you’ve been writing songs for a while, do you still think of those formats when you’re writing? For a new songwriter, is it more helpful?

S. I think what happens once you listen to a lot of blues, and it becomes ingrained in you, you hear changes naturally, you hear blues progressions naturally, and you don’t have to really focus as much on working in the formula. You can kind of stray off a little bit, but there are these themes that are common that always run through if you listen to enough blues.

L. Blues began with African-Americans, and you’ve studied that history and traced the journey of the blues from the core blues of the deep south to the modern R&B. When did you first feel connected to the blues, to this traditionally black music?

S. From a very young age, I was probably around ten when I first heard blues, and actually different bars of R&B as well, and I just loved that kind of music. But I didn’t start listening to really early recordings of the blues until I was in college. I think the way children are taught in schools, they don’t have a lot of music education relating to different forms. You may have a classical appreciation class, but rarely would you have a blues appreciation class or a jazz appreciation class, so it’s something you have to discover on your own because of the way education is being done in this day and age. The arts are being kicked out of the curriculum, so you kind of have to teach yourself, so I recommend that people educate themselves and learn as much as they can about the history and the different forms.

L. During our workshop, you mentioned that when you were very little you wanted to sing like some black singers.

S. (laughs) Yes, I did. That was the Jackson Five influence, not so much the blues, but when I was not quite six, I asked my parents if I could be black for my sixth birthday, because I believed you had to be black to sing the way the Jackson Five sang, and some of the earlier R&B groups. I used to listen to the Supremes and Smokey Robinson, all those Motown sounds. I wanted to be like Aretha Franklin, and I thought I would have to change my skin color to do that! My parents informed me that it might be difficult, and that I could sing that way no matter what, even if I was white. (laughs)

L. A great story! I know you had some classical jazz training. What kind of training would you recommend to a beginning songwriter who wanted to write R&B stuff.

S. I think the type of training depends on whether you want to be a performer or not, but one way or the other, you have to educate yourself. For someone who wants to write R&B kind of songs, it means you have to listen to a lot of R&B. I was a singer first, and I sang classically and I sang in a big band, and I never really accompanied myself very often. I think that a lot of my writing that happened later on, in my 20’s, was due to the fact that I had a sense of melody from singing a lot of different songs that were not my own, a lot of R&B classics and blues classics. Once you sing, and you learn all that material, it influences your own writing. The way I see it, the brain is like this filter, and it just holds all these pieces of melody and pieces of groove, and sometimes they just kind of come out of you when you’re inspired to write something. I think they’re all kind of recycled up there, and come out. But I think the most important thing when you’re writing is to listen to other material. My recommendation for a beginning songwriter, take 10 songs that just rock your world, put them on a CD or a tape, in succession, and break each song down into its structure. What is it about the song that turns you on? Break the songs down, as bare as you can, by instrument, voice, melody, and see how it works. Then, once you’ve done that, when you approach your own writing, you’re going to have a lot of that knowledge of how those songs were structured, and you can take some of that to create your own songs.

L. One of the first things we did in the workshop was to give ourselves a bluesy name to put us in the mood. I’ve been “Lusty Lou” all week, and it makes me feel sassy! I always thought that a songwriter should choose the mood and stick with it throughout the song. But in a lot of the songs I’m hearing you do, the mood changes within the song. You may be sweet and kind of soft in the beginning, then get kind of brassy and then you’re down and dirty and belting it all out. So powerful - I love it! Could you talk about establishing the mood?

S. I think it’s not so much the actual mood as the dynamics of the song. No one likes to hear someone scream straight through a whole song, or even whisper for the whole song. It’s like energy, a song should move along its way and have dynamics. It grabs the listener when it presents the words correctly, when it presents the melody correctly, and I think every person feels the song differently, and interprets what the dynamics should be for that song. That’s a personal thing. As a performer, you need to listen to your own interpretation of what the song is to you, and then you just kind of let it go.

L. You have a song called “True North” that I really like. I can identify with wanting to find someone who gives me a sense of direction, of stability, always knowing where I belong. You relate that to the stars, the attraction like the pull of gravity. Fantastic lyrics.

S. Thank you! The lyrics came very quickly for that one. I was standing outside looking up at the stars. A lot of people take it as a relationship song - I’ve sung it at wedding - but it really encompasses a lot of different things. I think that’s why a lot of people connect with that song. It could be a relationship that gives you a sense of direction; it could be your calling in life, whatever your true north is. It could be your beliefs, in a higher power or whatever it is, it can be a lot of different things. To me, I feel mostly when I sing that song that it’s not so much about a person in my life right now, it’s about my music. That my music is my true north and leads me to that next step in my life and down the path, and makes me feel centered. If I’m not doing music, I feel very discombobulated and I don’t have a sense of where I’m going. So, that’s what a good song should do, it should change in definition based on the listener, and it should cover a lot of ground to a lot of different people, in terms of where they are, what they’re experiencing, it should just appeal on different levels.

L. I’ve had a lot of poems come out of me, words I really like, but when I try to turn them into songs, it’s a tough thing. For one thing, there’ll be too many words for the rhythm, and I have to chop, chop out words. You have a song called “Lilacs” with very few words, it’s beautiful in its brevity and yet so meaningful.

S. That’s a hard thing. I was an English major, and I really love poetry and deep, intense lyrics in literary form in songs. I think as I’ve gotten a little bit older, in my writing, a lot of my newer songs don’t have as many lyrics. It’s more about feeling. I think some of the best songs you can think of have the simplest lyrics. Sometimes, if you have too many lyrics, it’s clouding the focus or the message of a song. There is a space for that in songs, obviously, but when it’s an emotional song and it comes from an emotional place, if it has a simplicity to it, people have an easier time connecting to it. They don’t have to wait for the words, they can just feel it directly. Yes, “Lilacs” was about that. It was about my first love, and getting a phone call from him after not talking for like ten years. Just flashing back to youth, and what that feels like when you’re 19 years old, versus now. You only remember the sweet things that occur when you’re young, and as you get older, it’s not the same, you more or less focus on the things that are not so sweet, shall we say. That went back to a simple place, because I think that love is simpler when you’re that age.

L. As a songwriter, do you see yourself starting with lyrics, with rhythms, with melody, or is it a combination?

S. Sometimes it’s a combination, but most of the time when I write a song, it starts with an idea. It usually comes in the form of one line, maybe two, and I’m never quite sure if it’s going to be part of a chorus or a verse, or whatever. I get this idea and it starts brewing in my head, and I start tossing around different ideas about what I can put into the song, and how it can be formed around that message or that idea. Then, I’ll be futzing around on my guitar, and I’ll get a melody line. I usually get the chorus melody first, and I incorporate my idea at some level into that chorus.

L. And you get a feel for the mood early in the song?

S. Yes, absolutely, and it has to do with a guitar riff that I’ve come up with, or whatever. I usually write the chorus first, and then write the verses around it. I tend to like choruses that vary distinctly from the verses. That’s just how I usually write. It comes like waves similar to that, but not always. I have some guitar stuff and melodies that I could sing the whole song, and hum it, but I don’t have any words yet. I know how it’s going to feel but I haven’t found the right idea that will match the guitar sounds. Sometimes you sit on something for three years, and then all of a sudden you’re like, “Aah, that’s what it is.”

L. With me, it was always lyrics first, but I feel that changing as I’m learning to play different instruments. The Baltimore Songwriters have given me so much inspiration! We come from so many different types of music, and it’s wonderful how we come together and support each other. Before we close, is there anything special you’d like to say, any advice for the struggling songwriter?

S. I’d say, be gentle on yourself, be forgiving of yourself. I started writing as a real perfectionist, and I would beat myself up because I couldn’t get things right. My suggestion is, if you’re writing something and you’re completely frustrated with it, step away from it. Give yourself a few days away from it, and then come back. It’s always good to come back with a fresh perspective. Don’t be so hard on yourself—it’s not a race. Good things come when they’re ready in life, and you have to believe your songs will come when they’re ready.

L. Learning about the blues with you this week, and just getting to know you, has been so much fun! Thank you so much.

S. You’re welcome. Yes, it was fun! Say hello to Paul and all the Baltimore songwriters for me.