KathyMatteaInterview

Somewhere in the late eighties (1988) I met Kathy Mattea at a festival in Frankfurt Germany. Headliners were Asleep at the Wheel, the Bellamy Brothers and Kathy Mattea.

I asked for and got an interview for the now deleted Nashville Tennessee magazine from Holland.

Kathy turned out to be a patient and charming young lady.

Her performance made clear that she's got more in her voice than a studio can ever catch.

So here's the interview she did under pressure because her manager was a little bit in a hurry, but it didn't keep her from being very open and honest.

What can you tell me about your musical background?

I'm born in Cross Lakes, West Virginia, which is a small state, very mountainess, very rural, blue coloured. My grandfathers were coalminers. My father worked in a chemical plant and I got my first guitar when I was 10 years old but I already played piano since I was 6. I was interested in everything that had got to do with music. I played folk at the girlscout camp in summer. In our church we played with our folkgroup.I did classical choral music in school and musical theatre as well. A friend's father had a bluegrass band and I jammed with them.I would basically listen to any kind of music I could lay my hands on. I got to college at West Virginia State University where I met some people with whom I formed a bluegrass band. The name was Pensboro and we played for two years.But when I started writing music, everything came out very country so I decided to go to Nashville, to see what we could do. Time went on and I would take my tapes around. But I got a lot more response to my singing than to my writing so I concentrated more on that. I was able to make a living singing in the studios mostly making demos for songwriters. So I did that for a few years until I was on so many tapes that the people of the record companies heard my voice all the time and started asking me who I was and so I got my record deal.

Although it has a steelguitar your first album doesn' t sound very country. Was it successful anyway?

It doesn't sound very country but it wasn't unsuccessful. The first single was the best one and went to number 25 on the charts but it was more successful then that place would imply. It had a lot of impact because they only wanted me to record singles and that one gave me the chance to finish the album. What happened was .. It was my very first attempt as a recording artist and it was also the first album for the producers (Rick Peoples and Byron Hall). I thought for myself that during my demo time I could sing any kind of music but this album was a reflection of how they saw me. I didn't wanna say too much, I didn't have enough experience and when this album was over I was frustrated because there was this whole part of me that didn't make it onto the album; the country part. To me this was like being at school. I was happy I could do the album and I learned a lot from making it.

More or less the same goes for your second album I guess. What were your feelings about it. You never wanted to be an overnight success; so this served you well.

Yes, indeed, but at the time it was very frustrating because I didn't know if I ever would have success. I didn't know if it'll always be like that. This album got three singles off of it. Although they made the top 40 I still hadn't had a top 20 song.

So it had some impact but nothing major although enough to keep me working on the road and learning. I felt much better about this album but there was still something missing that I couldn't find even after changing producer. However I'm still working with Allen Reynolds.

But you got a nice award for that album.

Yes, Billboard voted me Best New Female Country Vocalist that year (1984). It was nice. But I always got nice reviews on the records and a lot of support from the industry in general. We just couldn't find that one song that all the radio stations would play at the same time.

When you look at the covers from the first and the last albums there's a world of difference the way you're dressed. The difference between pop and country?

No, it's mostly a coincidence. A matter of $.

I found these leather pants on sale and someone gave me this blouse. I was poor at that time, not making money at all. It was a crisis for me, making a cover. I just didn't have the money to buy the clothes that I liked and yet I was supposed to look like a star and that's also part of the learning proces, part of the development. But before my third album the company decided that I would only make singles but as the first one got to number 3, yes, "Love at the Five and Dime". That success gave me some courage that I didn't have before and I started people to tell what I thought, what I wanted to do; a lot more of myself came out. So with every album I learned to be more assertive. I was so afraid to speak because I didn't have any personal experience.

I didn't wanna be a prima donna. I didn't have the confidence. I didn't know if I was right and finally I did things that didn't feel right to me for so long that I thought at least I can say what I wanna do and feel more comfortable. I experimented around with ideas. But believe me it's a long process.

Among the songwriters on your last two albums is an unusual name: Hot Rize leadsinger Tim O' Brien. How come?

Tim is also from West Virginia and his and my manager share an office. But I met him through some other friends who play bluegrass in New Grass Revival (Pat Flynn).

He enjoyed my records and I liked his; as a matter of facts I was blown away. We became friends and did a radio show in West Virginia where he sang on my part and I sang on his. And one day I got a tape in the mail with a song called "Walk the way the wind blows" and I loved it right away and it wasn't until I looked at the lyric sheet that I found out that Tim wrote it so I loved it before I knew he'd written it. I called him up and he played on the session along with Pat Flynn and Bela Fleck. It was a relationship that developed over time, coincidentally.

You also recorded 'Love at the Five and Dime' written by Nanci Griffith. How did you get acquainted with her songs?

We had a mutal friend, singer songwriter Richard Dobson from Texas. He told us about each other for years, before I had a record deal, and we never were in Nashville at the same time. But one day I walked into the studio for recording and someone else was busy. So I asked who was recording and it turned out to be Nanci Griffith so later on we had a good time together. She was working on "Love at the Five and Dime" but her publisher pitched to me because I was on a major label. Don Williams did harmony vocals which made it complete.

And now you achieved something you could only dream about: Two weeks at number one. How does that feel?

That was very fullfilling. It was exiting for me and I believed this record deserved to be at number one. The chart is important but only to a certain point. You can get a song to number one that doesn't have as much impact as soon others that don't go all the way. This song, when we play it live in the country, is a song that people always seem to like. So yes, I'm really happy about that.

But did you think of it as a potential hit when you recorded it?

I didn't know it would be so big. I knew I loved the song but I didn't know anyone else would also love it so much.

How does the future look like for you?

We'll finish this tour after going to Switzerland, then England and Ireland a couple of weeks, then back to the States. July and august will be heavy on touring and september too. I've part of an album done and I'll have to finish it so we'll be very busy between now and the fall. The album should be out in january next year (1989).

Are you already used to being a star? And do you like it?

I can't feel like a big star. It's very nice to, after all those years, find people who like my music whether that are 50 or 5000 people.That part is very fullfilling. Makes me feel that I'm doing it for a reason. But I don't ever wanna feel like a big star. I'd rather be a real person.