Quick Q and A with Beggar's Ride
 by Kathy S-B  ·  9 October 2012

If you like harmony, you’ll like Beggar’s Ride. If you like thoughtful and reflective lyrics with superb guitar accompaniment, you’ll like Beggar’s Ride. If you like to have a relaxing and engaging time at a concert, you’ll like Beggar’s Ride.

Claudia SanSoucie and Kate Maguire are Beggar’s Ride. They have only been playing together a couple of years but you’d think they had been together for much longer because their musical styles are so in synch. Read more about them on their website.

According to your bio, you’ve been playing together since 2010. Were either of you involved with other musical entities before you formed Beggar’s Ride?

Kate: I had a solo effort I put forth in 2008, but mostly I was just sitting in with other groups and working on my own material. I did a little solo performing when I moved to Baltimore in 2007, which is how I met Claudia.

Claudia: I had an original band project going as well as solo work before I moved to Baltimore in 2001. Once I moved to Baltimore, I also travelled a lot to Europe and became involved with various side projects.

Please tell us about some of your most important musical influences and why does that music move you so much?

Kate: As far as guitar playing goes, my first real awakening was with Wes Montgomery. I love how lyrical and melodic his solos are — I can sing most of them back after one or two listens. I’m also a big Doug Pettibone fan, to be a little more current. I love him for the same reasons- melodic playing, great tone. For songwriting influences, I grew up listening to the usuals — Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and eventually moved toward Joni Mitchell, Wilco, Ryan Adams. . . . My biggest love though is Lucinda Williams. I think she is a very brave songwriter — she wears her heart on her sleeve, but never gets sappy. My short bucket list includes having a whiskey with her.

Claudia: I started out listening to a lot of British folk with Sandy Denny and John Martyn (Bless the weather/solid air) being two of my favorites. Their melancholy as well as their melodies really got to me and still do. Then there are several artists over the years that really inspired a love for great lyrics, namely Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn, Townes van Zandt, Gillian Welch, and Lucinda Williams. Of course there are so many more but they stand out to me as having a very unique voice and perspective. I’ve always been open to lots of music, but I tend to gravitate to lyrics that convey something emotional and are musically on the quiet side. It reflects my personality and it seems to come out in my music as well.

How do you share the songwriting duties? People always want to know: music or lyrics first? Or does it vary?

Kate: Claudia and I haven’t written together as of yet, although we help fine tune each other’s songs. We help each other out with clumsy lyrics, or tightening up an arrangement, maybe picking a key. I think for me, in general, it’s typical music and melody first. I don’t think I’m a disciplined enough writer yet to give you a real answer! Still searching for my groove.

Claudia: Ditto. Same here . . . a musical idea and a lyrical idea/mood tend to spark something. It is hard for me to sit down and state “now I will write a song about. . . . . ” I am more a “I follow where it takes me” kind of writer.

Sometimes a song takes quite a few twists and turns before it all makes sense to me and turns into something promising. It is great to have a musical partner to bounce off a song to see if it is finished or if it needs more work, because I can get too close and too critical for my own good at time, or the opposite — too impatient.

What’s your definition of a good cover song for your repertoire? You’ve got a David Olney song “Women Across the River” on your CD. What brought you to that particular song?

Kate: We both love playing covers. I know a lot of writers don’t share that enthusiasm, but we love it. We always learn a lot from well chosen covers. For me, I look for something that complements our style — we have to be connected with the lyrics for sure, but also a song that will lend well to our harmonies and the way our guitar playing compliments each other. “Women Across the River” is a perfect example- Claudia finger picks her acoustic which leaves me room for more sparse electric work to support her.

Claudia: I’ve been a fan of David’s songs for a long time and have been playing this particular song already for many years. When Kate and I first played this song together, it just clicked and we both felt very strongly about including it on the album. I feel a good “cover” is one I can own. Meaning it doesn’t feel to me like I am “covering” someone else. When I have a deep relationship with a song, then I have a sense of authenticity when I performing it. It doesn’t feel all that different from performing my own songs. To me it is all about sharing music.

David Goodrich produced your album. Did you seek him out to work on your project? If so, was it because of his work with Chris Smither or Redbird that caught your attention?

Kate: We did not seek Goody out, but we were glad to find him. He was producing a project for good friends of ours, The Infidel Castros, and we met him that way. They thought he would be perfect for us, and strongly recommended Signature Sound to track and mix the album. I went with the Castros to see Goody play with Chris Smither at the Ram’s Head in Annapolis, and that sealed the deal for me. Not only is he a great, supportive guitar player, but he’s a good hang.

Claudia: I was aware of Goody’s work with Peter Mulvey and Jeffrey Foucault. Both have albums that I think are absolutely brilliant and Stripping Cane was in constant rotation for a while. I always thought it would be awesome to record at Signature and work with Goody. And as Kate said, once we met Goody via the Castros it all came together.

The CD has been called moody and reflective. Would you say that your live show brings a lighter touch to the table?

Kate: Definitely. We are almost too aware of the moody and reflective nature of the album. We have many other tunes that are more upbeat, but we just couldn’t find a way to make them fit on this album. We made a conscious decision to keep the album on the mellow side. It just seemed to naturally fall that way. We knew it wouldn’t be the most commercially viable path, but we made an album we really love and are proud of.

Claudia: In choosing the songs for the album, Kate and I reflected similarly on the kinds of albums that we would consider our favorites. And in doing so, we decided to keep it to one side of a certain mood and musical ambiance. I find it disappointing when I put in a CD and I love it until I come to a track that is so very different, that I feel compelled to hit the skip button. In our live shows we of course try to vary it a bit. Each audience and venue is different and sometimes we don’t decide on our set until we have a sense of the audience. But I do feel our personalities allow for plenty of lightness and fun, even though the songs might are of a more serious nature.

What’s next in store for Beggar’s Ride?

Kate: More writing and recording! We have been working on new tracks in our home studio. There’s a work in progress of a tune of Claudia’s on our website right now. And trying to keep booking more live shows. We love performing- it helps us develop as musicians and artists more than any rehearsing could ever do.

Claudia: Ditto. . . . I also look forward to collaborating with other musicians, whether it be sharing shows, recording together, and supporting each other creatively. It’s a ride we hope to share with lots of folks.

Quick Q and A with Ellis Paul
 by Kathy S-B  ·  29 September 2012

Ellis Paul has been called a troubadour. I got to thinking about that word since, to me, it makes me think of the middle ages and some guy walking around with a lute or a lyre, serenading a bunch of richy rich people in a castle courtyard. Modern day troubadours are, however, quite different. Yes, they sing their own songs but they’re more likely to play a guitar or maybe even a piano like Ellis does . . . and they’re usually not found in many castles. Instead, they’re on the road — visiting venues, house concert series, or festivals — spreading their songs to the common folk like you or me.

I’ve been following Ellis Paul’s music since he first started to make a name for himself in the Boston area in the 1980s. I am most thankful that I’ve seen him grow as a musician and a songwriter and to see his talent appreciated by many around the world. How cool is it that he found the time to answer some of my questions?

For more information about Ellis, visit his website.

This has been a special year to commemorate the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie and you’ve been pretty active as one of the Woody torchbearers. Tell us about your song, “Woody Guthrie, Working Man” which is included in your latest kid’s CD, The Hero in You. How have kids been reacting to this song?

It seems to get everyone dancing. Strange for a folk song — it’s tear free. I don’t know if the kids completely understand the context of the song, but the understand the joy — it does weird things to theirs knees and toes — they seem too busy enjoying the groove of it all to understand the great depression, the dust bowl, the war, the workers rights. The song has the rhythm of a train — I so I wanted it to transport them out to Oklahoma and across the country to New York and California, state by state, and make it feel like Woody was the conductor. I trust the details and content will sink in eventually, maybe after menopause and grey hairs creep in. Until then I’m hoping they keep dancing and me, I’m considering disco as a second career.

When you perform the songs from this CD, do you have to supply a little history lesson for the kids? How did you make decisions about which “heroes” to include on the record?

I haven’t performed many of these in non-school concerts yet. The performances outside of schools are more for preschool and kindergarten students, so I focus mostly on age-appropriate songs for them, and just touch on these. I hope to go into schools with this CD in the fall, and play to third thru fifth graders — they are studying some of the people in the music and their teachers will make them aware of the songs before I come into their classrooms.

I chose some of my heroes — Ben Franklin, Woody Guthrie, Rosa Parks, Tee Tot — and then some of the people chose me Augustus Jackson, Nelly Bly, Martha Graham. My wife was a guide to Chief Joseph and Georgia O’Keeffe. She helped write some of these too. I was looking to balance gender, race, sex, famous and not so famous. Some of these people had stories that demanded a song, and I knew little about them before doing research. I love Nelly Bly’s story. She was way ahead of her time — a feminist reporter, world traveler, big business owner.

I have to tell you, I’m very impressed by your artwork. The commemorative artwork that you made for the WoodyFest event was quite impressive. Are you a self-taught artist? Have you ever had an exhibit?

I’d like to do more — it’s illustration more than portraiture or landscape. I took art classes in high school and in college. I’m going to do more, but I don’t want to pressure my time too much. I like my other job too. But this is captivating me.

I just spent some time looking at your timeline on the archives page. Wow, it’s hard to believe that Say Anything was produced in 1993. Do you have any fond memories of working with Bill Morrissey on that project?

It’s been strange to live in a world without Bill. He’s even more present with me in some ways. People are quick to share their stories of him as I travel around the country — so he has been on my mind and in conversation nearly every day. It’s hard. He was a beautiful, complex, gifted, giving, tormented, bright dark man. I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without him, and have made a point to invest in up and coming artists to repay his efforts with me. So Antje Duvekot, Peyton Tochterman, Seth Glier and other bright lights who I have tried to invest time and advice with are really another link in the Morrissey chain. I hope they pass it on as well.

Your career seems to have picked up speed in 1994 when you won both Kerrville and Falcon Ridge and it’s the first time that Vance Gilbert’s name is mentioned. Do you remember where you met Vance? I’m sure there must be some kind of amusing anecdote involved with that meeting!

I remember meeting him at an underground coffeehouse in Brighton called the Naked City. It was in a lobby in a scrappy enclave for the arts, comics, and underground newspapers. He came up the stairs as big as Vance Gilbert can be — which is far bigger than the six feet he carries round on his bones. Felt like the lobby was too small a space to hold him. I remember thinking how he had it all guitar, vocals, songs, humor. His lungs were like a whale’s. His fingers were like spiders running up the fretboard. He sang like an angel and had the power to induce laughter first slowly then louder and louder till tears burst through your personal sprinkler system and the whole room was awash with them. He can start a fire and put it out. You felt exhausted listening to him because every part of your body was affected. He was like PX 90. It hurt. You’re sore after a Vance Gilbert concert. You pull things. He did everything better than all of us. Still does, I hate him.

Your latest “adult” CD, The Day Everything Changed, is a profound collection of songs but the title song is one that nearly everyone who listens to it can identify with. Being at that crossroads and wondering which path to take. . . . Your song style is very conversational and undoubtedly your fans feel a closeness to you when they hear songs like this. Is it fair to say that your fans have come to rely on you as a touchstone for many of life’s big and even small events?

I just write ’em. And pray. I pray they feed my kids. Pray they pay my mortgage. Pray they’re heard. Pray they Move somebody. Make toes wiggle. Tears fall. Lips hum. Minds open. Hearts expand. Pray people come to hear them in person. Pray they turn off American Idol and the Karrdashians.

There’s so much praying going on, it eats up the songwriting time.

Quick Q and A with Peyton Tochterman
 by Kathy S-B  ·  29 September 2012

Peyton Tochterman’s roots run deep in the musical landscape of his home state of Virginia. He’s had a pretty diverse collection of jobs but it’s now time for him to concentrate on his music and to spread his music beyond the state line. Peyton has been befriended by Ellis Paul and his management team and has been given that opportunity to sing before dozens of new fans. Peyton’s someone to watch. I wouldn’t kid you.

For more information about Peyton, go to his website.

I loved reading your biography. It seems as though you have packed several lifetimes into one and you’ve only just begun! But do let us know what you remember about the night that Ellis Paul found you in a bar in Charlottesville.

I don’t remember much actually because we sat there after my show and had a tremendous amount to drink and talked songs. In all seriousness, it was a night like any other. I was playing a gig in a bar. I’ve been doing that for a long time. Some people were listening. Some people were eating and drinking. The wait staff was working. And I was playing. Ellis came up at the set break, introduced himself, said he liked my songs and then went back and sat down. Then I kept playing songs. The night wasn’t really any different than any other of my gigs at that time. The next year was different. But the night was like any other.

One of your former jobs was as a sports journalist? Which sports? And do you still follow sports?

I wrote for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. covering minor league baseball and sailboat racing. I’ve played sports my whole life and I love them. All of them. Even shotput.

We need to know about Kenny G’s piano falling your head. Were you a mover or were you an innocent bystander? And how are you here to talk about it?

There was nothing innocent about it. I deserved to have a nine-foot Steinway fall on my head. And Bystander!!! The only thing I was standing by was that damn coyote. He stepped out of the way at the last second and WHAMMMM!!!!!! All I remember was hearing this BEEP BEEP in my head. It was strange. Just over and over again. BEEP BEEP. BEEP BEEP.

In doing research about you, it looks like you were part of a band circa 2008 or so. Were you a touring band or were you a local favorite?

We toured. A little. We played the main stages at Floyd Festival and Rhythm and Roots Reunion. These are pretty big festivals down our way so we were making a splash. And locally, we were the second favorite.

Please tell us about your experience recording monks in China. How did that job come about?

It wasn’t a job. I was invited to China by sculptor Robert Bricker. Each year for the previous ten years Robert invited ten or so people a year to go on an “art journey” with him. And by doing so he had developed relationships with Chinese and Tibetans in country who would take him to places not many other tour groups or travelers would get to go. I mean, the far western part of the country into the mountains and to monasteries where Westerners had never been, and maybe haven’t been since.

Anyway, the Chinese government tested a nuclear bomb just before we went and the US Government released a travel warning to all US citizens that strongly urged against travel to China. Everyone on our trip cancelled. But Robert and I still went. I recorded and played music while I was there.

Your story about your trip going to Afghanistan on a U.S. diplomacy mission is fascinating I understand that Ellis was originally scheduled for this trip but couldn’t make it so you stepped in and went instead. What an amazing opportunity! It’s one thing to play before the troops; I’m sure that they appreciated your time and talent but tell us about playing before Afghan audiences.

I hope this doesn’t seem short, or a cop out. But I can’t describe it in this format. I have two pieces being published in the hard copy November issue of THE UTNE READER that will tell you all about it. If you are interested, pick it up in November. It will do much more justice than my short answer here.

As part of your trip, you met many Afghan people and got to play music with them. It seems as though this experience may have been a life-changing event for you. Do you have any thoughts to share about your visit, the arts, and the future.

Everything is life changing. All the time. Again, read The UTNE piece. As far as the arts: In my mind, they are the foundation of all societies. Music is a universal language. We need to do everything in our power to bring the arts to the forefront of our culture. It used to be up there in the front of the line. But it’s slipping away. I want the arts once again to define my society. Real Reading. Real Writing. Real Sculpture. Real Music. Real Painting. What do you want to DEFINE us? Obviously I write songs so I love songwriting. But I’m talking about all the arts. I can’t draw for shit, but I understand the importance of painting. And the future? I have no idea about the future. I hope mankind continues to explore outer space and that one day we will be able to all travel freely throughout our galaxies. And to other galaxies. For no other reason than to find out where KOLOB is, and what is really on it.

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