Quick Q and A with Cris Williamson
 by Kathy S-B  ·  7 May 2007

Looking back, how would you rate the first songs you ever wrote?

Looking back…way, way back…the first song I “wrote” actually wrote me — that is to say, it just arrived, a whole birth, words and music, a complete event. I really was a conduit. There have been other times a song happened that way: Song of the Soul, for example, arrived while I was driving home after a gig, and it was my job to hold it, melody, chords, and words until I parked the car, ran into my house, turned on a tape recorder and captured it. These songs and their arrival are the exception; the rest of them, most of them are made things: the idea, the words, the music - lots of trial and error, lots of perspiration following initial inspiration. These early songs, the ones I’ve kept are young and strong and are, I think, a fine showing for a beginner.

Has your method of songwriting changed over the years?

My method of songwriting has always been words-to-music, and a continuous collecting of source material which turns into a veritable soil in which the seeds of ideas can grow and flourish. E.M. Forster said: “Only connect”, and to that I would add: “Constantly collect”. Pay attention to what moves you and write it down. Writing it down directly connects to the heart, and when one has an idea for a song, one can go shopping, amongst the things already collected. Chances are it will be there, and one has to only connect to it all and hang it beautifully upon the framework of the musical pattern. My process has been honed upon the turning of the wheel of life itself. I can do this thing more skillfully now, but the great joy and delight in songwriting never ceases to amaze me.

Do you have a favorite memory about any of your performances?

One of my favorite memories as far as the thousands which lie there, has to do with my solo concert at Carnegie Hall. I walked out on that stage, in that place, and was welcomed by a standing ovation for what seemed like five minutes. It made my heart hammer and my knees weak, and I learned how to just stand in all clarity and receive the blessings of the audience. Then I had to perform! It was a huge moment!

Tell us about the new CD you’re working on. What’s it going to be like?

The new CD will be called “Fringe” and my fervent hope is that I produce these new songs in such a way that the listener is transported to a place they love, some real sense of Home. For me, this is a return to my prairie and mountain roots: childhood, horses, blizzards and winds, sagebrush and tumbleweeds, traditional cowboy tunes, and that high lonesome feeling so precious and powerful. These songs are steeped in the language of the West, a powerful way of speaking about great distances and horizons and the small human figures beneath the big sky.