Interview with Lucy Kaplansky - June 22, 2002

Paul Harrison and Michael Zampi, Baltimore Songwriters Association

Background: Paul Harrison and Michael Zampi interviewed Lucy Kaplansky after her impressive performance at Ram's Head Tavern in Annapolis, MD.

Lucy and her husband/ songwriting-collaborator, Rick Litvin, were driving back after the show to New York but she nevertheless graciously consented to a short interview. Lucy has four CDs of her own. Her latest, Every Single Day, was voted Best Pop Album of 2001 by the Association for Independent Music (AFIM), which is "the independent record label world version of the Grammys." She collaborated with Richard Shindell and Dar Williams in the group "Cry Cry Cry." Lucy also lends her harmonies to a number of CDs by Shindell, John Gorka, Shawn Colvin, Nanci Griffith, and Suzanne Vega. Interview:

PH: First, can you tell us something about how you collaborate with Rick?

LK: It really kind of varies. It runs from where I've written a lyric or a song and he helps me finish it to he's written a lyric or a poem and I kind of help make it into a song. In the middle is… he has an idea or I have an idea and we kind of write it together. So, it's a little bit of everything…a whole continuum.

PH: It sounds like you typically are starting with the lyrics as opposed to starting with a melody.

LK: No, sometimes it starts with the music…mostly it starts with the lyrics, but it's not that cut and dry. It takes all forms.

PH: Your harmonies are obviously in great demand. Is that ability instinctive or are you very conscious of music theory?

LK: I'm not conscious of theory at all. No… I mean, I have some idea of what I'm doing but it's really just what feels and sounds good to me…I'm not thinking about what I'm doing.

PH: How did you learn….?

LK: I didn't…I just knew, I just knew. It was just something I knew how to do without ever having been taught.

PH: How about people who don't instinctively have the ability? Any advice?

LK: That's hard. Practice…you get better as you do it. That would be the main advice. And take chances with it.

PH: I'm curious, too, about your departure from your career in psychology. A lot of musicians are tempted to leave their day jobs or at least get more heavily into music. Can you tell us more about that transition? What really put you over the hump to make the career change? Were you already having success?

LK: Yeah, I didn't just give up….well, I went back to music while I was practicing psychology because I finally figured out that's what I wanted to do. I did both…I mean, I wasn't making any money singing for a few years. I was making $50 as an opening act, so I was doing both. I didn't give up psychology until I was really making a living singing. So, I wouldn't recommend just quitting your job and going off and trying to make a living as a singer because it really takes a while. Even if you're good, it takes a while to build an audience because you don't make any money until you have an audience. So, I'd say keep your day job for a while and try to do both.

PH: What have you learned that you wish you knew when you were first trying to get going in the music world?

LK: Well, I don't think I've learned anything that I could have learned then. I've gotten better as a writer and better as a performer. I couldn't have been better then. I needed the time to become better so I've learned to be better at it but that took time.

PH: If you were teaching a class on songwriting, what would you focus on?

LK: That's a big question. Honestly, I think the most important thing is just to practice - just to write and write and write because you get better. It's absolutely true - and not just true of me, I've heard others say it - you get better the more you do it. So, the best advice…well, you can try to teach writing but I'm not sure how much you can really teach writing…I think writing is something you learn by doing it. So, if someone wants to get better, they should write and write and write and they will get better.

PH: On another topic…you do covers very well…

LK: Thank you.

PH: ...and choose well. I remember reading something about the songs on one of your albums where you chose the covers you did because you thought most of your own songs on that CD were serious or on the down side…

LK: Um-hm. [agreeing]

PH: Are you typically looking for a type of song or often just going with what you love?

LK: I'm going with what I love when I pick covers. Picking songs for an album is a different issue because you need something that will work as a whole. But when I'm choosing covers, I'm choosing songs that I'm just dying to sing. So, yeah, there isn't a type or anything like that that I'm looking for …it's just a great song.

PH: You do pick them well…

LK: Thank you.

PH: ….and your Mom was right, by the way, about the Dylan song. [Note: In her show, Lucy did her version of Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" and said her Mom told her that her version was better than his.]

LK: That's sweet. She thinks she is.

PH: What's ahead for you?

LK: Well, I'm going to make another album at some point…hopefully have it out next year. You know, the same…keep writing songs, keep getting better as a performer, keep touring. Hopefully, more and more, I'll be able to bring musicians with me on the road. I've been bringing this great guitar player, Duke Levine, with me a lot but that's purely a financial issue. It costs a lot of money to bring a musician out. But I'd like to be doing that more and more. So, that's really the plan -- nothing earth shattering.

PH: Do you intend to do other projects like Cry Cry Cry? [Note:Lucy's collaboration with Richard Shindell and Dar Williams]

LK: Yeah, but there's nothing in the works. Richard and I certainly talked about doing an album together but I don't know if that will ever happen. Anything could happen but I don't have anything specifically planned. So far, it's just my own album that I'm going to work on.

MZ: How do you balance? I mean, you have to be in the studio, you have to write, and you have to perform so that people know who you are. How do you do all that?

LK: It's really hard. Actually, I'm not that good at it. That's why I don't wind up writing a whole lot of songs. It's really hard, especially if you perform a lot, it's very hard to find the time to write. So, I don't have a really good answer to that. I really don't…it's a struggle.

PH: We promised not to take a lot of time, so ….

LK: I appreciate that.

[Concluding Note: Paul and Mike gave Lucy a Baltimore Songwriters Association t-shirt on behalf of BSA, a BSA newsletter, and a copy of Paul's song, "Will You Be My Lucy Kaplansky?" which she listened to on her way back to New York and kindly e-mailed to say she and Rick were "laughing hysterically" in the car.]