Americana’s Sweetheart, Carrie Rodriguez
October 5, 2006 by Shaun Harvey
Filed under Features
I ask her how that feels as she laughs, �That feels pretty good actually,� she says as a smile widens on her face, �I mean, I don�t pay that much attention to chart stuff, you know, but all those people I�m up there with are certainly some of my favorite musicians, so for that reason I feel honored.�
Carrie�s life has been filled with the kind of life altering experiences that would leave anyone breathless. Carrie�s path of good fortune began at a very early age as she first began to play violin at age 5. Her talent and determination lead her to enroll at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio. A bit removed from her Austin birthplace, the rigors of classical violin began to wear on her as she continued her studies: �You have to be willing to put in eight hours a day of practicing and you�re playing things that have been played a million times and it�s been played extremely well and for me there wasn�t a lot of room to grow with that and be creative, so I was unhappy there.�
She faced the decision that many college students face � to continue on with something she was falling out of love with or take a step of faith. A Lyle Lovett concert in nearby Cleveland became one of those life-altering experiences that helped to make that decision for her. Lovett, a family friend, invited Rodriguez to sit in with the band during a pre-show rehearsal. After that experience Carrie transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Berklee�s focus on contemporary music appealed to her as she began to shed some of her more classical training. Growing up, Carrie�s focus was primarily on classical violin, but other styles were always on her radar. �I guess growing up in Texas I�d always dabbled in fiddle music, I used to go see great Country bands all the time and singer-songwriters,� Carrie explains, �In fact, I used to play a little bit of fiddle with my father, he�s a singer-songwriter named David Rodriguez, so we played in clubs in Austin, that was probably my first taste of using the violin in another way.�
When she had first sat in with Lovett�s band, she claims she was awful at playing the music, having been so steeped in classical training. �I left Oberlin and just dove in, like started listening to a bunch of old Johnny Gimble recordings with Bob Wills, Mark O�Conners� early recording, just learning from other fiddle players,� she says.
In Boston, Lovett again proved to be a conduit for change. He played a concert there and asked Carrie to again sit in � but this time during the concert itself. Sitting in with his Big Band, playing a song written by her father (and recorded by Lovett), she realized that making music for a living was what she wanted to do.
Moving back to Austin, Carrie began to play occasionally with local and regional acts lending her fiddle as a hired gun. It was while playing with one such band at the 2001 South by Southwest conference that she was noticed by Chip Taylor. Taylor, a veteran of the music business having had minor chart success since the 1960�s and penning, among other songs, �Wild Thing� and �Angel Of The Morning,� took Carrie under his wing and hired her to play fiddle in his band. A few dates into the tour, he set a microphone in front of her and told her to feel free to use it if she felt inspired. Believing she didn�t have a very good singing voice, she was reluctant, but eventually began to sing back up parts.
�I�m not completely dumb,� Taylor said with a laugh during their Louisville performance, �so I started writing some duets.� Chip and Carrie recorded three albums worth of duets, the most recent being 2004�s Red Dog Tracks.
She credits her husband, Javier Vercher, whom she met while attending Berklee, for helping to broaden her listening tastes. One of the artists Javier, a talented Jazz saxophonist in his own right, introduced her to was avant-garde guitarist Bill Frisell. �I�ve been listening to Bill Frisells� music for the last five or six years,� Carrie says. Chip and Carrie recruited Frisell to play on Red Dog Tracks and the experience stayed with Carrie.
When it came time to record her solo album, Frisell was one of the first choices. �I�m just lucky enough to have worked with him on that [Red Dog Tracks],� Carrie recalls, �and we just had such good vibes in the studio that, for my record it was cool to get him to come back and play.�
Frisell rounded out the studio band, which also included bassist Viktor Krauss, drummer Kenny Wollesen, pedal steel virtuoso Greg Leisz and Javier on saxophone. The ensemble came together in Manhattan�s Avatar studio, a studio well known for being one of the best and famed for its Jazz recordings.
Even having so many versatile musicians, Carrie didn�t fear for the outcome of the record. �I don�t think I knew what kind of record I was going to make,� she notes with a laugh, �the songs, a lot of them, come from a place of, sort of a spiritual kind of place.�
The kind of spiritual place that comes from losing someone dear to us. In June of 2005, just months before work on the album began, Andy Morgan, a friend of Carrie�s since birth, was tragically killed in an accident while he road his bicycle to work in Manhattan. �That was a big influence and inspiration for the music,� Carrie says turning somber for just a brief moment.
Shortly after Andy�s death, she immersed herself in preparing her album, partly to forget about some of the pain. As the songwriting began, Chip brought her the title track to the album. �[That] was a tune that Chip had already started, he had written [it] for a girl,� she recalls, �I just got the goosebumps when he showed it to me, so we then talked about it and decided to work on it together and make it for my friend Andy.�
Carrie had rarely written before, but she stretched herself and co-wrote four of the albums songs with Chip, including the rousing �Never Going To Be Your Bride� (which shows her strong fiddle skills as well as the foundation of a good songwriter.
Having such a prolific songwriter as Taylor at her side has proved to be akin to attending a music business school, as he has given her advice on setting up her publishing and other pitfalls of the industry. �He has taught me a lot about getting set up right in the beginning in case anything good happens in the future,� she laughs.
The prospect of striking out on her own after having spent the last several years as part of a duo, was at first a bit unnerving. �But it�s been fun, kind of scary,� she says, �Its different getting used to being the center of attention, I�m used to standing on the side and doing what I do, so it�s different. It�s really exciting�
Part of the excitement is playing before new audiences, like the one she played before at a recent Tuesday Night Opry at Nashville�s Grand Ole Opry. She noted that she played more of her �Country� sounding songs and I asked her if it was a dream come true for her? �I never even thought to dream of that! The kind of music that I do, I wasn�t sure I would have ever gotten the chance to do that.�
This Fall she gets the opportunity to play a few shows on her own as well as opening for other acts like a recent stint with Chris Thile and continuing to play as part of the Chip and Carrie duo. �Tonight we are opening for �Chip and Carrie� so it�s like doing it with training wheels,� she says with a big smile and a laugh.
Taking the stage that Tuesday night in Louisville, Carrie seemed right at home with her band, The Good Eggs (featuring Hans Holzen on electric guitar, Kyle Kegerreis on standup bass and Javier on drums and percussion). The modest mid-week audience welcomed her enthusiastically as she kicked off her set which showed her fiddle chops on the traditional fiddle tune �Blackberry Blossom� and her playful sexy side on ��50�s French Movie.� As she wrapped her set and began to prepare for her set with Chip, the smile on her face made it clear she was comfortable where she was � on stage, in life or on the charts.
