An Interview with Jeanna Murphy

by Neto

Singer/songwriter and musician Jeanna Murphy often mentions how music was a part of her life since childhood even though she had little training until she reached college and changed her major to music.  She stored music she heard from Disney films away in her mind to be able to deconstruct them and use what she learned later in her work.  You can hear these early influences on her debut album Magic which she is self-publishing.  In this interview, I ask about her start in music, her current album, and how her training affects her enjoyment of music.

On your website bio you tell about how you got into music as a child, but had no training in it.  You talk about listening to Disney records, mentally recording the sounds you heard only to use them later when you changed your major to music in 2000.  My question is, what was your major before and what was the inspiration behind switching to music? 

In high school I was really into drama and choir.  I got into assistant directing and all that backstage stuff for a ton of our drama productions.  So, because I had no other ideas, I became a TV Production Technology major when I entered college in the fall of ‘99.  I thought it was going to be a bunch of directing and stage blocking…it was not.  It was a whole lot of info on cables and wires and lighting…it was very technical and not at all what I was interested in. 

So during spring break I did some soul searching.  I was terrified of never going anywhere or being anything in life.  I’d never felt passionate or driven towards anything and a life lacking importance was not what I wanted for myself at all.  So somewhere in the mess of my confusion and prayers I re-discovered my love for music that I’d taken for granted all those years.   

I’ve been writing poems since I was 6 (I actually found one that was dated as such so that age is not an exaggeration).  Sometime in high school I started humming a tune to one of my poems randomly and all of a sudden I had a melody.  I thought “Hey that’s cool, I just wrote a song” and then completely forgot about it.  By the time I started my soul searching I had 3 of these “accidental songs”. 

Music had always been a huge part of my life but up until freshman year it had been something that I had deeply taken for granted.  I had always loved listening to music but I hadn’t realized its profound effects on me.  With music I would escape to the words or the music and float away for the 2 or 3 minutes that the song would last.  It was beautiful, ugly, real, whatever it needed to be and it took me over.  I’m actually pretty surprised that it took me as long as it did to choose music as my career.   

Ever since that decision I’ve never looked back.  There really was no other option but what my life turned into.  It’s either music or bust!

 
What is your creative process like? Are you the type of writer to sit yourself down for however many hours during the day producing material?  Or do you go about your day doing other things only sitting down once you have been inspired? 

I used to have to be in the perfect mood before I could write.  If the song took longer than a half hour to create then I’d get antsy and set it aside, sometimes for years, until the perfect mood presented itself again. 

In 2005 I started to realize that that would never cut it if I really wanted music as more than just a hobby.  I was going to have to figure out how to concentrate and really perfect my craft.  You’d be hard pressed to find someone who wakes up one day and says, “I’m gonna be an amazing musician” and then actually become that!  It takes a lot of practice as well as a lot of bad songs before you get that “ah ha” moment where the pieces all just fall into place.  So I slowly perfected my work regime giving up a lot of free time in the process.  I learned that my most efficient creative time was between 7 and 9am and began training my brain to roll out of bed and just do it. (Not an easy thing when you work swing shift) 

Since January 2009 (the release of my album and the beginning of my production company Dreamr Productions) my creative process has changed.  I approach it as a business rather than a hobby and I have disciplined myself to sit down at my computer or piano for at least 2 hours a day and write.  Maybe I come up with something, maybe I don’t, but at least I try.  And more times than not it’s worked.  Now it’s got to the point where if I can’t be creative musically that day then I advertise or market my tunes.  I find something related to my business to accomplish. 

It wasn’t easy and it takes up pretty much all of my free time but I love what I’m doing and I wouldn’t give it up for the world.  I know that eventually all of my time and effort will pay off so I’ll just keep going. 

Tell me about putting Magic together. From looking at your myspace one can tell that you’re coming up with songs all the time so how did you choose the songs that you would include in Magic? 

Magic has been a work in progress for years and years.  Somewhere along the line, I got it in my head that I had to finish everything before I could release a CD.  We’re talking everything; every song, every song idea, every lyric line, everything!  In mid 2008 I finally said “Jeanna you’re being ridiculous”.  I would never be finished with everything, or at least I would hope not, so I just needed to get over myself and finish an album. 

So I looked at all my songs and decided which ones were “done” by my standards and the 9 tracks on Magic were what I came up with.  I’m very methodical about the arrangement of songs in albums and I was worried that those songs wouldn’t all fit together.  They all are very different from the next.  But after stepping back from the project I realized they were a perfect collage of my progression from singer/songwriter into composer.  Magic, in my opinion, documents my journey in a wonderful way that I’m very proud of. 

The album really shows off your range with very complex compositions at the beginning to these simple songs at the end where its just you, a guitar, and someone playing the bongos. Was there a reason behind the almost linear progression permeating your album from those complex compositions to the more simple, acoustic songs? 

Not really.  Like I said before, they just worked themselves out that way.  I never know what kind of song I’m going to write before it’s written.  Songs have a mind of their own and mine definitely have a sense of humor! 

Personally, my favorite track on Magic is “A Wrinkle In Time.” I’ve read that your inspiration behind it was the cover to the children’s book A Wrinkle In Time,  and it’s this great piece of music that is both electronic but also classical.  What, if anything, else can you tell me about what inspired that track? 

Really that’s about it.  I started writing it and these pictures popped into my head that I knew I’d seen before but couldn’t place.  They fueled along the rest of the song and it wasn’t until it was complete that I realized the origin of those images were from that children’s book by Madeline L’Engle.  After that it was a no-brainer what the tracks’ name would be.

 As an independent artist, after recording your album you were largely responsible for getting it out there.  What has that experience been like?  What have you learned that you would impart on other artists? 

One word comes to mind- exhausting.  I am the whole thing.  I recorded, engineered, produced, wrote, played, and sang on the album.  I found my album artwork designer, I shipped out the CD’s to the duplicators, I set up my account at CDBaby and I put the album in consignment CD stores in my area.  I continue to post ads on craigslist, message boards, websites, blogs.  Wherever I can get my hands on free advertising through the internet I’m there.  All of this while working a full time job! 

 What I would say to anyone out there that wants to do everything on their own like I’ve done is go for it!  It’s exciting and I’m proud of myself for being able to take credit for all of the work that I’ve done on my own.  Just know that it’s more work then you can possibly think of until it’s all around you.  I’m pretty much totally obsessed with trying to find the next great way to market my songs or what great inspiration I will draw from next for my next song.  My brain does not slow down.  My last thought at night and my first thought in the morning is what should I do next to get my music further.  It’s exhausting and exciting all in one.

 
As an artist who also has a Bachelor’s in Music, when you listen to other music are you just constantly deconstructing what you are hearing to see how it could inspire your own work?  If so, is there any music that you listen to simply for pleasure where you can just turn that part of your brain off? 

Absolutely!  There are plenty of songs that I listened to just to listen to.  It’s the ones that throw me over the top either one way or another that I start picking apart.  If I hear something that I absolutely abhor I have to figure out what it is that makes me hate it so much.  I don’t want to be that person that hates a song “just because”.  If I listen to something that is perfect to my ears I have to know why; what did they do different that shook me so much more than the song before?  And how can I incorporate that great new method into my music?  

And then, just like everybody, I have my guilty pleasure songs like Apple Bottom Jeans. I just love that song! 
 
What are your top 5 (or 4 or 6 or whatever) favorite musical artists at the moment? 

Any musician will tell you that this is a really tough one.  Really my favs change daily because there is just some really good stuff out there.  Especially since the bubblegum pop era is over and the “real” musicians have returned.  But the ones that I’ve stuck with for a good amount of time would be Tori Amos, Paul Simon, Jude, Ray Lamontagne, Sarah Slean, Sarah Mclachlin and Imogene Heap. 

Is there a certain band or musician or singer/songwriter that you feel is underrated or ignored that you would like to give a shout out to now? 

Sarah Slean and Jude!  I love both of them but they seem to be my little secret.   

Sarah Slean is this beautiful lyricist from Canada that just has this wonderful way of combining her words to the melody.  It’s amazing how I’ll love one song for years because of the words and then one day just tune into the music and my outlook changes.  Her song “My Invitation” gets to me every time. 

Jude I’ve seen live a couple times when he’s come to Portland and I just love him!  His song “Indian Lover” is one of the sexiest songs out there in my opinion!  He’s such a good show and plays forever!  The first time I saw him he got about 3 encores and just kept coming back again and again.  I swear he played for at least 2 and half hours.  I don’t know how his fingers weren’t bleeding from playing his guitar for so long! 
 

Thanks for your time, Jeanna!

Jeanna is currently enjoying the artsy life in Portland, Oregon. You can find out more about her on her website or her Myspace page and pick up her debut album Magic on CDBaby and itunes. Go, listen! Thanks for the tunes!