In this interview spotlight, I chat with Tennessee’s Willie Dave Willis about his music, challenges, motivations and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Born in Nashville (weird I know) now living between Nashville and Memphis out in a long forgotten area on the Music Highway. I do mostly “folk-pop” but dabble in several different genres (who doesn’t these days) including a bit of blues and rock.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Obsession and insanity. Not necessarily in that order.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Well… this is the first one soooooo… it actually exists as opposed to the others. But seriously I just wanted to do something that held together as a coherent piece, from the sound to the subjects. Also it seems like a good time to do release some music that is somewhat calming hopefully. It seems everyone needs to take a breath these days and chill a little.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Dooo weeeee? That’s an interesting question. There are tons of challenges for an artist, include everything from how to stand out from the pack while being respectful to the folks on the other end, you wanna make a statement but not be an overbearing self promoting narcissistic stereotypical jerk. Another challenge is the time factor. How much time do you spend promoting as compared to creating? Each needs to be a full time job but if there’s only one of you it becomes a high wire juggling act unfortunately. Having worked as an A&R guy at a small record label I can appreciate the challenges that the bloggers and music curators face as well. I’m well aware of the avalanche of stuff that comes at the “gatekeepers” and it can be pretty overwhelming.
What was the last song you listened to?
Got my name changed back by The Pistol Annies.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Although I do love the experience of throwing vinyl on the turntable I’m not that fond of the snap crackle and pops that come with it, so I’m going with CD’s.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I guess I’ll go with Spotify. It’s pretty easy to get around and making playlist, like you guys do, is pretty awesome… but Apple Music is cool too especially if your a Mac person. And you can find most anything on YouTube as well, so I danced around and made a mess out of that question. Sorry bout that.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
www.williedavewillis.com I try to keep the site reasonably up to date… usually.
Anything else before we sign off?
My album comes out on January 11th of the New Year. See it’s hard not to be a self-promoting stereotypical narcissistic jerk.
