“Find me somewhere out on the road / Take me into your heart and into your home,” truly defines Caroline Cotter’s life as she sings this to us on her third album, Gently as I Go. Her music takes listeners around the world and deep into human emotions, reminding them that home can be anywhere, if you’ve found someone who shares your heart. Gently as I Go explores travel and connection, essential to who Cotter is, as well as things many of us experience such as procrastination, love, life and death, nostalgia and growing up, and loss and gratitude. The folk/Americana singer-songwriter will release Gently as I Go independently on August 18, 2023. The album was produced by Cotter and Alec Spiegelman, recorded and mixed by Spiegelman, and mastered by Philip Shaw Bova.
Q&A
Intimate. Personal. Caroline Cotter’s music is those things and more. Riding atop a musical bed of bare-bones instrumentation, her crystalline vocals float and flutter, soaring then sometimes dropping at the end of lines, delivered gently as the thought completes itself, quiet confidences between Cotter and her listeners. Her songs are beguiling and heartfelt, story-songs of life and love and change. This is demonstrated fully on her brand new album, “Gently as I Go,” a collection of Cotter’s own brand of musical folk/Americana magic. We sat down with her recently to discuss the intricacies of her songs and the album, her music, and the beauty of keeping things simple.
Hi Caroline! You have a terrific new album that was just released called “Gently As I Go.” How did these songs come together and what broad strokes can you tell us about the collection?
Thanks so much for listening.
These were songs that I wrote in the years after “Home on the River” was released in 2018, and when I started recording for “Gently as I Go” in the winter of 2019 and 2020, while I was still living on the road full-time. They embody every emotion and experience from those years and serve as a timestamp for me as an artist and a traveler.
One of the songs on your new album, “The Year of the Wrecking Ball,” is really great and stood out to me. What can you tell us about this song? What inspired you to write it and what is it about?
I wrote “The Year of the Wrecking Ball” during an artist residency in Seaside, Florida, in January 2020. I had already started recording this album in New York that December, but wanted to add a couple more songs and felt really lucky to have the time and space during that month to be alone, in one place, to write.
I had just spent 10 days with my parents over the holidays. We celebrated Christmas together in Maine and then drove down to North Carolina together to celebrate my brother’s birthday and New Years. I was reflecting on our time together, feeling so grateful for the fun we’re able to have and how our relationships have shifted and changed over the years. My parents got divorced when I was 20, they had been married for over 30 years, and it was a huge shock to me when it happened. When they got divorced, they had to sell the house that I grew up in. All these years later, they’ve remained good friends, and we still celebrate holidays as a family.
“The Year of the Wrecking Ball” is about saying goodbye to my childhood home, the heartache that I faced in those years, and the gratitude that I feel for the love that’s remained on the other side of it all.
What was it like recording this album overall? What was the vibe in the studio, and how did this song, in particular, come together?
We recorded this album in three sessions over the winter of 2019/2020; a week in early December, a week in February, and the first week in March. I worked with producer/sound engineer, Alec Spiegelman, to lay down scratch tracks and brainstorm production ideas. Alec is a really talented multi-instrumentalist and a very creative producer, and I had a lot of fun working with him and playing around with different ideas. I generally opt to keep things simple, but also wanted to push myself to do things a little differently this time around. We called in a fleet of super-talented local musician friends to round out the tracks and then played a bit with mixing. In the case of “The Year of the Wrecking Ball,” we really did keep it simple with just vocals, guitars, bass, and drums.
Since you started out, how has your songwriting changed — both musically and lyrically? Do different things inspire you now? Where do you tend to get your biggest inspiration from these days?
As I’ve changed and grown, luckily, so has my songwriting. I still write about my experiences, but, of course, those are always changing, so there’s always something new to write about.
Songwriting can be a really personal endeavor. Is it tough to share that stuff that usually might be private if you weren’t writing a song about it? Does unveiling the songs publicly, when you release a single or an EP or album, make you anxious, or is it cathartic to have the songs out there?
My songs are personal, but I’m also generally pretty open in talking with friends and family about what I’m going through. I don’t keep things in, and songwriting is one outlet, but nothing I’m writing about should really be a surprise to those who are close to me.
What is one word you’d use to describe how you feel about releasing this album?
Relieved.
It’s not uncommon for an artist to be working on something new while promoting an album. Do you have anything in the pipeline to follow this album? What’s next from Caroline Cotter?
I’ve been writing some songs these last few years and having a really good time collaborating with other musicians who live in Maine. I’m hopeful that before too long, I’ll have another collection of songs to share.
