AN INTERVIEW WITH CHELSEA RICHARDSON
At
the 2004 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest for performing songwriters, thirteen-year-old
Chelsea Richardson amazed the judges with her performance of “Cartoonland”,
a song about domestic violence she co-authored with Freddy Bradburn. Competing
live against nine talented and experienced performing songwriter finalists
who had been selected from nearly 1300 entries from across the country,
Chelsea captured the grand prize, earning herself an appearance on Mountain
Stage the next day that was later broadcast around the world.
NewSong recently interviewed Chelsea -- not only to get to know her better, but also to learn about the process that she and Freddy Bradburn went through in co-writing “Cartoonland”.
The question of co-written songs is one that NewSong wrestled with early on in the design of its Performing Songwriter contest. We realized that to exclude songs that a performer had written with someone else would be counter to the longstanding collaborative song-writing tradition.
Frankly, when NewSong organizers first heard “Cartoonland” in the pre-recorded round of the contest, we were so impressed with the song that we took the trouble to confirm that the song was in fact co-written by young Chelsea, which it was. This interview provides some detail about Chelsea’s collaborative work with Freddy Bradburn, as well as provides some more insight about her and her future ambitions.
Those who want to hear Chelsea, not just read about her, should order Shining Alone, her new CD with duo partner Freddy Bradburn. The recording features "Cartoonland", two other songs co-written by Chelsea, and nine other songs featuring her singing, and can be bought by sending $16 to Freddy Bradburn, 395 Clear Creek Road. Marion, NC 28752, or by ordering through www.CDBaby.com.
NS: Tell me about yourself.
CR: I am thirteen years old. I will be 14 on January 2, 2005. I
am in the eighth grade. I have 4 older siblings, 3 brothers and 1 sister. I
live with my mama Teresa and step-dad Tommy. My daddy is John. I
have a dog named Squidward.
NS: Whose music do you listen to?
CR: I enjoy listening to Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Hilary Duff, Sara Evans,
and James Taylor.
NS: Tell me about Chelsea Richardson, the singer.
CR: I love to sing. I have been singing since I could talk. I started
singing in front of crowds when I was about six, when I sang at church
with my daddy. I could not imagine myself not singing.
NS: Do you play an instrument?
CR: I have taken piano lessons since the 3rd grade. I love the piano. I
have had a guitar for a few years but have just recently gotten interested
in it.
NS: Tell me what you enjoy reading.
CR: I like reading the Harry Potter books.
NS: Do you do any writing other than songwriting? Tell me about it.
CR: No, I don’t do much writing. If I do, it is poetry.
NS: How long have you considered yourself a writer? A songwriter?
CR: Well, to make a long answer short, about 3 years.
NS: Tell me about your songwriting collaboration with Freddy Bradburn.
CR: We first met when I was in the 4th grade. He would come to my class
and get a few kids once a week. We would either put lines together with
magnetic poetry (which is really cool!) or he would give us a word or phrase
and tell us to write without stopping or thinking about what we were writing
and we had to use the word or phrase at the beginning of every line. I wrote
my first song, "The Gray Whale", in the 5th grade, with Freddy. Freddy’s
wife, my 4th-- 6th grade teacher told us about seeing whales in Baha and I
kind of wrote from that. Freddy just told me to start writing. That’s
what I did. I gave it to Freddy and he put it into song form and added
a melody to it. Freddy and I started our [Cartoonland] project when I
was in the 6th grade.
NS: So you wrote the lyrics for The Gray Whale, and Freddy wrote the music?
CR: I looked at a picture of a gray whale in the ocean and I just wrote and wrote without really thinking about what I was writing. Then I gave what I wrote to Freddy and he looked at it and made changes to it like I do with our songs. He added a melody and *bam* we had a song.
NS: You won the 2004 NewSong Best Song and Grand Prize with a performance
of "Cartoonland" that simply blew me away. Tell me the
story behind the song's creation.
CR: Freddy wrote the lyrics and showed them to me. We worked on the melody
together and I changed a few things lyrics-wise to make them work better
for me. When Freddy first showed me his lyric, it went a little more
into detail than our final version, like saying that the dad drove his motorcycle
into the living room. We decided that the song really didn't need those kind
of details. Then, I did practically the same thing with the melody.
NS: How did you come up with your melody for "Cartoonland"?
CR: Freddy gave me the song with a rough
draft of a melody. I just put
my own style into it. I think the more I sang it, the more my style came
into it. For example, my Mama says that I put a little growl into
it.
NS: When you talk about putting your style into the song, it sounds like you’re talking about song interpretation, not song writing.
CR: If there is something I don't like about it, I change it. I have a different kind of style than most people and it trickles into the songs, making them my own...If [Freddy's] melody went up and I thought it should go down, I changed it; sometimes, because it suited my voice better, sometimes because it suited the song.
NS: Songwriting partners have disagreements from time to time about the melody, lyrics, or other elements of the song-in-progress. How do you and Freddy manage your creative differences? Have you felt an equal partner in the songwriting sessions you two have had together?
CR: We have never really disagreed with anything we've done. We run with the ideas he comes up with, and the same with mine. I think we have always had an equal part in our music, we just each put in different contributions.
NS: Are you saying that the two of you have never had different ideas about a certain line, or a certain part of the melody?
CR: Of course we've had our differences, but we listen to each of our ideas and decide what works best for the song.
NS: So you two never reached a point where, say, Freddy drew the line and said, "No way, sorry, we're not going to change that"?
CR: Not really. He would usually go along with what I thought was best for the song.
NS: Sounds like you two have it worked out just fine. Which song of
yours are you most pleased with, and why?
CR: I am most pleased with "Cartoonland" because of how far we have
gone with it. It is awesome how people have responded to it.
NS: Has your life changed in any way - either on the outside, or
in your feelings about your musical art -- as a result of winning
at NewSong?
CR: I have a lot more confidence in myself since we won the contest. It
has showed me how great our songs really are. I am recognized more and
that is really cool.
NS: Tell me about where you want to go as a songwriter and as a performer.
Would you prefer to work with a band, or to work solo?
CR: I want to go to Nashville and perform on the Grand Ole Opry. I would
also like to perform on Mountain Stage again. I would rather go solo
in my music than work with a band.
NS: You've gained recognition through your NewSong experience, you sing convincingly, you play piano and are taking up the guitar, you have a CD under your belt, and you want a solo career. How important a part do you see your own songwriting playing in that career?
CR: Melody wise, I think it is pretty important. That is the main part of the songwriting I do. I don't know so much about the lyric part because I don't do too much with it. It will probably get a little more important if I go farther into a musical career, which I plan on doing.
NS: What are you involved in musically these days?
CR: I am in chorus at school, which is much different from what I normally
sing, but it is pretty cool. I also play the keyboard in my school’s
pep band. I am taking piano and guitar lessons. Freddy and I
still practice once a week.
NS: Do you ever accompany yourself (on piano or guitar) when you sing
your songs?
CR: I don't accompany myself when we perform in public. I do when
I'm just sitting around the house. I think I will probably start accompanying
myself more the better I get with the instruments.
NS: Other than winning at the NewSong Festival, what did you particularly like about your experience with NewSong? What could we do to improve?
CR: Everything was awesome! I really liked listening to all of the contestents because everyone had their own kind of music. It was a very different experience for me. You don't need to change anything. You are doing great!
NS: Do you plan on participating in NewSong '05? What reasons would you give other songwriters to participate?
CR: I would love to perform in NewSong '05! It would be awesome to be one of the performers. I think anyone who has ever written a song should send a song into NewSong '05. Even if you don't participate in the contest, you should still go to the festival. This whole thing has been a great experience for me. Everyone is really nice and friendly. Not to mention it was really fun to sing for everyone.
The [music] industry's needing a triple bypass. And the Web's giving it to 'em.--- John Hiatt
"What I'm thinking about when I play, what I am experiencing, is how to play ideas that will become something that will waken the senses of the person that's listening. You know how I got that way? From playing with musicians. If you play something that someone likes, they'll come and try to make it better. Music is not a race or a style, it's an idea.''
---Ornette Coleman
