Aug 7, 2017
Every Sing Episode #5, a conversation with Ken
Stringfellow
Ken Stringfellow is a singer, songwriter, instrumentalist,
arranger, and producer. He his famous for the band he started with
his good friend, Jon Auer, The Posies. He has
also toured with R.E.M., and the
re-formed Big Star. Ken has
been involved with more than 200 albums.
I got to catch up with Ken in Washington state. He spent many
of his growing up years in Bellingham, WA and returns to the
Seattle area frequently to give concerts on his old home turf. But,
Ken spends most of his time performing and being with his family in
Europe. He is truly a musician of the world, as you’ll hear in this
conversation.
Ken says that his path through the music enterprise is building relationships with his audience, other musicians, and people in the music business. He thinks of himself as making music and making connections. This humanizes it and gives it scale for him. He considers this his path to sanity, and avoids thinking of it as a business or the music industry.
Despite the size of the venues or projects, it still comes
down to personal relationships.
The thing Ken likes the most are performances that are the
simplest and the most pure. He likes shows that are small and
special.
He loves the intense energy that can happen when he is walking
around with his guitar but no mic among the audience.
Ken says music production is great because it brings new
people to his life.
Growth and vulnerability are constants throughout Ken's
career. He enjoys putting himself into situations where he doesn't
now exactly what he's getting into.
Ken considers himself a singer first and foremost. In the
music he looks for places to put out intense blasts from a deep
place to have an impact on the audience. He says, "You get in to
people's emotions by catching them off-guard."
Ken's upcoming project is a tour with Mercury Rev, called
Tears of Silver. Tickets are at
https://www.tearsofsilver.space
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @kenstringfellow
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Nancy's website: NancyBos.net
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