Jonathan Ferguson is a singer/songwriter based in Calgary (Canada). We met up with him recently to ask a few questions about his playing style and the new album, Sweeter After Difficulties.

Jonathan carries on the storytelling traditions of the great folk musicians who preceded him.

This was a great interview and Jonathan had a lot of say about music, storytelling, and the art scene in Calgary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v0-P2vDZlE

Let me hit you with my standard opening. Who are you? Where are you from? What kind of music do you create?

Depending on who you ask, I’m either the really loud neighbour or the moderately entertaining one (Ask the neighbour on the left)! I’m Canadian, living in Calgary– a city whose claims to fame are the largest outdoor celebration of rodeo culture on Earth if it’s July, a struggling but lovably persistent hockey team if it’s October to June, and some of the most “creative” drivers in the country regardless of what month it is.

As far as music goes, I draw from a lot of genres, mostly folk, rock, and pop– but the main thing is that I like to tell stories about people. It’s a huge thrill to me when someone tells me that they feel a connection to something I wrote, that it speaks to them personally.

Normally this keeps me from saying too much about why I wrote the song, because I feel that mystery is an important element if you want a lot of different people to connect with your music. I can’t do the picket sign stuff. I think when you value getting people “on your side”, what you’re actually doing is pushing everyone else away. It’s much more rewarding to me to realize that I was able to get someone thinking about something than it would be to make sure everyone thinks what I think. So I try to keep things open to interpretation.

What is the music scene like in Calgary?

Calgary’s in a bit of a transition period right now, and the arts scene is a big part of that. Historically it’s been an oil city with an old west sensibility. But with all of the people settling here from places all over the world, slowly culture is seeping in, and with culture comes an appreciation of the arts. There are new venues popping up pretty frequently and usually the people running them are big music fans and like to focus on singer/songwriters more than cover bands, which used to be the norm. In fact because they’ve been so nice to me I’ll name drop three here: Cafe Koi, Gravity Espresso and Wine Bar, and 4th Spot are all excellent places to see live music in town, and all have great food and drink too.

The artist community in Calgary is really tightly knit too. We’re talking less degrees of separation than Kevin Bacon and his reflection here.

Your album, Sweeter After Difficulties, sounds great! Where did you record these songs? Who produced them?

Thanks! I’ve had a bit of a free ride– my Dad’s been working with recording gear longer than I’ve been alive and so we worked on this one together in his studio, called NoEgo. Some people build birdhouses with their dads but we make records instead I guess.

We also had some help from our good friends Tom Lelli, Bux, and Nils at Aala Recording in Hawaii, who did most of the drums and some of the bass stuff down there. Kinda wish we could have gone to witness it, given that it was winter up here!

What types of music did you listen to growing up and how does that compare to what you listen to now? Have your tastes changed with time?

Like a lot of people I grew up listening to whatever was around the house at first. My Dad is and always was really into country, and also a lot of singer/songwriter music–Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Billy Joel et al. My mom was more of your typical radio listener, which meant through her car stereo I would hear a lot of pop rock– Bryan Adams, David Bowie, REM. Both listened to Springsteen but different eras. As I got older and started playing I went through a pop punk phase, and then started listening to 90s alternative stuff. These days my tastes are pretty wide open: Springsteen’s “Born to Run” is on my turntable, EELS’, and Sigur Ros’ latest are both on my iPod, and CDs by Gotye and Tallest Man On Earth are in my car. It just has to sound good, that’s all.

Who or what influences your writing and playing? Your percussive guitar style is very refreshing and adds a new layer to an already pleasant soundscape.

I’m not usually a confessional songwriter at all–more “empathetic”. I’d rather imagine what it would be like to be in a situation than to write about a situation I’ve been in. I’m an unashamed eavesdropper and people watcher.

Sometimes I don’t even know what the song is about when I’m writing it either, because it could just be that I heard an interesting turn of phrase and built a story around that. I also read a lot –tons of biographies, as well as some existentialist stuff like Dostoyevsky and Kafka, and off-beat humour like John Hodgman. I’m also big into history, music, and social documentaries. Anything with people.

My playing style comes from not being able to afford replacement strings when I was younger. I was breaking a ton because I was playing too hard with a pick, and so I figured switching to my fingers would cut that down. Eventually I realized it gave me a lot more options too in terms of texture and complexity, so rather than learn how to properly use a pick I just started honing that. I still suck at using a pick.

You carry on the great story telling traditions of folk songwriters before you…what inspires your stories?

Thank you! I touched on it a bit before, but people are the biggest thing. I’m really interested in what makes people tick, and then in using that information to make other people think about what makes them tick. I like having those long rambling conversations with people until 3 AM that start with something mundane like “I went grocery shopping” and end with “So you can see why I need to go to Europe, right?”. I’m big on small details too and my brain always seems to remember them better than “important” things like the present location of my car keys.

Do you actively gig? Any tours coming up?

I do actively play around the area with a small band featuring a drummer named Mark Straub, and a bass player named Andrew Riches. No tours booked yet but we’re hoping to get out and about late summer/early fall of this year. We’re always looking to be busier, and so I can say, only half joking, that we’d even agree to play a tour of bathroom stalls across North America if we could afford accommodations (that weren’t also bathroom stalls).

How is the Internet helping (or hurting) your marketing and promotion efforts? Are you connecting with new fans? What’s your biggest challenge?

The internet to me is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s incredibly easy to get your music out and promote yourself in theory thanks to a breakdown of the walls between artist and press (thanks!). Plus there’s not that much overhead compared to what it likely would have been even two decades ago for an indie band to promote themselves, with or without a label. There are a ton of people who likely wouldn’t have heard this music without the internet, especially overseas and even just across the border like yourself, if the internet did not exist. Plus having things like Twitter and Instagram to show and tell direct to fans is great, because then you’re sort of always local and you have to be humble, and I really think that’s important.

That said, I think the internet’s prevailing culture of “free for all” hurts an artist’s chances of sustaining a career–if people want to go out of their way to avoid paying for your record, they can do that pretty easily.

There’s a weird misconception that artists make their money touring and not on records, but for an indie artist it almost always costs money to tour, and the way that you would make your money back is by selling your record on that tour. If you want to support any band, especially a smaller one, the best way to do it isn’t twitter followers or facebook likes–it’s buying the record, and then getting others to do the same, plain and simple. For an indie artist, almost all of that money goes to the artist and gets used on staying alive and making more music, which if you’re a fan should be a win/win, right?

Where can readers buy the album? Where can we connect with you online?

If you’d like a physical, signed copy, you can grab it at my website, jonathanferguson.ca. The artwork is worth having as it’s all handdrawn by a good friend of mine. The album is also available on iTunes, the Google Play Store, Xbox Music, CDBaby, and Bandcamp if you’d prefer digital.

What should we expect from Jonathan Ferguson in 2013?

I’m working on some new material right now so we’ll likely be headed into the studio at some point before the year is up. My first music video should also be done soon and of course we’re looking to play as many shows as possible in as many places as possible!

Any last thoughts or shout outs?

I just want to thank anyone reading who may have bought the album or who might pass my name on to a friend as a recommended listen. Whenever I get a quick message or tweet or anything from someone who’s listened to my songs I get warm fuzzies inside. Thanks for the good will!