CG | Episode 021 Sam Parton The Be Good Tanyas: The Littlest Birds Sing The Prettiest Songs

Sam Parton, The Be Good Tanyas - "The Littlest Birds Sing The Prettiest Songs”  

Episode Summary

In this episode Kate speaks with Sam Parton, founding member of the wildly popular Canadian Alt Folk band The Be Good Tanyas. Their debut album Blue Horse was named 2002’s top 50 releases by Q Magazine (UK) and the band would go on to release more albums cherished by fans all over the world. Their albums Chinatown and Hello Love were met with glowing reviews including four stars from Rolling Stone Magazine and the band sold out concert halls across North America and Europe. 

Sam tells us about how trauma from her early childhood ultimately set her on a journey that would see her not only find her musical voice and people, but create what I think is one of the greatest Canadian bands of all time The Be Good Tanyas. She tells us what she thinks creativity is and what it wants from us, how she found her bandmates, the joy and challenges of collaboration, and how lyrics come to her -  including the story of how one of my very favourite songs of all time by any band was written, The Littlest Birds Sing the Prettiest Songs (hear an excerpt of this song in the episode) 

Things Sam and I talk about

-Her ideas on how creativity and creative intelligence are often part of a lineage and the yearning that can create within us 

-How being a twin made her into a great collaborator

-Finding her long lost father and how that separation fed her desire to become a musician

-Growing up in the shadow of a sibling born with extraordinary musical talent, and in a home with tormented, abusive adults feeling that she had to do her music in secret and how the grief from those things ultimately drove her to find and express her own creative gifts

-The magic that can happen when we know how to approach creativity from a place of truly not knowing, beginner's mind. 

-What is inspiration and why do we feel like we have to wait for it? What if it is waiting for us? 

-How she met Frazey Ford, co-founding member of the be Good Tanyas

-The joys and challenges of creative collaboration

-How the words and melody for The Littlest Birds Sing the Prettiest Songs came to her and what the song means to her

Buy her music on Bandcamp!

Episode Notes

In this episode Kate speaks with Sam Parton, founding member of the wildly popular, Canadian Alt Folk band The Be Good Tanyas. Their debut album Blue Horse was named 2002’s top 50 releases by Q Magazine (UK) and the band would go on to release more albums cherished by fans all over the world. Their albums Chinatown and Hello Love were met with glowing reviews including four stars from Rolling Stone and the band sold out concert halls across North America and Europe. 

Sam tells us about how trauma from her early childhood ultimately set her on a journey that would see her not only find her musical voice and people, but create what I think is one of the greatest Canadian bands of all time The Be Good Tanyas. She tells us what she thinks creativity is and what it wants from us, how she found her bandmates, the joy and challenges of collaboration, and how lyrics come to her -  including the story of how one of my very favourite songs of all time by any band was written, The Littlest Birds Sing the Prettiest Songs (hear an excerpt of this song in the episode) 

So many of us KNOW from a young age what we love to do, but so often it is overshadowed by our life circumstances, whether it’s childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, unsupportive parents or simply not having anyone in our lives to see us and cheer us on, or as in Sam’s case being so different from the people in her childhood home, that she grew up feeling like an alien in her own home. 

Sam's drive to find her father, to fill in the gaping hole his departure from her life left, would eventually take her on a winding adventure that would give rise to a deeply fulfilling musical career and the ability to fulfill the calling of her musical gifts. And thank goodness for all this because the music and lyrics that Sam has been able to allow to come through her have woven themselves into the tapestry of my own (and I am sure millions of others) lives. 

She had a strong drive to follow the lineage of creativity, to find out how the people who created music that spoke so strongly to her like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, were able to create those things.

Sam was a founding member of the band The Be Good Tanyas whose debut album Blue Horse quickly earned them cult status as a beloved Alt Folk Band, it was named among 2002’s top 50 releases by Q Magazine (UK) and the band would go on to release more albums cherished by fans all over the world. Their albums Chinatown and Hello Love were met with glowing more reviews including four stars from Rolling Stone. The band toured sold out concert halls across North America and Europe. Their music was featured in tv shows like Breaking Bad and The L word. 

My excitement was because here I was sitting down in real life, with the person who had brought music and lyrics into the world that had been on the soundtrack to many of the important moments of my life for the better part of 20 years from weddings and births of my children to lazy sunday brunches and sunny sunday afternoons cleaning the house, in some way Sam had been with me through it all and here she was sitting down with me to tell me the stories of how it all came to be. 

One of my favourite moments in the episode is when Sam tells the story of how the lyrics and melody for  The Littlest Birds Sing the Prettiest Songs came to her. This is one of my very favourite songs of all time (not just from the Be Good Tanyas repertoire) we got permission to share some of the song with you which you’ll hear when we get to that part of the conversation. 

If this podcast is meaningful for you, if you get inspiration or encouragement or simply raises your spirits to listen to it, please sign up to make a small $5 or $10 contribution each month. This has become a fulltime job, I am doing it all on my own. I am a single mom and entrepreneur. I love creating the show for you, but I will need your help to keep going. Find out more on Patreon.com/creativegeniuspodcast  

Leave a review in apple podcasts  - they are very helpful for growing the show AND they are a wonderful way for me to know that what I am doing matters. 

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And head over to The Creative Genius Facebook Page and join our private community there - we discuss our ah-ha moments from this podcast, share our creative pursuits, struggles, joys and support each other as we walk towards allowing the energy of creativity to take over the drivers seat of our lives. 

It was a chance encounter at the Vancouver Public library that brought us together way back in October when I was just starting the show. Like any adoring fan I may have gushed a bit and bravely asked her to join me in conversation on the show, hers was an immediate generous, warm and full-hearted YES. It took us a few months to line our schedules up and I am so pleased to be able to share this conversation and her music with you today. Here is my conversation with Sam Parton. 

In the weeks after this interview was recorded, Sam and I went on a walk through the sun dappled forest near my home. We talked more about life, creativity, and how much music industry has changed, with streaming services making it more difficult than ever before for musicians to make a living with their music. I wanted share some ways you can support Sam and her music. You can find those in the show notes on KateShepherdCreative.com 

To me Sam’s story is a beautiful love story, the love of a little girl for her natural born gift, the love of a daughter for her long lost father, and the love of an artist for creativity itself. 

Sam gave me so many things to think about, I really appreciated what she said about putting down the projections of how we see others as being so much more prolific or professional than which can help us to be brave enough to take the risk of looking like we don’t know what we are doing -  because from that place of lighthearted silliness magic usually happens. 

And as usual the word I pulled for today’s show was perfectly perfect. It was inspiration. I got the truthbumps when she started talking about inspiration. Friends, I think she might be right. What if it IS the other way around? What if inspiration is waiting for us? 

What would be available to you if you were to approach your creative practice as though inspiration was already right there waiting for you, and to allow yourself to approach creating from a place of truly not knowing anything and waiting to be shown?

Special Thanks to Sam Parton and Birthday Cake Media for permission to use The Littlest Birds Sing The Prettiest Songs in this episode

Kate Shepherd: art | website | instagram

Morning Moon Nature Jewelry | website |  instagram

Creative Genius Podcast | website | instagram

Sam Parton: website | instagram | bandcamp

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Bob Dylan
• Neil Young
• Dolly Parton
• Judy Garland

Please share the show with a friend and if you are moved to make a financial contribution to the production of this podcast, THANK YOU here is the link for our Patreon

 Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
There's something about the human voice singing and telling stories. And when the bigger Tanya started, one of the I mean, it was I met Freezy tree planting, because that was how I was supporting myself as I was trying to learn to be a musician. And I met her, literally like we were out on the block. And I was always singing while I was working. And I always felt kind of like alone in this. You know, I was this weirdo who was singing all the time and always had my guitar. And so I was pestering people with my songs. And then I heard this other person singing over the over the hill. And I planted my way over there and it was crazy. And she was singing this Aretha Franklin song. Well, actually, I think it's an old blue song. I'd rather drink muddy water and sleep out in a hollow log. And I was like, Oh my God, there's a person who's like me who's connecting to the same source as me. So we got to know each other and became friends and then eventually down the road became musical collaborators.

Kate Shepherd
Okay, I'm just gonna admit it. I cried when I was trying to introduce our guests today. I tried not to, but I was absolutely overwhelmed with joy, excitement, awe and gratitude to have the chance to sit down with our guest, Sam Parton. Sam was a founding member of the band, the Beco Tanya's whose debut album Blue Horse, quickly earned them cult status as a beloved alt folk band. It was named among 2000 and Tues top 50 releases by Q magazine in the UK, and the band would go on to release more albums cherished by fans all over the world. Their albums, Chinatown, and Hello love. were met with glowing reviews, including four stars from Rolling Stone, the band toured sold out concert halls across North America and Europe. And their music was even featured in TV shows like Breaking Bad The L Word. But my excitement was because here I was sitting down in real life with the person who had created music that had been on the soundtrack to so many important moments of my life for the better part of 20 years, from weddings and births of my children to Lazy Sunday brunches and sunny Sunday afternoons cleaning the house in some way, Sam had been with me through it all. And here she was sitting down with me to tell me the stories of how it all came to be. One of my favorite moments in this episode, is when Sam tells the story of how the lyrics and melody for the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs came to her. This is one of my very favorite songs of all time, not just from the bigger 10 his repertoire, we got permission to share some of the song with you, which you'll hear when we get to that part of the conversation. A couple of housekeeping things before we get started with this incredible episode today. If this podcast is meaningful for you, if you get inspiration or encouragement or simply raise your spirits to listen to it, please consider signing up to make a small five or $10 contribution each month. This has become somewhat of a full time job for me, and I'm doing it all on my own. I'm a single mom and an art entrepreneur. And I love creating the show for you. But I do need some help to keep going. So find out more on patreon.com/creative Genius podcast. And I wanted to share a gorgeous listener review with you today. This one came in from Mary is contrary art. And the subject line is I love this. She writes I was withholding my creative person inside for so many years. Afraid to let it show it took a lot of bravery to let me be free to experiment and try new things. And to admit I was an artist, thank you for your show. It has helped me to see that I am not alone. And I want to share that with you because I wanted to underline the importance of leaving reviews. They're so helpful in growing the show, and helping other people decide whether or not they want to give give it a listen. And they're also a really wonderful way for you to let me know that what I'm doing here matters is making a difference for you. And sign up for my newsletter on Kate Shepherd creative.com. I give away an original piece of art each month to a random special, someone who signed up and I'm about to do the draw for next month. So I don't want you to miss that. And I wanted to make sure you know about the creative genius family. It's a private Facebook group. It's a place for us like minded souls who have this desire to express more of our creativity to support each other. We discuss our aha moments from the show we share our own creative pursuit, our struggles, our joys, our failures, or challenges. It's really a place for us to support each other as we walk toward allowing the energy have creativity to take over the driver's seat of our lives. It's a private Facebook group. And you can request to join by going over to the creative genius Facebook page. And looking for the group. We'd love to have you. It was a chance encounter at the Vancouver Public Library that brought Sam Parton and I together way back in October when I was first starting the show, like any adoring fan, I may have gashed a bit because I bravely asked her to join me in a conversation about creativity on this show, hers was an immediate, generous, warm and full hearted. Yes, it did take us a few months to line up our schedules. And it was worth the weight. And I'm so pleased to be able to share this conversation and some of her music here with you today. Here's my conversation with Sam Parton.

I did warn you earlier that I may cry, I'm feeling I feel really excited to have the chance to talk to you today. And there's a lot of reasons one of them is that you're a musician, and I've never had an opportunity yet to speak to a musician about this, about this conversation about creativity. And that is like, super, super exciting to me, but you're not just any musician, you're, you're a founding member of a band that has meant a lot to me really personally. And you've you know, with the bigger 10 is and also on your own in your solo work. You've created music that is on the soundtrack of so many important moments of my life, for the better part of 20 years, you know, from my wedding to the birth of my babies and ordinary Sunday mornings and just picnics in the summer. So much of what you've created has been woven into my life, and you've made my life more beautiful. And so I want to start off, I told you, I'd cry sorry. I'm gonna cry. I just wanted to start off by saying thank you, thank you for allowing all of that to come through you and for creating music that has brought me so much joy. And I know so many people so much joy in it for that reason. And for so many more reasons. It's an honor to be able to sit down and talk to you about this today.

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Well, thank you. I feel very honored to be here. And thank you for sharing that. That's it went straight into my heart. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Kate Shepherd
You're so welcome. I wonder maybe you could start us off by telling us how did music become such a big presence in your life? Because you just showed me for the listeners, nobody can see what we're looking at. Right behind Sam is this like, amazing setup of instruments and beautiful. Like, it's just it's everything for you. Right? It's like, how did that happen?

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Yeah, it's really woven into my being and has been. I always kind of say since since birth, but I mean, I don't know if that's, that's true. But I come from a pretty musical family. My mother's grandmother, my mother's mother, my grandmother was a very gifted piano player and singer, extraordinarily gifted. She had three pianos in her house, several accordions violins. My mother had five siblings, there were six of them. And not all of them became musicians. But about half, maybe three or four of them did. And so, I was just around it, I was just around music a lot. And just, it just was part of part of my life part of my lineage. And my brother who was born 11 months before me and I have a twin sister. So the three of us, my brother was, is also very gifted. He was kind of a child prodigy kind of like came out of the womb, you know, was composing symphonies when he was still a toddler, he was a toddler kind of thing. So that was a really big, I guess, I want to say, influence. But that doesn't sound like the right word. Just it just had an impact because that was a part of my life as a child was living in a house with somebody who was so mysteriously gifted. Like I don't know how that and my grandmother was the same way. She didn't read music, but she was incredibly gifted and played, you know, everything from Tchaikovsky Rachmaninoff to jazz to blues. She sang like Marlena Dietrich and Judy Carla. And, and it Yeah, so it's just been around me and then I actually recently just did a whole bunch of writing about this aspect. have music in my life that I had never really explored or written about. But it's a huge part of it with that my mother and my father split up when I was a baby. And my father, this was in the early 70s. He left and I didn't see him again, until I was 19. And didn't have any contact with him at all, didn't know where he was my whole life. And my mother remarried. And my stepfather was, you know, he was really talented person too. He was a gifted, gifted, creative soul who did a lot of he was always painting, he made music, sometimes he had a MIDI keyboard, and he was, you know, early computer adopter. And, and but he also made our lives really, really difficult because he was very tormented person who was pretty abusive. And so music was kind of a refuge that my sister and my brother and I shared. And it connected us to my mother's family, who at some point, we were kind of isolated from just growing up in a house where my stepfather felt, I think, quite threatened by my mother's family. So one day, I was kind of getting old enough to really, really start to acquire my own music. And I was going through my parents records, and I found this record that had my father's last name on it, the name that I was born with Strickland. And I realized it was this was his record. And it was a Bob Dylan record. It was self portrait by Bob Dylan. And I had thought about my father, who I didn't know who I didn't know, I knew his name, but I didn't know you know, there was no internet, I couldn't just find him. And we were not allowed to talk about him. There was it was like, off limits this topic. So it created in me this kind of, like, constant curiosity and wandering and longing. And this, this in a way, I guess, grief as it as a child. So finding this, this record, and I put the record on, I was probably about 11. Maybe it's, well, I put the record on and that album is still so important to me, because it just, it's a really, it's a reel of all the Bob Dylan albums to find this one, you know, so weirdest, self portrait, super weird album, like it was after his motorcycle accident. And, and, and the other thing about, I think the thing that I always wondered about, in my kind of experience of, of missing,

my father was I, my musical tastes were not the same as my grandmother and my brother and I took piano lessons, and I would you know, be having to play Chopin. And what I would find myself doing was, you know, kind of reading the music, but also breaking down the song and trying to make it my own. Trying to write a song. I always wanted to write a song. That's what I loved listening to the radio. I had this ear for like acoustic guitar and harmonies and I was obsessed with that Dolly Parton. You know, watching her show, and, and I always wondered, that comes from my father's side of the family, like, where did that come from? So then I found this record and being a child, and having built up this idea of who my father might be. I somehow projected him into this Bob Dylan album. I didn't know who Bob Dylan was before this, I'd probably heard you know, like a rolling stone on the radio, but didn't connect it to the person. So I'm looking at the artwork, and I'm seeing this guy. On the back cover of the album is he's standing in some country field, there's barren trees, it's winter. And he's wearing maybe a scarf or something and some glasses. 1970s Woodstock, upstate New York, Bob Dylan. And I'm like, is that my father? Or is that his friend? And then I opened up the record and there's all these guys put the record on and listen to this music and he's singing about all these characters. You know, Quinn, the Eskimo, and I'm like, is this what my dad is? Is he hanging out with these people in some little town somewhere and the country? Like I just informed this kind of story, for me, was really an amazing experience. So that's kind of at that point. Yeah. How old were you? I was like, 11. Okay, yeah. And I really wanted to be a song writer. At that point, I didn't know how to do it, you know, other than like, clunking away at the piano learning, you know, getting sheet music kind of on the sly, like getting the pop music sheet music instead of the classical music, sheet music, and learning to play. Elton John songs and Lionel Richie songs, things like that. So I just, that was the thing for me it was about lyrics and music, and songs. And did you

Kate Shepherd
have, like, if we were to look at your little journals from when you were 11 years old, were they're rewriting are their lyrics coming through? And were you? You know,

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
yeah, probably, I distinctly remember kind of the first real song that I wrote. And I'm not going to embarrass myself here by reciting the lyrics. But it was around the time of an early heartbreak when I was probably 14. And, you know, my, my boyfriend, grade nine, I saw him holding hands with this other girl wrote a song, wrote a song about it. Yeah. And, yeah, so yeah, that was definitely something that I just, I just did. And I know that it was somehow bound up with this absence of this person in my life. And also just my genetic inheritance of and cultural inheritance of being around people who just were extremely musical.

Kate Shepherd
So at that time, when you were trying to get the picture of it, you were sort of separated from your mother's side of the family. And was there an equal separation to the music? Or was that still? Are they still supporting that in? You know, growing up? Like, did you send it off for piano lessons? And did they support the, because I think a lot of times, you know, when a child, especially in the arts, has a natural propensity for something or I mean, maybe not in an example, like your brother, where it's like, so big and glaring, but you know, where somebody's like, I really like drawing, there can be this adult thing that happens, where they're like, yes, well, but you should probably pursue something that's a little bit more stable and likely to get you into a good life. And did you have that? Or did you have like, go and found a big band and make music and follow your dream? Like, what was the what was it? I didn't have either

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
of those things. I had silence. I didn't have a it's funny. People ask me that kind of that thing a lot. Like so we're your parents supportive of, of your dreams. And I honestly don't remember ever feeling. I guess the word support implies that that I had that kind of relationship with my parents that they really cared about what I was doing, and they might have, but I didn't know that. It was more I grew up in a house that was more about discipline, maybe so piano was definitely about my brother, he needed a piano, my parents got a piano. And the lessons were probably part of just this European culture that I my my mother's family were also immigrants. So there was this kind of old world culture. So it wasn't about nurturing creativity in the child and supporting something that they saw growing in that child. It was not that way in my family. In a way, it was like, I think with my brother, there was something like that, because he was so gifted, I think it was, but I don't think my parents knew how to handle that. Really, I mean, they did get them connected with some better teachers than the lady down the street, who, who taught us piano from her house and wrapped our knuckles with her ruler and was drunk. Every time we went for lessons, you know, they they did connect him with with more proficient and expert people. But yeah, for me, also, there was a little bit of a kind of secretive aspect to it because my brother was the, the prodigy. He was the talent. He was the one who was gifted. And I had to kind of carve out my own little space. It privately and on my own, and I really do still think that it was so much also about my relationship with that missing person. Mm hmm. Who I just assumed was really I just was like, Oh, he's really into music. Like I'm into music. Was he? He was it? Yeah, it turned out. It turned out he really was and when we met I actually found him. My mother's sister had had a big fight with my stepfather and he had banned her from our lives for a while. And because she had she had stood up for us when she saw him being kind of abusive. And she came to me and she said, You're I know what your father lips I saw him. I know where he is. And I was like, what? And she gave me this information that was totally, like taboo. And this, the idea was that none of us kids were allowed to talk about my father have any contact with him until we were 19. So when I hit 19, and went to the public library, I found out he was living in Victoria. And I looked up his name, and then I got his address. And then I wrote him a letter. And then he wrote me back. And then we started this great relationship. And he was so into music, like, all the same music as me, Neil Young, Bob Dylan. In fact, when he left my mother, when she left him, I don't totally know the story. He went on tour, to follow Bob Dylan on the Rolling Thunder review. Where he was when we were in diapers. And, you know, my mom was a single mom, and he was he was roaming around chasing, chasing his hero, Bob Dylan.

Kate Shepherd
Yeah, I want to go back to something you said a minute ago about how you know you were you kind of had to do music in secret because of this, you know, presence of your brother and his gift and, and then I just sort of think about, like, what you did go on to create when you found it and created the bigger Tanya's. And what was that? Like? Like? What is because that's not just carving out a little space for yourself? You created something humongous?

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Yeah, I mean, I think that that I was so driven, not to be successful, but to probably just pursue this, this identity that connected me to my father, I think. And I didn't know, you know, it wasn't like my parents weren't like, you should go to music school. Absolutely not. There was nothing like that there was no no particular sort of guidance. So it was, it was I was kind of on my own, with this ambition and this drive to find other people who were like me, that's so much what it was about, was making that connection with somebody who was because, you know, when you, I don't know, if you had this experience as a child, but since for me, I sort of felt like an alien in my, in my

Unknown Speaker
home a lot. And a, I mean, I love my parents, I love even my stepfather who was so difficult. I, I just often felt like, this was not the life for me, that there was going to be this.

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
I don't know, this self portrait album with all these characters, card games, guitars, somehow I knew it was out there and I was gonna go find it. And but you know, I had aunts and uncles who were coming over and playing piano and singing Elton John songs. And so it wasn't like, there was no one in my life that was into the kind of music that I was into there was but not in a, in a kind of no peers. I had no real, no real peers, my sister for sure. She and I sang a lot together and, you know, explored, we loved all the same music, and we had a little band together early on. But yeah, I was I was very almost tunnel vision driven to go and meet people and learn from them. And I think I had this over inflated sense of being good or something, which is so funny, because I had this friend who was getting into recording and he wanted to record me because I was writing songs. And I didn't know how terrible they were, until he recorded me. And then I had these recordings. And I was like, Oh, my God, these are terrible songs. These are terrible. But it didn't stop me. I kept going and I got you know, I got a van and I hit the road. And I drove to Texas, to this festival and met all these songwriters and suddenly realized there was this whole world that I could exist in somehow I just had to get better and figure it out and learn my instrument. And yeah, and then I just, I think I just was really partly being so driven and so like, tunnel vision about my path. I was I think I was just aggressively hunting, creativity or that intelligence or whatever I was. I people are like, oh, you know, this, this kind of when we talk about people who are creatively blocked or don't feel like they're creative or or whatever, and there's, there's always talk about inspiration like inspiration. It's a matter of inspiration and I was thinking about that in advance of this talk, like, what is inspiration? And why do we have this feeling like, we need to wait for inspiration? Isn't inspiration waiting for us? Like, you know, like, what if it's the other way around? And so, yeah, I was running around, trying to connect with it, knowing it was out there somewhere and finding my way finding my

Kate Shepherd
path. And have you found in your relationship with inspiration? Because I, I find that almost a little bit like a dance, you know, like, you kind of find it, and then it's like, it's quite, it's almost like now going over here. And if it doesn't just give itself to you, right? Like, you kind of have to find it well, and what has that been, like, for you your relationship with with that inspiration?

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Um, hi. Think you have to be available to it? I think. So. When I left home as a teenager, and I had all this ambition and drive, I also thought, Oh, well, I'm, I guess I should probably go to school, you know, post secondary education, I didn't really know anything about that. Didn't know anybody who had done that, really, my parents were not people with degrees. So I went to Capilouto college. And I lasted, I think, one semester, because I really found that the process of writing essays, and I was taking a lot of English classes, because I wanted to write, but I found the process of analysis to be kind of a killer for my creative aspirations. And I there was such a disconnect there. So that, okay, this is not what this is not helping me, this is not what I want. I mean, college, university is hard, like, you know, it just is no one told me that, you know, I wasn't really prepared for that. But, and I was, you know, as a kid, I was impulsive. And I thought, this is kind of, I just had the sense that I needed, I needed to protect something, my drive to write and to sing, and whatever that was, you know, going into work of literature and trying to analyze everything about it was the opposite of what I wanted, which was an open, available. sense that I'm just here to, like, learn, I don't want to be an authority, I'm just open, teach me whatever it is universe, like, just not researching, just searching. And then also finding the things that I that I loved, that helped me like that record, Bob Dylan self portrait. And recognizing that there is, in whatever practice, creative practice writing, painting, whatever, you don't exist alone, you're part of a lineage. And there's a story there, there's a history there, there's like people who also were people who didn't know what they were doing. And we're trying to search and find, but there's kind of this sense of, of a tree, I guess, and, and branches, and that you got to find your way to that, that tree and recognize that you're, you're part of a lineage, you're stepping into a world where other people have expertise. And so I was really, really aware of that. And I was looking for those people. And I wanted to study them, and I wanted to imitate them. But I also really wanted to figure out how they got to the place where they made the thing that spoke to me. So that Bob Dylan record, kind of set me on this path of looking, trying to figure out his his the lineage that he was a part of trying to figure out like, what his thinking was, what his process was, who were his sources, what was his inspiration? And then who was that person's inspiration like Bob Dylan, heavily influenced by Woody Guthrie. But where did Woody Guthrie get his influence from? So I was always looking back and searching and trying to connect because I needed to know that I was I needed to feel connected to this. I mean, I could just keep going back and back and back and back. And maybe at some point, I would lose interest but it would always end up in forming my own process. So going back to being in cap college and trying to analyze literature, but it wasn't really being taught anything about that writer, or like, where they came from, or where the store like, I always wanted to know, what was the soil that this plant grew in? Like, who nourished that soil? Like, where did this garden come from?

Kate Shepherd
What is the thread that connects? Because it because I feel like, at some point, you may, if you kept going back, you may have realized, Oh, this is just infinite, like there's no. So there's got to be another way of finding out like, what is the thing that weaves all these all these souls together? And what is that? Did you have you come across that? Have you found out what the common thread is? Or What the

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Oh, I just think there's so many threads, it's like a, it's like, you know, I sort of when I think about like going back, I kind of like draw a line with my hand. But really, there's so many branches. And I really think that the human voice. And the the, the idea of telling stories is the source of all this, this kind of like community and that we're all interconnected. So there's a lineage, but it's, it's part of this really incredible tapestry. I have this other talking about a garden. And it's got me thinking about this, this story. I had this I had this plot in my local community garden. And I had a terrible I guess, problem with blackberries, you know how blackberries are? Yeah, right. Like, they just take over everything. So I really wanted to dig out this, this Blackberry. And I spent days with the shovel like hacking away, I found the sort of like mother

Kate Shepherd
route, or so I thought, Oh, I like

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
dug this huge hole around it. And I was hacking and I finally pulled it out. And I thought, oh, man, that's it, like I, I got rid of it, you know how horrible but I needed to because I needed to plant some things that could grow and have their own space and light to do so. But when I pulled up this, this giant root, it had so many I realized I was like God, these these shoes, they're probably connected to every single BlackBerry plant in this whole city. Like, it's all they're just like, making connections or the forest, you know, all these trees with all these roots. So, again, I think it comes back to that idea of this intelligence, this source that we can just kind of connect to that wants to connect with us. This waiting for us, and everybody is available to everybody, you know, so whatever, form or medium or, you know, whichever way you choose to interact with it, it doesn't even have to be art. You know, it can be food or, or telling a story or whatever it is that you is creative work for you. I think is is that but yeah, for me, I think there's something about the human voice singing and telling stories. And when the bigger Tanya started. One of the I mean, it was I met Freezy tree planting because that was how I was supporting myself as I was trying to learn to be a musician. And I met her literally like we were out on the block. And I was always singing while I was working. And I always felt kind of like alone in this. You know, I was this weirdo who was singing all the time and always had my guitar and so I was pestering people with my songs. And then I heard this other person singing over the over the hill. And I planted my way over there and it was crazy. And she was singing this Aretha Franklin song. Well, actually, I think it's an old blue song. I'd rather drink muddy water and sleep out in a hollow log. And I was like, Oh my God, there's a person who's like me who's connecting to the same source as me. So we got to know each other and became friends and then eventually down the road became musical collaborators.

Kate Shepherd
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Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
It's funny because I think, you know, a lot of art is so solitary, right, a lot of creative work is so solitary. And for me, it's, it's always been pretty collaborative. I always like, that's the thing about being a musician, you're always working with other people.

Kate Shepherd
Well, and that's one of the things I've really wanted to dig into with you. Because I mean, I'm a painter, and a jeweler. And those are really, I mean, you can collaborate for sure. But really, those are pretty solitary activities. And the idea of collaborating with other people kind of scares me. I was it was even painting last night in the studio with my nine year old and my seven year old, and we were on this big, big canvas, and I had ideas of where I wanted it to go. But then they wanted to paint with me, and it just did not at all, and they painted over stuff that I loved. And like it was just this. And at one point, my son said, Mom, I get why it's important for us to work together this way. And I said, Oh, tell me and he said, well, because, you know, I, I realized that it's, it's nice for me to get my way. It's nice for me, for me to make something that looks the way I want it to look. But I actually have more fun when I'm doing it with you. And I was like, Whoa, is that? So? I mean, is that kind of what you're? What do you get out of collaborating? Because I know that it's I know, there are challenges, I know, you probably had challenges, in that you had this incredible musical chemistry with with these people in this thing that you created. But there's got to be challenges and like, what are the what's the most amazing thing about collaborating? And what is the hardest part about it?

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Yeah, there are definitely a lot of challenges, because everybody has an ego. You know, and especially when you're young, I think you don't quite know how to handle that. And so there can be, you know, a lot of just conflicting needs, and egos and intentions and motivations. So yeah, you have to kind of my approach is probably really different now to collaborating than it was then, which was, oh my god, we're all here to have fun, let's all do this, it's all going to be so amazing, oh my God, and then there'd be some kind of big blow up or fight and it would be totally devastated and be drama and whatever. And now I think I I'm kind of much more careful and respectful of what we're, what we're doing and who we are, and that everybody has their own experience, and is going through their own thing. And so you have to respect that. And I think so collaborating can be like this incredible magic. Like, it didn't matter, whatever drama was happening in my band, like once we started, once we put that down and actually just started working, that the creative thing would take over. And I always understood that we were all of us, there was something better that would come forth when we worked together, collect because we all had something beautiful to to add. So I think there's this idea of kind of the way that nature loves diversity. I feel like creativity does too. You know, so there's this feeling of honoring all the difference that that comes in, and whatever way it expresses itself, honoring that. At the same time, if someone's painting over something that you just really like, it's always this dance between being really attached and then letting go right. Like, it's kind of like, like, Oh my God, you've just ruined my song or, or whatever it is. Yeah, but I just find like, I'm just so I into what other people are doing. And I want to learn from them all the time. And I love singing harmony, I grew up singing harmony, I just feel like there's something larger, like it's that what's that saying? You know, it's something greater than the sum, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That's how I always feel when I'm working with other musicians that there's this magic that builds and there's something larger than what each individual person, you know, if you add up, you've got four people in a band or whatever, and you end up with something that's so much bigger than four people's individual contributions. So that's the magic of collaboration. Yeah, you know, when I write songs with other people, I always feel like there's this kind of you can go in when you when you collaborate with someone, if you have a songwriting session or whatever, where you you're like, Well, you know, I've I've written all this stuff and I go Go into the writing room, that that that's a thing in my life but and I've got all this stuff or you go in with absolutely nothing. And I like to go in with absolutely nothing, because that's how I feel when I'm writing songs all the time, I don't know what I'm doing, I have absolutely nothing. I am totally driving blind here. And whether I'm alone or with another person, it always feels like that. So I love that collaboration, when you're both like, Oh, God, I don't know what I'm doing. The other person who you think is so professional, and, you know, prolific or gifted, they're like, I don't know what I'm doing either. And then you just start working, and can come up with something or not, you can be really stupid together, you can write terrible things together. I love that about the people that I collaborate with. It's really, it's really a nice kind of space to be stupid together, be beginners together,

Kate Shepherd
and see what happens. So there's this risk thing, that's great. Yeah, that's so much because I feel like so often, in any part of our lives, it's very easy to put someone up on a pedestal, or down in a pit, you know, whatever, depending on your mood and where you're at with things. And what I'm noticing is, whenever we do that, we actually miss all the good, juicy stuff that is available with like, what is like the what isness of the situation, you miss it when you do that? And so going in? Did you have to practice that? Or does that? Did you? Did you just kind of come into the world with that ability? Or did you have to kind of hone that?

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Um, I think, Hey, I don't know, I think I maybe it has to do with being a twin, you know, that I've practiced being, you know, kind of entwined with somebody since before I was born like this sharing this idea of where we're different, but we're the same. And wherever you're at, like, that's maybe a different place than wherever I'm at. But it's no better or worse. I mean, yeah, my sister and I are always trying to figure out who's better, you know, more mature and smarter five year, whatever. extremely competitive. So but yeah, I don't know, I've just so always, I just feel like I know nothing. I always feel like I know absolutely nothing. And I'm always surprised when people are like, Oh, I really like your, your music. I'm like, Oh, I yeah, I made that. That's yeah, I did that. I don't know where that came from. But I did that. So it's so when I meet people who I really admire or look up to creatively, and then they say things like that, where they're like, Oh, God, you know that, that thing? I don't know what I'm doing. I'm always like, yes. We're all just beginners here. We're all just every time we're trying to make something, it's it's new. I don't think anybody ever feels like,

you know, they've mastered their craft. I don't know, at least I don't know anybody who feels that way.

Kate Shepherd
Well, and I think the things that we create from that place of beginner's mind and openness and not knowing and curiosity, like that, all those things are the opening that creativity needs to come through us to create the thing that makes us go, Ah, I didn't do that. But everybody loves it. And there's a resonance or a transmission or what I don't know what you want to call it. In those things that we create from that magical place that you can, it's clear the whole world responds to it, because we're all the same energy, right? We're all like, Oh, you made it from that place. Oh, great. I love that too. I want to go to that like, almost like, like moths to that light of like, we want to. But I wanted to go back to something you you said a couple minutes ago about just this intelligence, and it's, you know, trying to tell stories, and it's trying to when I think about creativity, and then the intelligence that it is, and when we're even as we're talking about in this moment, it feels like a being in the room with us. It feels like it has a personality and it feels like it has an intention and a desire. And it's like I'm doing that. What do you think it's trying to do? Ultimately, what is it trying to do?

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
I think it needs us to give it form. I think it's just trying to exist, it's trying to, I feel like it's Yeah, I feel that too, that it's in the room, that it's a presence and it's asking us to help it live like it's, it isn't. So it's this kind of exchange, you know where It's like, Yeah, please, please accept me and love me and make something of me, so that I can keep living so that I can stay alive. You know, whatever that thing is. You talked about hearing that voice. When I think when we were when we were talking earlier, maybe before the interview started, you talked about hearing a voice, kind of telling you what you were going to be doing next. And I don't know, like, where that voice comes from. I've heard that voice too. Like, I've, I've that song that that voice has kind of dictated lyrics to me. Yeah, so I feel like, if you are available, if you show that thing that you're available to them, it will celebrate you, and it will accept you and it will help you. I mean, I've sat down at the piano and had absolutely nothing like nothing, but I just start playing. And then a song will just come. Like it's, it's, it's like, I'm making myself available. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm hitting these notes. This sounds good to me. And it's, it's not always like this. This is not my process. Like it's not like I'm always just, but I believe somehow I have this need to make something to make something like I just have this. It's medicine for me. So I also feel like that presence is it's medicine for them, too. It's actually giving that intelligence form.

Kate Shepherd
What is your process? I mean, that sounds like a pretty great process right there. But you said that's not necessarily my process. What is

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
often my it's often my process is just sitting down with my instrument and just I don't know, like I, I wouldn't say, I'm not very disciplined I wish I was. But what I am, I think is, is I try to remain available. I also am a terrible procrastinator, and I do make myself very busy a lot. And that's, that's not being a friend to that creative intelligence. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, there's something about a physical aspect. Like I never, I don't typically just write a song, like just writing lyrics. In a book, it helps me when I'm playing music at the same time when I'm playing an instrument, or when I'm walking, like I'll often sing while I'm walking. Or often when I'm waking up in the morning. I'll just start making a song and start singing it to my wonderful partner. Luckily, he's into that and he'll join in. But yeah, I'm just always kind of having fun with making stuff up. So and you think

Kate Shepherd
and you feel when when the image I'm having is almost like a storm gathering of data that feels like the wrong analogy, because it's not necessarily a storm. But can you feel an energy when there's like you're tapping into something? Yeah. Okay,

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
what does that feel like? For sure, it feels like you've stepped onto a train, you know, like, you were kind of like, maybe like half in half out. And then when that I guess it's that flow state people talk about. We're all of a sudden, it's hard to sometimes even keep up because it can be moving so fast. Like, it can just be like, Oh, if that happens to me, I'll it'll I have to just try to write as fast as I can to write down the lyrics and not forget them. Or, yeah, keep up with that. So yeah, it feels feels like all of a sudden. It's moving. You got to keep up with it.

Kate Shepherd
Does it ever hit you out of nowhere? Or like you're just like at the grocery store and you're like, Oh, God, I need a pen

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
it's so funny, I think. I think I think it does hit me out of nowhere. It's whether or not I'm going to be available to it. Like when this the song The littlest birds, the bigger Tanya's that song was kind of like that

I love so dearly. I love you so clearly. As I was walking through my neighborhood, I was actually on my way to the Greyhound station to get on a bus to go down to the states and travel to New Orleans. I was just kind of like restless, wandering person. For a long time, I didn't really, I wasn't very grounded, I didn't really know how to live anywhere. Really. I was just always on the move. And and there was it was bothering me it was starting to. I was like, why can't I just stay somewhere and be like everybody else and build community? Why am I always leaving? Why do I always have to move around, I feel disconnected. And so I was kind of thinking about that, as I was walking this loneliness is kind of a lonely feeling of like being this hobo person. And I stopped in front of this, this little shrub, this, this bush in Strathcona neighborhood where I lived in East Vancouver. And it was full of birds. But I didn't really notice at first, you know, when you see a bush and then you realize it's kind of moving and it's full of birds. So that kind of happened to me, I was looked at this bush and then all of a sudden, I realized it was just totally alive with all these little, these little birds and they were singing. And I was watching it just very moved by this just, I don't know, I don't know why it felt so special in that moment, that connection with these these birds. But at that moment is when it was like somebody was talking to me. And they said into my ear. The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs. And I was like, Oh, who was that, like, who said that? Like, it felt like somebody was right next to me. And they said that to me into my ear. And I started walking, cut that is so true. Whatever that means I don't really know what that means. But it can mean a lot of different things. And I started walking. And as I was walking the rhythm of I started sort of like saying that over and over and over again and singing it. And then I got on the bus. And then I just all these lyrics just poured out like tons and tons of verses to this song, which ended up not becoming the song, most of that stuff was thrown out. And the song became a different kind of the same song, but a lot less of fewer lyrics than that. But it was that thing of like this gift that I was given this message, whatever it was, and I was available to it. And something about walking and being embodied. And I had also been spending a lot of time learning, like listening to and trying to learn West African guitar. So I was like really, really in that space rhythmically. So that song is very much has that feeling. But it's also a walking feeling. It's a walking song. Like it's so there's there's there's something mysterious to me about where that voice came from and how I was available and how am I all my little suffering that I was experiencing of like, why am I like this somehow was able to be transformed into something that was alive and positive and healing for me and my friend Jolie who who helped she, I played her the song I got on the bus and I took the bus to Eugene, Oregon. And she I think she met me there. I can't remember exactly, but I played her the song. And then she went away, I went to New Orleans, and she went away and she kind of like took out some of the lyrics. When we met together in Vancouver. A few weeks later, she played me the song and she had taken out a lot of the lyrics and then we rewrote some of the other lyrics together and it kind of became this living this living thing that was kind of just a story that that both of us somehow it kind of worked through both of us.

Kate Shepherd
It came alive through both of us won't have those words come to mean to you. What do you one of the things I wanted to ask you was and it seems like you've already answered it for me but was like what what is maybe the lyric that has come through that has felt the most meaningful and I wrote down what my what mine was of yours. And it's actually this that we're talking about. But I wondered what it meant to you like, what, what? Because you said a minute ago that it can mean so many things. And what do you think that has been for you in those words?

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
I think one of the main things that's kind of like, been true for me over the years is that you can be quiet, and you can be, take your time with things, and you don't have to be the loudest voice, or the fastest runner, or the most successful person or any of those things, and you're still really valuable, like you're still, whatever you have have to offer. It's not about being big, and loud, and showy. And, you know, if that's not, I don't know, there's something about that, for me, like the littlest spurts. It's not about playing small. It's not about like, not being a powerful person, it's just about, it's like, you know, everybody's is valuable, everybody has something to offer. And our world and our culture tends to kind of tell us this lie, that the big and the rich and the glamorous, or somehow greater, better, whatever. And so it's definitely that, that meaning of, of being humble, and you know, being with your people, and understanding that you are just a valuable person, a friend of mine, a friend of Jolie's his interpretation of the song was poor people make the best art. And I think there's something to that to that. I don't know if that's true. But there's something about like, create the creative aspect of what that means the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs is, is you do it for yourself, and you do it for your community? Maybe you do it for maybe your family, or, or whatever, you don't do it for fame, or riches or glory, or I don't know, what does it mean to you.

Kate Shepherd
mean, I think you know, as a painter, I, I am really aware of how even a very small gesture on a large canvas can convey so much, you know, you could have five foot by four foot canvas, and take one little paintbrush with some black paint on it and do an upward stroke and convey elation, joy, like you can have, you can feel something in that gesture, and it's teeny tiny, I was showing my kids the other day, we actually paint these, I have these little gratitude birds,

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
I've developed them on your Instagram, they're so beautiful.

Kate Shepherd
Thank you. Well, they, they were sort of an answer to like, How can I create art in a tiny way as I'm putting all of this energy into this podcast, and then also still be selling things to support the podcast. So that's kind of where they came from. But they're little, they're like four and a half by four and a half little pieces of paper. And there's just like very simple watercolor birds on them. And I was showing the kids how, with just one little like, the tiniest micron marker with like, it's like the width of a hair, right? You can, you can put a line on the beak of this bird, and totally change his vibe. It's like now that is a really grumpy bird. or Now that's a really heavy bird. And I think, to me that lyric is so much of what you're saying, but also just like, you don't, you don't have to be the biggest and the loudest, and the boldest and the to to even share your Your gift and your message. And you're and you're even just what's your energy, like you can just be content to be the bird with the in the bush. And I mean, those tiny little birds, they were little and they were small, and they spoke to you and look what they created. And if they were little birds. And I mean, it means it's Yeah, go ahead.

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
We, you know, we don't know what's going to matter and what isn't going to matter. And we sometimes get caught up in thinking about that, like thinking well, especially with creativity. There's a lot of, you know, we all have those voices that defeat us that tried to defeat us. And the truth is like it could be that small little line that makes a difference. It could be like you just don't know it's not for you to decide what the outcome is going to be of that mark that you made. Or That song that you say, or whatever it is, you have to just let that go. And, and understand that like that, that little that little mark or that your tiny little contribution, your small voice, whatever it is matters. And, you know, that's I guess that's, yeah, I love that in the visual arts way that those those little small marks they really yeah can totally transform the whole thing.

Kate Shepherd
And just like a person can a person's voice can and, you know, you're saying you do it for your community, you do it for all these things. And as you were saying that I think I realized we were also doing it for that itself, the energy itself that we're talking about that wants us to bring it into life. That's, that's who and what we're doing it for is is like, as I see you, and I allow you to come through me, and this is what you want to do. And I'm going to just sit back and enjoy

Unknown Speaker
the magic of that. Because I think we're all we're doing it for each other. You know, it's Florida, or we're just doing it for ourselves. And that's,

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
that's good, too. I mean, I think that it Yeah, again, like the outcome of who, who will be moved by this? Or who the squirrel, you know, effect or who will enjoy this or whatever. I have no idea. But But yeah, I have to do it for myself, for some reason. Whether it's like a way of just, you know, five year old trying to connect with her father, or, I don't know, or be noticed by my parents. While my brother was playing, you know, piano incredibly, or something, I don't know. Or just, it's or it's just part of being human that is necessary to the experience of being alive, making stuff. What world would we live in? If nobody made made anything? I mean, it's, you can't think of that, because

Kate Shepherd
you can't. But you can't. You can't. Yeah, because it's in everything. You know, it's in everything. Yeah. It's in everything I want. Okay, so I want to tell you something. It has stopped blowing my mind now because it's happened every single episode. You know, I've recorded well into 20 episodes. Now. I pull a little card. From my little angel card deck at the beginning of every show, before I even sit down and talk to you I do I spend about 15 minutes just sort of thinking about like, what, why am I doing this? Am I doing this because I want to have a loud voice and be seeing a beat. No, I'm doing this because I want to talk about creativity. I want to shine a little bit of light on like, this beautiful thing that lives in us so that we can remember it so that we kind of remind myself what I'm doing. And then I pull this card. And I feel like this card comes from every single time I feel like this intelligence is delivering me this card. And the card I pulled for today shows inspiration. Which is so amazing, because when you started talking about inspiration, I was like, Oh, wow, yeah, you're right. So I want to tell you that. And maybe when you go back and you listen to the episode later, you'll be like, cuz, you know, you're in the conversation now. But when you hear it later, like Yeah, it was actually the perfect word for this conversation. And I just want to tell you a

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
wow, map, that's beautiful. And that's it. And I usually connected from the conversation. like,

Kate Shepherd
sound like well, there's, there's a bunch of other ones. I mean, they can all they can all fit in. But I mean, you know, like, adventurer and delight. And of course, you can find your way in the butt every single time. It's the perfect word for the for that guest and that conversation. And I just really do feel like creativity is moving through me. And you and the thing that we're creating here, and it's in service to, because I feel like it's sick of being shoved down. It's sick of it's just like I need it has the way that you have that desire to find your father and find your people and find how to be you don't realize all this stuff. It wants to do that for us too. And I think it's just like, look, I gotta do what I gotta do to get out. And I feel like it's, it's moving through me to have those conversations with you so that we can remember that. And to that end there. There is a question and I honestly can't believe we're where we are. We're at the

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Yeah, we are. Yeah, very quickly. Why don't keep talking?

Kate Shepherd
I would Yes. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely done really done. Yes. Anytime. I want to ask you my billboard question. Did I tell you a big billboard question. I'll say it again. Okay. So I'll say it again, for anybody who's who this happens to be their first episode. If you had a billboard, that every single person in the world who longed to connect with this intelligence Since we're talking about or even just their creativity, or whatever they want to call it, for whatever reason believes, well, that's not really my thing. I don't really have that in me. But secretly, they really wish that they did. And that reading this billboard from you would get their attention. What would you

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
this is, this is hard, because I feel like there's so many. There's so many kind of long, rambly ideas about this that I've touched on in this in this interview, but I think I would say, you know, make space and time in your life to listen and answer. Answer the call. When you feel like you're getting the call, answer the call. I think that that's I think that that's so important. And I think it's, it's hard to do, especially now we're so busy all the time. And so yeah, making making space, listen to listen. And then yeah, answer the call. Does that make sense?

Kate Shepherd
To the call. I love it so much. Yes, it makes perfect sense. Um, what do you what are you working on right now? That was actually one of the things that I wanted to ask you. And where can people find out more about you? Yeah,

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
I'm looking, I'm actually in in the, I don't want to say a fallow period, because I feel extremely creative right now. But in that I am not so much working towards a creative project of my own. That's not not in that kind of cohesive, like, I'm gonna make a record in the next six months, kind of way I working on this master's degree, which is, can be kind of a Creativity killer. I did end up going back to school after I dropped out. And because I wanted to do some work around music in the context of social history. And kind of, I guess, in a kind of, like folklore kind of a way I, about 10 years ago, a little bit more than 10 years ago, I moved to New York, to take on this job working for a folklorist, and learning and doing projects that had to do with music history in Brooklyn. And cultural history, like funeral traditions, funeral songs, that was there was a big project we did about death and dying. And another project that I worked on about the history of jazz in Brooklyn, this is part of the lineage thing for me is exploring, like, the cultural and community aspects of music. I don't have a band right now. So this is a way for me to connect, I think with this larger community aspect of, of music. So I'm doing a degree, a master's degree. Well, long story short, I long, short story long. That job in New York kind of inspired me to try to do more of that. But I needed to go back to school. To get a degree. If I was going to do more of that work. I was told that by somebody who is a professional in that field. So I decided to do that went back to school, struggled my way through an undergraduate degree, it was extremely hard. I was in two car accidents and had a brain aneurysm throughout that process, and eventually finished my degree, got back into music. Finally, after about five years of recovering from his car accident, and this brain surgery and all this terrible stuff that I went through. And now I'm doing a master's degree in Library Sciences, which seems weird, but it kind of has to do with wanting to work in archives, and not just any archive, but I had this dream that I've had for years that I wanted to work for Smithsonian folkways, which is this music label. I guess that was started in I don't know the 50s by this guy, Moses ash. And now I'm working for Smithsonian folkways. I got into I did this master's degree I got into this master's degree thinking this will help me get that internship at Smithsonian folkways so that I can like dive into this catalog and do some of this work that has to do with in some ways there's a repatriation or is a friend of mine says repatriation element of figuring out who some of the unnamed musicians were, who were recorded and documented by all these folklorists and ethnomusicologists in the 50s, and 60s, and putting their names in the metadata, that's kind of what my job is right now is going into these old recordings, trying to find out who these people were and give them credit. So that's a big thing that I'm working on. Right now.

Kate Shepherd
Wow, there is there's so many more things I want to talk, I feel like I could talk to you for like another three hours. That's fascinating. I really can't wait to learn more about that.

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
Yeah, it's really, it's really amazing. I really encourage you to check out the Smithsonian folkways, archive, Music Archive, or catalog, I

Kate Shepherd
guess. It's all on Spotify, it's on YouTube, or you can go to the Smithsonian folkways website, they have incredible, you know, 1000s and 1000s, of recordings of music from all over the world. So that's what I'm working on. And I love that about I love your I mean, it's come up a few times in this conversation, that there's this natural curiosity that moves through you that wants to find this stuff. And I just, I really appreciate that curiosity and that you're following it. Like, look how well you're following it, and like what you're bringing to life? Yeah, yeah. I love it. I love it, too. Thank you for coming today. Thank you for making the time to hang out with me. And

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
it's been such a pleasure. And I want to just say what a pleasure it is to see your face and also this painting that's behind you. I am assuming as you're painting. Oh, is it your painting?

Kate Shepherd
Thank you. Yeah, it is. And it's, it's huge. It's five by four feet by five feet. And it's if I don't put this here, it's okay. My Kitchen behind me, which is not as nice to look at. And I just I average, I mean, I made it to sell it. It's, I have fallen so in love with it that I think it's just gonna be the official creative genius backdrop for life.

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
It's so beautiful. And it's a musical thing. There's so much music in there. It's just incredible. Yeah,

Kate Shepherd
thank you. I'll, maybe I'll send you a picture of it now. Or I'll put a picture of it up in the shadows of your episode so that you can see what you're talking about. But yeah, it makes me very happy. All these pinks and there's rainbows and stars and flowers and the skyline of the city like it's there's so much in it. Thank you. Thank you.

Sam Parton (The Be Good Tanyas)
I can't wait to hang out with you.

Kate Shepherd
In the weeks after this interview was recorded, Sam and I went on a walk through the sun dappled forest near my home. We talked more about life, creativity, and how much the music industry has changed. With streaming services making it more difficult than ever, for musicians to make a living with their music. I wanted to share some ways you can support Sam and her music. You can find those in the show notes on Kate Shepherd creative.com. To me, Sam story is a beautiful love story, the love of a little girl for her natural born gift, the love of a daughter for her long lost father, and the love of an artist for creativity itself. Sam gave me so many things to think about. And I really appreciated what she said about putting down the projections of how we see others being so much more prolific or professional than us. And when we do that, it can help us to be brave enough to take the risk of looking like we don't know what we're doing. Because from that place of lighthearted silliness, magic usually happens. And as usual, the word I pulled for today's show was perfectly perfect. It was inspiration. I got the truth bumps, when she started talking about inspiration because I pulled the card before we even started talking friends. I think she might be right. What if it is the other way around? What if inspiration is waiting for us? What would be available to you. If you were to approach your creative practice, as though inspiration was already right there waiting for you. And allow yourself to approach creating from a place of truly not knowing anything, and simply waiting to be shown. Make sure you're signed up for my newsletter. I pick a random person from my email list once every month and send them an original piece of my artwork. It's one of my favorite things to do. It takes a lot to put together the show. Please consider supporting me to do it. You can visit patreon.com/creative Genius podcast to find out more. And please keep my jewelry or paintings and especially gratitude birds which keep selling out in mind. Next time you're looking for a treat for yourself or for a loved one. You can find everything I've mentioned on Kate Shepherd creative.com Thank you for being here for opening your heart In for listening, my wish and intention for this show is that it reach into your heart and stir the beautiful thing that lives in there. May you find and unleash your creative genius