Essential 8: Karen Craigie

Courtesy of the Artist

Originating from Sydney, international award-winning songwriter Karen Craigie has been writing, recording and singing since she was a child, releasing singles and albums under numerous monikers, and writing and co-writing songs for her own catalogue as well as a number of other artists. 

On November 30th, Karen will release her third LP and the first under her own name through Buttercup Records Australia.  A powerful combination of cleverly crafted lyrics and heartfelt vocals, Mountains of Gold is delivered with the signature production of Golden Guitar-winning producer Matt Fell, with each song telling a unique story and drawing on a range of influences spanning country, pop and rock.
 
Karen reflects “This record was born in such a creative and warm environment. I had these insanely talented musicians and songwriters all around me whilst I was recording. Matt has an incredible collection of talented musicians and songwriters- Josh Schuberth, Amber Rae Slade, Michael Carpenter - all just hanging out and very willing to help.” 
 
Ahead of the release, Karen kindly took the time to answer her Essential 8 where she shares the story behind "So Long," discusses the album's artwork, songwriting, Australian country artists, and much more.

Please choose one song and tell the story behind it.
The second single – So Long, from my new album was inspired by the fictional relationship between Tim Riggins and Lyla Garrity on the TV show Friday Night Lights. I was re-watching that series whilst I was writing the album and I was under a little bit of pressure to get songs written and finished in time to go into the studio. I was taking a walk along the canal near my home and I had Tim and Lyla floating around in my head and this song just came out almost fully formed as though a radio switched on in my head and the song was playing. It is certainly influenced by personal experience and really isn’t about Tim and Lyla specifically but their dramatic, doomed and very bitter-sweet affair was certainly the trigger for the song. It is one of my favorite songs that I have written.

Can you please share the story behind your album’s artwork.
I have been a fan of the work of a fantastic artist based in Melbourne, Australia – Natalie Ex. She is a beautiful illustrator and her work is a quirky mix of cartoon, Japanese-influenced manga and very minimalist black and white line drawings. She created some family portraits for me which hang in the entry hall of my home. I love them so much I thought at the time that it would be great to get her to do my album art work. I sent her some of the music and she storyboarded some sketches. We settled with an image that she perfected into the lovely artwork of the album. In the limited-edition vinyl version of my album (via Buttercup Records Australia) I have even incorporated the original black and white portrait she did for me as part of my family portraiture. It appears on the lyrics insert and is a great finishing touch to the overall album art.

When/where do you do your best writing?
​For a long as I have been writing songs, they have always come to me whilst I was doing something else. Often whilst I am driving, or working and very often in the early hours when I was trying to sleep. I have attempted a few times to sit down and write but it doesn’t work for me. Even when I am co-writing, I need to hear what is done and then go about my business until the rest of the song comes to me. This package of songs for the album was an entirely different experience altogether. I had a whole lot of songs and had a date that I had to go into the studio well in advance of the recording actually happening. As the date got closer I changed my mind about almost every song and suddenly felt that I had no songs ready to record. I needed at least 6 more. I was really determined to get it done and the pressure of the deadline worked well. I wrote half of the songs on the album in the space of about 5 days whilst taking long walks. The melody and some of the lyrics came on those walks. I would finish the songs at home and ended up finalizing them properly in the studio.

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What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
I have been writing songs now since I was in High School and making money from songwriting for almost 20 years. I have also worked in the music industry for record labels, as a tour manager, publicist, venue booker, for music press, in artist management and as an artist myself. The thing to remind yourself of is that you don’t need to be a Lady Gaga or a Steve Mac to have a successful and long career in music. There are so many avenues today for your music to feature, and so many people working away who have local success or online success, or success behind-the-scenes. Start somewhere and don’t be discouraged by what everyone else is doing. Also, don’t be afraid to just do it yourself. You can actually make more progress that way.  There is absolutely a space for you to be in the music industry. Just get it done, even if it takes some time to do it.

What do you consider to be your biggest struggle so far?
Getting this album out has been quite a struggle simply because I have had a lot going on. I recorded it a couple of years ago and was really motivated to get it finalized. Then I got sidetracked working on other projects and came back to it from time to time. I finished pieces of it incrementally such as getting the artwork done and the mastering done and time was dragging on. I had wanted to have it out sooner but things kept getting in the way and it started to feel like it was never going to happen. My record label in Australia – Buttercup Records, was the driver and motivation for making 2018 the year to finally get the album out. Having that little bit of pressure to make it happen was really useful.

Have you met any of your heroes? If so, how did it go?
I worked in the music industry for quite a few years both in Australia and overseas. I was very lucky to meet some amazing artists and songwriters, and musical people who were very inspiring to me and were heroes of mine in some way. I have always loved to sing and developed this awful habit whenever I was around any artist. I would catch myself singing their songs! I didn’t even know I was doing it. It made a lot of people smile but it really interfered with my ability to enjoy meeting people. I would try to distract my brain but still sometimes I would catch myself (or worse, the artist would catch me) singing one of their tunes.

Is there a recent release you cannot stop listening to?
I have taken to listening to the entire back catalogue of Lord Huron. I really love the song writing and the lead singer, Ben Schneider has a very interesting voice. But seeing as this is my first country album I have also been making a proper effort to listen to a whole lot of Australian country music artists, with a focus on some of the independent artists. There is a really distinct sound to Australian production and to Aus country music and so much good music out there! I am also a big fan of Baker Boy. He is a Yolngu hip-hop artist from the Northern Territory of Australia. His song Black Magic is one of my favourite Australian-released songs of 2018.

If you weren’t a musician/songwriter where would we find you?
The fact that I am a songwriter and occasional recording artist, and not much of a performer has meant that I have had the opportunity to run down lots of different paths simultaneously.  Songwriting has been my most consistent job and it fits nicely alongside all of the other things I have been interested in over the years. I started songwriting before I started working, then kept it as I moved overseas to work in different places and in different fields. Sometimes in takes a front seat whilst I am preparing for an album or developing songs for other artists, other times it takes a back seat and I just write songs when they come to me. This year, I have spent a lot of time working this album release but I also founded and have run a charity in Australia for the past 5 years. This is work that is also very important to me. It is never going to be one or the other. Where you would find me is doing everything I love simultaneously.

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​In her other professional life Karen is what she calls a “professional do-gooder”- founding and running the Australian Charity - Prosper (Project Australia), chairing the boards and committees of multiple international organisations (Welcome To My Yard, Prosper Children’s Village) for street kids, leading the fundraising program for her son’s school, fostering more than 20 children over 6 years and being a mum to her 10 year old co-writer.