We interview Clare Dunn about her life in lockdown, her new EP ‘Honest – A Personal Collection’ and what’s up next.
Hi, how’re you doing?
Good, we’re good. I’m here on the farm and ranch in Colorado, where I grew up, so I’ve been here this whole time with the pandemic and during all of the shutdowns. Even though we’re starting to open up, we’re not in full swing, so I’m like ‘why would I go back to Nashville yet?’
You’ve been so incredibly productive in quarantine, you’ve managed to have a pretty big release. It must have been so different but also a good time to release something this personal?
Well, I think that everyone releasing music right now has that scary feeling. We can’t tour obviously, which is a huge drawback, with everything going on in the world. The deciding factor was the fact that music is an escape, music is what I do and when I want to have a moment and just not think about everything.
It’s a nice moment of escape for your fans, but also for you I bet.
Absolutely. I have a makeshift studio here, working on this EP while I was home and while I was away. Some of the songs were written prior, but the recording process was all done remotely, written and recorded here in Colorado. In some ways it was a unique experience for me because I’d never prepared a body of work not in Nashville, but at the same time I was like ‘well I just sit in my house in Nashville by myself, because I have a studio in my house.’ I sit there by myself most of the time and go into the studio when I need to. What’s the difference?
Everyone talks about songwriting being therapy, but probably writing them now enabled you to really pour into that emotional side?
Yeah, I’ve had a lot go on in my life and I think that this one window into it. I haven’t been the type of artist so far who has written a lot about my life – ‘Honestly’ the title track on this EP is a blistering track of something I went through.
I think that’s one of my favourite tracks on the EP, it did get a layer deeper.
Yeah, there’s a lot of songs on this EP, like ‘Sweet Talk’ which was about a guy in my life and an experience I had. I had never written a song quite that personal. Now, every time I see it I’ll think about this one memory. I still maintain what I want to hear as a listener and I want to hear barn burners, I want to hear songs that make me have a good time, songs that make me want to drive all night.
It does feel like the right project for right now, with the mix of introspective songs and then ones that are more fun. ‘Safe Haven’ was another personal favourite – can you talk a bit about that one?
I had started the song back in February, before it really hit in the States, we were just hearing about it. I started it for another reason and the song in my mind was going to be a whole different topic. When I came home, it was days before the vast majority of us locked down, I got here by the skin of my teeth and I was so grateful for the dumb luck that I was here before all this happened. I was here and I just remember being out on our farm and on the land, I was driving around on a four wheeler and I just remembered that song that I had started. I thought ‘my gosh, I need to finish that,’ I just needed to get it off my chest and I wrote that song because we as humans are going through tumultuous times and we all want a safe haven, whether that’s your family, your friends, a place or a religious belief that you rely on, all of that seemed to be right for the moment.
Do you feel like it’s been a bit full circle that you started your journey in Colorado and now you’re back there?
Yeah, I hadn’t thought of it like that honestly, but it does, this is and was the safe haven that helped nurture me. When I was a kid, I didn’t know how to write music, I didn’t know how to play guitar, I didn’t know that I wanted all those things but then when I moved to Nashville, I thought ‘gosh, I need to know how to make music physically.’
Do you feel like Nashville as a town has shaped your music then?
I had a wild imagination and I still do and that’s where my creativity comes from, what Nashville taught me how to do was to learn the trade, learn the skillset to get what’s in my heart and head into a song. The vision was always there for my music and I knew what I wanted it to sound like and what I wanted to say, coming from nothing I just had stuff that I wanted to say. Nashville is the best place, the best studios, the best musicians and I owe it all to those people – every time I was starting out, or I was around a session player, I’d learn something. It absolutely taught me how to make music.
You’ve always been so involved in every aspect of your music, the production, the song-writing. Has that always been important to you, to be involved in the whole process?
I don’t know why it’s always been important to me, I’ve just always wanted to. I am a nerd, I’m interested in all that stuff and why something sounds the way it is, I’ve always been obsessed with sounds. It would take me twenty times to listen to a song to understand the words, because I was so obsessed with the sound of a record. I remember the first time I heard Keith Richards play guitar I was mind blown because he plays like a drummer. I don’t know why I’ve always wanted to be involved in that but yeah I think for me personally, it’s important to give a body of work to my fans that they know is part of the whole package with me, it all means so much to me, it’s just always been that way. I have had some experiences that have reinforced that for me, I’ve gone in and worked with some producers and I think because I started out being so involved, the music was never right and just wasn’t me. Those experiences were great learning tools for me. Sometimes I wish that it had worked out, as it would be way less work for me.
‘More’ was such a pivotal moment for you and your music, did you think that that song would be what it was?
Honestly, I had no idea. I walked out of the studio the day we wrote it and it was a rainy day in Nashville and I had twelve other things I was on the way to go and do. I thought yeah we wrote a good song, but I remember thinking it’s another good song that nothing will happen with. That song has opened a lot of doors for me, it’s been so unexpected but I am so grateful.
Final Few
Would you rather give up songwriting or performing?
Ah, daggers! I’d rather give up songwriting, there’s a million great songs out there I could sing.
What record would you take to a desert island?
Ooh, Rolling Stone’s ‘Exile on Main Street.’
If there was a biopic written about your life, what would be the opening track?
That’s a tough one, probably any Tina Turner song.
Complete the sentence…
Music is… freedom.
Country music is…. real.
Clare Dunn is… genuine.
