We interview LA-based singer-songwriter GoldFord about his new single ‘Roots’ and his forthcoming EP.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with me! How has LA been during this time – have you managed to get into the studio much?
It’s been weird, there’s been a select group of people that we’ve kind of just had an understanding and these three or four people just have the same kind of quarantining etiquette if you will. There’s a circle of trust and then there’s certain things that will require you to get a test to have a write or studio session, but otherwise it’s been fine. It’s been nice being able to hike and be outside though.
It must feel like forever ago now but you released ‘Roots’ back in December, which is so stunning and soulful. Can you talk a bit about that track?
One of my good friends, AG – I wrote ‘Walk With Me’ with her. We’re both huge fans of soul music, we just grew up listening to MoTown and classic soul. I think it was a couple days prior to writing ‘Walk With Me’ and she had recently moved. I’ve lived in Nashville and Chicago and LA and Austin and I’ve kind of moved around, but LA is the first place that’s felt like home and I’m going to be here for a while. That was kind of what ‘Roots’ was about, this time to put roots down.
How do you think that musical journey has affected you then, do you think you’ve picked up something from every place you’ve lived in?
Absolutely. I mean most of the other places that I’ve lived – I grew up in St Louis but I’ve lived in Kansas and Chicago and Austin, Texas and Nashville – and I think that they have such incredible personality. Nashville is songwriting school, everyone is writing ten times a week and it’s all about the craft of writing songs and the dedication and the level of talent is amazing. That was where I went from writing a handful of songs a year to writing five times a week.
So how long have you now been in LA for? Has it changed your production and sound being there?
Totally, Nashville is known for the lyricists and LA is known for pushing the boundaries. I think that’s a really exciting thing and it’s been very helpful. You can lose yourself in it a little bit because there’s so many places to go with it. I think that when I first got to LA, I was writing songs for other artists and having other artists in session and stuff. You can kind of get lost in the soundscape and what you’re capable of doing. I’ve definitely loved this piece and that piece and evolved along the way.
You almost have to have a very strong sense of self and who you are as an artist even before you go to LA.
I think that if you listen to my older music and along the way it’s evolved for sure. Quarantine has really allowed me to sit and dial into that one thing and answer ‘what do you really sound like.’ Not having all these other things occupy my attention – it’s not a bad thing that they were – but it’s really allowed me to focus and make three albums over the course of this quarantine that are really cohesive and consistent.
Just a casual three albums…. Do you think that your writing style and what you want to say with your music has also evolved during quarantine?
I think it’s got a little more focussed. I create the best when I’m in emotional extremes, one way or the other – either my heart just got shattered or I lost somebody or the other side. I think the most rewarding period of music – the sixties and ‘What’s Going On,’ the government and politics – you had such incredible music coming out. This has been a very rewarding scenario to be locked in your house to create with – the riots were happening a mile from my house so we were in that.
‘Walk With Me’ was such a powerful track and the message was so needed – was that something you wrote early on in the pandemic?
It was far enough into the pandemic, everything was shutting down, there were mixed messages – wear a mask, don’t wear a mask, wipe your groceries, don’t wipe down your groceries. It was crazy, LA had no cars, we were driving to work with AG – she has a son so was freaking out about him being homeschooled – and we thought ‘ok what do we need to hear in this moment.’ The first three lines just came out and it just fell out.
You’ve got an EP in the works, do you know yet what that’s going to look like?
Yeah so the first EP is called Summertime and it is a little darker than ‘Walk With Me.’ I think it’s still hopeful and it has uplifting notes behind it but it talks about pretty serious stuff. I’m really excited about that and then there’s two more EPs to follow.
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today and we’re so excited to hear the new music coming later in the year!
