Part of Dec 2010 by Groovey

Interview with Doug Haywood

Known as one the most prominent “side men” in the music business Doug Haywood has performed with many of rocks well known radio icons over a career spanning 4 decades so far. These days he has changed his job description from being Jackson Brownes, Warren Zevons, or Wille Nelsons “side man” on bass, keys, or background vocals to being the dude out front. He is currently working on his latest solo album, is publishing fictional exploits based on his adventures in the business, and runs a recording studio in Lafayette, Colorado.

Known as one the most prominent “side men” in the music business Doug Haywood has performed with many of rocks well known radio icons over a career spanning four decades so far. These days he has changed his job description from being Jackson Brownes, Warren Zevons, or Wille Nelsons “side man” on bass, keys, or background vocals to being the dude out front. He is currently working on his latest solo album, is publishing fictional exploits based on his adventures in the business, and runs a recording studio in Lafayette, Colorado.

DN: Tell me about the music youre writing these days?

DH: You know, Im happy with the writing thats going on. I wasnt like an early prodigy or anything like that. Jackson Browne was writing great songs when he was 17 and 18. I was writing drivel when I was that age. (Laughs.)But better late than never. Ive been caught in the process of becoming happy with my writing over the last 15 years or so and as is so often the case in music, at least for me, its about simplifying and getting more specific. The nature of poetry is for it not to be like an instruction manual but still you can get so flowery that nobody will ever know what the hell youre getting at. So anyway Im happy with what I have been writing lately and I co-wrote an entire album with a friend of mine in Phoenix named Keith Curtis. That album is in the process of being released but its on CD Baby right now.

DN: Are you working on another solo album as well

DH: Yeah I am. I predict it will be out April or May. That and 3 bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. (Laughs) I mean I dont know thats, just a guess. So anyway I have really been enjoying this band with Daniel Jones playing steel guitar. People come in here and there a four piece band and theres a pedal steel playing on everything and were not playing country music. I think hes a genius musician and he just happens to play pedal steel and that happens to be one of my favorite instruments. I have always believed that it should be used in other kinds of music. Its a great jazz instrument for example. But for this album Im playing more piano. Im a more accomplished guitar player but I love to write on the piano and I love to play very simple what we used to call singer/songwriter piano. You know, the kind that song writers play.(Laughs.) Very simple meat and potatoes Carol King kind of piano. Solid and simple and Rock n Roll oriented.Thats as far as I think words can take the descriptions of the songs.

DN: Whats your take on the current state of the music industry?

DH: I cant say that I ever knew a lot about the music industry. I think it was Neil Diamond who introduced the world to running your own publishing company. So suddenly in the late sixties and early seventies everybody had a publishing company and sometimes people would sign with other publishers. I know I did. That was the first thing I did when I got to LA was sign a publishing deal but then I couldnt wait to get out of that deal and run my own publishing company. Which with 20/20 hindsight was not a great idea. Ive had my own publishing company for nearly 40 years now and it seems to become more absurd everyday because people steal music in America which is king of the thieves but all over the world. I guess China would actually be king of the thieves and United States would have to come in second. People dont get signed to publishing companies very much anymore. They dont get royalties advanced, they dont get developed as writers, and youre just on your own. So if you want to learn how to write songs you just have to do it through trial and error. I dont know anymore than anybody else I just know what I read. It seems that the big commercial industry is contolled by a few people like Sony and so forth who make a few people into big stars and the rest of us just have to build our fan base one person at a time. And sell one CD at a time on places like CD Baby. Now the good news is that everybody can make a CD, the bad news is that everybody has. And most people who have shouldnt of (Laughs).

DN: At the end of the day has the internet hurt music? Helped music? or is it just another neutral thing?

DH: It helped us people who dont have a big time record deal. Its made a level playing field and everybody can participate. Like I said the good news is that everybody can participate and the bad news is that everybody does and a lot of those people have no business doing it. Theres good stuff out there and theres people writing good tunes who are totally unknown and they are building their little fan base. Thats better than it used to be. You know heres the deal. I went out to LA to get a record deal to be able to do my own stuff and after 28 years it didnt happen. I decided that was enough driving around on the LA freeways and trying to afford to live there. You know you gotta draw the line someplace and I felt 28 years was enough. So not everybody gets signed and Im among the 99.99% of people who didnt get signed but I can still participate in some small way in making my art because of this new vehicle that we have which is the internet. I can let people know by email that Im doing a gig which beats the hell out of licking about a hundred stamps.

DN: So how do you wade through all the crap on the internet and find the good songs then?

DH: I guess you gotta listen. You know a good song when you hear it. Thats always been true. Theres always been people who figured they could take a bad song and have a big string section on it and thousand horns or whatever and mask the fact that it was a bad song and they never got away with it. Cuz people would rather listen to a raw version of a good song than an elaborate version of a bad song. Not everyone is a musician and not everyone is musically sophisticated but I think that people respond to art on a subliminal level. You dont have to be educated and you dont have to take art classes in college to react to what you like. I went to see my mom one time many years ago. I had been working in Nashville and I got a car and drove down to Arkansas to see my mom and she said, “Well what were you doing in Nashville?” I said, “Well we did an album with Willie Nelson.” And she said, “Oh I hate him.” (Laughs) People know what they like and what they dont like. They dont need anybody to tell them.