Texan singer songwriter BettySoo has returned to the UK for some dates, with her friend, musician Curtis McMurty. Below the two talk about their music to The Highland News's Margaret Crystall. (no its not Margaret's House)
Q Your biography, BettySoo, says that your latest album When We’re Gone - which follows on from you diving into some of the darker places of other people's lives and helping out where you can with a lot of bravery and strength (other people might have felt more comfortable walking away from others' troubles) - brims with "what feels like new-found confidence and strength. Perhaps all the shared brokenness from the past five years is paying its dividends".
Looking back at that time, how has it changed you and how did it move forward your songwriting?
BETTYSOO: Walking through difficult times with friends is the kind of thing that impacts us on so many levels.
On the one hand, we grieve together with their pain, and it is an honor to be trusted with it and invited in to walk through some of their hurt with them. It is such a vulnerable, beautiful, trusting act to allow someone in to experience brokenness with us, isn't it? On the other hand, it can feel like the hardest thing to have sympathy and compassion but to be unable to provide true empathy because the personal experience that parallels our friend's journey doesn't exist.
All in all, I do believe one of our biggest purposes in life is to be in authentic community with others and to offer encouragement and love with whatever means we have.
These past five or six years have changed me in so many ways. I've come to face some of my real failures of character and personality that I can't be sure will ever change - though I hope they do. I've come to see myself capable of greater amounts of compassion for others than I had before.
Q How did the tour with the two of you come about?
CURTIS: the tour came about because we knew each other from the Austin music scene. We had played a few shows together in the last few years, and we noticed that both of us preferred to write darker material than some of our contemporaries in the American folk world.
BettySoo already had plans to tour the UK and Europe this fall and was kind enough to invite me along.
Q You are doing a house concert format when you come to Strathpeffer on Sunday - what are your favourite things about a house concert - and have you had any memorable experiences while playing them in the past?
BETTYSOO: I have done a variety of house concerts over the past few years. There are many special things about them.
As most audience members note and enjoy, they tend to be very intimate, with a little more interaction possible between the performers and the audience. Many of them have community and social components to them - guests might bring a dish to share, wine, drinks, snacks, etc. Some may help put out the food, set up chairs, clean up chairs, etc.
It is really inspiring to see a community of people come together out of a shared love for music. Another special thing about house concerts is that they are non-profit ventures, where the host has nothing to gain except for the joy of giving. That floors me every time I see how much work is put in and that their payoff is really seeing their invited listeners enjoy the show. I'm also just a curious cat and I love to see how other people live!
Q I thought BettySoo's lines about Nashville would-be stars: "Every day a line of crushed hearts leave that city/ And every night a new line of hopefuls come driving in" are probably a great way to sum up the lure of the city - that I suppose is a kind of Mecca for songwriters. What do you find best and most difficult about choosing a life as a songwriter and performer?
CURTIS: I think Spotify and other streaming is perhaps the hardest part of being a musician right now. Seeing the value of our work (in terms of revenue for the artist) being constantly reduced, but being unable to rebel against it, is frustrating. If we take our music off of streaming services, less people will hear us, and less people will come to see us play if they can't find us instantly on whatever medium they prefer to use.
Q Have you been to the North of Scotland before and if not, what are you hoping you might discover up here?!
CURTIS: I’ve never been to Scotland. Just looking to discover tasty things in jars and make new friends and fans.
BETTYSOO: I have been to Scotland, but never nearly as far as Strathpeffer. I hope to find some lovely people, music lovers, music makers, and perhaps a peaty Islay drink with a label and provenance I don't yet know!
