{"id":3702,"date":"2018-05-17T15:00:04","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T21:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/?p=3702"},"modified":"2018-05-17T15:00:04","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T21:00:04","slug":"eric-bettencourt-songwriter-barber-mechanic-music-producer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/eric-bettencourt-songwriter-barber-mechanic-music-producer\/","title":{"rendered":"ERIC BETTENCOURT \u2013 SONGWRITER, BARBER, MECHANIC & MUSIC PRODUCER"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eric Bettencourt, photo credit Pledge Music<\/p><\/div>\n

Award-winning songwriter Eric Bettencourt is making the journey from Austin to compete as a finalist in the Al Johnson Performing Songwriter Contest at the Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival in Richardson. Over the years Bettencourt has released four albums, two EP\u2019s, and collected a steady stream of national recognition and prestigious songwriting awards.<\/p>\n

Bettencourt rested his guitar long enough to vibe through our set list of questions as we attempted to seek answers about the unique sound that labels his songwriting career.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival:\u00a0 How would you like me to describe your sound? Rock, B<\/strong>lues, Folk, ‘Ganked?’ And please advise what \u2018ganked\u2019 means.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bettencourt:<\/strong> \u2018Ganked\u2019 is bluesy folk with groove on the rocks.<\/p>\n

WAMFest:\u00a0 When did you learn guitar and was it self-taught?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bettencourt:<\/strong>\u00a0 I began in my early teens, and I\u2019m still learning.\u00a0 I had a neighbor\/mentor Frank, who showed me my first few chords, but I took it from there. Mostly from books and other kids that were messing around with guitars.<\/p>\n

WAMFest:\u00a0 Do you play any other instruments? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bettencourt:<\/strong>\u00a0 It is often a necessity to recording and producing my own music to figure out other parts on other instruments so by default I have had to dabble heavily and become somewhat proficient to varying degrees; on piano, drums, banjo and bass.<\/p>\n

WAMFest:\u00a0 Are you solo? We see you’ve performed with Club Staccato- is this a former or current group? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bettencourt:<\/strong>\u00a0 Most of my shows are solo because affording a great band is often not in the budget, unfortunately. But I do LOVE playing with groups and still dream that someday I\u2019ll have some regular players.\u00a0 Club Staccato<\/a> is a band I started with a world class guitarist from Austin, David Hamburger. We became mutual admirers of the other\u2019s songs and have a similar finger-style technique. We played a few gigs together, trading songs and had a lot of fun, and eventually thought it made sense to bring in the bass and drums. It\u2019s a fun group but we don\u2019t play very often anymore because everyone is so busy with other projects. We\u2019re hoping to land a weekly residency somewhere soon.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another band I just started called The Fursdays. It\u2019s amazing fun, and we play every Thursday at Hills Cafe in Austin, and occasionally play other spots too. It was originally just David Jimenez, one of my absolute favorite guitarists and singers ever, and then we invited in our mutual friend Andrea Magee (Beat Root Revival) who plays an\u00a0Irish\u00a0hand drum called the Bodhran. Everything jelled in such an unexpected way; Andrea has such a powerful personality and is one on the funniest people I know. We have a lot of fun and the music is really becoming its own thing.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/P8tcJivoCK4<\/a><\/p>\n

WAMFest:\u00a0 What song inspired you to become a songwriter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bettencourt:<\/strong>\u00a0 No one song or one anything; I remember having lyric and melody ideas as soon as i was able to switch between two chords in time. Actually, I\u2019m pretty sure when I was young I\u2019d make up my own words to catchy TV\u00a0jingles,\u00a0or whatever was stuck in my head. I still do it, but with dirty lyrics purely to amuse myself. Discovering The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix really blew open my view of what songwriting is, and what it could mean. I\u2019m still endlessly fascinated with each of them.<\/p>\n

WAMFest:\u00a0 What else inspires you to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bettencourt:<\/strong>\u00a0 Writing for me is a way of working out internal conflicts. It\u2019s for figuring out, understanding, and working through my inner struggles and hangups. I don\u2019t really write with a sense of storytelling, or a solid idea, like a lot of songwriters. The songs that come from a deeper place, for me, are more like images thrown at a screen and the listener can make what they want of the picture, and relate to it how they feel like it. That said, I have found\u00a0myself writing\u00a0more\u00a0\u2019topical-ish\u2019 songs lately. It\u2019s not my\u00a0typical\u00a0thing, but it\u2019s been\u00a0happening\u00a0pretty naturally due to the level of insanity we all have to witness everyday.<\/p>\n

WAMFest:\u00a0 What makes your music and style unique?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bettencourt:<\/strong>\u00a0 I just try to sound like myself and use my ideas and feelings to write songs. That, to me, is really all any musician has- it\u2019s our fingerprint and it\u2019s nearly impossible to copy. Anything else is\u00a0copying\u00a0or emulating something that someone already did, which is fine for some people, but I have\u00a0no interest\u00a0in it.<\/p>\n