{"id":3707,"date":"2018-05-19T14:37:23","date_gmt":"2018-05-19T20:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/?p=3707"},"modified":"2018-05-19T14:37:23","modified_gmt":"2018-05-19T20:37:23","slug":"wes-collins-a-sound-you-can-sink-your-teeth-into","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wes-collins-a-sound-you-can-sink-your-teeth-into\/","title":{"rendered":"WES COLLINS &#8211; A SOUND YOU CAN SINK YOUR TEETH INTO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-3708\" src=\"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/wes-collins-pic-1024x679.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/wes-collins-pic-980x650.jpg 980w, https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/wes-collins-pic-480x318.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Describing his music style as \u201cguitar-driven folk-pop with teeth,\u201d it\u2019s no mystery why we\u2019d want to sink in deeper to this songwriter\u2019s curious psyche. We sat down with Wes Collins, one of the top ten finalists in the 2018 Al Johnson Performing Songwriter Contest, in an effort to find out more about his mush-mouthed noises and how he finds the lyrics and tunes within his music.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Wildflower! Arts &amp; Music Festival:\u00a0 What is your genre of music?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 My bio quote is \u201cguitar driven folk pop with teeth.\u201d I guess in terms of established genres, I\u2019d say I\u2019m a pop singer songwriter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 Do you play any other instruments other than guitar and piano?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 I know just enough bodhran (a traditional celtic frame drum) to be dangerous, so I sold mine. So no other instruments, just guitar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 Are you solo? Play with any other groups? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 I\u2019m mostly solo, but I play in a group here in Chapel Hill too. We call ourselves The Bennys.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 What song inspired you to become a songwriter? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember which particular one planted the seed. I wanted to write songs for years (and years and years) before I actually wrote one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 What else inspires you to write?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 Any writing: short story, poetry, television, or movie, that articulates a point of view I hadn\u2019t imagined before inspires me. Art like that kind of says, \u201chey, you know you can do this any old way, if only you connect on the other end.\u201d And it\u2019s odd, some artists who consistently do this inspire me to try new things, and others make me want to give up and erase everything I\u2019ve ever done. I don\u2019t know why that is.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wes Collins - &quot;I love You Guys&quot;\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wBnuLBbAZyw?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 What typically strikes you first, the music or the lyrics? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 A strong melody pulls me into any song, and then I can get a gander at the lyrics. Nothing compares to when they land at the same time though.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 What makes you unique? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 (A mush-mouthed \u201cI don&#8217;t know\u201d kind of noise) I reckon this is true of all of us, but I\u2019m a product of all the stuff I\u2019ve listened to and tried to learn all these years; Neil Finn, Bruce Cockburn, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder and Patty Griffin in my case.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 What song can make you cry? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 Tom Meny\u2019s \u201cTake Me Home\u201d destroys me. I\u2019d love to cover it but I can\u2019t get through it without my throat closing up. Same goes for Patty Griffin\u2019s \u201cCrying Over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 What song can change your mood in moments? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s an Angel,\u201d by They Might Be Giants. It\u2019s silly and impossibly sweet at the same time, with a beautiful melody.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 Favorite songwriters? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 Neil Finn, Patty Griffin, and Anais Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 Best live show you\u2019ve seen?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 Ooh. Um, Peter Gabriel made me cry three times in one night on the US tour. Crowded House in 1993 was a high water mark for me as well. Oh! And Leo Kottke in 1987.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/KVmiL-zf2pk\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/KVmiL-zf2pk<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 If you could play with any artist, alive or dead, who would it be and why? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 Stevie Wonder, because STEVIE WONDER. Or, The Bothy Band, circa 1979. In either case, I\u2019d be in sponge mode, soaking in as much as I could hold.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 How did it feel to hear yourself on the radio for the first time? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 The room tilted a little. Similar to when my lovely wife Anita conspired to get two of my songs lathe cut onto a 45 disc. I sat cross legged on the floor and felt six years old.<\/p>\n<p>What obstacles do you face on this journey as an artist? To borrow a phrase, I tend to compare my insides with other artists\u2019 outsides, and that\u2019s demotivating. I am also so disorganized it\u2019s almost funny (from a distance).<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAMFest:\u00a0 Do you have any other talents or skills<\/strong><strong>? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Collins:<\/strong>\u00a0 I can do voices, and I\u2019m a fair cook.<\/p>\n<p>Wes Collins will compete for one of four $500 prizes including the <strong>Michael Terry People\u2019s Choice Award <\/strong>on May 19, at 11:30 a.m. on the United HealthCare Singer Songwriter Stage in the Eisemann Center and the contest results to be announced at 4:30 p.m.\u00a0 #WAMFest2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\">www.wildflowerfestival.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Website:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wescollins.com\/\">www.wescollins.com<\/a><br \/>\nFacebook:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wescollinsmusic\/\">www.facebook.com\/wescollinsmusic\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Describing his music style as \u201cguitar-driven folk-pop with teeth,\u201d it\u2019s no mystery why we\u2019d want to sink in deeper to this songwriter\u2019s curious psyche. We sat down with Wes Collins, one of the top ten finalists in the 2018 Al Johnson Performing Songwriter Contest, in an effort to find out more about his mush-mouthed noises [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":13,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,21,22],"tags":[881,1037,1024,1035,1039,1032,54,412,66,1033,1011,1036,942,1031,30,158,159,812,31,1038,1030,1034,404,635,627,864,29],"class_list":["post-3707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-al-johnson-performing-songwriter-contest","category-blog","category-entertainment","tag-al-johnson-performing-songwriter-contest","tag-anais-mitchell","tag-bodhran","tag-bruce-cockburn","tag-chapel-hill","tag-crowded-house","tag-eisemann-center","tag-folk-music","tag-james-taylor","tag-leo-kottke","tag-michael-terry","tag-neil-finn","tag-patty-griffin","tag-peter-gabriel","tag-richardson","tag-singer","tag-songwriter","tag-stevie-wonder","tag-texas","tag-the-bennys","tag-the-bothy-band","tag-they-might-be-giants","tag-tom-meny","tag-united-healthcare","tag-wamfest","tag-wes-collins","tag-wildflower-arts-music-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildflowerfestival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}