THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE HIGHLY PERSONAL QUESTIONNAIRE . . . Holly Arrowsmith

Country singer-songwriter Holly Arrowsmith first appeared at Elsewhere as far back as 2015 with her album For the Weary Traveller, but the last time we caught up with her was 2018 for her album A Dawn I Remember.

Her song Desert Dove just picked up best country song at the APRA awards (her second such award) and Rolling Stone picked out Neon Bright and Blue Dreams as singles of the week.

All three songs are on her new album Blue Dreams (out July 26) so it's very timely to catch up with Holly again . .

.

Where did you grow up, and with whom? 

I spent the first four years of my life in Santa Fe, New Mexico living next door to my grandparents who were a big influence on me. My family moved to rural Otago next, where my parents had a deer farm. We moved to Arrowtown after that and had a bed and breakfast with lots of people coming and going through the house.  

Was music an important part of your childhood?  

I think I made it an important part of my childhood, I was drawn to it and sought it out. I would sit in front of my Dad’s CD cabinet and just play through everything.  

What are your earliest childhood memories of music which really affected you . . .  

I remember sitting in the backseat of the car listening to Bic Runga, and learning all the words to old musicals with my sister like ‘Seven brides for seven brothers’ and ‘Singing in the rain.’  

Was there a time when you felt it was going to be music and nothing else? 

Yes, by the time I was about seventeen I had decided I wouldn’t follow my peers to university, I was going to be a songwriter. I told the student careers counsellor and she was not impressed nor convinced! 

When you started on your music career were people around you supportive or did you have to find those people?  

I have always had support around me, fortunately. Of course, there were people who didn’t get it or told me to have a back-up plan, but I really believe that if you have some natural skill and you persist, you will inevitably improve and continue to be given opportunities. I don’t think I was very remarkable when I started out, but I had something promising there to develop. I’m lucky that I had a kind of naïve self-belief, and some people who saw my potential.  

The first song of yours which you really felt proud of was . . .? And why that one? 

Lady Of The Valley, which I wrote about a mountain in Arrowtown called Brow Peak who looks like a woman lying on her side. It was about the early prospectors and mans’ greed and domination over nature. I remember writing the line ‘Gold rolling through her cold veins to the river down below’ and feeling really happy, like ‘oh, maybe I am a poet!’ It feels great when a perfect line reveals itself to you.  

Any one person you'd call a mentor, angel on your shoulder or invaluable fellow traveller?

Early on especially, Tom Lynch and Steve Roberts. They were the first people from the music industry to see my potential. They recorded music for me for free, did my sound at live shows and lent me gear to do strange gigs in parks and church halls. I am so indebted to them.  

Ever had stage fright or just a serious failure of nerve before going on stage? 

Never! But I do get nervous sometimes, and the worst are on stage nerves when you’re not sure if the crowd is with you, trying to negotiate with yourself and plan how to shift the energy all while singing words out of your mouth.   

As a songwriter, do you carry a notebook or have a phone right there constantly to grab ideas they come? Or is your method something different? 

I write things down, in my phone or on pieces of paper/ in notebooks. I record voice memos all the time and forget to label them.  

What unfashionable album do you love as a guilty pleasure? 

I love that Bee Gees song ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ from ‘Size Isn’t Everything’  

Any piece of advice you were given which you look back on which really meant something?

A folk artist I looked up to told me not to begrudge the small shows, that you never know what opportunities might come from one person who has turned up. Also to read poetry and work from great writers, to take an interest in politics and stay engaged in the world around you- that is the job of a songwriter.  

It's after a performance/concert and you are in a hotel room or back at home, what happens then? 

I often get terrible headaches after shows, sometimes I throw up, have a hot shower and go to sleep. 

On a better night, it’s just nice to debrief the show with whoever I’ve played with, have some food and read something in my room.  

Is there any fellow artist you admire for professional and/or personal reasons? 

I have great admiration for Tamara Lindeman from The Weather Station. Her work is so sincere and gorgeous, and she cares so deeply about the natural world. When I have climate anxiety, I listen to her record ‘Ignorance.’  

And finally, where to from here for you do you think?

My new record Blue Dreams is coming out, which is exciting because I get to play more again. I’ve had a long break from live shows and I’ve missed it. I think it is the most satisfying part of being a musician. Being together sharing an experience, seeing your work reach out to a real person.  

.

Holly Arrowsmith's album Blue Dreams is released July 26. You can hear and buy it at bandcamp here.