| Exclusive Interview with Singer, Songwriter, and Violinist Ida Jo |
Q) Ida Jo, I know that you picked up a violin at a very early age.
When did you realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music,
and what was the trigger?
When did you realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music,
and what was the trigger?
I don't remember a specific moment when I decided to
pursue music as a career. To me, a profession is what you
spend the majority of your time doing and a hobby is what
you do between sleep and your profession. I have always
spent my time on music so it made no sense to stop.
- The Highest point for me was probably the making
“Providence”. For so long I’d backed other musicians and
played on their records so seeing my own songs come to
life was spectacular. I guess it wasn’t just the songs coming
to life; it was the sound and the feel. I had the idea for the
sound of this record for a while before Scott Lamps (Scott
produced the record and played upright bass on it) and I
started the recording process. When sounds and songs are
just ideas it takes so much mental energy to keep it all
straight in your head. It’s quite a euphoric relief when you
can let them go and live on their own. The last part of
“Providence” was the drum tracks played by Jordan
Cohen. It added more than I ever imagined it would and
completed the project in such a positive way. It was
definitely a high from start to finish!
Q) If you weren’t a musician what would you do with all of your creative energy, Ida Jo?
That's a difficult question for me to answer! I can’t imagine not being a musician. I do sometimes think I could be a
photographer if I had more time. There is obviously a lot of “art” in photography but I’m not sure if it would be very
satisfying to me. I find my creative energy is more about creating and expressing beauty rather than capturing it. Maybe I
just don’t know enough about photography to find that expression within it.
- I'm almost always working on and thinking about my career. Because I love what I do, it’s fun to constantly be looking for
ways to get better at it. There are the obvious things like practicing and writing, but there is the hidden business side of it
too that takes a tremendous amount of time. I do however coach a high school girls a cappella group that I formed. I
really enjoy working with them and arranging music for them to learn. I also do a lot of yoga and have a beautiful
Siberian Husky who loves to take me for runs!
Q) If you could tour with anyone who would it be and why?
Q) What is your songwriting process?
Q) What about Scott Lamps and Fred Ecenrode? You must have a great relationship with both of these fabulous musicians. How did this combination come about?
Q) I love all of the songs but my favorite song on the album, Providence, is “Radio”. Would you like to share a little about how that song came about and what it
means to you?
Q) When I hear your music, I feel as if you have a profound relationship with your violin? Is this the case? If so, can you share a little bit about that with us?
- If I had to pick one, right now my pick would be the Levon Helm Band. I had the chance to see them last summer and they are spectacular! I’ve been a
huge fan of The Band most of my life and seeing Levon is like seeing a legend. All of his musicians are as good as it gets.
Q) What is your songwriting process?
- Usually when I have an idea for a song, it all kind of comes out at once and I write about 75% of it in one sitting. It’s almost always lyrics that come first.
When I come up with them I usually hear it paired with a distinct melody. My job then, feels more like adequately documenting what is in my head rather
than being in charge of creating it. The toughest part for me is getting the last 25% to a place I’m happy with. There seem to always be a few lines of
lyrics that just don’t sit right. This is the part that takes the most time.
Q) What about Scott Lamps and Fred Ecenrode? You must have a great relationship with both of these fabulous musicians. How did this combination come about?
Scott and I have worked together for a few years now. We’ve played in different groups together and worked on many studio projects. We have an
incredibly easy musical relationship where in understanding each other is usually effortless. On the record, Jordan Cohen played drums but he’s
incredibly busy so he wasn’t available for the first few shows. Scott had worked with Fred a few years back and felt Fred’s playing would compliment the
project so we started booking shows with him and have had no problems! This group is still relatively new but I think we’re all enjoying it so far. I love to
see the musical personalities of my band mates begin to find a place in the music. So far, I couldn’t be happier with the trio.
Q) I love all of the songs but my favorite song on the album, Providence, is “Radio”. Would you like to share a little about how that song came about and what it
means to you?
- Absolutely. First of all, I was pleasantly surprised to read this question. It’s exciting to find out what songs people are enjoying. Radio is one of those
songs that is so extreme, I think people love it or they just don’t get it. The idea for the song really started as a character piece. A person living in a
nursing home, whose mental illness has lead them to believe that the voices they hear on the radio are real. For research, I decided it might be interesting
to lock myself in a room for a day with the radio on and see if it had any effect on me. It turned out I didn’t have to because around that time a friend
asked me to drive with her from California to Wisconsin in a Volkswagen Bug that only had an AM/FM radio. I’m not sure if it was the radio or driving
the desert in July but I definitely went a bit crazy! Radio is one of those songs that I don’t think I could write again but I’m glad I did!
Q) When I hear your music, I feel as if you have a profound relationship with your violin? Is this the case? If so, can you share a little bit about that with us?
- That is the case! I attribute it to the fact I’ve spent so much time playing. They say it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert and I estimate I’ve spent
somewhere around 8,000 hours with my instrument! At that point I think you have a relationship whether you want to or not! As well as studying
classical violin, I’ve studied many other types of fiddling also. Each style takes new techniques. Developing many different skills on the same instrument
has really made me connect with it. For example, I now primarily use the “chopping” method, which is found in bluegrass and Americana music. If I had
only ever studied that technique though, I don’t think I’d have the sound that I have, or the relaxed control that I got from studying classical music.
- To me, music is in a sad state right now. There is a lot of good music out there, but I see so many musicians following trends and hoping for “success”. I’ve
even heard people tell me that they have a song they’ve written that they really like but it’s not “mainstream”. They will then write a song that they think
is worse but they think people will like. To me this is outrageous and incredibly sad. Throughout time, the only people with lasting success are the people
that break down boundaries by staying true to themselves and creating something original. I want to be one of those people. I can’t control whether
people like my music or not so I might as well like it myself. I want people to say that I stayed true to my music and took risks even though there is always
chance of failure.
- We are currently performing a new song called So Can I! It will probably appear, along with many other new ones, on a new record I hope to record next
spring. Until then, enjoy Providence and thanks for reading!
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| Interview with Singer, Songwriter, and Violinist Ida Jo |
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