By Danny Coleman
originally published: 10/02/2024
"A little bit of all of it; the perpetual state of making music," laughed guitarist Carolyn Wonderland as she discussed her songwriting, her fascination with blues music from a young age, bail money and much more before her upcoming appearance with Shelley King and Cindy Cashdollar on October 6 at The Lizzie Rose Music Room in Tuckerton, NJ. "On this trip, I'm teaching at the Masters of the Telecaster camp upstate. So, since I'm there, me, Shelley King and Cindy Cashdollar decided; why not do a couple of shows? So, it's just the three of us, we're gonna have ourselves a good time; you'll hear some of my songs, some of Shelley's songs, she's got a new record too and of course Cindy; my God, every day is better with Cindy."
With music entrenched firmly in her DNA, Carolyn began playing and writing songs at a very young age and whereas many became interested in catchy pop tunes, it was Wonderland's Stratocaster playing mom who set her on a bluesy path.
"My mom played, everybody on my mom's side of the family all play music but as a kid, I was searching for this elusive song that I swore Kermit The Frog sang and one day it came on the radio and my mom said, "Oh dear" and it was Canned Heat," she explained with another laugh. "So, my mom got me "Hooker 'n Heat" that year; I was maybe eight or 10 years old and I was all into that record, that was it. Growing up in Houston, that was where you could go and play. There were a couple of acoustic spots you could sneak in as a kid but when I was underage I'd go to the blues bars and that's where I'd go; just walk in with a guitar; you might stink up the place but you get better at it (Laughs). I got lucky too because I happened to be born in Houston. When I was 15 I played with Townes Van Zandt and played in bands with Jerry Lightfoot and Little Screamin' Kenny and Joe "Guitar" Hughes would let me sit in sometimes and folks like that; going to watch Albert Collins and not getting carded was kind of a magical experience too; ya' know?"
So; was it her mom who got her into playing the guitar and what were her reasons for continuing?
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"It's the instrument that always held the most fascination for me and it's certainly more mobile than trying to carry a piano around (Laughs). I play trumpet but you certainly can't accompany yourself on that; toot-ta-toot, sing, sing, toot-ta-toot. I don't know, there have always been guitars around so I started off carrying my mom's Strat all over the place and I guess my musical rebellion was when I got a Tele (Laughs)."
Some kids get tattoos, others get piercings, some dye their hair, shave their heads or let their hair grow long but Carolyn rebelled by getting a Telecaster; does she remember when she wrote her first song and what it was? What's her opinion on some of today's songwriters? She laughed once again as she recalled the "Early days."
"I first started writing when I was about eight with my friends in school. It was just nursery rhyme kind of stuff but we'd work up harmonies and we had this whole thing together where we'd write songs; I think about it and the subject matter was mostly about leaving (Laughs) because we were only old enough to get on our bikes and leave the subdivision (Laughs). Then as I got to be about 12, 13, 14 and started writing the woe is me poetry that comes with that age, I started finding that I liked to play blues because I could go in and play it with people and have a set expectation of at least you know when I'm gonna change chords on this one but I can write about whatever I want. So, I'd make up songs about people in the audience, I'd make up stuff and it kind of got stuck in my head, at one point I had this one stuck in my head, "The wrong side of dead" and I thought, that's a good turn of phrase and I couldn't stop writing."
"There are some deep writers everywhere and some crappy ones too," she continued with a chuckle. "I'd argue that's true in every genre, this last record that we're finishing up now is a lot of travel log, a lot of keeping a diary; either somethin' funny or somethin' pissed me off and I had to write about it. That's the thing, when I'm happy I'll play a guitar solo or dance about it and have a good time and when I'm angry, there's pens and paper on every surface and say, "Alright then (Laughs)" I'll take a hint. Each song is different to me, some songs come fully fledged. You're drivin' and it's like, oops, there it is, there's the horn parts, there's the vocals, that's the lyrics, these are the stops and everything is done; it's like fishing in the Ether and other times, I just open my notebook and try and marry a riff to an idea and see what happens and sometimes, ya gotta let'em go because it's fishin' and some of them ain't big enough yet, you gotta throw them back and that's OK because the seed is still there and you're still gonna think about it a bit but it's hard to say where they all come from but I certainly like the act of fishin'."
Sharing a stage is not uncommon for Carolyn, King and Cashdollar but this will be her first experience at The Lizzie Rose. Can concert goers expect a Nashville style round or a free-form evening with each of their new music, old music; will they all play together?
"A little bit of both, we're all up on stage together the whole time and it's gonna be a surprise to us too I'm sure. We'll pick out at least 10 songs that we all know together and then jump off and say, alright, here is a new one, here's an old one. Shelley and I, when we do duo stuff together, we've toured Japan that way and a bunch of other places like that and it's just a hoot because it's, alright, your turn; whatcha gonna do? Alright, drinkin' song challenge, OK; how about old song challenge? It's fun and keeps it really entertaining for us as well; we accompany each other so we'll have acoustic guitar, electric guitar and lap steel. I have not played The Lizzie Rose, this is my first time. Shelley has played it, Cindy has played it so I'm excited and I'm like, alright then, this should be fun!"
"Then after this, I come back, grab my band and we go and hit The King Biscuit Blues Festival in Arkansas and then up to The Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame to hang out because they are inducting my boss and I'll scream real loud when they say John Mayall and maybe I'll get escorted out. I've got a friend to hold my bail money and then I think Shelley and I are gonna go hit the road with Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore for a couple of days."
To get tickets to the October 6 Tuckerton show and see Carolyn's other tour dates, please visit https://carolynwonderland.com/
This week's event listings
Danny Coleman is a veteran musician and writer from central New Jersey. He hosts a weekly radio program entitled 'Rock On Radio' airing Sunday evenings at 7:00pm EST on ThePenguinRocks.com where he features indie/original bands and solo artists.
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