Sarah Burton
Interview conducted on February 21, 2021
By Dan Locke
Sarah Burton’s career started in 2006 with a broken heart, a broken-down van, and a haphazard tour across Canada in a van named Lucky. This set the tone for an artist life driven by adventure, spontaneity, and a desire to connect with people from all walks of life. 3 Minivans, and several greyhound trips later, Sarah has played on average, 150 shows a year, released 4 albums and played many festivals across North America, finding and sharing the inspiration for hundreds of songs. Rooted in folk, and skirting pop, rock and country – Sarah’s music is a collage of her own adventures, and the people she meets along the way. Her songs have made their way to the big screen, earned college radio charting in US and Canada and commercial radio play in Canada and Europe.
What is your upbringing?
I was brought up in Toronto, Canada to parents who worked in journalism and TV.
How did you discover music?
My parents had a fairly large and eclectic record collection, ranging from the Rolling Stones and the Beatles to Stevie Wonder, the Sex Pistols and lots in between, including quite a lot of disco.
How did you start to write music?
I started making up songs as early as I can remember, writing them down in my little diary and singing to my stuffed animals secretly in my room. When I was 13, I got my hands on a guitar and started writing songs “properly.”
Describe your music.
My music paints a picture of whatever is happening in the world around me. I gather influences from life, friends, frustrations, and celebrations. The genre can vary depending on how I end up recording the songs – usually somewhere between Folk, Rock, Americana, and Pop.
How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?
My first guitar was actually my dad’s guitar – an old nylon string guitar he got when he was in college in New Mexico. I learned on that guitar and wrote my first batch of songs on it. When I was 15 my parents gave me a Mexican strat and I still have that guitar and use it all the time. The old nylon string guitar is still around – I actually just got it set up not too long ago when I was visiting my parents. It sounds lovely!
What is your guitar of choice now? Year, make and model?
The Mexican blue Strat I have I believe is an1995. It’s a great guitar, an absolute workhorse – it can take a bit of a beating and has served me well for a long time on stage and in the studio.
My Acoustic workhorse currently is a 1979 Takamine. I bought this in late 2016 to replace my Guild, which had been stolen for the second time earlier that year. The Guild, which I think was new when I got it in 2005, had been stolen amidst a smash and grab from the car after a gig in 2014 in Toronto. It made its way to a pawn shop and I got it back a couple months later. It was then stolen when my tour van was robbed after a gig in Detroit in 2016. A year later a Detroit police officer called me and said, “I think I have your guitar.” So amazingly the Guild was stolen twice and returned to me twice, but I don’t travel with it anymore because it keeps getting me robbed.
My current favorite guitar though for gigging and for playing at home is a 1940s era Gibson I got at an antique shop in Uvalde, Texas. It has what looks like some pretty janky after-market DIY-installed electronics in it, and it just looks and sounds so cool, and is so nice to play.
What was your first performance at like?
When I was 21 a friend from work dragged me to an open mic to perform my songs. I had been too shy to try performing before. It was the Free Times Cafe in Toronto, and in some ways, it was one of the most exhilarating performances of my life — the room was packed, I was so scared and so green, and I just went for it. I got booked for my first real gig after that and never looked back.
What makes a good songwriter?
I don’t really think there’s a recipe. I suppose anyone could learn the craft of songwriting, but the only thing that makes a songwriter good is writing a good song.
What is the process of writing your music?
I just write constantly. Little ideas pop into my head, I write some of them down or record voice memos, and when I have time to sit down with a guitar or piano, I piece it together. Occasionally I’ll sit down and write with an intentional idea or topic, but for the most part I just gather up the words and music that spill out of my brain.
Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP?
I’m registered with all the appropriate rights organizations and I’m on several mailing lists. I can’t recall which memberships I’m currently paid upon, but my catalogue is registered with SOCAN.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
I wrote many songs when I was a kid that never even made it to the Fisher Price tape recorder, but the first song I wrote that I actually kept in my repertoire long enough to perform (I even still occasionally perform it) is a grunge song called “Dirty Man” I wrote when I was 13. Other than random live DIY recordings it has not been recorded or released.
Five year ago, you recorded a video called “Don’t Let Me Be Alone on Christmas”. On your iPhone 5. As you look back to that time. Did you think you would be the start of a revolution of video making?
I wouldn’t consider myself part of a video making revolution, but I was certainly involved in the early and awkward days of digital and social media. Before that video I have been the subject of many a terrible Youtube video. The video I made for “Don’t Let Me Be Alone on Christmas” though, has a special place in my heart because although it’s not very good, I do think it’s charming and nostalgic.
What software did you use at that time?
I just used the iMovie on my phone
Have you upgrade your phone?
Haha! yes. But I used that phone until it was completely dead.
How was it to move from Toronto to Texas for creativity `of your music and your fifth studio recording?
I would definitely say the desert landscape of West Texas and some of the wild west melodrama that I encountered there influenced both the stories and the melodies and tones of my last album.
How was it to record in Jim Eno’s (Spoon) public Hi-Fi Studio?
Public Hi-Fi is a beautiful studio and I really enjoyed working there. Engineer, Brad Bell, and Producer, Elijah Ford are also an absolute pleasure to work with.
What is your favorite track on your album?
My favorite track on Give me What I Want is “Love is in the Air” – it’s the heaviest and most fun to play (it even has guitarmonies!) and I love how it turned out.
In your video Desert Sky, it is showing a lot of images. Was it to show a visual representative of what Texas means to you?
Although the song is inspired by the Texas desert, the video is in fact filmed in California around Joshua Tree. We wanted to capture the beauty of the desert landscape, a snapshot of a regular day for a touring artist, and a slew of images that pay tribute to American culture.
How do you stay healthy while performing?
I eat lots of vegetables and make sure to get some exercise. I love swimming and hiking, and sometimes I bring a bike with me. I try to get enough sleep but on the road that definitely doesn’t always happen. When I have days off, I take long walks exploring the cities and towns where I play.
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
I think it’s amazing that we can get our music out to such a wide number of people. I personally enjoy the incredible convenience of using the streaming services, and I have discovered so much great music that I otherwise might not have known about. I hope when people fall in love with an artist via streaming, they go out of their way to buy some merch or concert tickets. I would certainly love to make more money from streaming, so here’s hoping I crack a million streams this year.
The symbol # is known as the number sign, hash, [ or (in North American usage) pound sign. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as “hashtags”, and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag.
Are people forgetting that the # is a part of music?
The number sign is actually slightly different from the sharp sign. The number sign has 2 straight horizontal lines with 2 diagonal lines going through it top to bottom, while the sharp sign has 2 straight vertical lines with 2 diagonal lines going through the sides. If the number sign is also used in music, then I must have forgotten too.
Digital vs. vinyl?
Both. The digital world has made making music so much more accessible to people like myself and millions of others who can get their careers started without spending a fortune on tape. You can do anything with digital. I have had one opportunity to record with tape with my friends Clay Parker and Jodi James in Baton Rouge, who record a lot of their work to tape. It was a wonderful experience and I plan on doing more of it – there is something magical and nostalgic about recording that way, and it forces you to really decide what you’re doing ahead of time and commit to a performance and a sound. As far as consuming music goes, I stream music and I buy vinyl. There is nothing like the convenience of having millions of songs at your fingertips, and there is nothing like the ritual and permanence of a vinyl record.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
I’ve been in the studio all month, so to be honest I’ve been entrenched in my own music and referencing too many artists to pick one song. I’ve also been watching a lot of Amoeba records’ “What’s in my bag” and a handful of music documentaries, so I feel like I’ve been swimming through hundreds of influences. I suppose if I hone in on just one in this particular moment, I’d pick “Money and run” – a collab between UNKLE and Nick Cave. It’s a wonderful mashup of genres, has this hard-driving rhythm and huge kick drum that I just love, and Nick Cave’s lyrics and delivery are just so good. This isn’t even the best line in the song, but what it comes down to for me is: “I could do it over man, There ain’t a thing that I would not change.”
At the beginning of the virus, you recorded a song called “Covid-19 (why you gotta kill my dreams). Were you thinking how the virus would change the way we see live music?
The virus definitely wreaked havoc on my life, but I’m lucky to have my health, lots of great friends and family and a supportive community that reaches far and wide. In that moment I was pretty upset and I kept thinking I could just somehow will the whole thing to stop. I wrote that song while I was packing up my apartment in Austin to get back to Canada as they announced they were shutting the borders. I wasn’t thinking long term about whether or not this would change the way we see live music. At the time, I thought we would all lock down for 3-6 months and go back to normal. The live streaming thing was a nice way to connect with people at first, and it still is once in a while, but there is nothing like the real thing and I think and hope that when it’s safe again people will be eager to see live music more than ever before.
Both (Pfizer and BioNTech) and Moderna have conclude Phase 3 Study of the Coronavirus vaccine. With the both vaccines, it takes two shots. How many people do you think will take it and how many will forget to take the second shot?
This is definitely not my area of expertise but I sure hope people don’t forget their second shots. It is my understanding that the goal is to vaccinate everyone in North America by the end of the year. I’m sure a few will slip through the cracks.
How long before the whole world will be vaccinated against the virus. You have to remember there only has to be a 70% for Herd immunity (Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune.)
I’ll leave this one to the doctors and scientists who have spent their lives working on this stuff. My hope is for good health, happiness and prosperity for the people of this planet.
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music?
Live music will never die, but it sure has taken a beating.
Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
In my short time in the music business, I’ve already watched it change so much. So yes, I think COVID-19 has affected the music business, probably in ways that are still taking shape and we have yet to really see, but that’s just the nature of the business. It keeps changing, and we change with it or find ways to adapt.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
I’ve been writing a lot, recording, making some videos, embracing a lot of creative side projects. I definitely went through a very dark patch and I spent a lot of time trying to make impossible things happen, but now I’m surrendering to the unknown and focusing on what I can do.
How fun was it to record LOGAN during the pandemic?
I actually recorded LOGAN before the pandemic at Public Hifi in Austin and it was super fun! The single came out during the pandemic, and since we were still in quarantine times, I thought it would be fun to get friends from around the world to send in their lockdown videos to make the video. The lovely and talented Tullara (Australian Singer/Songwriter) painstakingly edited the video, and did a great job of capturing the essence of the song.
How was it to rediscovered the metronome?
Well, I’m no stranger to the metronome, playing to a click track in studios, but when I was spending time with my parents, I was practicing to the actual metronome I grew up with, on the piano I first learned on, so it was nice to reacquaint with those old friends.
95% of people said that they have changed the way they watch television. This includes people who don’t have television and using their computers to do streaming of programs and movies. Which is your favorite streaming channel?
I have Netflix, which I’m pretty happy with, and I occasionally watch things on crave and prime. It all depends on where the good programs are. There is so much to choose from.
Many artists are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. In October that is going to change at least on Facebook. Facebook is cracking down on livestreamed shows that include recorded music with new terms of service, preventing artists from using the platform for “commercial or non-personal” purposes, unless they have obtained the relevant licenses.
The updated music guidelines state that users “may not use videos on our products [which include Instagram] to create a music listening experience […] This will include [Facebook] Live,” and stipulates that such content should be posted for the enjoyment of friends and family only.
How do you think this will change the landscape of Facebook?
I don’t know much about that and I’m not too concerned. I’d rather focus on making music to release in other ways and there is no shortage of ways for artists to host streaming events on different platforms.
How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merchandise to them at the show?
Maybe I should be more concerned about this, but I’m just going to keep making music and hope that people listen to it, fall in love with it, buy it, share it and ask for more. I’m going to keep making music no matter what.
Is pay to play still a thing? Now pay to play also means thinks like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.
It is true that nothing is free. Most of the services required to get your music to a wider audience require spending money. I believe it’s the same in every industry though – behind every success story there is a trail of money. At least in today’s music industry the artist has more control over how that money is spent.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
I suppose that if I was a hologram and it was still live and I could interact with my audience I’d be into it. That said, I’ve heard threats of holographic shows taking over for 15 years and although I do hear there’s been some success with it somewhere overseas, I still think people really want something real. Now more than ever.
In the past if a musician stops doing music, they find a new career. For example, David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants. If you can’t do music what would you like to be doing?
I’ve always dabbled in the hospitality industry, which I see as going hand in hand with the music industry, and I often have little side projects on the go. I would love to write movies and work in collaboration with different kinds of writers and performers, like comedians and actors.
What is your happy place?
Playing music, swimming and laughing!
Spotify just deleted 750,00 songs, mostly from independent artists. Was your saved?
My catalogue has not been affected.
Anything you would like to say in closing.
Health and happiness to everyone!
