Meet Eric Heatherly: “With my music I express myself. I don’t want to homogenize”. Friday 19th in Milano

Eric Heatherly, who was born in Tennessee 40 years ago, experienced many highs and lows in his life. He debuted in 2000 with a wonderful Statler Brothers’ cover of “Flowers On The Wall” and then he published his first effort “Swimming In Champagne” on Mercury Nashville creating all the makings for a wonderful career. Then Mercury Records restructures and Eric, smelling a delay in the promotion of his first cd and in the producing of his second one, moves to Dreamworks where they make him record it but they don’t release it. Feeling quite bitter about all this, Eric leaves major labels and with many difficulties decides to found his own record company, NashVegas Records, through which he manages to release his second effort, “The Lower East Side of Life”. Two other albums, independent as well, have come out ever since, “2 High 2 Cry” and “Painkillers”.
Last week CountryStateLine had an exclusive meeting with Eric Heatherly in Bulach, Switzerland, right after a new european release of his album “2 High 2 Cry” and a small European tour which – latest news – will lead him to italian land, to Milano, for an exclusive show within the third edition of the Italian Country & Western Dance Championship organized by AICOWED which will take place next Friday at 10pm by Jolly Congress Center of Milanofiori.

Eric you have been languishing in Nashville limbo since the release of your debut album in 2000, Swimming In Champagne, which should have been your career launch and was instead the beginning of a series of apparent rises and new contracts followed by another series of disappointments and vain attempts. How would you describe that period of your life and how do you remember it?
Going through that period at that time was very disheartening. It was an awakening to me realizing that music is a business and not just music. And so I got caught up in some bad contracts and some records labels that folded and merged with other labels and my records and my heart just got locked up in vaults. But in the years since – which has been almost a decade now – I went ahead and forged ahead and I still played music on the road live with  my band year after year, kept writing songs and released some records on my own which went on to do ok , especially in Europe. The way I look at it now is, it’s not what happened to me, it’s what happened for me, because I learned from it, I got some good songs out of it and I am a better person.

In the light of what you have experienced, do you think that talent and determination are enough factors today in Nashville in order to succeed? And how did Nashville change nowadays towards the one you admired as a child  when with your first guitar you used to play Folsom Prison Blues or towards the one which surrounded you when, at 29 years old, you used to play live on the stage of Tootsie’s Lounge?
Talent and determination are very important factors but the industry has changed a lot from even ten years ago and even more so then ten years before that. It used to be in the days of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty… guys like that… You wrote some songs, put a band together … you hit the road and you developed the following and you created your own buzz, you created your own atmosphere and labels would discover you because of what you built from the ground up. These days is a little more different with American Idol and with record labels just wanting to have a quick hit and then drop you. It’s more about the look that they want at that time and it’s more about the sound. I think some of these guys and girls have to compromise what they really want to be; for whatever it is the label is wanting to use them for,  just to be famous. So I think that’s the big difference.

Is because of those reasons that you decided to produce by yourself your fourth album (which was only the second album to be released), The Lower East Side of Life? Isn’t it hard to do everything on your own?
Yes, that was the reason I wanted to have a recording on my own and I funded it by myself. So I had the expense of recording, producing… And instead of hiring musicians I just learned how to play other instruments that I did not how to play yet, such as mandolin, harmonica, bass guitar, some keyboards, some percussion… And it was a treat because I recorded that song in my home at the time and my little girl was only two years old and she would sit in my lap as I recorded those parts, so that record will always be special to me, especially because of that. But I needed to do something creativly and artistically to get out of that depression and rut where the labels had put me in… Because I was in a tail spin, just in a nose dive and I wasn’t going to let a corporation stop my creativity!

Let’s talk about your album The Lower East Side of Life.
In the song Judging Beauty you talk about the world as a very superficial place which too often judges things and people from the cover. Then, in the beautiful blues The Lower East Side of Life, you say that «…the lower east side…» is where «they play that country music the way they did before». It seems to me that you are quite much disenchanted and gloomy. How much did your frustration take part in the making of music and lyrics of this album?
(laughing) A lot! This was my chance – not being on a major label – to vent, if you will, and be able to say some things that I would never have been able to do on a major label. As an independent artist it allowed me to express myself and not have to homogenize it or water it down for commerciality or radio. And ended up, this record I don’t think got less than four stars across the board – internationally – critically. So that was the good pay off, is that they appreciated my candour and honesty.

What can you tell me of your album “Painkillers”? I didn’t understand if it came before or after the american release of  “2 High 2 Cry”.
“Painkillers” is something I just finished recently here in 2010. It’s also self funded and it’s also on my own label (independent). Actually I started writing “2 High 2 Cry” in 2007. I finished recording it in 2009. Then I went out in support of “2 High To Cry” in the States and during that period  I cut a deal with AGR/Universal for Europe on “2 High 2 Cry” cause they hadn’t heard it yet here, so it’s new… new to Europe. But in the States it’s a couple of years old. But it’s still… The only people who have really heard it in the States since it wasn’t on radio were people at my shows. So still they’re actually both two new cds, really, if you look at it that way. But “Painkillers” is the one that I just recently finished, and I hope that it will be the follow up to “2 High 2 Cry” on AGR after this one’s finished.

What are your musical idols and your inspirational roots?
Musically, I think that if I were lost on an island and I could only have four artists to pass on to my kids and say “these are the four artists that mattered throughout time” – and that doesn’t mean that these people started their genres and it doesn’t mean they were the original innovators: it’s just to me they captivated and were the best at what they did in their genre in their time – that is: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Steve Ray Vaughan. Performance and vocally you get Sinatra; entertainment and sensuality [you get] Elvis Presley; dancing, writing, performance (global), international [you get] Michael Jackson; Stevie Ray Vaughan [is] pure, raw, aggressive, talent. I would wanna be those things.

Now that “2 High 2 Cry” had a second european release, what are your expectations? Have you ever been on an European tour before?
Yeah! Well, I’ve always got the highest expectations cause I’m a positive thinker but I’m hoping that the next release goes better than this first one even and equates to future European tours and trips. I’ve been to Europe two times before this time: once in 2001, I think, and the next time was about 2005. And then this in 2010. And I hope to come back very soon to follow up on what we started here again.

Actor Billy Bob Thornton told about you that you are “the best mix of Sun Records meets the Grand Ole Opry that I’ve ever seen or heard”. I think it is a marvellous description. Do you fit yourself in it? How would you describe your musical style instead?
Well… When I heard that quote I was blown away because – hey! – Billy Bob Thornton is such a music aficionado! He really loves the roots of music like he does the roots of acting, he likes to study all of ones before him and when I heard that I thought that it was fantastic because when you say that “the Sun Records meets the Grand Ole Opry” is the best of rock meets the best of country. And to me it was the ultimate compliment, because that’s what I am: a country boy from Tennessee but I like to rock out on stage and mix the two. So I think that was a perfect description and I was happy to hear that.

Which are the best and the worst things about going on tour for a country music artist? How important is the live side (performing live) of your career for you? What is your relationship with the fans?
The most difficult part is, if you have a wife or kids or significant other, being away from home is the hardest part. Especially when you wanna be with that person or your kids or whoever… The great part about it is, is that you’re living your dream, it’s what you grew up wanting to do so you can’t really complain because you asked for it and you went after it … And the fans… when they are appreciative of you coming all this distance to play music for them and they show you adoration then it makes it all worth it!

I hope that we don’t have to wait 4 more years to the release of a new album from you… Thank you very much for this interview Eric!
Well you got “Painkillers” already in the box ready to go! So, your wish came true already!

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I’d like to thank Emily for her help in the translation of this interview