Known as a “songwriter’s songwriter,” Jerling has produced eight albums to date and had his song Long Black Wall included on a recording of Smithsonian Folkways “Fast Folk Musical Magazine.” He is also a previous winner of the “New Folk” competition at the esteemed Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.
Aside from being an accomplished songwriter, Jerling is a gifted musician whose smooth vocals are accompanied by his skills on the six and twelve string guitar, harmonica and mandolin. The Saratoga Springs resident will bring his live performance to Caffe Lena Saturday, Sept. 6. I recently sat down with Jerling to discuss his songwriting, live performances and why Caffe Lena is such an important venue.
Where did your passion for music begin?
I started listening to music at a young age, and in high school I played a little guitar and started writing some songs, but I didn’t really start performing until I got involved with this campus coffeehouse at the University of Wisconsin. At the coffeehouse they would have professional musicians come from New York City, Montreal, Chicago and places like that, and they would play for like five days at a time. I found out about it, and started hanging around and became enthralled by it – eventually becoming the chairman of the coffeehouse committee. At some point, I got the impression that you could make a living playing music and I never quite got over it.
How do you approach writing a song?
Some songwriters I know will carry a notebook around and write down lyrics, but I never do that. With me a song will just get into my head. I might not have a melody, but I will have a rhythm in my head. Then I will take some lyrics I have set aside and start playing with it. It has to happen, for lack of a better word, organically. I want it to feel natural, so I find if I write things down it often sounds false instead of conversational. I’m not always thinking about songs, but when I am thinking about songs it’s like I have a camera around my neck and I am looking at the world as a possible picture – which is very different then when you are just walking down the street. So when I’m in the songwriting mode I will start to frame things in my mind. For instance, if I am at a place like the Farmers Market and I overhear a conversation or some phrase that catches me as a possible song, I will file it away for later.
What do you think people enjoy most about your music?
I like things with a sense of humor even if it is a serious subject and I think people like that too. I also think people like that when I take them through a story it doesn’t always go in the direction they think it is going to go – I like to look at different points of view. The world is complicated, and people are complicated, and I try to get that across in my songs.
In 2007, you released your eighth album “Crooked Path.” How has your songwriting evolved from your last release to your first?
When you are young you think you are the only one that ever came up with a specific idea and then as you get older you start to realize there aren’t too many original thoughts in the world. So my songwriting has become less personal and confessional, and more about looking at other people and things in the world in order to convey my own feelings.
I see you play house concerts. What is a house concert?
There are a real range of them. Some of them are fairly formal concert series where you hire people to come to your home to perform and then others are a bit more casual. I try to create a few of them now and then to show people how simple it is to do – it’s not any different than having people over for the Super Bowl. When I first started playing them they scared me because you don’t use a PA – I am so use to using that as a crutch. Then people are right in your face, but once I got used to it I realized they were really fun because you usually get a diverse range of people that have never attended something like that before…They are a great chance for musicians to promote their music.
What do you enjoy about performing in Saratoga Springs as opposed to other parts of the country?
Well first of all it’s my home, and its home to Caffe Lena, which is special to me because it is my musical home. Saratoga Springs is a different place. There are a lot of great towns in this world, but people open their hearts to the music and I guess that is why I am here. And also because when I first moved here rent was real cheap, which is always a major selling point for a young musician.
What makes Caffe Lena such a special place for you to play?
When I moved to Upstate New York I was living at a friends place in Troy and they told me that I had to play Caffe Lena because it was the place to go. So I came up here one afternoon, and auditioned for Lena – she was gracious enough to sit down in the middle of the afternoon and listen to me play a few songs. Lena was not a great business woman, but she loved what she did and if she liked you she would book you. She didn’t care if people came the first time or the second time – she would have you back. And I respected that about her. That day she hired me…Caffe Lena was the first place in the East I found a circle of real performers; I moved up to Saratoga Springs because of it and I met my wife there as well, so it in a lot of ways has been the center of my life. I don’t hang out there as much as I used to, but spiritually and musically I think about it all the time.
What is in store for the future?
I am gearing up to start performing more. I have been doing a lot of home recording over the past few years and have sort of let performing slide away, so my plan is to get back into it. I just miss playing…
To learn more about Michael Jerling, visit: www.michaeljerling.com.
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