{"id":1805,"date":"2015-10-18T19:44:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T03:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=1805"},"modified":"2015-10-18T19:44:21","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T03:44:21","slug":"adam-carter-sets-out-to-find-americas-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/adam-carter-sets-out-to-find-americas-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Carter Sets out to find America\u2019s Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Declan Hertel\r\nEntertainment Editor<\/pre>\n
I sat down with WOU Student and musician Adam Carter over a pint this weekend to talk about his upcoming documentary project.
\nDeclan:<\/strong> So what is this documentary all about?
\nAdam:<\/strong> Me and my friend JT [Mozingo], we\u2019re going to go around the country, trying to find amateur musicians, and professional musicians, we\u2019re going to do everything music. We\u2019re going to go to recording studios, talk to teachers, talk to students, and we\u2019re going to try to record intimate sessions with them, interviews, and live performances of songs. We want to give exposure to amateur artists, and we want to show everybody that there\u2019s a lot of hardworking people out there that have a lot to offer, but aren\u2019t going to get the exposure.
\nD:<\/strong> So the super underground?
\nA:<\/strong>Yeah, the super underground and the super popular. We want to do everything. Doesn\u2019t matter who it is, we want everybody.
\nD:<\/strong> How did the idea come about?
\nA:<\/strong> I was walking home from school, and I was thinking about the road. Last summer, I went on a trip for a month last summer, we went all around the west coast. And I was thinking about life on the road, and how I missed it, because it\u2019s different, you know? There\u2019s no routine, something new every day. I was thinking about how I could do something like that for the rest of my life, or make some kind of career out of it, something like that. And I thought, \u201cwouldn\u2019t it be cool to make a documentary about a road trip?\u201d But that\u2019s really not enough, and I love music, and everybody around me loves music, making it, listening to it, so why not put the two together? Go on a road trip for a year, interviewing amateur artists from all over the place. It\u2019s a travel documentary, people like traveling, people like music, there\u2019s a market for it, and this is the kind of thing that doesn\u2019t happen that much, people don\u2019t really go around doing this. And what really inspired me: Alan Lomax, in the 30s and 40s, him and his dad would go around in the south and record a bunch of blues musicians, blues was their favorite I think, but they went all over the world, at least Alan did, and recorded music that wouldn\u2019t have been documented if he didn\u2019t do that. A lot of my favorite songs were recorded by him, and we wouldn\u2019t have them if he didn\u2019t go around and do that. So I think it\u2019d be cool to discover some stuff that wouldn\u2019t normally be out there, and turn people onto some new things.
\nD:<\/strong> I love that. The idea that there\u2019s so much music that\u2019s beautiful and worth listening to in the world, and I\u2019m not going to hear even half of it\u2026
\nA:<\/strong> Yeah! And even if I\u2019m not a fan of it, other people will be. What we want to do is give exposure to every single person that records with us. We don\u2019t want to take ownership of any songs or anything.
\nD:<\/strong> What\u2019s the time frame for getting started in earnest?
\nA:<\/strong> We want to be on the road in spring of 2017. We have a lot of work to do though; we need to get experience with cameras and editing. We just got a couple cameras; we\u2019re hoping to start shooting pretty soon. We\u2019re going to start shooting locally before we branch out, so Portland, Salem, even Monmouth. Another thing we want to do is go around to bars in the Salem area, and if they have live music, interview the musicians there, the owner, the patrons, just to get some sort of a following first. I think just even locally there\u2019s so many people working hard and making music, and they deserve some exposure.
\nD:<\/strong> Amen. Speaking of support, are there plans for a Patreon or something where people can support your efforts?
\nA:<\/strong> There\u2019s not right now, but we\u2019re going to do a Kickstarter when it\u2019s closer to being time to go. We\u2019re gonna be saving up ourselves, a lot. The main thing you can do to support us right now is share. Tell your friends.
\nD:<\/strong> If we know people, send them your way?
\nA:<\/strong> We would love to hear from everyone we possibly can. We want to answer questions, we want to give no misconceptions that we\u2019re trying to screw anybody over. We\u2019re in it for, I mean obviously it\u2019s selfish in some ways, but we really do want to give exposure [to artists] and have an adventure while we do it.
\nWe\u2019ve got connections so far in a few different places around the country; we\u2019ve heard from a lot of people in Indiana, we\u2019ve been talking to a guy who lives in Georgia, [some people in] Arizona, Utah, New Mexico. We\u2019ve got a lot of different prospects going on, and we want to get as many people [as we can], all around the country. So we want to advertise and make it available for people.
\nD:<\/strong> Do you know of any places that have a super vibrant indie scene? I know San Francisco\u2019s got a crazy scene.
\nA:<\/strong> I\u2019ve heard Austin, Texas has a lot, they\u2019ve got some good stuff going on, San Francisco like you said. I don\u2019t know about indie, but I know Chicago\u2019s got a big urban blues scene, I believe that they are the blues capital currently. And I have family in Chicago, so that\u2019ll be nice. What I\u2019m looking forward to most is Mississippi, I love that Delta Blues.
\nD:<\/strong> Are there any other places you\u2019re especially looking forward to?
\nA:<\/strong> The whole south I\u2019m looking forward to, just because I\u2019m such a huge blues fan. But I want to try to go to as many national parks as we can too, because I love national parks. Our country is very beautiful, and a lot of people don\u2019t know just how insane some of the natural wonders are. We want to document those too, that\u2019s part of the adventure. We visited seven of them last summer, it\u2019s amazing. Yosemite National Park, if you\u2019ve ever been there is just\u2026 I think we went to seven national parks and Yosemite was by far my favorite. Grand Canyon\u2019s got nothing on it.
\nD:<\/strong> How do you think the acoustics are at the bottom of the canyon?
\nA:<\/strong> Echoey. Maybe we\u2019ll do a session down there, ride the mules down.
\nD:<\/strong> Do you have any plans to shoot in cool locations like that, or mostly living rooms?
\nA:<\/strong> We want to be able to record outside, definitely. We also want to rig the video we have to have a little studio so we can record if we don\u2019t have anywhere else. We\u2019re also probably going to be renting a studio. One thing I\u2019m really excited for is, apparently, JT knows a guy[\u2026] who runs this bus in San Francisco, and it\u2019s like a punk bus, there\u2019s a stage in the back and there\u2019s punk shows on the bus. They drive around San Francisco with a punk band playing in the back. That sounds really, really cool and I can\u2019t wait check that out.
\nI\u2019m really excited to shoot the WOU too. As many people as want to do this, I want to do it with them. Just shoot me an email, we\u2019ll set up a time. I would love samples, I can\u2019t get enough of them.
\nD:<\/strong> You\u2019ve already got some people, yeah?
\nA:<\/strong> Yeah, we want to do a few practice sessions by ourselves [first], and then we want to start doing that. We\u2019ve got access to microphones and editing equipment through the recording studio. We\u2019re probably going to do our first session [\u2026] within the month, then make the Facebook page live. Our goal is to start putting out weekly videos, after we get a few videos, so I want to get three or four before we start. We want to keep people updated and keep them into it; we want to have content coming out at a consistent rate.
\nD:<\/strong> Do you have a route planned?
\nA:<\/strong> We\u2019re going to go down south through California, the same route we took on our trip last year. We\u2019re going to go all the way to the bottom, there\u2019s this place called Slab City, you know where that is?
\nD:<\/strong> Yeah! That\u2019s kinda like a\u2026 commune or something? Lawless?
\nA:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s a squatter\u2019s community. We met some cool people there last time we went, we want to go back. They have concerts every Saturday night. There\u2019s this place called the Range, it\u2019s a bunch of buses put together with a stage. We met some people there, you know, we hung out with them for a few hours, but when we were leaving it felt like we were leaving our family a little bit. It was amazing. We want to go back and connect with them, and that\u2019s going to be interesting to shoot. There are so many crazy people down there. Insane. Meth-heads, their pastor came while we were there to say a prayer over Mariah, the woman\u2019s foot\u2026 fun fact, Mariah is, if you\u2019ve seen the movie \u201cInto the Wild\u201d, the girl that Kristen Stewart plays is based on her. But anyway, he was this guy, he was really skinny, he had his shirt off, he looked like a miner. He had this huge beard and this hat, and he was the pastor! I\u2019ve never seen a pastor like that. Everything down there is pretty crazy.
\nD: Then down through Arizona?
\nA:<\/strong> Through Arizona, through Texas, there are a couple places in Texas like Austin and Houston; Lightnin\u2019 Hopkins is from Houston and I want to try to delve into that, see if there\u2019s anything about him down there because he\u2019s one of my favorite performers. And then make our way into the South, kind of zig zag through the Midwest, go up the East Coast, then head back through the North. I\u2019m from Illinois originally, I have some family, southern Illinois and Chicago, so I hope to visit them. A guy that\u2019s going to be one of our camera men, he\u2019s from Indiana, so he\u2019s got connection out there. We\u2019re going to try to hit as many states as possible. And we have a year, that\u2019s what we\u2019re planning on doing it in.
\nD:<\/strong> This is super cool. I\u2019m guilty of this, people talk about big plans, and like \u201cI\u2019m writing a novel!\u201d or something like that, and you never do it. And to see a couple of dudes who said, \u201clet\u2019s do a thing,\u201d and then are going to do the thing, it\u2019s reassuring.
\nA:<\/strong> My whole life people have been telling me \u201cfollow your dreams,\u201d right? And then whenever it\u2019s time to do that, people say, \u201cwell, is that really realistic? Is that really going to work, you\u2019re kind of going out on a limb here.\u201d But my whole life people have been saying follow your dreams. So let\u2019s do it! We would regret it if we didn\u2019t, so we\u2019re going to do it. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about, you know. Not having any regrets, looking back when I\u2019m thirty and saying, \u201cwow, I wish I had made that documentary, I wish that I had done that. That would have been a really great life experience but I can\u2019t really do that anymore.\u201d I have a kid or something, you know. I don\u2019t have any kids! I\u2019m 21 years old, I don\u2019t have anything really tying me down. So we\u2019re going to do some cool stuff. Try to travel as much as I can, see as much of the world as I can before I settle down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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