A Rising Star Sings Big Star: An Interview with Skylar Gudasz

Skylar Gudasz has made an impression on Mike Mills (REM) who described her  as “One of my favorite singers”. Mitch Easter (Let’s Active) said “I love Skylar’s songs” and Big Star drummer Jody Stephens described Gudasz’s voice as “uniquely pure and sweet”. I couldn’t have said it better myself.  She added her beautiful vocals to Michael Rank’s Deadstock earlier this year and she has toured with Chris Stamey’s Big Star’s Third traveling tribute caravan literally around the world.  Skylar recently released a 7″ single (Daniel 13) featuring her composition “Car Song” backed with a cover of Big Star’s “Dream Lover” offering listeners a taste, a tease of what’s to come on her upcoming full-length record produced by Chris Stamey.  

Hal Bogerd: Congratulations on your single “Car Song”/ “Dream Lover” (Big Star cover)!  It’s a nice introduction for anyone who hasn’t heard you sing before.

Skylar Gudasz: Well, thank you, I feel quite lucky and proud of it. It was quite a treat to record “Dream Lover” live at the Fidelitorium peering at everyone through the glass and soaking in the ether with Mitch Easter’s guitar playing. Josh Moore really solidified the songs at the Fidelitorium and at Modern Recording with his vocals.  It was pretty magical, and to have the vinyl – Daniel 13 advocated we make that tangible piece of artwork in the first place, and it was so the right decision.  And to have William Schaff’s bright red paper cutout of two cockatiels on the front is a dream come true! I’ve always admired his work and the darkness it revels in.

Did your recording of “Dream Lover” come before or after your involvement with Chris Stamey’s production of Big Star’s Third. How did you get involved with Big Star’s Third?

“Dream Lover” came after the Big Star’s Third tours. I think I first took note of that song watching it on stage. There’s this magic that happens in the elasticity of that duet. It’s quiet and bombastic at the same time and the singers are kind of relying on one another to have somewhere to fall back rhythmically and reactively. Push and pull. The lyrics are dealing with that sort of unrequited dream that exists in this liminal in between space of having and not having, reality and non-reality. I think it’s a very compelling place to start a song.

I got started with Big Star’s Third playing flute and singing at SXSW 2012 when I was just really getting seriously into the music scene. Chris Stamey is in charge of a lot of those concerts and he is based in Chapel Hill near where I live. I had worked with Jeff Crawford and Charles Cleaver who were part of the group and I think they must have put in a good word for me: said I was a cheap date or good post-show drinking buddy or something because I’ve been lucky enough to be on tour with them almost ever since.  

I saw you at the Cat’s Cradle with Chris Stamey, Jody Stephens, Gary Louris, Tift Merritt, Mike Mills, Django Haskins, Mitch Easter, Jon Auer, Ken Stringfellow and a host of other talented musicians. I know there is a core group that travels but don’t other musicians joins the group at various locations? Who else has performed with the group as you’ve literally traveled the globe?

We went to Europe in 2012, where Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) and Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) joined us, and the camaraderie was very special. There was a missed flight and a midnight van ride across Spain.  When we were in London Ray Davies came up and sang “The Letter”! I remember being in the wings as everyone was getting ready to go on and Chris Stamey asked me if I ever sang backup on that song. When I told him I had not, he told me to “Get out there anyways!”  He pushed me out on stage, which I’m very thankful for. The fantastic Sharon Van Etten has been with us twice, as has Kurt Vile. In Barcelona, at Primavera Sound, all of Wilco stole the show.  In Sydney, Australia, we had Cat Power adn Edwyn Collins both of whom were spellbinding. Ken Vandermark, The Uptown Horns, Matthew Caws from Nada Surf, Sally Timms from the Mekons, Tommy Stinson, and Peter Buck of course! I’s been a fantastic group of guests wherever we go. The guests and the audiences are just committed, stellar people who believe rock’n’roll is here to stay. It can feel transcendental for sure. 

How did you connect with Michael Rank? I loved your vocals on Deadstock and it was a real treat to see you join him on stage at his performance at the American Tobacco Complex in Durham, NC.

Thank you! I think we first connected at a NC Music Love Army show at the Cat’s Cradle last fall. He brought me into Jesse Huebner’s studio where he was working in February. He had these sheets of beautiful handwritten lyrics in fancy writing and you could see outside the window that it was starting to snow. I had just gotten back from our tour in Australia where it was summer and I didn’t want to leave. A lot of Michael’s songs are in this reflective voice of loss and looking back, so it was a lovely retreat to hang out in that song/head space for a while. I’m grateful to him for that opportunity.  

Are you still touring with the Big Star troupe? Are there future dates set? You must be racking up the frequent flier miles!

Every time we do a show, we all kind of say goodbye like it’s going to be the last one, and then the stars align again, which is lovely. We are in LA on September 27 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre with a benefit for the Wild Honey Foundation, and there are some more whispers, but nothing on record right now.

Rumor has it you’ve got an album ready for a 2014 release.  Where and with who was it recorded, who produced it, originals or covers? Do you have a release date in mind?

I do have a solo album and it’s called Oleander.  I’ve been working on tying a bow on it all nice and pretty with the amazing Chris Stamey, who produced and recorded it between his studio, Modern Recording, and the Fidelitorium. The songs are all original, and for the most part recorded live at a grand piano. Chris and Jefferson Holt (head artistic king at the multi-media publisher/label/movie production company Daniel 13 Press) came to me and said they wanted to make a record, and when we sat down what we found in the song reservoir was an album about distance and solitude, about trying to connect despite disconnectedness, and we tried to honor that in the sparseness of the arrangements, the strings, upright bass, vocal layerings. I’m very excited about it. It’s the kind of record with weirdly structured songs I always knew I wanted to make but didn’t know how, and Daniel 13 and Chris helped me make it.

It might be premature to ask but do you have some any dates set in support of your solo album?

I do! I’ll be in LA with Big Star (Sept. 27th) and I’ve got a solo show at the City Winery in NYC on October 24th.  You can keep updated at my website (skylargudasz.com) and you can hear the 7″ there too, or visit the label/production company of which I am a part, Daniel 13 (http://daniel13.com)

Thanks Skylar and best of luck!