Music On The Homestead - Kerry Adams at Lagoon Records

A Tiny Homestead

Today I'm talking with Kerry Adams about music, and why it's important on the homestead.

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00:00
You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Kerry Adams at Lagoon Records. think it is in Michigan. Good morning, Kerry. How are you? Good morning. I'm fabulous. How are you, Mary? I'm good. So again, it's going to seem weird that I asked somebody who's into music to be on the podcast about homesteading, but music is a craft.

00:28
And music is a big part, has been a big part of Homesteaders for a long, long time. So tell me about yourself because people then understand why I asked you to be on the show. Wow. That's a big question. Well, yes. I've been doing this for about 50 years. So I started back in the Jurassic era and it's, I'm a guitarist or producer. I used to be on tour.

00:55
I managed a couple of different artists when we were on tour and I'd be their guitarist. um I've owned three recording studios. I still have one now. um And to me, the music is not a whole lot different than eh cooking the vegetables that you grow or being a painting artist or whatever. It's all art and it all kind of comes from the same place. So I love to play and I love to cook. So it comes from the same side of the brain, I guess.

01:23
Um, so yeah, I've been doing this since I was a kid. My dad was an amateur guitarist. Um, my sister was a published, uh, pencil and ink artist. So I guess it's kind of in the family a bit. Um, so that's my thing. That's what I know how to do uh and cook. know how to cook seven days a week for my family. And we try to do shopping locally and, and

01:51
I don't have enough property to grow enough vegetables and stuff to feed my family. So we do a lot of shopping locally and farmers markets and things like that. And to me, it's all kind of the same thing. And I've seen a number of your podcasts and I think they're very cool. So I'm honored to be here today. Thank you. Well, thank you for saying my podcast is very cool. I love it, too. uh So you said that you think it's something to do with the brain that actually leads me to it's something that I believe, too.

02:21
My dad was a bio med tech for years and he just turned, he just turned 83 in July and he's been retired for quite a while. And I know that you worked for Ford as an engineer and I feel like engineering or wrenching on machines is something that goes with music.

02:47
See, that's, uh, you know, we, I don't know that people know this, but we've kind of known each other for awhile. Um, you're one of the few people, there were old engineers that used to tell me, well, you know, if you're an engineer and musician, that's two different sides of your brain and they'll never connect. You can't do both well. Um, I believe engineering is artistic. Um, it's creative. Like any of those things. Um, if you look at engineering and you say, okay, I got, I either have some new widget I want to design or I have some problem to solve.

03:17
Yes, there's mathematics, there's trusted formulas, things you do. But before you even do that, you have to look at a problem and go, okay, what would be the best way to handle this? And so the artistic part is being creative before you even start a project. I think it all, even engineering comes from the same place and the same side of the brain. But having done that for 35 years and being a musician for 50, I think they're actually more similar than they are different.

03:47
Yeah, my dad played guitar for a long time and he is a natural tenor singing voice and his voice is beautiful. I don't know if you heard him sing a long time, but when I did hear him sing, it was gorgeous. So I think that music and engineering are tied together and I will die on that hill. Well, thank you. There's not a lot of people ascribed to that, but it's true, I believe. Yeah, I've known enough people who who wrench on machines, whether it's cars or

04:17
radios or copiers or whatever that have some musical talent that I really think there's a tie in there. So anyway, em I am assuming that back many, many, many years ago when people were starting farms that guitars were not exactly easy to come by. And that's why there's something called the flat top box. Yep.

04:45
Yes. Um, some of those instruments actually, speaking of being artistic and creative, some of those, uh, if you look at some of the early stuff from the twenties and thirties down in the Delta, which is where a lot of this music came from, um, it, you will see everything from, uh, a, a wash bucket with a stick and a single string. And mean, all those kinds of sort of cliche looking things, um, a lot of this stuff, and there was three string guitars and four string guitars. mean, people.

05:14
A lot of times built whatever they needed to do to make sounds, make music. So it's not like you walked into your guitar center and bought a really nice Gibson guitar, right? You had to kind of create something because a lot there, wasn't people making this stuff. So a lot of homesteaders, a lot of people down in the twenties and thirties in the Delta were buying old pieces of guitars or beat up guitars, or if they couldn't afford it, a lot of more making their own guitars. So.

05:43
And the same thing is true of basses and fiddles and everything else. There was a whole sort of underground thing where people had to build instruments if you wanted to play music because you couldn't just go down to the music store and buy one. So that's kind of where it all started, is people built these things. Yeah. And were the strings made out of like animal sinew or what were the strings back then? you know? Usually cat gut. That's...

06:13
But like violins and stuff and violas for years and years and years were cat gut strings, which is basically just cat gut and it's spun until it's really tight and that's what you use. I think guitar, the most part, were steel strings to a degree. There weren't many cat guts, but that long ago there wasn't steel strings. Somebody was making steel strings, so had to use something. Yeah. So cat gut as in intestines, is that what we're talking about? Yeah. Yeah.

06:42
And to make the bass string, it was just a thicker piece. Is that how that worked? Yes, bass strings are, and you're exactly right. Bass strings tend to be larger diameter and they vibrate at a lower frequency, which is where the bass is. So you would just make bigger strings and a longer neck because the longer a string is, the lower its frequency, even if it's the same diameter. So if I take a string with a given diameter, it's on a guitar and I made it another foot longer and put it on a longer instrument, wouldn't

07:11
create a lower tone. This is why I wanted to talk to you because you know stuff I don't know. I know just enough to be dangerous. Okay and also the reason that guitars and fiddles or violins were popular on homesteads is because they are eminently portable instruments. yes it's really hard to go around on Saturday night to the barn with a grand piano. It's just not easy to do.

07:38
Yeah, and pianos were expensive to have. Only the rich had pianos. Correct. Correct. So even if you could only afford a five dollar flat top box guitar, you could go down to Saturday night, you know, and have a campfire and hang out in the barn and play some music and everybody could sing along. that same thing is still true today. You know, there's

08:04
There are a few other options, like they have little mini keyboards that you could have speakers in them. You can kind of sit on your on your couch and play, which is a fun thing to do. But guitars still to this day are historically portable and relatively easy to play and work in almost any environment. So yes, they're it's just a pretty handy instrument overall. OK, can you explain for my listeners how a guitar works, how it makes sound?

08:35
Well, are we talking about an acoustic guitar? An acoustic guitar is just basically there's bracing and stuff inside which changes some of the tuning, but basically it's just an empty box. um And there's actually some guys who build to even to this day called cigar box guitars. So if you think about a box of wood, a box of wood has basically a kind of a fundamental sound. If you were to cut a hole in a box and yell into it, you would hear your voice come back.

09:03
If I take that box and I put a neck on it with some frets and I string some strings over it and I hit those strings where they vibrate, that wood box is going to amplify that sound out the sound hole, which is what you see on front of most acoustic guitars is a round hole in the front. That's where the majority of the sound comes out. So the box itself has some resonant frequencies, but inside of it, based on the volume, how big the guitar is, and there's different sizes guitars. um When you hit those strings.

09:30
that vibration goes into the box and comes back out the hole, but it's amplified when it comes back out the hole because it went through that box and it vibrated and that's how it gets boosted. So that's basically how an acoustic guitar makes it sound, which is not a whole lot different than violins and violas. You'll see what's called the F holes, which is the F shape cutouts in a violin. The sound comes out of those the same way because it's not a solid box. It's an empty box. So that's how the sound gets amplified and comes out. Cool, because

10:00
I know how it works, but I don't know how to explain it to make other people understand it. and so the other thing I wanted to ask you is when I was little, my mom says that I was singing before I taught and that didn't go anywhere. Cause then I got told, up a lot. But, uh, but if someone has a kid that is showing some, some interests or talent for music,

10:27
Should they? Should they encourage that? Should they give them all the tools or should they just let them figure it out? I would say give them the tools and here's what I and I've been. I'll I'll give you the example that I tell most parents of kids who are either showing a propensity or not showing a propensity for this. A lot of parents want to put their kids in a music class, right? Little Johnny should go learn how to play a guitar or a horn or something.

10:57
And what I do is when they used to come to me when I was teaching and they would say, Hey, I want my kids to learn how to play. let's just use a guitar, for example, because that's what I play. I want learn how to play guitar. Okay. So we go get him an inexpensive guitar. And then he would come to me and we'd start out with lessons and I would do that. And then, okay, I'll see you next week. And I'd give him some stuff to do. And he would come back next week and either know it or not know it very well. And I would look at mom and go, okay, what's going on? She said, well, I had to like.

11:26
lean on him all week long to practice. And he would rather go do whatever he wants to do, play sports, all this kind of thing. I really had to kind of beat on to practice the guitar before he came back this week for to go through the lesson. And if you go through that a couple of times, I would look at the parents and say, I'm going to be honest with you. If little Johnny would rather go play sports or your little daughter wants to go play hockey, whatever she wants to do, I don't care. Invest in that. Because if you have to force the kid

11:55
to play an instrument, to practice, to rehearse. It's not their thing. Um, when I was a kid, I was only eight or nine years old. My dad had a guitar and as soon as I picked it up, I had no idea what I was doing and I would just sit there and pick on one spring, just making that kind of sound. I'm sure I drove my parents nuts sitting in the den doing that, but I would fall asleep every night. My dad would have to take his guitar off me and carry me into bed. I would never put the thing down. I just never did.

12:21
And I'm not saying I was a musician. I'm just saying for some reason I was enamored with that instrument. um And if you have a kid that's showing that kind of propensity for that just can't put the guitar or the piano or whatever it is. um And they would rather do that than go hang out outside with their buddies three days a week. Then you invest in that child. Then it's worthwhile. You don't have to ask. You'll know. You can, you'll be able to tell. Yeah. If you can afford it. I are the reason.

12:50
Part of the reason that I never learned to play an instrument is because I was very interested in piano. And uh we didn't have the money for a piano. We didn't have the money for any kind of piano like instrument. guitar, I loved listening to my dad play, but the actual fingering positions and things for that, I just couldn't figure it out. And I asked him to teach me and he tried and I failed.

13:20
So that wasn't my thing. And so if any of my kids had had any interest in an instrument, I would have moved heaven and earth to get them an opportunity to go learn it, to have their hands on it. But none of them did. They all loved to sing. And two of them are pretty good and two of them are not. And I'm not saying which ones. Because they all love it.

13:46
Well, yeah. And the thing is, is nobody actually has to go up and try to be a professional. They just love to sing and every once in they get to sing in the bathroom or they show up at a karaoke contest or they're hanging out with their friends singing. Who cares? But, know, I just believe that, you know, and because I'm a musician, people can say, oh yeah, well, he's going to say that. I believe that music and the arts in school is dramatically important because I think it affects brain development as opposed to not doing it. So.

14:14
Yeah. And unfortunately, a lot of those programs have gone by the wayside. Unfortunately. Yes. Unfortunately. True. Some are coming back, but it's difficult. And I understand why they cut it, you know, but m there's plenty of studies that have shown the differences in development of kids who were exposed to arts versus those who have not. m So it's a pretty well documented thing at this point. So I would like to see it stay around. Obviously I'm biased.

14:44
Um, cause I think, uh, if you're involved in the arts, whether it's music or painting or cooking or I don't care what it, you know, whatever it is, but being involved in the arts, some metal shop, woodshop, build something, whatever you, like you said, use your hands. Um, I really think that the whole thing about, know, go get a master's degree at college. I think you really need to learn how to do something, you know, having some skills matters, think.

15:10
Well, the thing that that makes me crazy is the school that my kids went to. They well, Minnesota in general requires kids to take pre-calculus and trigonometry for their senior year. they but a lot of schools don't have music classes anymore. And I'm like, people, music and math go hand in hand. Why? get rid of music? Well, see, and you understand that because, again, as an engineer, I make that connection.

15:40
Music is math and vice versa, right? mean, music is rhythmic. So there's math to that and music is melodies and tones and harmonies and harmonics and there's math to that. So yeah, it's much more integrated than people think. But, but if you don't expose people to one without the other, I think you only got half the picture. So. Yeah. And from my listeners who don't know what harmonics are.

16:10
I could try to explain it and I would fail miserably. I know what it is because I hear them all the time in everything. But can you explain harmonics? Well, if you play a fundamental note, that note, let's say we'll use a guitar string that guitar string is vibrating at some frequencies and you hear it and you pluck the note and it goes and it plays some note. That note is not just simply that note at that frequency.

16:39
um That string also has other vibrations that are occurring inside of that note, which are creating even in odd order, what's called harmonic notes above that. And so what sounds like a simple single note isn't necessarily a simple single note, but it's an enriched note that has harmonic content to it, which is if you've ever heard a really good, really good band or uh Motown singers or whatever.

17:08
and they start seeing harmony, right? And so you have somebody singing the root, somebody singing the third and the fifth and all this kind of thing. You hear this beautiful harmony. Most notes on most instruments, even on a piano, when you press a key, it's not a single string. Most pianos, every key, there's three strings to that note. So it's creating harmonics, which creates a richness to the tone. And when they all stack up, like on an instrument, like a guitar, you got six strings, you strum a full six string chord.

17:37
There's not just six individual notes playing. There's hundreds of harmonies and harmonics that are going on, which is where all that rich tonality comes from. And which is why I love guitar music. other thing with harmonics is you people hear harmonics in everything everywhere. We have a Tulane highway out in front of our house and it's a long straightaway. So people tear through here like motorcycles love our road.

18:07
Yeah. And the things that I pick up on, my husband will never hear because his ears aren't good and he's not attuned this way. But I hear a certain kind of semi coming down the road and I'm like, oh, that's that one that works for whoever they have their name on the door. And he's like, how do you know that? And I'm like, because I can hear it. I know what it is. And ceiling fans have harmonics. Oh, it's us fans. I can't.

18:37
I can't be in a room with an exhaust fan and not hear stuff that no one else is hearing and they think I'm crazy. And you're not. And what you're hearing is if a simple fan is running in the room, let's say a ceiling fan, those blades are whipping around and they're making a little like a paddle noise. That's what that is. But because that air is being whipped and it rolls over the edges of the fan tips, that creates a different fundamental tone than the fan's blade itself.

19:04
So you're hearing the combination of all that stuff, which is what creates the sound of the fan. That's why it's almost like fingerprints. That's why when that truck's coming down a road or a car comes down the road and you just know, hey, I've heard that car yesterday. It's a Mustang. I just know what it is. That's why it's not because it makes a single tone. Even the tires rolling down the road aren't a single tone. It's a if you listen to the hiss of tires coming down the road, it's a combination of harmonics.

19:31
that creates sort of a fingerprint sound and some people aren't tuned into it, but your brain definitely is. So that's why you hear that. And that's why you go, oh, I know what the truck is. You have critical hearing and it matters. It's fascinating. And it's also incredibly irritating because when I say, you hear that half the people I say it to go, what? There's no sound here. And I'm like, ha, you're wrong.

19:57
Yeah, and so the best thing to do is not even argue the point. Just enjoy the fact that you can hear that. Oh, I. I wish I had sort of a half off switch for my ears because trying to filter sound sometimes is almost impossible for me. um And then harmonies themselves, like when two people sing together. Yeah, a lot of people don't know that when they sing together, there's a third voice that's the third third.

20:26
level it's created or three people sing together it's like six it's it's exponential right yes and again that's that harmonic structure we talked about where a single note isn't necessarily a single note so if i'm singing a note or you're singing a note there's other harmonies in there i don't mean sung harmonies like two people singing together but harmonic structure that note as your vocal cords vibrate they're not just creating a single note but there's

20:54
higher pitches and lower pitches involved in that note. So now your voice is maybe creating a half dozen different harmonics, which is called majors and minors or thirds and fifths all this kind of thing. Now you get two people singing together. So you've just basically doubled the whole thing. So you put three singers together. Now you got what 18 different sounds that are coming out of three people, which doesn't initially sound like all that. But when you go, why does that sound so rich? That's why it's, it's all that sort of

21:22
Because the harmonics that are in voices or guitar strings or a piano note when you hit it are basically subtle. They're not as loud as the primary, the fundamental note. So it's underneath. And so what happens is you get three people singing together. You know, they're singing a simple three-part harmony, but all that harmonic structure and all three of those voices and all those vocal chords is creating this really big rich tone. And that's where when you hear a band that I don't care whether you're Motown, Country, whatever,

21:52
When you hear people that are singing like that, that really know how to sing harmonies, that's when you go, oh my God, it just sounds amazing. And that's fine. Yeah. And harmonics are the thing that make people feel something when they listen to it. Absolutely. Yes. And a lot of people can't define what it is. just go, God, did you hear those guys singing? It was amazing. Yeah. Well, that's where it comes from.

22:17
Yeah, and that brings us back to the music on the homestead because a lot of farmers who have cows will have a radio playing in the barn all the time because it calms the cows down. Absolutely. And so there's a good reason to have music on the homestead. um Music is entertainment. You know, you have a couple of friends over, you got a fire going outside, you sit down around the fire, somebody brings a guitar and everybody has fun singing or listening. Yeah.

22:48
And even people that don't know how to sing love to do it. So you know what? Don't, don't criticize it. If they can't sing on key, who cares? Let them have fun. Um, that's the thing about it. There's no wrong. Just, just sing louder than they do and then you can't hear them. Right. Yes. Very true. ah Uh, it is a pretty amazing thing. Um, uh, not just music for music say, but when you look at the

23:18
sort of the mechanics behind all of it. It starts to make sense and you understand it because you can hear it. um And so that's a lot of what creates the sort of unexplainable stuff that people wonder about music. Why does it sound like that? How come it, how can it even, even tempos? m You'll notice that some people, and this has been studied even in animals um have what I call

23:46
an intrinsic or an inherent tempo. Some people like ballads, some people like a little bit faster songs. They don't know why. They personally don't know why. But that's why you'll see a lot of pop music is done right at 90 beats per minute, because that tends to be the sweet spot for people listen to pop music. Personally, I like people laugh at me because I'm 70 years old, but I still like hard rock and heavy metal music because it rips, it tears. As a guitarist, it's kind of a

24:15
default for me, but and I like up tempo blues and things like that. And some people listen to that go, oh my God, that's horrible. How can you listen to that? I would rather listen to something calming and relaxing. If I listen to a slow ballad after about the third one, I'm ready to like get my car and go 100 miles an hour down the freeway. I'm going nuts. So everybody has even an intrinsic or an inherent tempo and groove and feel. And they've proved this even with animals. Elephants sway to exactly one half their heart rate.

24:45
when they want to relax. I mean, it's all connected. People don't think about that, but there's sort of science behind all of this stuff. And so some people like more melancholy songs. Some people like faster songs and slower songs. They don't necessarily know why, but it's really kind of in your DNA and in your biology, why that stuff works. Yeah. I also think it's what you're exposed to as a child, as a young child.

25:14
Because I really did like very old country songs like Appalachian old because my dad would play guitar and he would sing songs like Tom Dooley and songs like that. Hang down your head Tom Dooley. And that's that's very, very old Appalachian ish country music. And and then every time we would go somewhere, he would have the local country radio station on. And this was in the.

25:43
late 70s, early 80s, because that's when I started really remembering music, you know, paying attention. And I didn't like that particular time frame for country music. And I would be like, can't we listen to pop? he'd be like, when you have your driver's license, you get to choose radio station. Like, oh, fine. So for me, country music was really fun in the 90s. I really liked what was coming out in the 90s. Now I listen to a country station for half an hour the other day in the car.

26:13
And I was like, what is this crap? This is not music. What is going on? eh Well, yeah, it's see, know, and people that actually listen and pay attention or hear these things. And like back when Shania Twain came out, Mutt Lang, producer and all this kind of stuff, you know, it kind of became rock and roll with a fiddle or steel guitar. And that's OK. I mean, I like that kind of stuff, too, because again.

26:37
it, most of it's up tempo and groove. And so I like it up tempo, whatever. Okay. People like, Oh, that's just pop with a fiddle. Okay. Maybe it is, but I still, it's, it still moves me when I'm driving down the road in the car, as opposed to listening to some really grindy old ballad. Um, but now there's a big movement of foot. Um, and it's a subtle kind of thing, but there are many, and this includes Jen's ears, believe it or not. So there's still hope for the world. Welcome. We can't hear.

27:06
classic country because it's this sure isn't it. So now there's this big movement of foot around the 18 to 25 year olds that are going. You know what? What happened to that Clint Black stuff and and that you know all that sort of famous artists that they're listening to. um And so now there's a big movement of foot and I've got. I've got a new client in my studio right now. Who was in Nashville for 20 years and he took a break.

27:33
And now he's just coming back and kind of starting his career over again. He's 40 years old. He is hardcore redneck old school country. So I developed a couple of music tracks for him for some lyrics he had written. And I sent him to him and he goes, that's a bit too rock and roll. Because that's, that's my DNA. So I had to sit down and try to come up with some really sort of classic hardcore country music tracks for us to put these songs together. And he fell in love with

28:04
Now here's a guy, four years old. He's been around this business for a while. He doesn't want to play all that pop country stuff. wants to that. Like you're talking about that really old school, what we call gut bucket country. That's what he likes. Right. And that's what he wants to do. And that's how he's promoting himself on his website is old school, Johnny little, you know, a classic country. Okay. That's cool. There's a big movement of foot now for people to say, we miss that music. We'd like to hear more of it. So it's kind of cool. Yeah.

28:33
Awesome. I can't wait to see something on your Facebook page about it. um So we have like eight minutes left. Where can people find you if they want to if they want to get in contact? Well, yeah, probably on my Facebook page is just Carrie Adams. K.E.R.Y. um I used to have a website. I took it down because I have more than enough work as a retired guy now. I don't need any more artists. That sounds terrible, but I have plenty of work in my studio.

29:00
Um, so that's good. basically on Facebook page, which cracks me up. keep threatening to quit Facebook every year, but the problem is, I, there's so much, um, so there's so many artists that have found me through there that, that if I could get rid of it tomorrow, I probably would, but there's people still find me on there. So I just leave it up. Um, and like I said, I got rid of my, my, uh, webpage and all that stuff for my studio simply because I had enough work and I didn't need to sort of be throwing the net out there anymore.

29:29
So again, Carrie Adams on Facebook, um, you'll see posts on there. put stuff up there about the artists I'm working with. And a lot of times I, if I'm bored, I come down here in the studio and I come up with a little two minute, uh, instrumental track and I throw it up on there just for people to listen to for free. So, my dad would call that noodling on the guitar. Yeah. So noodling is fun. If you can noodle and I've got.

29:56
literally hundreds of noodling tracks. So yeah, it's what I do in my life now and I enjoy it. Awesome. Kerry, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me about music because I don't think people know as much as they think they might know about it. And there were things that I didn't know either until I started looking into it. So thank you for your time. Thank you very much and have a day. You too. Bye.