Aaron Davis is a longtime Teton-region multinstrumentalist and producer. KHOL’s Music Director Evan Ballew caught up with Davis in the studio about his inspirations of the moment and how he’s staying rooted in the age of AI-songwriting.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. – Eds.
Evan Ballew: How’s your summer been musically or otherwise?
Aaron Davis: It’s been great. I’ve spent less time on the road this summer touring and so had a couple extra days on the river, doing a little fishing, being a little more involved here locally, but otherwise busy with music and some studio projects. Honestly, it’s been a better balance this summer than the last couple. So I’m feeling good and still energized here in September after a big summer. Ready to go into the winter, which is prime songwriting conditions.
EB: Can you give me your thoughts on AI songwriters?
AD: It’s a deep, deep sort of tragedy that some entities like Spotify are creating their own AI-based songs to replace songs by artists. For instance, with background-style music, they’re licensing their own music to be able to replace some of that, to be able to double-dip and make money off of that. And I think that’s tragic. And then on the other side, singer-songwriters that are using AI, that’s sort of a mixed bag because Google has been out there for so long, the access to that information’s been there for a long, long time, so I don’t use it myself to develop songs, but I could see how it could be a good idea generator in the right form. I have seen some songs that have been generated by AI and they’re just not very good. That human aspect is missing.
EB: Who are some of your favorite (human) songwriters at the moment?
AD: I’d say Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee. I think what she’s writing and her non-traditional approach to Americana with a little bit of a pop influence, but still rootsy is really kind of fresh. Then her friend, MJ Lenderman, [I’m] digging his stuff too. A lot of stuff’s right here in our backyard and if we look around us a lot of times, the music that we’re into, some local artists are quite adjacent to what’s going on in the national scene.
EB: I’m wondering if you’d be able to put into your own words what it means to bring together artists from across the state to an evening in Jackson.
AD: Wyoming has such a cool, rootsy music scene in sort of a gritty way. And I think that our surroundings being rural and very non-city-like informs a lot of that. It takes a little extra to live in Wyoming, as we all know, coming up on winter and things like that. And I think being a songwriter and also having usually a couple other jobs to make a living and putting it all together certainly creates a vibe and a culture of its own: a ‘Wyo-Americana’ kind of culture and a ‘Wyo-Folk’ culture that I think certainly has a sound of its own.
EB: What do you enjoy most about working with local artists, musicians, songwriters?
AD: It’s a very rare thing if somebody comes in with any ego to my place and I’ve found that that’s really been a little unique maybe to other, more commercial studios. Maybe it comes down to the music that’s being brought into my studio which spans a bit but certainly leans and folk and roots Americana, but also up to rock and roll. Just being on a personal level with people that are very open-minded and even though they’re determined and they’ve spent a lot of time on these songs arranging and writing and everything, when they come in, they’re so focused but also relaxed in a way to be able to treat the music in such a way. So I find that that back and forth in the studio is just really nice to let inspiration in. I’m constantly inspired by other artists coming in [especially] being a session musician, trying to figure out a way to capture musicians playing together in a room. I have to say it’s a constant learning experience and one that I don’t take for granted.
Listen above for KHOL’s full conversation and live performance with Aaron Davis.
