Focused on his joy

Otago Daily Times

3 days ago

If you stand your ground, people come around, Delaney Davidson tells Seren Stevens.
Delaney Davidson is a country musician set in a noir film. His music has American roots with shades of blues, hints of early rock 'n' roll, and a gritty, trashy timbre binding it all together.
"I look at all these different genres like pots of paint. I'm going, 'Let's have a bit of this, bit of that, wham, slap that over there'," Davidson says.
The process has garnered awards in both Europe and New Zealand, including the 2015 New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate Award and New Zealand Music Awards Country Album of the Year.
Now he's on the road again with The Anniversary Tour, which represents 15 years of his work, reaching back to 2010 when his critically acclaimed album, Self Decapitation, was released. Preparing for the tour was a nostalgic process for Davidson, casting him back to Northern Italy, where he recorded the album for Swiss label Voodoo Rhythm Records.
"I would listen to the songs again, and I would suddenly be back in the original studio. It was like this time travel machine, where you would put the song on, and once you started listening to all the parts, you would remember. You would hear the song, and you could go back into the recording session and relive it, almost."
In a quiet and gravelly voice, he recounts the hazy days that the Anniversary Tour draws upon.
"I'd be thinking of these summer nights in Italy, with the swampy heat, and eating pasta and sausages and going out in these little towns, into the squares. White marble clock towers and ice cream in the evening. All these old times came back."
Known as a troubadour, Davidson spent a decade travelling Europe while writing and performing his music. Many of his early songs were scribed on the long train journeys between small European towns, or in restaurants or cafes, with simple pencil and paper. Davidson discusses how tantalising the simplicity of tour-life is, in both Europe and New Zealand.
"It really feels like a natural state. Life becomes very much about the day to day. 'Where do we have to be? Are you hungry? Eat something. Are you tired? Have a nap. Then sound check, play the show. Go to sleep, get up, drive.' That's nice. It's a way to become really present.
"Touring feels so zen, and so focused. It's such a true dedication to the music. And that's ultimately what so many of us as musicians are looking for; we're looking for a way to dedicate ourselves to the glory of music."
Davidson presents as a wandering soul. But while travelling and living on the road has been his natural state for years, he still finds value in stillness. Now based in Lyttelton, he sees a settled life as a parallel to being grounded in his own style and music.
"In terms of keeping my style my own, I just think of that saying: even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day. Trends come and go, and I love being influenced, but I don't particularly want to deviate from my take on those things.
"If you stay in one place, things come around. If you move around and change, it's hard to connect with things. I find that happens in my hometown of Lyttelton — if I want to see people, I just stand in one place. I can stand down the end of the first aisle of the supermarket around 5 o'clock, and sooner or later, everybody walks past. But if I move around trying to find people, forget it. Everybody's moving. You miss everybody."
Looking back on his music career, Davidson offers the lessons he's learnt along the way, that have kept him on track when difficulties arise.
"Make sure the reasons you're doing it and your motivations are all based in love. Based on the love of the music, and not based in success or industry or comparison, because that's the way to ruin. If you try to keep it focused on your own joy of the music, you will always be getting something out of it.
"Ultimately, it's total energetic magic that we're doing. You can transport yourself back in time, you can mend a broken heart, you can do all sorts of stuff with music. It's not some commercial, interchangeable thing. It's way more than that."
In Dunedin, Davidson will perform alongside his band, featuring Alex Freer, Heather Webb and Mark Hughes.
"The Dunedin tour is going to be crazy — it's going to be wild and fun. Come and bask in the magic and the love," he says.
Delaney Davidson plays two shows at The Crown, Dunedin, on Friday, July 25, then the Cellar Door, Kinross Winery, Queenstown, on Saturday, July 26.