When I heard that the little gift shop in Mahomet (Yellow and Company) was going to have a “Listening Room” experience with local singer/songwriter Edward David Anderson (solo, Backyard Tire Fire, Black Dirt Revival), I was immediately intrigued. I visited their event space last year and enjoyed a very intimate set from The Voice contestant, Dave Fenley. I was impressed with the acoustics and ambiance of the venue, and the opportunity to see someone with the talent of Anderson there not only made me want to attend but made me want to talk to Anderson about it.
I asked Anderson what can we expect from his listening room experience in Mahomet on Friday.
“I had done a listening room experience kind of thing at Desthil in Normal. Really cool vibe. I actually made a recording that played before the show that was like something I had heard at City Winery. It says something like ‘Please refrain from conversation during the performance as it’s distracting to the artist and those around you.’. I’d never heard anybody just say that out right out of the gate. It’s basically saying ‘Shut the fuck up’ essentially,” chuckled Anderson. He pauses for a second.
“When folks get onboard with that, there are places that you can go, there are songs that don’t even get played a lot of nights if you’re not in that kind of situation because they’re so personal and they mean so much,” explained Anderson. “I’m thinking that if people aren’t really listening, I’m not gonna throw this out there, because I wrote it when I lost my mom, or something heavy like that. If everybody’s on the same page in that room, and they’re listening to your stories and your songs, you can go places that you can’t always go.”
Anderson’s journey as a musician has been a constant evolution and learning experience for him. He believes that playing music is all about learning and he loves learning new things. This is evident from the fact that he picked up the fiddle a year ago, just to learn something new, in addition to the dozen or so other instruments he’s learned to play over the last 10 years.
I asked Anderson about his sound, which he describes as “black dirt music.” He explains that it’s a play on the red dirt music scene that originated in Oklahoma.
“Roots music cultivated in the fertile soil of the Midwest. It’s a play off the red dirt music scene in Oklahoma and Texas. The idea is we’re affected by our location. It’s within us, it flows through our veins,” said Anderson. “I do believe that certain geographic regions have certain sounds. Like, when you hear, a band from Southern California, it’s not hard to figure out they’re from Southern California. Or when I hear something east coast, it sounds East Coast to me. Springsteen sounds like he comes from fucking jersey! Wilco sounds like Chicago. Wilco sounds Midwest to me. I would consider them black dirt music.”
The term “black dirt music” was actually born when he was booked by an agent for a festival and was asked to bring a band. Without a band name or members, Anderson quickly put together a group of talented musicians, which he called Black Dirt Revival. The name stuck, and Anderson continued to perform under the moniker, even releasing solo records under the label, which is run by Anderson and his wife.
“I decided that I would start my own label, and put my own records out and just sort of control my own thing: do my own bookings and not be anybody’s workhorse. Do it all in-house. My wife and I teamed up. We went on the road together in our little RV van, with our dog and our cat, and we started a label called Black Dirt Records. That was a way to put the albums out ourselves and control our own destiny.“
Anderson’s Black Dirt Management company is putting on its own festival May 19-21st: The Havana Songwriters Festival.
The festival takes place in the charming, small town of Havana, Illinois, situated right on the Illinois River. Anderson says that the festival features 18 songwriters, three bands, and five venues, all located in the downtown area. The festival creates an intimate setting for artists and fans to connect.
“It’s a really sweet little kind of quaint downtown [Havana]. It’s right on the Illinois River. It’s got red brick streets, and there are 3000 people tops in this town. We have nice little taverns and restaurants”, comments Anderson.
One unique aspect of the Havana Songwriters Festival is its “round” format, where four songwriters sit in a semi-circle, taking turns playing their songs and sharing their stories. Anderson explains that the listening room environment creates a loose and collaborative atmosphere, often leading to spontaneous collaborations and magical moments.
“I learned from other festivals, you put people in a semi-circle, get four songwriters that may or may not know each other and everybody plays like four or so tunes and tell their stories,” describes Anderson. “What happens is really cool. It’s like that listening room environment. People start to loosen up and get to know each other. You start playing off one another, start playing with one another: spontaneous collaboration. They usually play a song together at the end of their round, which usually runs about 75 minutes. You’ll get some pretty magical moments. There are certain personalities we try to put together, and it can be like fucking magic, you know?”
Despite the festival’s rural location and lack of a hotel, only offering Airbnb options and campgrounds, the first year was a great success. Anderson fondly remembers the show with Miles Nielsen and the Rusted Hearts from that festival. “It was perfection,” he recalls. As of this writing, there are tickets still available for this year’s festival.
Anderson is grateful for music on so many levels, and it becomes evident even talking with him briefly. It allows him to express himself, it allows him to keep learning, it allows him to revel in the magic of spontaneous circle jam, and it allows him to sit back and watch dear friends entertain him. It allows him to spend more time in his garden than in bars. It allows him to spend more time with what matters most, his wife and young daughter. It allows him to bare his soul in intimate, quiet listening room performances like the one he’ll be playing at in Mahomet this Friday.
