Exclusive Interview with SHOWALTER

Joseph Conde, a musician from Charlotte, North Carolina, performs as showalter. Showalter, who has a folk and blues background, combines Conde’s songwriting and production skills to create a unique brand of emofolk indie rock.

Although With My Companion is only one song on the Lambsbread EP, it symbolizes a secret place in our memories where happy and sad memories may coexist harmoniously. Check out the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

showalter: Originally, I’m from Upstate New York but I moved to Charlotte in 2012. Music started for me as a toddler, falling asleep to the radio each night. Then when I was 6 or 7 and my parents enrolled me in piano lessons. I loved improvising on the piano more than practicing my assigned pieces so that’s probably where the need to make music started.

2. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

showalter: I try and expect nothing. From anyone or anything. Expectations are a great way to be let down. With the Lambsbread EP, I put every part of me into each song. A fear. An aspiration. A fond memory of a place long gone. I can only hope that it resonates with people and when it does as it has with songs in the past, that brings me all the fulfillment and joy I could ever ask for.

3. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

showalter: I try and be as honest as possible. The lyrics may not always resonate with listeners the same as they do for me but the honesty is always there. My emotions are on the table at all times. The best genre in my opinion to bring out these confessional type lyrics is folk, because it belongs to everyday people. It’s everyday problems wrapped up in a warm hug. I like to get heavy too. In sound and content. Sometimes it’s folk rock, sometimes is singer-songwriter. I don’t ever want to limit myself to a particular genre or sub-genre.

4. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as FOLK?

showalter: I started learning guitar when I was 18 because of the song ‘Plastic Jesus’ sang by Paul Newman in the movie ‘Cool Hand Luke’. This led to finding more traditional folk songs like ‘Sam Hall’, and exposed me further to Delta Blues artists like Son House. I merged these genres into my own style of bluesy folk, and kinda just went from there. I also had been into making electronic music and hip hop beats and that’s how I found myself actually producing music and not just playing it.

5. Who was your first and strongest musical influence and why the name ‘showalter’?

showalter: My first and strongest influence will always be James Taylor. He was my first concert at like 4 years old and I still remember it to this day. The name showalter came about by chance. I had been bouncing around from idea to idea and just said it one day. It just came out, and it felt right. I stylize it in all lowercase because it’s most commonly associated with family surnames and I wanted to differentiate it a little more.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?

showalter: Music is naturally cultural and political, but more importantly to me and some wider audiences, it’s felt spiritually. I’m not religious but I do feel music on a deeper level that affects not only my mind and body but my spirit too. The thing that makes me, me. I don’t try and create tension in my music that isn’t already there in the subject matter, but folk is an intensely political genre already. The frustrations of our world are in the music we share together.

7. Do you think it is important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?

showalter: I love to share the deeper meaning behind my work but I also want the work to speak for itself in whatever matter the listener requires. I just want my work to connect with people on an individual level. My goal is to create art that has multiple layers and always provides something new to discover each time you watch or listen.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

showalter: I usually have an urge to get something out. I’m always recording ideas in my voice memo app so I’ll start there and begin to develop an idea into a demo. I may sit on that demo for years and then when the right project comes together, I’ll collect the songs I feel fit and sometimes change them more or write completely new songs that would not exist without the prospect of a new project and the existence of those older demos. I’m still learning but so far that’s worked for me.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

showalter: My childhood was very traumatic and unstable. That has factored into everything I write and motivates my quest for stability in my adult life. While being an artist doesn’t always bring financial stability, it’s just like any career and you have to keep working at it if you want it to prosper.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

showalter: So far in my short run as an aspiring full time musician, I’ve gotten to play for crowds of hundreds of people and be compared favorably to the musical influences I hope to one day see as peers in the industry. My big goals currently are to play KEXP in Seattle and collaborate with my favorite artists like Andy Hull, Phoebe Bridgers, and Christian Lee Hutson.