Mood Board is our column where artists share a few of the things that inspired their new record. This time, John Ross of Wild Pink tells us how Jeff Tweedy, The Mummy, and more shaped their new record Still Coming Down — out today on Fire Talk.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
1. How To Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy
I’m slowly listening to the audio book and it’s been really helpful. He has an easy way of talking about songwriting and what he says about inspiration not being the first step to writing a song is very relatable. Basically saying that you need to just do it each day and not wait for inspiration to hit takes a lot of pressure off and gets me in the headspace to just mess around with ideas.
2. The Mummy
I usually do all my songwriting at night after everyone has gone to bed. There’s a shortlist of movies I watch while I do it and I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this movie now but probably have watched it more times on mute than with the sound on. I think rewatching the same movies over and over is a comfort-zone thing where I can just zone out on new ideas.
3. Headphone guitar amplifier
I don’t want to plug any products more than I already am here but I recently started using a headphone amplifier that plugs right into my guitar so I can work on songs with distortion and headphones and it’s a lot of fun. I’ve pretty much always written songs on an acoustic guitar and then moved over to an electric guitar when I was done — but no more…
4. Phil Cook’s Appalachia Borealis
I listened to this album so much around the time I was recording the album. His playing is so familiar, timeless, and effortless.
