About That Song: Deidre McCalla
About That Song #41
In our special series, singer-songwriter Sarah Morris interviews artists about the songs that shaped them.
Hi! I’m Sarah Morris. I’m wildly in love with songs and the people who write them. There have been a few songs in my life that have been total gamechangers—songs that made me want to be a songwriter and songs I’ve written that made me feel like I am a songwriter. About That Song is a space where I can learn more about those pivotal songs in other writers’ lives.
In the 41st edition of this series, I connected with Deidre McCalla, a folk artist with a long and amazing career. I wanted to learn more about the songs and moments that’ve had an impact on her songwriting journey.
Deidre McCalla. Photo credit: Irene Young.
Sarah: Hi Deidre! It is so nice to meet you! Congratulations on celebrating 50 years as a performing songwriter—what a gorgeous milestone! I’m excited to learn a bit more about the songs that have made a difference in your story. Do you remember the song that you heard that made you want to be a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
Deidre: I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this and have realized there was no one song that began my journey to being a songwriter. We come to who we are in a variety of ways.
I think performance was my gateway drug. My earliest memory is getting up in front of a storefront church to sing “Jesus Is My Sunshine.” I was maybe 6. Motown rocked my household in my early years and in mirrors I pretended to be a member of The Supremes as I sang into a pink roller curler for a microphone. At some point the microphone was traded in for a pseudo-guitar made out of a shoebox with a cut out sound hole laced with rubber bands and a broken broom handle stuck on one end for a neck.
For the artists I was listening to at the time, the songwriters were not prominently known; most of those artists were interpreters, not writers. (I think interpreting a song is an under-appreciated art, but that’s a topic for another day.)
Sarah: I totally agree with you on this! My first musical loves were interpreters as well: Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand and later on, Alison Krauss. The mid-20th century has so many examples of non-known songwriters offering up songs that the most popular artists would end up putting their own spin on, and perhaps that’s missing a bit from our current landscape.
Deidre: Enter the sixties where performer-written songs became practically de rigueur thanks to the Beatles, Dylan, Eric Anderson, Joni Mitchell et al. To this day my grown son believes you’re not a real artist if you don’t write your own songs.
Sarah: I’ll side with you on this one! Once you did begin writing, did you feel like a songwriter immediately? It took me a few years of writing before I believed it—was there a song you wrote that gave you an “a-HA! I AM a songwriter!” moment? Tell us about that song.
Deidre: I’ve never given much thought as to whether I was or wasn’t a songwriter. In middle school I wrote a lot of prose. Short stories. Chapbooks. Things I passed among my friends who eagerly awaited the next edition. The written word has long been my friend, though as far as I can recall I did not write much poetry.
My first song was called “Deidre’s Theme” where I sang about what I wanted my life to be. I think I wrote it within a few months of buying my first guitar at age 16. My new folk scene music heroes wrote songs, so that’s what I began doing also.
Freshman year in college I signed up for a songwriting course at The Guitar Study Center in NYC. I had to commute weekly from Poughkeepsie, NY to attend. My teachers were Eddie Simon (founder of the school and Paul Simon’s brother) and Barry Kornfeld (guitarist for Simon and Garfunkel). As the course began they went around the room and asked each student to sing a composition for which they gave a bit of kind criticism and tips. I sang a song I wrote called “Such Peace.” Eddie and Barry shot glances at each other and then admitted there was nothing useful they could add to what I had sung; it was already solidly written.
My real “aha” moment of realizing I was a songwriter, though, actually came during the making of ENDLESS GRACE. Once I’ve completed a song I’m pretty much done with it except for changing a preposition or an article or two. In a pre-production meeting with producer Julie Wolf, Julie told me “That’s How We Pray” needed a third verse. Once she explained her reasoning I realized she was right. We were going into the studio the next day so there wasn’t much time. I’d never tried to go back into a song and reopen the vein from which it sprang, but I accepted the challenge and went home that night to at least try. Within a few hours I had a third verse I was proud of and an entirely new sense of my capabilities as a songwriter.
Deidre McCalla. Photo credit: Irene Young.
Sarah: Oh, yes—being able to “on demand” adjust/edit/complete a song does sound like a very affirming songwriter moment.
Recently, your song “Shoulder To The Wheel” won the 19th Annual International Acoustic Music Award for Best Folk/Americana/Roots Song. The verse lyrics feel incredibly personal and richly detailed, and then you offer this chorus that brings the larger story into view. What can you tell us about that song? Was it something you’d lived with for a while, or did it come to you more rapidly? Did you sense it was something noteworthy immediately?
Deidre: The concept for “Shoulder To The Wheel” had been on my radar for years and originally manifested as I thought about the hard work put into creating the Michigan Women’s Music Festival every year. I thought that was going to be what the song would be about. Sometimes you start out thinking you know what the song is about only to find that the writing leads you elsewhere and you have to follow. I wrote that song during the pandemic where we learned who the essential workers truly are.
The first verse springs from my mom’s story—which is also my story and the story of millions of working moms around the world. The second verse stems directly from a conversation with my son who worked as an OTR truck driver in the early months of the pandemic.The third verse honors our collective, relentless struggle to build a better world.
Amusing footnote about “Shoulder To The Wheel”: ENDLESS GRACE had two production teams and I asked each team to choose 5 songs from a list of about 13 that they felt drawn to work with me on. Neither team chose “Shoulder To The Wheel” or “I Do Not Walk This Path Alone,” so I had to assign them. We now all laugh about the fact that those two orphan songs wound up being the most celebrated on ENDLESS GRACE.
Yes, I sensed that especially “Shoulder To The Wheel” was a stronger song than either Julie or Dianne (Davidson) were hearing, so I got to play my Executive Producer card and assigned it.
Sarah: The Executive Producer card! As a listener, I’m so glad you played it when you did! You’re celebrating your career with a new project on your YouTube channel called “50 Years and Counting,” where you revisit recordings and songs from throughout your career. That sounds like a big gift to your fans, and likely yourself, too! Have you encountered any songs from your catalog that you’ve felt compelled to bring back to your live set, or considered in a new light?
Deidre: I’m considering doing an all-acoustic retrospective album in 2025 or 2026. There are three songs on my album with Roulette Records that I may re-record for the retrospective, and maybe an unrecorded song that people have resonated with from a 1973 Cablevision interview that may also make the cut.
Sarah: That sounds like a wonderfully rewarding project! We’ll look forward to potentially hearing it one day. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your story with us today, Deidre.
Readers in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area will have some chances to hear some of these songs live in April—check out Deidre’s website for details!
Listen to “Shoulder To The Wheel”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Morris. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Sarah Morris is a superfan of songs and the people who write them, and a believer that certain songs can change your life. A singer-songwriter / mama / bread maker / coffee drinker who recently released her fifth album of original material, she’s been known to joyfully sing with people in her Big Green Bathroom.
