About That Song: Katie Dahl
About That Song #15
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 15th edition of our special series, I had an insightful and thought-provoking conversation with acclaimed singer-songwriter Katie Dahl about formative songs in her musical journey.
Katie Dahl. Photo credit: Wolfskull Creative.
Sarah: Hi Katie! Congrats on Seven Stones—it’s a beauty. And thank you so much for being willing to talk a little bit about songwriting with me! Do you remember the song that you heard that made you want to be a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
Katie: I sure do! I was at a Dar Williams show in Madison in the middle of a blizzard. She sang “If I Wrote You,” which I’d heard before but never really heard before, if you know what I mean.
Sarah: Oh YES! When a song has been in your consciousness, but then suddenly blows you open in a new way on the second, third or 34th listen—that’s special.
Katie: She sang the line, “You know the way I went was not the way I planned / But I thought the world needed love and a steady hand / So I’m steady now.” Something about that moment crystallized a songwriting philosophy for me—about songs’ potential to meet the world’s needs in some crucial ways. That feels grandiose to write, until I remember the hundreds of songs that have changed even my own small life.
Sarah: That feels like a most worthy aim, and I am here for the grandiosity! Once you began writing, did you feel like a songwriter immediately? It took me a few years of writing before I believed it—was there a song that gave you that “a-HA! I AM a songwriter!” moment? Tell us about that song.
Katie: It was a gradual process for me, too. I wrote some very derivative songs before I wrote my first song that felt really original: “Ribbons,” which I put on my first album. But the first song I remember feeling really deeply satisfied with was “Leaky Boats and Paper Birds,” which was the title track of my second album. I remember feeling like that song really said what I meant in a way I hadn’t achieved yet. It’s also a song that deeply mixes the personal and the political—always the kind of songs I have admired most. To this day, “Leaky Boats” is one of my earliest songs that I still perform.
Katie Dahl. Photo credit: Wolfskull Creative.
Sarah: I appreciate your description of feeling “deeply satisfied” with a song. I have songs that I might never sing again, but I still feel deeply satisfied with the experience of having written them—with the idea of having written them to their finish line, whatever that may be. You released your latest album, Seven Stones, earlier this summer. Was there a specific song that gave you the “record an album” nudge? If so, will you tell us about that song?
Katie: In summer 2021, I had decided to make an album with producer Julie Wolf, and though it was still early days in my work with Julie, I was already discovering the magic of her abilities to make a songwriter feel safe enough to write and sing about really vulnerable, scary things. I have struggled my whole life with body image—I think so many of us have—but I had never written about it. It’s a vulnerable thing to be onstage with your body just out there for everyone to see, and the idea of singing about my insecurities about my body was terrifying.
But I decided to count on the safety net I was already sensing Julie would give me, and to try to write about those struggles. That’s how I came to write “Since I Was Eight.” It wasn’t necessarily the song that made me want to make an album, but it was the song that made me understand what this album would be: a deeply vulnerable album, one whose working title was Things Katie Dahl Finds Hard to Talk About. And once I had written about that really hard, scary thing, I felt freer to write about other scary topics—like grief and queerness.
Sarah: Oh Katie, that song, I think, is a gift in the sense you described Dar’s song earlier—meeting the world’s needs in a crucial way. Body image is (for me at least) a challenging thing to talk about, much less sing or write about. As a listener, I’m glad your producer provided that safety net, so you could take the leap into the deeply vulnerable.
One last question: It looks like you had a busy summer of touring, and I know you’re getting ready to tour overseas (AH! Have fun!). Do you have any plans to tour the Midwest again in the near future? (I was bummed to miss your recent Aster show!)
Katie: I do! I plan to be out and around the Midwest a whole lot in the next year, as well as jaunts out to both coasts. I’m really throwing myself into touring right now in a way I’ve always wanted to do, and I have to say—it feels good! I don’t have any firm dates to report right now, but they’re always up to date on my website. Sarah, you and I had planned to share a show in 2020 that we had to cancel—we should get another double bill on the calendar!
Sarah: I WOULD LOVE THAT! Yes, please!
Listen to “Since I Was Eight”
Credits for Seven Stones
Katie Dahl: voice, acoustic guitar, hand claps
Julie Wolf: piano, Hammond B3, accordion, glockenspiel, hand claps, live knob tweaks, voice (Jericho, Summer Grass, Mon beau galet)
Todd Sickafoose: acoustic and electric bass
Nino Moschella: drums, percussion, cymbal swells, bottle caps, hand claps, vibes, vocal and bass 6 loops, whistling, voice (Jericho, Mon beau galet)
Gawain Mathews: mandola, mandolin, banjo, pedal steel, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, National guitar, nylon string guitar, electric baritone guitar, dobro
Jenny Scheinman: violin
Vicki Randle: shaker, tambourine, congas, triangle, shekere, fuchi, cowbell, voice (Sacristy, Temperance River, Jericho)
Eric Lewis: 12-string guitar (Two Old Birds), electric and acoustic baritone guitars (Jericho)
Rich Higdon: washboard
Kris Delmhorst: voice (Both Doors Open, Since I Was 8, Red Brown Blue Green, Two Old Birds, I Already Knew)
Peter Mulvey: voice (Both Doors Open, Red Brown Blue Green, I Already Knew)
Eliza Gilkyson: voice (Temperance River, Jericho, Silhouette)
Claudia Russell: voice (Summer Grass)
Nini Camps: voice (Sacristy)
Recorded at Bird & Egg Studio, Richmond, CA, by Nino Moschella, Julie Wolf, Alberto Hernandez, and Cody Hamilton; except Peter Mulvey, Kris Delmhorst, Vicki Randle, Rich Higdon, and Nini Camps (who recorded themselves), Claudia Russell (recorded by Bruce Kaplan, Studio 440, Point Richmond, CA), and Eliza Gilkyson (recorded by Don Richmond, Howlin’ Dog Records, Alamosa, CO). Mixed by Nino Moschella. Mastered by Kim Rosen at Knack Mastering, Ringwood, NJ.
AUTHOR: SARAH MORRIS
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.
