About That Song: Megan Bee
About That Song #54
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.
For our 54th edition, I was thrilled to connect with the amazing songwriter Megan Bee to talk about influential songs in her life and tracks from her most recent album.
Megan Bee. Photo credit: Eli Hiller.
Sarah: Hi Megan Bee! I had the lovely experience of listening to you in real life last year as part of the Folk Alliance Regional Midwest conference. Based in Athens, OH, you’ve released four albums over the past decade, and you tour extensively. I am excited to hear you are headed to our neck of the woods for some in-person shows this month. What a perfect chance to learn a bit more about you, your songwriting, and the songs that brought you to where you are today—which might be a little bit of everywhere! Do you remember the song you heard that made you want to be a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
Megan: I remember when “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel first hit the radio. I would have been 5 then. I remember loving it and trying to detangle the way he fit all of those words and syllables in the verses. Later my family listened to more country music, and I think that inspired me to write because so much of it was about common things that were relatable. So much of it was just a story, and I loved to write stories when I was a kid.
Sarah: “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is such an epic song to…let’s say…start the fire of a young songwriter. Or a young historian! Even now I listen to that song and am impressed by the word density of the verses, coupled with the release in that catchy chorus. When that song came out, I was pretty deep into my “falling in love” with country songwriting phase, and I think there’s some strong overlap there. The management of a stunning volume of words and story into something accessible has a strong country tradition as well. I’m thinking “A Boy Named Sue,” “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” “Fancy,” etc.
Once you began writing, did you feel like a writer 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.
Megan: Through my childhood and teenage years, I wrote songs in my head, and I’d sing them out loud to myself when I was alone. I figured everyone probably did this, and I didn’t share them with anybody. The year I graduated college, I took a cross-country trip to volunteer on organic farms, camp, hitchhike, and generally have an adventure. I spent a few weeks camping in a wilderness area near Death Valley at one point and met some folks playing music around the fire.
I enjoyed singing along with the crew, and I made friends with a guitar player named Myron. I sang him this waltz I had written called “Words on the Wind.” It was a song about how if you can’t call or talk to someone you can just say it out loud and the wind will carry it to them. Myron found chords to go with it and showed me how to play the chords.
That was it for me. Learning to play guitar was what really made me realize I was a songwriter. All of a sudden I had this vehicle to help carry the song. With the guitar, I had something to hold on to, hide behind, and play with. I was so excited that I played my little whimsical three-chord waltz at an open mic a week later.
Megan Bee. Photo credit: Mikie Strite, Appalachian Exposure.
Sarah: That is wonderful. Cheers to Myron for his bit of path-lighting! And cheers to YOU for playing your song at an open mic one week later. That is “doing the brave thing.”
Take me from that first song, and words on the wind, to “cottonwood leaves, shaking in the breeze / I’m standing here, shaking in my knees”—these words are the chorus on the first track of your 2022 album Cottonwood, “Cottonwood Leaves.” The song took me to a quiet summer moment, to that sweet ease you can feel in a space with someone you truly know, and also, how even in the most intimate of pairings, there is still much to wonder about that person. Can you tell us about that song?
Megan: I love how cottonwood leaves tremble in the breeze. I was watching this tree in my backyard and thinking about trembling. We tremble when we’re scared but also when we’re very excited. I wanted to use that imagery to put this couple in a moment together on the edge of uncertainty. Why are they shaking? Why are they hesitating? What is the question? Are they about to break up? Is one of them about to propose?
Sarah: It is a pretty lovely verb in that way. Endless possibilities when you tremble! Also, it’s a deeply singable word I think. Each of the songs on your album seems to be deeply rooted in a sense of place, in the natural world. I was deeply smitten by “the warblers, the wildflowers, and the waterfalls” in your song “Sister.”
Megan: Thanks! I worked outdoors as an environmental educator for ten years, and I still love to spend as much time as I can outside. It grounds me and also inspires my writing. I met my chosen sister twenty years ago co-leading backpacking trips for inner-city youth in Southeast Ohio. Now my sister lives on the other side of the country and we only see each other about once a year. This makes our time together so precious because it’s so rare.
I feel this way about springtime in Ohio also. The migratory birds, the ephemeral wildflowers, and the seasonal waterfall will all be gone if I don’t get out every week and witness the changing world. So I wanted to write about these two things in the same song; spring and my sister.
Sarah: What a beautiful combination of those two great loves! You get to indulge your wanderlust with some touring this summer. Do you have any Midwest shows coming up in the next few months where we might hear you sing that song, or any other song for that matter?
Megan: Yes! I’ve got the minivan all geared up to go!
7/17 - Belleville, WI - The Mill Paoli
7/18 - Galena, IL - Galena Center for the Arts
7/19 - Evansville, WI - Hop Garden
7/20 - Galena, IL - House Concert
7/25 - St. Paul, MN - White Squirrel (opening for Michael Gay)
7/26-28 - Montrose, SD - Montrose Music Festival
7/28 - St. Paul, MN - White Squirrel (Twin Cities songwriter rounds)
Listen to “Sister”
Cottonwood Album Credits
Megan Bee: vocals, acoustic guitar, piano (on 14)
John Borchard: pedal steel, electric guitar, lap steel
Michael Thomas Connolly: fiddle
Bruce Dalzell: upright bass, organ, electric guitar, backing vocals, accordion
Ben Ko: cello
Kelly Madewell: banjo
Barefoot McCoy: piano (on 5 & 11)
Engineered by Bruce Dalzell in a basement (Stewart, OH)
Mastered by Michael Thomas Connolly at Empty Sea Studios (Bellingham, WA)
Produced by Megan Bee and Bruce Dalzell
Cover Art: Sophie Juniper Reeder
All songs written by Megan Bee - ASCAP 2022
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.
