Interview with Buck Curran

1. How did it all start with an idea of becoming a professional musician?  

I became deeply attracted to music at a very young age. By the time I was in third grade I began singing in the choir of my elementary school...and I liked to sing along with songs on the radio and absolutely loved listening to music playing on my parents turntable. I was also incredibly fascinated by the images on the covers of their vinyl collection. Before I began to focus on guitar and songwriting, it was all about singing. I've always loved to sing more than playing guitar...though trying to make the guitar sing like a voice is eventually how I developed my style. When I was 12 or 13 I saw a documentary about rock music with my mother, which featured Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. At that age, I didn't quite get what Janis was doing, but Jimi playing Johnny B Goode live (filmed in Berkeley in 1970) just blew me away. I had grown up with my Dad's old 45 of Chuck Berry playing Johnny B Goode....but Hendrix took it to another level and that's what fueled me to play guitar. Hendrix became my main inspiration for guitar playing, singing, and songwriting after I saw that documentary. Soon after MTV became a big source of inspiration that led me to become a professional musician. When I was a teenager I saw a documentary about The Police making their album 'Ghost in the Machine' on the Island of Montserrat. A couple of years later I saw a documentary about the making of U2's album 'The Unforgettable Fire'. Watching Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno producing and recording U2 was incredible. Both of those documentaries enchanted me (and still do). I have to also give credit to Eddie Van Halen because the first time I heard Van Halen's first album...I was listening to music with my best friend at his house and he grabbed his sister's copy of the first Van Halen album and we were instantly captivated by the energy that came out of those speakers...well that pretty much solidified the idea, that I wanted to play guitar for a living. There was also acoustic music in my house...my parents had LPs by classical guitarist John Williams, Simon and Garfunkel. I had a deep love for the acoustic guitar because of its intimate nature....no electricity required. I soon discovered the acoustic music of Paco de Lucia and Bireli Lagrene. That period was followed by Michael Hedges and Will Ackerman which eventually led to the important discovery of Robbie Basho's music.

2. In your guitar playing and music there are so many different influences: who are they key characters who helped you to shape what you operate musically?

Well, the important thing I'd like to convey is that there are a lot of guitar players and singers who have inspired me, but I've never had an interest in learning someone else's style or doing covers.

Even so, I've arranged and recorded a few covers and traditional songs over the years (Bad Moon Rising, Black is the Colour, When I Was On Horseback) knowing that with those particular songs I'd be able to transform them into something of my own. With that in mind, as I mentioned Jimi Hendrix was my first major influence, along with Cream and BB King, but as I immersed myself deeper into folk and classical music, the acoustic guitar became more important than the electric guitar. In particular, my parents had an LP of John Williams playing Bach that I listened to constantly. The sound of music Williams created with just one guitar was so magical that it seemed to me that there just couldn't ever be anything that sounded more perfect. During my 4 years in the US Navy (right after high school) I discovered the first album by Sinead O'Connor 'The Lion and the Cobra' which had a profound influence on my songwriting. After the Navy (in my early twenties) I worked at Ramblin Conrad's acoustic guitar/folklore shop in Norfolk, Virginia, and in 1994 we got a promotional copy of the record: Way to Blue: An introduction to Nick Drake. The first time I heard his lyrics and guitar playing on the song 'Things Behind the Sun', it was just another level of inspiration...a revelation. Other significant discoveries at Conrad's included: Ry Cooder's soundtrack for the film 'Paris, Texas', Michael Hedges....English singer-songwriter-guitarists like Martin Simpson, Martin Carthy, Nick Jones, and Sandy Denny. Among those artists, Martin Simpson's guitar instrumental recordings 'Leaves of Life' and 'When I Was On Horseback' had the greatest influence on my acoustic guitar playing. And Martin Simpson's duo with June Tabor and Pentangle eventually gave me the template for the idea of starting Arborea...though I envisioned my collaboration with Shanti would be through more of a psychedelic lens. During (and after) my 5 years at Ramblin' Conrad's the list of artists who I discovered expanded to include: Robbie Basho, Peter Green, sitarist Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, Julian Bream, Lenny Breau, Bert Jansch, Tim Buckley, John Martyn, Debussy, Satie, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Andres Segovia, Camarón de la Isla, Bireli Lagrene, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane. All of these musicians have deeply inspired me to explore vast realms of sound and music. In the last ten years, I've discovered classical guitarists Asya Selyutina, Kaori Muraji, and Laura Snowden. Their approach to classical music has given me a lot of new inspiration. I recorded a composition on the piano for my new album (Django)...the first time I've ever tried to play piano. When I started to play piano at the end of 2018, I was listening to a lot of Debussy and Satie, which has given me such inspiration. Gwenifer Raymond is another contemporary acoustic guitarist who is absolutely amazing and has greatly inspired me. 

3. You are a painter as well, could you say a bit about your technique and output?

I've been drawing and painting since I was about 3 years old. My father is an amazing artist as well, though he never did anything professionally with his talent. For a time, when I was younger, I wanted to be a professional cartoonist, but then I discovered the guitar and that changed everything. Drawing is something that comes quite naturally to me, and though I perfectly hear music in my mind, the physical act of playing guitar has always been more challenging. And so right before I moved to Maine in December of 2000, I read the liner notes for the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue (written by pianist Bill Evans). In the notes, he describes a Japanese form of painting based on improvising brush strokes. Soon after I read those notes I went and found the Japanese horse hair brush (and lamp black watercolor) that I still use today for all my paintings. The brush is extremely lightweight and the act of making these paintings is the most natural, free-flowing thing I do creatively. Most of the paintings I've made with that brush have felt like cathartic experiences.

4. As a guitarist you love alternate tunings, reverb, slide, and e-bow. How does it implement your music? 

Slide, Ebow, and alternate tunings enhance the response and sustain of the instrument, which helps me shape the sound I am going for...that of a sustained singing voice. I also try to leave as much space as possible in the music so that the notes (tonal voices) have room to breathe and linger in the air. I like to think of the image of the sun slowly sinking into the horizon at sunset. I want the notes of the music to be like the sun; radiant and hanging in the sky. I use Ebow extensively on my new album 'No Love Is Sorrow'...though it's interesting to find that people think it's an organ or synthesizer. I've been producing, recording and mixing for a very long time and all of those tasks are an important part of the recordings I've been involved with. I absolutely love to record in unique rooms and spaces and utilize the natural acoustics and reverb inherent in those places. My earliest influence in those areas of music were Daniel Lanois and Alan Lomax. I'm slowly making plans for an album where the tracks are recorded in unique historic spaces all over Italy...spaces that have great natural reverbs.

5. What was the process of creating your own signature guitar like (Butterfly model)?

The shape and voice of my guitar was initially inspired after playing an experimental guitar that English guitar maker Stefan Sobell made for Martin Simpson. Martin played a concert at Ramblin' Conrad's in 1991 using that guitar. Everything about that concert changed my life...from the way I approach playing guitar to how I even think about acoustic guitars in general (sound, shape, playability). I have recordings of that guitar available at Obsolete Recordings Bandcamp -

link

I briefly owned that guitar and used it on some of the tracks on Arborea's first and second albums: Wayfaring Summer (2006) and Self-titled (2008). There was another guitar that had influence on my Butterfly design...in particular the idea for the wooden rosette (the decorative pattern that borders the soundhole). That guitar was made by the American luthier Ken Dubourg and was owned by Michael Hedges and used on his album 'Breakfast In The Field' (1981).  And so I developed my Butterfly acoustic guitar design during my off-hours at Dana's shop in Lewiston, Maine. I had already been designing guitars for a while, doing some instrument repairs, and built my own electric guitar at Ramblin' Conrad's and started to build a classical guitar right before I went to work for Dana, so I had a proper head start on things. And thankfully, back in the early 2000s, employees at Bourgeois Guitars were allowed to use the tools and machines in the shop so I started working on the design during my first year there. Building guitars with Dana and having access to every tool and machine I needed to make a guitar (along with owning several of Sobell's guitars and understanding the vast differences between them) gave me extensive knowledge of guitar making that was necessary for the design of my guitar....especially related to building the box (top, back, and sides) and optimizing everything to give my guitars the voice I wanted. 

6. You took part in so many different projects, how did they enrich your experience? 

The compilations I've produced have been really important: the two tributes to Robbie Basho, Robbie Basho Live in Forlì 1982, the recent tribute to Jack Rose, and Leaves of Life. Having the opportunity to work with so many wonderful musicians from around the world is just amazing. I love the idea of community and being part of a big musical family. Remaining present and open to new life experiences will always have a positive influence on music being created.

7. It's a very difficult time for independent musicians, not only because the distribution of music has changed immensely but also because of Covid 19 limitations? How are you coping with both?

Playing concerts is the most important part of my musical life outside of composing and recording. This pandemic absolutely destroys the ability to make a living with performing arts. I have very little interest in performing live via the computer. The energy and connection that is created in real-life situations just cannot be duplicated through virtual experience. I find that having a camera on (with everyone aware that it's part of the atmosphere and performance) radically changes the experience for performers and audience alike. That situation sets up inhibitions and other things that can adversely affect the concert. I feel it has a negative impact on the group experience. There's just no substitute for being fully engaged and committed during a Live performance. As for distribution; Spotify, Apple Music, and other distribution platforms need to start properly compensating artists....that's the bottom line. The livelihood of every professional musician has been greatly affected by this dilemma. We're all being taken advantage of and we must join together to make a change. There should also be a focus on returning to physical records as the primary way to experience listening to recorded music. Vinyl, CDs, and tape are superior ways to listen to music and something that shouldn't be sacrificed for the convenience of consuming music. But if artists can't make a proper return on manufacturing costs for Vinyl and CDs, how can anyone afford to keep going!? The consumer reliance on distribution platforms like Spotify erodes artistic potential and compromises musical endeavours.

8. Plans for the future? 

Haha....I probably have too many ideas and goals for the future. My primary intention is to get out and tour in support of 'No Love Is Sorrow' as soon as that's possible. And over the next 10 years I'm hoping to do the reverb project I mentioned above and I have plans to do many collaborations & recordings which I hope to release through my label Obsolete Recordings: recordings with my keyboardist Jodi Pedrali (my friend here in Bergamo) and Will Sol (Pranacrafter). January 1st was the release of a live (mostly improvised) session that Jodi and I recorded for 'The Frow Show' hosted by Jesse Jarnow which just aired in November on WFMU. This session is my first official release with Jodi and I'm really looking forward to releasing more of our musical explorations. Another primary goal is to work with my wife Adele on her next solo album and the intention is to present two albums: songs presented with just voice and piano and another album with voice and full arrangements with many instruments. I've also been performing and recording as a member of my friend Adaya's band (in Switzerland) and she occasionally accompanies me when I perform. I'd love to do a collaborative album with her.  And I want to make sure that Arborea's first three albums get proper vinyl releases (as they were only issued on CD). In 6 years (2026) Arborea's first album 'Wayfaring Summer' will turn 20, so I want to see that come out on vinyl. I'd like to see Arborea's last two albums, Red Planet (2011) and Fortress of the Sun (2013) get vinyl reissues. Making a new Arborea album would be great too. And I very much need to get new recording equipment because everything I have now is ancient and barely working. I also want to start building guitars again...though it's gonna take a lot of time and money to invest in tools, wood, and manage a workshop...so eventually I'll need to find investors. Some of the best spruce in the world (for making guitar tops) is available close by in the Italian and Swiss Alps.  I could make some beautiful Butterfly models with that spruce.

Bandcamp link