What’s new in the world of John Cody?
What’s new, I suppose, is actually just now releasing this album. The record is not new to me, of course, because I have been working on it for several months, but every time one is coming out there’s a tremendous sense of anticipation and apprehension. These are my songs and they are like my kids. They’ve just left for school now. I hope they don’t come home with bloody noses!
How was it recording your fourth and final album Hard Won: The Final Recordings?
Recording is a luxury and it’s a solemn and sacred enterprise that also happens to be a lot of fun. It’s a luxury because it may be cheaper to engage right now in the prospect but it is very hard to find people willing to invest in a purely creative mode of expression with no guarantee of a return, It’s solemn and sacred because making music, in an attempt to be anything other than disingenuous, is a herculean task requiring total emotional honesty, and its fun because it’s exciting to group together individuals I have this much love and respect for and see what kind of alchemical concoction is arrived at. When you have people as good as I have on this music its pretty hard to miss the boat. There were tender moments though. A few tears, not from me. I heard about some moments when I was in the other room. Some of my closest friends are on this one and they knew that something bad was happening. They hid it from me. People have been very protective… There were VERY high spirits on these sessions which is what I always want anyhow. You can hear the love in some of the performances for sure.
What was it like to record this album knowing that it would be your last vocal record?
I was very aware of what this one (Hard Won) meant but it wasn’t as though I felt like there was a specter haunting me. In a way it was freeing. I didn’t feel pressure to be good because the feelings everywhere were so present and raw. All I had to do was let them flow through me. There also wasn’t much time to ruminate so it was more like I knew I really had to get the job done. Not fuck around and sing as best as I could. The subject matter of this music was very conducive to being in the moment and the spirit of the song so, I just went with it as best as I could. I was surrounded by people I trust with my life so it was a comfortable place from which to perform. The surgery was looming but no one could’ve had more support than I did in just about every minute of the process. I owe a lot of that to Robert Ott (ole CEO and Chairman) and his belief in me.
– In choosing the cover songs for the album, how did that going about?
When I knew I was going to make this record and that it would be my last, at least with my voice, I kind of sat down and asked myself what I wanted to do in a way that would run the gamut for me both in terms of the arc of my career with respect to my compositions and my years as a performer. I made a list of songs I loved that never saw the light of day, songs that were favorites of mine, my newest songs, and songs I loved to sing. I have never recorded a cover song on one of my own albums, so it took a minute for me to make some decisions about which direction I wanted to go in that regard. Also, it was important NOT to treat this as a kind of eulogy. It was significant and not lost on me that this record should stand up on its own without coming off like a pity party. The Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar was a song that I’ve been in love with for many years. I’d always wanted to perform it but never did. I felt that this was my chance and I knew I wanted to have one that was going to be what I call a group grope. Meaning, multiple singers and I got some pretty damn good ones didn’t I? Hallelujah has been DONE, man!! It’s been AROUND, you dig? But here I was with Lionel Cole (Nat King Cole’s nephew) who is an amazing artist in his own right and my piano player for a few years. So, we ran it. We had never performed it, had no arrangement for it, and it’s one take. The ONLY take too. Little Red Corvette is on the album because someone had a board mix of Bill Bell and I performing it at the Unison Benevolent Fund concert last year at the Phoenix. I struggled with putting it on the album because my voice was in such bad shape and it’s the last time I was on a stage with that voice so it felt special enough to include it warts and all. A LOT of warts, I might add. Prince had just passed away. I needed to pay homage to him in some fashion and since he had seen me perform that version of it years ago in L.A. I was compelled to perform it one last time. You can hear the folks that were there singing along so I felt that I had made a good choice.
Which notable bands and musicians have you played with throughout the years?
Boy oh boy, but ain’t THAT a loooong list. You’d know everyone on it too!! Let me instead tell you my favorite moments on stage with some of those folks, okay? I’ll have to start with opening for Tom Cochrane AND being in his band at the same time. He was SUPER gracious to me. The first show we did together like that was out in Vancouver in ’93 and it was an amazing moment for me. Singing with Jennifer Warnes and Lynn Miles, in Santa Barbara at a beautiful theater out there. My absolute favorite moment was singing duets with Joni Mitchell for almost three hours one night in Hollywood that ended with me playing the piano to River and her singing the lead. I was playing somewhere we had spent a lot of time at together and apart and she’d just walk up onstage when I was performing and start singing with me. I NEVER minded either!
Does the music always come naturally to you when writing music?
I always give myself breaks so that my writing stays fresh. I don’t care for repeating myself very much so the break gives me a chance to live my life and recharge the old batteries. By and large I feel at my best when I am composing so it feels natural to me in ways that few things do. I never struggle with it. I guess the short answer to your question is a resounding YES!! You got to learn how to shake off the cobwebs and let the spirit come through. When you’re in that place you KNOW it.
Where do you see the future of music in general going?
This is where I get cryptic right? Before I lost my pipes I had students and I would tell them that I feared for their future. Notwithstanding living in a youth cult society, how are young kids coming up that have talent going to find a platform? I realize that social media offers a huge landscape but there’s so MUCH of it. How much of it is rarefied? How are those folks gonna find an audience? It’s hard enough when you’re established and have had a modicum of success. I’d have to say that the biggest problem with where music is at these days is that people don’t seem very interested in OWNING it anymore and the streaming model is killing writers like me. You can’t make a living anymore period and if you get sick like I have? You’re done! That’s where Unison is so important in what they offer musicians and artists like me in the way of assistance but they don’t support you until the end. Having said that, where do I think it’s going? Like I said; I fear for the future. For things to change, legislation has to change. Streaming services have to pay a fair rate for royalties which means the government has to be involved and its up to us to involve them. That’s just ONE aspect and it’s almost tiny in comparison to the entire picture and it’s HUGE. We could talk about this for days and days!