Interview with Carolyn Wonderland

Interview with Carolyn Wonderland

By Martine Ehrenclou

Carolyn Wonderland, award-winning Texas guitar slinger, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, became the first ever female lead guitar player for blues legend John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. In a series of firsts, she’s also the first female guitar maestro to sign with Alligator Records in their 50-year history. Her new album, Tempting Fate is set to release October 8^th, produced by Grammy-winning master roots musician, Dave Alvin.

With powerful vocals and fiery guitar chops, Wonderland has been compared to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Janis Joplin but with her own style and twist. She recorded ten previous albums under her own name, four of which were produced by famed musician Ray Benson. Her spine-chilling, soulful vocals match her guitar prowess as well her talent for songwriting.

By the age of 15, Carolyn was performing at Houston’s famed Fitzgerald’s Club and a year later she was swapping songs with Townes Van Zandt. Tours and albums later, Wonderland appeared on Austin City Limits, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and appeared alongside Bonnie Raitt in the film, The Road To Austin. She’s played with Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Willie Nelson, James Cotton, Los Lobos and many more. She’s won multiple Austin Music Awards, and was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 2020. As Bob Dylan said about her, “Hey, have you heard Carolyn Wonderland? She’s something else. She should be nationwide.” And now she is.

Martine Ehrenclou: Alligator Records said that you’re the first female guitar hero on their label. And you were the first female lead guitar player for John Mayall. What’s that like for you?

Carolyn Wonderland: Well, an extreme honor, super lucky, but I also wouldn’t be here except for the women who played before me. So, it’s trippy.

Martine: Congratulations. It’s about time.

Carolyn: Thanks, man.

Martine: You have a pick-less guitar style. Can you tell me how that came about?

Carolyn: It was one of the first things that Hubert Sumlin noticed because he’s the same. When he noticed it, I thought I might be on the right track. When I was a kid, I scratched up my mom’s guitars, getting all into The Who and doing that windmill thing, and Mom was like, “That’s great. Not on the acoustic guitar, please.” I got grounded off of picks and I’m happy about it now, because it leaves you a lot of different sounds with your fingers than a pick and you never lose a pick.

Martine: You come up with amazing tone with your fingers. Did you work a long time trying to come up with certain tones or did it come naturally?

Carolyn: I like being able to hear the finger and strings. I don’t like to have a whole lot of stuff in between that and the amplifier, like maybe a pedal or two, tops. But I think some of that might’ve come from again, getting grounded off of instruments as a child, if my grades were suffering. I would dump all my clothes out of my dresser and just put the headstock of the guitar on that. And you could hear it through there, it would amplify it, wood on wood. I guess that’s where I got most of my talent just doing that, trying to try to make the guitar sing by itself.

Martine: Tell me about your new album, Tempting Fate and what your vision was for it.

Carolyn: It all came about because John Mayall is the best boss ever, and he’s super generous with everyone in the band. Not only does he allow everyone to express themselves freely while we play but he encourages improvisation and jokes. I love that about him. I had saved up enough money and I was like, “I think it’s time. I’ve got a bunch of songs. Maybe I should put out a record.” Before I went in the studio, I was thinking who would I have to do it? My friend, Cindy Cashdollar said, “Who would be your dream team to do it?” I said, “It’d be really cool if I get Dave Alvin.” So, she calls him. (Laughter.) I was so excited that he said yes. I’m a big fan. But then it’s like, “Oh, dear. I really better get it together. (Laughter)

Martine: (Laughter) Well, you certainly did. The album is killer.

Carolyn: Thanks. I think you could tell how much fun we had. It was really joyful, and I think that comes across.

Martine: What was it like working with Dave Alvin?

Carolyn: It was amazing. Everybody stood up straight. Everybody showed up early. You didn’t have to worry about anybody being late. We wanted to be there and be good for Dave, you know what I mean? (Laugher)

Martine: (Laughter) I do. He’s a legend.

Carolyn: But he was super relaxing and he had great ideas. I think about the song, “Texas Girl and Her Boots,” when I wrote it, it started off on like those open cords, just the vocals. He listened to it and said, “All right, mad arranger here. I have had an idea for this. It sounds like you’re really proud of those boots. Maybe you should kick the door in with them instead of asking permission.” I said, “Yeah, I guess this song does come in kind of meek.” He said, “This guitar riff you have at the end of the song, move it at the top and let’s see what happens.” And it’s like, “Oh yeah, that’s way more fun.”

Dave has good ideas like that. Every song was improved by Dave being there. Sometimes different poetry will feed songs. I may have written a haiku to someone who pissed me off. It was just funny. You might as well laugh at it. I think I’d mentioned clutching my Ann Richards pearls and kicking it. It was all Texas women. I thought, “Yeah. Texas girls and their boots.” I’m looking over at my boots today, still not put up from the last tour. I’m thinking, “Oh my goodness. My living room should not be a shoe collection.” (Laughter)

Martine: (Laughter) Tell me about your song, “Fragile Peace and Certain War.”

Carolyn: That’s one of those where you know when you’re happy, you dance about it, you sing, you might paint. But when I’m angry, it seems like there’s a pin on every table. That was one where I was mad and trying to understand how it is that we all see each other as separate from each other. It just seems to me that if we’re not with each other, then we’re surely going to fall apart.

Martine: You’ve always been pretty vocal about your stance on politics in your music. Do you ever get any blow back with that?

Carolyn: Oh, yeah. Being a Democrat in Texas– (laughter.) You have to take your cues from the people who came before you, who are oftentimes smarter and knew how to live with that. It’s popular to say that the struggle continues but there’s no reason you can’t be joyful while going out and doing the right thing. You don’t have to beat people over the head, although sometimes you are left with that as a result. (Laughter)

Martine: (Laughter) Your vocals on the album blew me away. Did you prepare vocally for it or did you just go in the studio and just do it?

Carolyn: Thank you for that. We had just finished recording John Mayall’s record and my band had gone out on a little run. We were just fresh and ready to go. I think too, using Stuart Sullivan, he’s the engineer and it’s his studio that we used. I had first worked with him in Jerry Lightfoot’s band, back at the turn of the century, and it was the first time I’ve been in a studio where I heard the playback. He has a really a great ear for hearing what the singer hears and he’s equally as good with throwing microphones in the right place real fast to capture magic before it goes away. I think it’s Stuart being able to capture the voice and have it be open so it’s not all squishy. Squishy. I suppose that’s a professional way of think of it. (Laughter)

Martine: I like that word. Squishy. Tell me about your songwriting process. Do you start with lyrics, or does the music come first?

Carolyn: Each song is different. Sometimes, I’ll just have a riff running in my head, you know? My phone is full of guitar ideas. Sometimes, one of those will get stuck in my head and words will come. That often happens when I’m driving. I like to take the late night shift when everybody’s asleep and let songs come. I’ve got notebooks full of words, too. Some of them just never find a melody. And in some, there’ll be a line that’s like, “Oh, that’s the one.”

Martine: Can you tell me about your guitars? You have a favorite, a Tele Thinline, but do you have other guitars that you use?

Carolyn: Yeah. Because we were at home, I decided to bring all the guitars into the studio and see which one does what with each song. Almost the entire record was cut on the Blueshawk. And I hadn’t brought my Blueshawk out in a while. Her name’s Patty. When I was playing in John’s (Mayall) band, I’d been playing my Tele, like I always do. I realized that with the mix in that particular band and also bearing in mind that a lot of the practice tapes he’d given me were Peter Green board tapes, I thought, what’s missing is P90s because it cuts different with having a piano in the band. That next tour, I brought out the Blueshawk and I was like, “Okay, yeah, this is the one. The Blueshawk belongs in John Mayall’s band for sure.” Then when I got to the studio, she was the most comfortable guitar because I’d been playing her nonstop with John. I had another Gibson on there. Like an ES-125, 1954 hollow body.

Martine: “The Laws Must Change” by John Mayall is a funky, great song. Can you tell me about why you chose to include it on your album?

Carolyn: “The Laws Must Change” has always been kind of a favorite of mine. It was written around the time I was born, and the lyrics may not mean the same thing to someone in California as they do in Texas. Because here, it still holds true.

Martine: How is it for you with more conservative laws in Texas?

Carolyn: It’s expensive. (Laughter) One joint is about 10 grand and a couple of nights in jail.

Martine: (Laughter) Seriously?

Carolyn: Yeah, seriously. That’s stuff travels with you. That’s on your record. Oh, it’s ridiculous. And I got off easy. I know other people who’ve had it far worse, but still, that doesn’t bring me much comfort to know that other people have been screwed harder than I have.

Martine: You’re involved in a number of charitable organizations and one with Marcia Ball. You’re a founding member of Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers. Can you tell me about that?

Carolyn: Yeah, man, it’s one of the most proud things I get to do. The group of women that is involved, we started it a little under a decade ago, and it was just a bunch of us who love Lavelle White. And we’re like, “How are we going to make sure that she’s got a place to live?” So, we found a solution. Over the first couple of years, we realized there’s a whole lot of people in this situation that Ms. Lavelle is in. We became a 501(c)(3). We’ve got a dozen long-term clients right now and probably another 20 short-termers. In response to COVID, we gave out emergency grants as well, so over 100 of those. Basically what we do is we help people 55 and older in the Austin, Texas area who are musicians, with their housing. Sometimes that might mean that we pay their note or we pay a portion of their note or we set it up so that we can help them out. We have really fun fundraisers as well. We’re going to do a really bad-ass live stream on December 1st. We got a great group of crazy folks going to send in videos.

Martine: How fun.

Carolyn: Oh, it’s a hoot. It’ll be December 1st. And there’ll be all kinds of information at homeaustin.org. I’m super excited about that. Every year, we get different folks to send stuff. I think this year we got Jimmie Dale Gilmore to send something and Susan Tedeschi and Gloria Gaynor. Dave Alvin said he’ll send something, too.

Martine: Speaking of the pandemic, tell me what it was like for you. Was it different living in Texas?

Carolyn: I think we were all in this globally. I couldn’t stand the idea of someone coming to a show to see me and getting sick. We waited it out. There was still a whole lot of just trying to get through the day. What am I doing? Everything’s so very different. But as it turns out, I’m very lucky. My husband’s really awesome. We got to hang out with each other for the year, and that was actually very beautiful.

In the same breath though, it’s like feeling everybody’s struggles and wondering are we ever going to play again. The tours have been joyful and also cautious. Everybody’s stepping up. We test once a week. We make sure that we’re masked and that we take care of all the people around us because if one person gets sick, everything’s off.

Martine: What’s touring look like for you now?

Carolyn: With the new album, we’re going to jump in the van and go to places. We’re going to do a big old tour. We’re going to hit the Midwest and the East Coast. Then I’m going to go back out with John Mayall for a little bit in October and December. Just the chance to play music again, I’ll do everything right I can to get to do that.

Martine: It must feel incredible to get out there again.

Carolyn: Yeah. We’re all like a prisoners on early release.

For more information on Carolyn Wonderland see her website here. 

Watch “Open Eyes” Video With Carolyn Wonderland & John Mayall