STARPOLISH: As a 13- and 14-year-old, you were very atypical
in what you listened to…
CURFMAN: The people I grew up
with [in] Fargo, when I go back to hang out I bring all my CDs,
like usual when I go on a trip, and they're like, "Who are these
people?" "Led what?" Led Zeppelin. You have to think about it and
consider. I just assume people all know who Buddy Guy is, and who
Albert King is.
STARPOLISH: Did your parents expose you to that type of
music?
CURFMAN: Yeah, my parents and
their record collection…the classic rock radio station. It wasn't
an unusual thing. Growing up, that's what I knew to put on the radio.
I'd never like what my sister was listening to; I wasn't listening
to Tiffany or anything like that. But I definitely latched onto
that [classic rock] stuff more than latching onto what my sister
was listening to. Which was a totally weird thing for me, because
I usually followed what my sister did. But for some reason I couldn't
get into that stuff. I was only a couple of years old, but at the
same time I already knew what I liked. I've always been a big Pink
Floyd fan, and [my friends] were, "Who's that? Isn't that the new
girl with the pink hair?" No, that's Pink. So it's kind of like
a generation gap with music with me and my friends.
www.shannoncurfman.com
STARPOLISH: It's probably saved you from that really embarrassing
moment 10 years from now when someone goes through your CD collection
and pulls out that really lame CD…
CURFMAN: Like Milli Vanilli...(laughs).
Yeah.
STARPOLISH: Are you self-taught as a guitarist and vocalist?
Is there a best way to go about learning to play or sing?
CURFMAN: I took lessons for
the first year of playing guitar and I learned the basics, which
was really important. It was like going to kindergarten. That helped
me get a really good grounding to playing guitar and knowing what
the options are, and building up from there. After a year of guitar
lessons I started writing my own music and playing in my own band,
so at that point I really didn't have time for lessons anymore.
It was a good thing, though, because my guitar teacher wound up
being my guitar player, so it worked out really well for me. He
was my guitar player for a long time. I think you really get a lot
of inspiration from the people you play with rather than just…well,
I do love this CD and I do really learning a lot from this artist,
but it's a first-hand thing when you're learning from the people
you're playing with. You pick things up without even thinking about
it. I really learn a lot from the musicians I play with. That's
kind of one of the best ways to learn, just go and jam with people.
STARPOLISH: And it doesn't hurt that the people you're
jamming with these days are Buddy Guy and Carlos Santana.
CURFMAN: (laughs) No, that doesn't
hurt. Another thing I did a lot was to just go and put on records
that I wasn't familiar with…like right when I was getting into John
Coltrane and Miles Davis, and play along, listen to what they're
doing and try and memorize it in your head, and just go along and
play with it. Whether it's the vocal part they're singing, the guitar
solo or the piano solo or sax, just go and follow that…. it's all
still music notes. You can find them on your guitar, and something
will stick in your head, and that process…and it will become one
of the tricks in your little bag. I guess it's really observing
people, and actually putting yourself in the position to play, and
things just kind of happen.
