Interview with Rick Busby

Rick Busby has been in and around the entertainment business all his life. With experience in live music performance, concert promotion, film distribution, artist management, stage acting and directing video productions for live television and concerts, Busby has had the kind of entertainment career that gives him a broad canvas upon which to draw. Throughout it all, the one consistent binding vision has been to live the experience of a recording songwriter. With the release of his debut record, Soul Diving, Rick Busby has realized yet another milestone in his career.

Since 1999, he has been performing on a regular basis at The Logon Café, appearing in his first-ever solo performance in January of that year. Over that time, Busby was writing the songs that appear on Soul Diving. On Feb 28, 2003, The Logon Café hosted the very first CD Release Performance for Soul Diving. We spoke with him at that time to discuss his new life as a recording artist.

Q: You have had an interesting entertainment career, now you have added recording artist to the résumé. What motivated you to take on this new project?

A: From the very beginning, I have always believed that being a songwriter is the ideal job in life. When I was a teenager, being a rock star was the most important thing in the world to me, and for five years I fronted a rock band with the intention of taking it to the top. Of course, when we are young, we all imagine that level of achievement for ourselves. That's the rock and roll dream.

However, after five years of the realities of road life for an up and coming band, I packed it in and went to college. From that point on, my life began taking me in different directions, mostly on the business or background creative side of the entertainment business. As the years passed, I began playing music less and less, but would write a song here and there. Even when I wasn't actively engaged in it, the lure of writing songs was always a strong impulse with me.

Then, a little over four years ago, I began to get really honest with myself that time was marching on, and I had never made any serious attempt to realize my dream of becoming a songwriter, or perhaps more appropriately a recording and performing songwriter. I have written songs since the mid-seventies, most of which have been lost along the way, or no longer hold any real interest for me as a performer. Then, in late 1998, I wrote "One Thing Remains" and everything began to change.

Q: How did things begin to change?

A: Well, up until that time, I had only had a sincere desire to be a songwriter, and had written some songs over time that I felt were okay, but most of those felt constructed or crafted. They didn't really feel like they were coming from my authentic core. I didn't feel all that connected with them.

Q: So, "One Thing Remains" was the first song you wrote for Soul Diving?

A: Well actually the first song I wrote that is included on the record is "Just Like Angels," but it wasn't until much later in the writing process that I realized that it belonged on Soul Diving. "One Thing Remains" was the next song I wrote after "Just Like Angels," and it came much later. It also wrote itself very quickly when it did show up, and I knew as soon as it was finished that it was an important song for me. It was the first song I ever wrote that I knew immediately was genuinely authentic for me. As I have performed the song over time, it has been the song that has connected with the most people, young and old alike.

It is special to me for many reasons, but it will be indelibly stamped in my memory forever because of the recording session for it. When we began recording Soul Diving, I decided to record "One Thing Remains" last, and in the initial sessions we did just that. We finished the track at 2:30 in the morning on September 11, 2001, about six hours before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I went to sleep that night feeling great, a real high point in my life, and then in the morning, everything changed.

Q: The songs included on Soul Diving in one way or another seem to be about "letting go," and "One Thing Remains" seems to be the archetype song for you in that regard. Was that conscious on your part as a songwriter?

A: At the beginning, it was not conscious on my part at all. It was only later in the process that I began to see recurring themes in the songs I was writing. I find that I generally write two kinds of songs: songs that explore spiritual themes and others that I fondly call "busted love songs." On some level, all of the songs tend to be about letting go in one way or another. On the spiritual side, it is about letting go and letting go until love is the only thing that remains. That is best depicted in "One Thing Remains." On the busted love song side, it is about letting go of the need to be in a relationship as a means to feeling complete and whole. No worldly relationship can provide that, but we still try to make it happen. That is, until we realize that we are personally responsible for creating a sense of wholeness within us, and of course, that can only be achieved through a correct relationship with ourselves and with God, which brings us right back into the spiritual themes. And the circle begins all over again.

Q: How did the idea for Soul Diving come about?

A: Parallel to the writing process, I was also doing a lot of personal growth seminars, workshops and retreats. My goal for myself was to discover what was really true for me…independent of my relationships. For me, that process was constant source of discovery and revelation, and the further I got into it, I realized that what I was consciously engaged in was a process of letting go…of false beliefs, behaviors, ego, co-dependent needs and a whole host of other issues.

Doing that for me was a way of arriving at what was authentically true for me, and much of that work was done in front of other people. In fact, it was during one of the weekend retreats while I was describing my experience of my process to others that I first spoke the words "soul diving." For me, that is a perfect description of the process, because that is what it felt like…to be actively engaged in diving for my soul to find out what's true.

Q: Switching gears for a moment, didn't you go back in after the initial sessions and record "Pray?"

A: Yes, we did. After 9/11, the project got stalled for a while, mainly because funding sources dried up for a while. I was feeling very frustrated during that period that the project was stalled, and at the same time, every song I was writing, I hated. I felt like I was trying to make sense of a changing world, and trying to figure out what I wanted to say in response. None of those songs written during that period made the cut. Then, a few months after 9/11, I was discussing my frustration with a friend who suggested that maybe the project was stalled because there was a song that was supposed to be on the record that had not shown up yet.

I was open to that idea, but still, it seemed so far away, and also implied that I had to find new money to go back in and record a new song, when we still had not mixed any of the previously recorded tracks, and still had a ways to go to complete what we had already begun. Additionally, that idea assumes such a song would even show up. Then in early January 2002, "Pray" showed up. Like most of the really good songs, it wrote itself very quickly. I knew instantly that it was the song my friend's idea had suggested was out there, but still there was the money issue.

Q: So it obviously worked out, and you recorded "Pray." What happened?

A: Well, I immediately began performing "Pray" at my shows, and the response was very strong to it, along the same lines as the way people responded to "One Thing Remains," and they all asked the same question: Is "Pray" on the record?" So, I knew my instinct was right on that it should be included on the record. Then one day, I played the song for my good friend and fellow songwriter, Kevin Walker. As soon as Kevin heard it, he agreed it should be included and he put up the money personally to put me back in the studio. I was really happy with the way it turned out, and as soon as I heard it in sequence with the other songs on Soul Diving, I knew the record was complete.

Q: What is your favorite song on the record?

A: Well, I'm not sure about my favorite song, because in their own unique ways, they are all my favorite songs. But, I will tell you that my favorite track is "Heaven #17." I really like the way that song turned out. Going in, I liked the song, but I did not think it would be one of the stand out tracks. My producer, Mark Addison, did a great job on the track, and it was the track that most exceeded my expectations. I have listened to it hundreds of times by now, and I never get tired of hearing it.

Q: Speaking of your producer, there is a lot of musical diversity on this record. No two tracks sound even remotely alike, yet on the whole, they all sound like they go together. What was your approach when you entered the studio?

A: Well, first of all, Mark Addison was the only producer I wanted to work with, and that decision had been made early on while I was still writing songs, and I attribute the amazing musical diversity on the record to Mark's talents as a musician and producer. When I first approached Mark about the record, I basically told him that I wanted a rich, diverse sonic landscape for the record. My feeling at the time was that if I was going to make a record, I wanted it to be adventurous and something I would enjoy listening to over time. As a songwriter, Mark is very eclectic, and that is a musical quality I wanted on the record, and that kind of diversity and willingness to play with different forms and styles is something I continue to pursue as a songwriter.

The most amazing thing to me is that virtually everything you hear on the record was recorded in first take tracks. The recording process was very smooth, and we had all agreed up front to be relaxed and to let spontaneity rule the day. When I listen to the record now, I am still wowed by the fact that three people created everything. Nina Singh is an absolutely amazing drummer, and working with her was exactly as I had imagined. For my part, I am blessed to know both of them, and to have their creative energy involved in my record was a dream come true.

Q: So are you satisfied with the end result?

A: Yes I am. From the beginning my simple goal for myself was to make a record that I would be willing to buy. I love music and I listen to a wide variety of artists and styles, so I buy a lot of records to support that love. My litmus test question for myself was: If this were not my record, but the record of another artist, and I heard it, would I buy it? After having listened to the entire record hundreds of times by now, I am happy to say I can answer that question with an emphatic YES! So, for me, no matter what happens from this point forward with the record, I am satisfied and content. For my part, I am willing to go wherever these songs lead me. The rest is in God's hands.

Q: Would you change anything?

A: Ultimately the answer is no. However, there were two songs that I had written early on that I had always intended to record for Soul Diving. One is titled "Almost Me" and the other is "Holy." As I was preparing to go into the studio, I wrote "Strange Wishes" and "Mysteria," and became excited about recording them as well. So, "Almost Me" and "Holy" got knocked down a couple of notches, and we never got around to them. So, perhaps they will show up on the next record.

Q: So, what's next?

A: Well immediately, we have some work to do to get the record out there and heard. I will be doing more gigs now that the record is complete, and tossing my line in the water to land a publisher or a record distribution deal. On top of that, I now have over three-dozen new songs that have yet to be recorded. So, we are making plans to go back in the studio later this year and record a second record. Right now, we are leaning towards a more stripped down approach on the second record, mainly to try and record them quickly without as much studio tracking as on Soul Diving. I have been playing solo acoustic shows for so long that most of the fans only know me in that mode. For them, Soul Diving will be a really different experience of my music than the acoustic shows they are accustomed to. So, for the next record we will attempt to create an acoustic experience that is closer to the live shows. Hopefully, the second record won't take as long as the first one.