Louise Goffin On Her Releasing Singles Instead Of Albums, Working With PledgeMusic, And Writing With Father Gerry
Louise Goffin inked her first major label record deal in the late 1970s, recording Kid Blue with produced Danny Kortchmar. A few years later, Goffin was the youngest artist to be featured on the soundtrack to the Amy Heckerling hit Fast Times At Ridgemont High. More major label recordings would follow over the next two decades, as would collaborations with Tears For Fears, Bryan Ferry, Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Skylar Gudasz, Squeeze’s Chris Difford, and Rufus Wainwright; her songs have also been recorded by the likes of Paul Thorn, Shawn Colvin, Terry Reid, and her mother Carole King.
Rather than following up her 2016 album The Essential Louise Goffin Vol 1. with another full-length, Goffin has decided to release her latest recordings as a series of singles. Along with singer/songwriter Porter Block, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Goffin for a meal at Tom’s Diner in New York. The majority of the conversation will appear on Porter Block’s podcast In A State, but in advance of that, The Hype Magazine has some excerpts from the in-person chat.
On her process of recording recently:
November through March, on and off working with Dave Way who is an amazing engineer and producer, a multiple Grammy-winning producer and a great guy. It was a great energy that really supported me and all the songs I had. I came in to Dave with the budget, the unusual circumstances of actually having a budget because I had what I would call a magical investor come along, who I met when I was teaching a songwriting class.
He was a student and he bought some of my CDs and then started writing me lots of emails saying, “Why don’t people know about you? Why aren’t you in the studio? Why aren’t you doing this, that and the other thing?” I shared with him that I had this Dropbox folder filled with songs, and he was like, “You, get in the studio right now. I will pay for it.”
On working with PledgeMusic:
I’ve done three Pledge campaigns. Every time I do them I go, “I’m never doing this again,” because you really just feel like you’re living in your own reality show where everything you do you’re documenting and you’re sharing it with your audience because the audience wants to see it in motion. They want to see the putting together of the product because you’re working directly with your fans.
It’s not the record company anymore, it’s not this person or that person, it is your fans and so they don’t want you doing things behind closed doors and suddenly giving them a sleek product at the end. They want to see you struggling putting it together, what you did that day, they want behind the scenes. I have become this uber content creator over the last three years.
On the decision to record singles rather than a new album:
I have a couple of friends who have been in the business a while and they said, “You’ve got such an amazing record, do not release it as a record.” I was like, “You’re crazy, no, this is my White Album. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. I am putting out a gatefold.” It’s practically a triple record… I just kept getting, “You don’t want to do that, suicide, suicide,” and I started to see the merit in that…
I had a lot of really good songs that I just let die on the vine because I went to record companies and I wanted someone else to give me the green light and tell me it was worthy to do this that or the other thing…
On “I’m Not Rich But I’m Not Poor,” a song she wrote with her father Gerry Goffin:
I wrote the music, he wrote the words. I cut it, I just put it up on Soundcloud with all the other songs. All of the sudden, 80,000 listens! I go, “Why is this song just going viral for no reason?” People came across that song and freaked out over it and that song never saw the light of day ever anywhere.
On last words for the kids:
Hey kids, you have a gut that tells you things all the time. When you have that signal that tells you things, listen to it every time. It always knows if something doesn’t feel right, it is not right. Take care of yourself, believe in yourself, you can be anything you want to be. Be safe, love yourself, love your family, you will do great.
TweetAbout the Author
Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."
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