Kelsey Waldon Answers the DRTI Proust-ish Questionnaire
For as long as I have been living in Nashville, Kelsey Waldon has been making her own kind of country music. I remember the first time I heard that voice, the voice John Prine said he’d listen to sing the phone book: it felt like it carried the ghosts of generations in a way I’d never quite experienced before, while not bending over backward to be vintage (and believe me, in this town circa 2013 or so, you couldn’t swing a bandana without hitting…another person wearing a bandana). Her 2014 album, The Goldmine, is a classic of that era and beyond: I queue it up often, and songs like “Best of Everything” still hit as hard. “We all have a different story of how we were raised,” Waldon sings. “And I think we all agree that there’s been better days.”
How Waldon was raised is central to who she is: a woman from Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky, out to tell a story, which she’s done expertly throughout the past decade. Just listen to “Kentucky, 1988” and you can hear her whole story, but if you listen even closer to her music, I’ll bet you’ll hear yours, too, even if you grew up 1000 miles from the holler. ("Kentucky, 1988" was one of the best country songs of 2019 - the best, if you ask me - and I go to go to Waldon's cabin outside of Nashville to talk about it for Rolling Stone, which was an infinitely memorable experience).
Waldon’s new album, Every Ghost, has, predictably, been a favorite of mine this year. She hooked me from the very first line: “I had to get tough so I could get wise, I’ve been a thousand women in my own time.” Knowing that Waldon has always been a reliable source of weathered wisdom, we figured it would be fun to have her answer our Don't Rock the Inbox Proust-ish Questionnaire.
The Don’t Rock the Inbox Proust-ish Questionnaire: Kelsey Waldon
1. What country album is your idea of perfect happiness?
Aereo-plain by John Hartford
2. What’s your greatest fear about your career?
That I will plateau, never evolve, and never “breakthrough”…but also that I’ll fail. Which is ridiculous! I’ve already succeeded and more. So, no fear. Keep going.
3. What is the trait you most deplore in other artists?
Jaded bullies. Jaded is one thing, but fuck a bully.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I guess that I can be so intense, but also, this is one thing that I also equally love and appreciate about myself at the same time.
5. Which living country artist do you most admire?
Gillian Welch, Dolly Parton or Lucinda Williams.
6. What is your greatest extravagance on tour?
Payroll and treating my people right. Or buying a million fishing poles (when I already have so many) because I didn’t bring mine.
7. What is the most overrated virtue in the country music world?
Tradition.
8. Which of your past aesthetic choices do you dislike most?
That I felt like I hard to party hard to be tough, or that I didn’t want to fully express myself because I didn’t want any attention.
9. Which country artist, living or dead, do you most despise?
“Despise” is a strong word. Probably John Rich.
10. Which words or phrases do you most overuse in your songwriting?
Can’t think of one 🤷♀️
11. When and where were you happiest?
Right now in the present moment.
12. Which talent would you most like to have, other than music?
I would like to become a better marksman and I want to learn how to tan hides next.
13. If you could change one thing about your career so far, what would it be?
Maybe just simply that more people would know who I am, because that could change a lot of things. But it’s all about finding the right people!
14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
That I am happy, and that I am making a living doing what I wanted to do.
15. If you were to die and come back as another country artist, living or dead, what would it be?
Nah, I’m not sure I’d wanna be anybody else!
16. Where would you most like to live if you didn’t have to be tied to one particular place for work (if you are)?
THE BLUEGRASS STATE. Kentucky.
17. What is your most treasured musical possession?
Probably my 1949 Martin D18.
18. Which historical figure in country music would you most like to collaborate with?
Loretta! Or take me back for a Keith Whitley duet.
19. Who are your heroes in real life?
My mama and my little sister.
20. What is your greatest regret?
Not recognizing my full potential sooner, and all the lost time. I do have a few, and some haunt me, but, you have to let them go. Don’t look back too much.
21. What is one perfect country song, to you?
