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CROOK RECORDS: This is an important interview because it will help people get to know you. Can we have your attention for 10 minutes? Lindsay Mitchell: You can have 20. CR: You are a new singer/songwriter on a new indie label. Small fish in a really big pond. Is that a bit overwhelming? LM: I think anything can be overwhelming depending on how you look at it. I am excited. I am writing and singing my own songs. That is a fine way to go down, if I end up going down. Thankfully small fish are generally fast swimmers. CR: You've approached the release of your music differently. Why? LM: Yes I have. The current plan is to skip the album thing and just release one song at a time...digitally. No album, even though I have the music. And in the order I'd like them to be released. Because I write my own music, I feel like I have the right to release or hold any song I want to. I don't have any interest in slapping together twelve tunes for the sake of having a tangible album. The songs are there, but some are still distilling in my head. When the song is done, it is done. Sometimes I can't rush that. But we are being very presumptive that people will want an entire album. Let us hope the first song wins their hearts. Then we can worry about an album. CR: So no album. Most artists have the album, and also have songs available digitally. Why just digital? LM: Because it is the music that is important. Not the CD case that gets broken. Not the album artwork that gets lost. Not the filler songs that aren't ready or just thrown together. I will do an album when I have a substantial collection of music that worth enough to justify someone driving to a store to pick it up. CR: So there is more music. When can people expect to hear and have access to more of your music? LM: There will be a steady stream of singles. Every few months or so. CR: You realize that industry folks will think you are crazy. Come on, one song for a brand new artist? LM: It's a good song. Have you even listened to it? CR: Speaking of that song, why Black Tar Mary for the first release? It is not the benign "first single" that we hear from new artists. LM: Ah, you have listened to it. I guess it is somewhat of a risk. Heroin, dirty cop, great car. It's a recipe for success. If this one tanks, then we can do the lame-girl-has-lamer-boyfriend song. CR: You shot the Black Tar Mary video this summer. How was your very first video shoot? LM: Fine. It was more fun than I thought it would be. I think my next song should go the way of Jimmy Buffet. Then we could go to the Caribbean for the video instead of the desert. That sounds inexpensive, doesn't it? CR: Maybe we could justify the expense if there was an actual album. Next question. How would you classify your music? LM: Country. Rock. Sometimes I hear bluegrass or country elements in a song, maybe a slide-guitar here or mandolin there. I like the acoustic element. Or lots of amped guitar. Whatever comes out. CR: Influences? LM: Anything that I hear. I like most genres. I'm really drawn to artists that write their own music. Act versus artist. There is a difference. CR: Okay. I get it. So as a "songwriter," how did you come up with Black Tar Mary? LM: I read a newspaper article about the daughter of a very famous couple. She had just been arrested somewhere in the western United States for possession of black tar heroin. I thought it would be an interesting setting for a song. It is. At least I think.. CR: Personal questions. Tell all the great people reading this, who might buy an "album" from you one day, about your family. LM: I am married. Tyler and I have three children. We have the greatest time together, truly. CR: What do your kids think about your music? LM: They sing along. They don't really care. That is what is so great about kids. Its funny to hear them give their input on a video edit. My son said I looked like a Ringwraith from the Lord of the Rings movie. This was after he saw the raw footage from the Mary shoot. I keep telling myself it was because I was wearing all black. But maybe it was something else. CR: What do you do in your spare time? For fun? LM: I don't have spare time. My husband and I are pretty low-key. We like quiet rather than out on the town. We hang out with the kids. CR: Schooling? LM: University of Utah. Journalism. CR: We are glad you know your way around an interview. If the "album" never comes to fruition, you can have my job. LM: Yes, I can interview you when you do your album.

This year, Lindsay Mitchell finally added "Label Executive" to her resume. This singer/songwriter has recently opened the doors of her own independent record label, Crook Records, to promote herself as an artist. Constantly inspired by the outlaw movement of the 1970's, Lindsay has always been an artist who has wanted to stretch industry boundaries for the sake of music. So with a few personnel, Crook Records is making a statement to prove that there are still people, lots of people, who want to identify with an artist who does things differently. (Incidentally, the "Crook" in Crook Records is not a take on the maverick reminiscence of the outlaw movement. "Crook" is Lindsay's maiden name. It is just a fabulous coincidence.) Her muse for writing songs has been the traditional country music sound; the organic, lonesome fiddle or slide guitar. Lindsay has also been heavily influenced by her admitted obsession with John Fogerty's vocals on Creedance Clearwater Revival records, and any southern rock band. She has a love for the old cowboy tunes made famous by groups like Son's of the Pioneers and Gene Autry. But all these great musical examples aside, Lindsay's standard comment is, "I'm influenced by every song that I've ever heard...good or bad." Lindsay began her musical training in classic piano and violin as a child. Wanting to branch out from the formal symphonic setting, she accepted several invitations to perform in country/bluegrass bands during her junior high and high school years. Lindsay, singing three-part harmony with her two sisters, quickly took over lead vocals. And then out of necessity, she began learning guitar and bass to fill in on certain songs. In fact, due to the newness of plucking upright bass strings for so many gigs, it became common for Lindsay to perform with her fingers wrapped in black electrical tape to lessen the pain of the blisters. Lindsay continued performing across the country with the band, Wildfire, after high school. But she decided to take some time off music and become an official, full-time college student. She received her degree in journalism at the University of Utah four years later. Even with a new diploma in hand, she knew her career goals were still headed toward music. She missed it too much. She missed hauling sound equipment. She missed using free gigs as practice for the good gigs. So she got a horrible day job, and fronted her own cover band at night. After maxing out most of the venues in Utah, she somehow convinced her husband to move to Nashville and try their luck there. Nashville was a hard pill to swallow. Lindsay landed a job on music row and became a first-hand observer of the music business. It was frustrating to watch the pecking order of an industry that rarely steps out its insular group of elite. Everyone in her peer group was either a vocalist trying to land a deal by singing other people's songs, or they were a songwriter trying to write music for other people to sing. Lindsay couldn't figure out where she fit in. She saw no point in trying to further her career by begging and waiting on songwriters, who, in her mind, had no exceptional ability. This gave her all the motivation she needed to begin writing her own music. She and her husband moved back to Utah. Over the next 4 years, she wrote and recorded her own demos. Still driven to achieve recognition at the professional level, Lindsay sent one of her favorite songs, "Black Tar Mary," to several radio stations for some feedback. The response was, "It's a good song...No label will want to touch it because of the subject matter." The subject matter happened to be illegal drug trade, a prevalent problem in many western states. Tired of hearing suggestions to tailor her music to fit in with what record labels would want, Lindsay decided to start her own label. MP3 players, the internet, and tainted radio payola scandals, which have only added to the instability of the music industry, have made this prime time for an indie launch. Lindsay currently lives in Utah with her husband and three children. Download Bio


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