Songstress True to Form with Family Ties

Louise Goffin, daughter of the iconic songwriting duo Carole King and Gerry Goffin, has long been a singer-songwriter and producer on her own, dating back to Kid Blue,her debut album more than 40 years ago. Her style has always drawn from both her parents’ pop sensibilities, her mom’s piano-based melody-driven music, and the folk-rock of her Laurel Canyon upbringing. Her first gig, after all, was opening for Jackson Browne at L.A.’s famed Troubadour, and a bevy of heroes from the era were always around both during her childhood and beyond.

While she took an extended hiatus from recording during the 1980s to early 1990s, Goffin has been on something of a tear in recent years, releasing Songs From The Mine in 2014, the EP Appleonfire in tribute to the passing of her father a year later, and a number of singles in the years since. Goffin, who has also recently teamed up with Paul Zollo for a podcast called The Great Song Adventure that features in-depth conversations about songs and the songwriters, comes to SOhO for a solo show on Sunday, July 22. She talked about her music and career over the phone last week.

Q. I know in your podcasts you ask other songwriters what they think about when they’re creating music. What’s your process?

A. Songs usually come out of something I’m going through. When I was younger, I had a preconceived idea of what a song should be, and I’d try desperately to sound meaningful. But now it’s the other way around. I have these feelings – how do I put them into words and what are they teaching me? The hook is usually a lesson, a realization, an a-ha moment that I only learn because I let the song lead me. Oftentimes, things that I’m murky on when I start writing, by the time I finish, I have learned the lesson.

Your newest single is called “Is it Too Late to Hold on Tight?”. That could mean a lot of things.

I wrote it about my son leaving for college. Then I sent it to him with a note that I was a bit embarrassed because it was about him. I expected him to say, “Yeah, okay, mom, thanks.” But he loved it. The song has the line “Is it too late to hold on tight/Is it too late to get things right?” He wrote back, saying by the way, you did get it right. That felt great. Then he and his younger brother wanted to play on it. So, it turned into a family affair.

How has your perspective as a singer-songwriter changed over the years as time and life goes on?

I just feel more confident. Like where I am now is where I always wanted to be. I thought that people had some magic knowledge that I didn’t, so I had to work harder and get better, even though I’d been in it my whole life. Even three years ago, I’d be doing shows thinking that I’m not quite there yet. It was always beyond reach. But then something happened where I realized that my experience of performing wasn’t the same as the audience’s. I’d get positive feedback about moments when I was wondering if I would hit a note, or worrying about forgetting a line. I’d think about technical things, and nobody else cared. They were so engaged and really enjoying themselves. It got to a point where I realized that I don’t know. It’s like what Martha Graham said about how once you create something, it’s no longer yours. You have to step away and allow it to be whatever it is for other people. For me, it’s a matter of surrendering. Now it’s as simple as I have songs and stories I want to share with you, and I let go of expectation and just be in the moment.

Is that true in the songwriting, too?

Oh, yeah. Songwriting is like a spiritual act for me, like going to church. It’s greater than I am. The song is smarter than I am. I don’t go into writing a song with a sense of control but rather that my job is to channel, to hear what the song wants to be. Every time, it’s like autopilot on an airplane. Just let it self-correct so it ends up getting where it’s supposed to go. The only question I ask is “Do I believe that?” If the answer is no, it’s goodbye line, goodbye idea. I don’t have any ego or attachment to ideas in songwriting. I don’t care other than is this true. Coming from this, it’s hard for a song to go in a bad direction.

I was surprised to hear that you lacked that confidence considering that you come from a pretty accomplished pair of songwriters.

I was always around people who were so massively successful, songwriters who were icons – not only my parents, but the other artists around like James Taylor, and Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Joni Mitchell. I only saw big, and I never felt that way. So I wanted to know about the secret sauce that I couldn’t quite grasp. I was stuck in compare and despair. Because I was around people who were iconic, I was infused with ambition from the youngest age. It was: “Oh, God, my mother is so good with melodies and my father is like the best lyricist. I’m going to have to be really great at both, because I can’t get away with being mediocre.” I had this fire behind me. I studied all of it. But I really needed some life experience. Some of that went away when I did the Hyde Park show (opening the massive concert and then joining her mom in a live performance of “Tapestry”). I look back and realized, yeah, I did that.

You do a lot of collaborating. Does that help with writing?

It’s weird how things have really changed. I don’t actually want to write more songs. I have so many… There are so many unrecorded ones that I love, and lots I don’t even remember. I’m not looking for new ones. So, I don’t need the result of songwriting. The only reason I like to write is for the experience itself. I write with others when I love their work and wonder what it would sound like to cross-pollinate. And where I’ve written the most is on songwriting retreats, where you just throw yourself in and navigate the waters. But it’s the process that I love. That’s where I got several new songs that I’m just learning how to play live for my solo shows. I see them more as living breathing things that I share with an audience. They’re really fresh because they’re still new for me.