I had the privilege to interview season nine “American Idol” winner Lee DeWyze at the first Lauderdale Live, a three-day music festival held in Huizenga Park in Fort Lauderdale. Here’s a taste of what DeWyze said about his music and style.
Q: Your new album “Frames” came out in August. What inspired it?
A: Honestly, the last year and a half or so, after I put my last record out, I was really able to — you know, at the end of the day, I just wanted to make an album that represented me the best, and make an album that I thought would expose people to what it is that I’m really about — what I really do. Being able to spend the time in the studio, with the right label, with the right management behind it, I was able to do that, and I was really given the space to just be creative again.
I wrote this record, and it just kind of drew from all different experiences and different things that I’ve been through. I joke sometimes, but really I’m 27 but I feel like I’ve lived 5 different lives, and it’s kind of wild. At the end of the day I just wanted people to be able to connect, and I wanted people to be able to really get the record and understand what it is that I’m about.
Q: What kind of genre is this [album]? I heard you perform your single “Fight” on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show,” and it sounded like a Mumford-&-Sons vibe.
A: Everybody says that — I get the comparisons, I totally get that. For me, I think that when bands like Mumford broke out on the scene in the U.S., people heard a banjo and a kick drum and a stand-up base for the first time, and you’re like, “Wow, they invented the banjo.”
That’s the kind of music I grew up listening to, like Kingston Trio and all sorts of things. So, for me, that’s the kind of music I’ve always made, going back to when I was 15 to 16 putting out record; that’s what my sound was. I feel like I’m back to what it is that I love and it just works out for me that that lane is open again. So, when I’m writing a song or recording a song, I don’t have to say to myself, “Aw man, we can’t put a banjo” — I can do that. I can put an organ. I can do whatever I want without any real limits. I call the new sound folk-rock-anthemic-Americana.
Find out what DeWyze had to say about how his “American Idol” experience impacted his life, how getting married inspired his music, and more in the full interview featured in the Jan. 14 issue of The Current.
