It's 8.40pm in Jacksonville, Florida and William Fitzsimmons is doing a round of press interviews to complement the release of his new album, The Sparrow and the Crow. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native with one of the best beards in music sits back and talks to yourGigs about his music and his unconventional upbringing.
yourGigs (yG): Your first studio album The Sparrow and the Crow is due for release in Australia, but you've had a couple of tracks recorded already. How did that process go from the home recording to actually getting into the studio?
William Fitzsimmons (WF): It was a little difficult, I'd just record literally at home. I'm used to having all the control. Like anybody would, if I didn't like it I wouldn't do it [Laughs.]. Having other musicians and a producer and all that was very frustrating some days because I had other peoples' ideas to contend with. But it had its positives. I didn't have to think about the little things like where to position my mic and things like that.
yG: Your bio pins you as having a knack for writing "intimate folk ballads". What's the key to that, and who are your muses?
WF: Up to this point every song I have written has been utterly personal, things I have done, and my family and marriage. I don't really have to look any further than my own history which is kinda nice - I have a nice pool of things to choose from.
yG: Speaking of which, your upbringing was far from run-of-the-mill.
WF: Yep, both of my folks were blind. They were, and still are, very musical people. It was the one thing that we were all on a level playing field about. They didn't need to be able to see to play their instruments. And they had us banging away on the piano since we were really small.
yg: And you're in Jacksonville now, but grew up in Pittsburgh. What was that like as a beginning for nurturing your music career?
WF: Pittsburgh is steel factories and rich in polka, one-two, accordian music [Laughs]. My family was the nurturing part of it. As far as contemporary music it's not a place with the greatest artistic sense. I'm more fed when I spend time in Nashville and New York City.
yG: I also read that your intention was to make a career of psychology and therapy, which you have successfully done?
WF: I would always play music and never thought I'd make a career of it. I was finishing my masters and while that was happening I bought some cheap home recording gear with the money that I'd saved from Christmases and birthdays. As for writing, I also wanted to write about that was coming out in the therapy training I was doing.
yg: And your songs have been featured on shows like Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill. How does that sort of thing come about for someone who didn't even have an album?
WF: That was one of the early things that happened. Most people kill for those opportunities. Someone who ran a licensing agency got in touch over Myspace saying they liked my stuff. Who does that? [Laughs]. I said, "Yeah sure, whatever. Put my music on TV", and didn't really think anything would happen there. I got a phone call two months later saying Grey's Anatomy wants to use it and I didn't believe it till I saw it with my own eyes. I had to do so little.
yg: It has to be said, that's one amazing beard you've got there.
WF: Oh people like the beard. I didn't do it for any other reason other than I kinda like having a beard. People like to tug at it and take pictures with it.
yg: So you say you've been lucky in getting to where you are now, heading to the US and Europe on tour and signing with Inertia here in Australia?
WF: It's just that I haven't had to do a lot at all to get where I am. Sure I didn't get a label straight away, nor would I have expected to but it's nice to know that there are people out there who are listening and want to hear what I have to say. It's just amazing that it happened from a Myspace page, where I put some tracks up and people started asking where they could buy an album from ... which I didn't even have. I'd burn people CDs and fold a piece of cardboard over it with my name on it and give them that.
yg: Maybe it was fate.
WF: Maybe. Or maybe my mum paid someone a lot of money. [Laughs].
Carrie Dennes
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