Greg Schultz of KGNU hosts Colorado musician Covenhoven in the studio to discuss his music and upcoming show. They discuss his songwriting process and his new record, aiming for a fall release. Covenhoven looks forward to performing with his band at the Roots Music Project on July 12th (Interview date: 7/3/2024)
Greg Schultz: All right, we’ve got Covenhoven in the studio. He’s on the green mic. Good morning, sir. How you doing?
Covenhoven: I am great. I’m glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
Greg Schultz: Yeah we’re just thrilled to have you in here and to play some live music and talk about your show on Friday night at the Roots Music Project. If I’m not mistaken, you have an opening act, right?
Covenhoven: Andreas DeValera. That’s right.
Greg Schultz: That is going to be a lot of fun. That’s a cool room. Listen, we’re going to talk about that and some of your new music and things you got coming up, but why don’t you give us a tune, tell us what you want to play.
Covenhoven: Great, I’m actually going to play something that’s unreleased and most likely will be on the new record.
Greg Schultz: Awesome, we love that. Thanks for doing that.
Covenhoven: Yeah, of course. This is called “All the Way to Nowhere”.
Greg Schultz: Oh man. That’s a beauty.
Covenhoven: Thank you so much.
Greg Schultz: I dig that one. Tell us a little bit about that tune.
Covenhoven: Oh, let’s see here. I love that idea of all the way to nowhere. I think that encapsulates a lot for me.
Greg Schultz: We all probably get a different meaning out of that song, which I think is a great way to convey your message, right? What it means to you, it means something different to me, because it got me thinking about, I don’t know, where is that?
Covenhoven: Yeah. I think the imagery of a woman reclining in the car seat and just watching her hand comb through the wind, as you’re driving down the highway. That’s a snapshot that I love, and I think a lot of people can relate to that.
Greg Schultz: It creates a real visual. It’s a simple visual image in your mind. It gives you that, I don’t know, that freedom. We all love that, we all do love that top down and off you go. And yeah, that’s a cool tune. We were talking a little bit off air and while you just mentioned, you’re going to put this on your new record, you did release a tune, “The Garden and the Grave” back in April as a single. That is a pretty cool tune, I was listening to that. Maybe we’ll play it before we get out of here. Maybe when you’re in your car driving home, you might even hear it if you’re listening. I’d like to get that on if I get enough time. If not, I’ll get it on next week when I’m on Friday. But you’re working on a new record. Why don’t you talk to us about that a little bit.
Covenhoven: Sure, yeah. “The Garden in the Grave” might be on that record, we’ll see. It might just end up being a single, but one of the joys of solo touring is getting to see a lot of amazing places. I spent a lot of time camping under the stars. One of those places I’ve been going to a lot lately is Joshua Tree. And that’s where that song started. I wrote another one when I was there this spring and I don’t know, something special about that place. I think it’s great.
Greg Schultz: Little story on my side is I grew up going to Joshua Tree cause I grew up in Southern California. So we used to go out there in high school. This is back in the early seventies and yeah, we camped out and so it is magical. We had some pretty fun times. We used to climb around the rocks and drink a lot of beer and I’ve heard many songwriters talk about the magic of Joshua Tree.
Covenhoven: Yeah, it feels like you’re on another planet. I think that’s a lot of what it is. It’s just this feeling of otherworldliness.
Greg Schultz: It looks like you’re on another planet. Yeah, it’s a beautiful place and I’m glad to hear you say that because that’s a couple of connections between there and the Santa Cruz coastline. You and I have a couple of common things in place there, but yeah, great place to write tunes. So you like camping out. Is that where you discover a lot of your songs? Just being by yourself and thinking?
Covenhoven: Yeah, I think naturally that is where most of it occurs. ‘Cause you get time to finally push everything else out and really focus on the songs. Words don’t come terribly quickly for me and I’m really into that side of songwriting, and I take my time with it. It can take months, it can take years, and usually it’s those times where I’ve had hours and hours of contemplation where things start to flow. They call it the flow state.
Greg Schultz: Every songwriter has their own process. Some people wake up in the middle of the night, grab their iPhone and sing stuff, or grab their guitar, frenzied and afraid they’re going to forget about it.
Covenhoven: Yeah.
Greg Schultz: Go back to sleep and it’s like, God, what was that? I loved it, but I can’t remember.
Covenhoven: Yeah. That’s happened to me.
Greg Schultz: I’m sure it has. I think being in a place like the desert… I can only imagine, I’m not a songwriter, but if I was, I think that’s where I’d like to – I think I could discover something. It may not be good, but I’d be writing something.
Covenhoven: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there’s a lot of history in that part. I think we’re really lucky to be so close to the American Southwest and kind of part of it in a way. But as you go South and West from here, I just think that’s some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet.
Greg Schultz: I tell you, a lot of people don’t like the desert, man, but being a kid that hung out in the desert a lot, there’s a lot of life in the desert. People think it’s all dead, but there’s a lot of varmints out there too. And some of those varmints are people to be honest with you. But that’s pretty cool.
So your show Friday night. Talk about what folks can expect to see at the Roots music project on Friday evening.
Covenhoven: Yeah, I’m really excited to be bringing the band. ‘Cause that’s something that I don’t do terribly often lately. I’ve been doing a lot of solo and duo performing and that has been amazing. We’ve really honed in on something as a duo, Ben and I, my bandmate, Ben. And bringing in bass and drums to flesh the songs out further is really a lot of fun.
Greg Schultz: Nice. So you’ve been rehearsing.
Covenhoven: Yep, we have.
Greg Schultz: Just checking, just kidding. Because our people go, eh, we just had a beer the other night, we sat down and I think we got it wired and under control.
So have you played the room before?
Covenhoven: I have actually, yeah, it was years ago. It’s great that they’re still around and that they’re doing well because it was years ago and I think it was in early stages probably. But I think it was actually a Sofar show. Believe it or not, yeah. I don’t know if Sofar it’s still going on in Boulder, but it doesn’t seem like it’s very active here now.
Greg Schultz: Yeah. It’s a great spot. The people are so nice, they’re just welcoming all of our local talent and others. Folks out there, it’s a great place to – you can spread out a little bit, and you’re not cramped up, but it’s still big enough. It would be great to have your band on that stage too, it’s not like some small house concert. It’s like being in a house, but it’s intimate yet it’s got a great vibe. So that’s awesome. We’re happy to be presenting that show Friday night.
So folks get your tickets Friday night, eight o’clock at the Roots Music Project. It’s the 12th. It’s not this Friday. It’s next Friday, which gives you plenty of time to plan.
Listen, we’re going to have you take us out with the tune. So where can we find all things? First of all, when do you think we’re going to be able to get that new record?
Covenhoven: I really hope by the end of this year. That’s the goal, hopefully in the fall, but that all depends on a lot of factors, of course. I think making the record is going to wrap up in the next couple of months. So that’s exciting. But yeah, I would say the latest would be early next year, but I’m aiming for this fall. So we’ll see how it all unfolds.
Greg Schultz: Make sure we’ll get a copy and we’re looking forward to hearing the record. So folks next Friday, the 12th of July at the Roots Music Project. Get out and see Covenhoven and his buddy…
Covenhoven: Andreas DeValera.
Greg Schultz: Is he going to open up his own set of music?
Covenhoven: Yeah. He’s a great singer-songwriter based in Evergreen actually.
Greg Schultz: Okay. That’s fantastic. We’ve got some local yokels. We like that. All right. Thanks for coming in. Take us out with a tune. Folks, get your tickets and again, thanks for coming in and spending the morning with us.
Covenhoven: Thank you.
