Terri Hendrix

Oyster Ridge Music Festival

Kemmerer, Wyoming

July 2008

TERRI: This is my second trip to Kemmerer, Wyoming. It’s so pretty. I really like the wide open spaces. Beautiful.

FAF: A question that I like to ask other folk musicians is what they think are the reasons for the fracture between folk musicians and the folk, that has occurred over the last 30 years or so.

But not with you: you go out of your way to knit together your fans. You have your Goat Notes, MySpace, website, and blog. And you have other events, like your painted mandolin contest and songwriting workshops. So, do you see your fan base as one big happy family?

TERRI: That’s how I feel about it. My fans are the reason why I have a house. They help me every month to pay my mortgage; they come and support what I do, and it’s truly, for me, what keeps me motivated. It’s what gives me a purpose. I know who gets married, who has a death in the family, who’s having kids. People have come to see me play and then they got married and had kids, and now their kids are having kids. So it’s been going on a long time and I just feel honored and privileged to be a part of this type of folk music; to be a part of a music scene that incorporates an atmosphere for something like that to happen organically, to where I can have friends across the country. What other job could I have that I could have that?

FAF: And that’s happened because of all the different communications, that you have this huge, extended family. People really do communicate with you?

TERRI: Absolutely. And I always answer emails. It may take me a year, but I do. I just think it’s important and I feel happy to be a part of this. It’s just great.

FAF: You are an Independent: you are your own label and your own manager. I wonder, would it be different if you either had a label or a manager?

TERRI: Yes, I don’t have a manager, and I think I wouldn’t be in business still [if I did], I really don’t. Because the kind of music I do, it’s really not mainstream. It’s really weird. It’s kind of funky. Sometimes it’s too rock ‘n roll for folk and sometimes it’s too folk for rock ‘n roll. I have a country twang, but it’s definitely not country. How would you manage that? How would you market that? There’s really just no way. It doesn’t fall into a category. That’s one of the reasons why I never had a manager; because, the way I saw it, they were just going to take a percentage of what was coming in and not really be able to do anything.

So I worked out a deal with Lloyd to where he makes percentages off my business. But, he’s also out here on the road slugging it out with me. That’s why I have the opportunity to work with such a great musician: I pay him different percentages to enable me to have him with me. It’s a different way of doing things, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I don’t really like playing huge places. I played the Cotton Bowl in Texas; it was huge and I didn’t really like it. People were way far away. Some folk festivals are like that. I don’t like it if they put tape out and make it to where people have to stand back. I like people with me. I like smaller [venues]. I feel like I do my best when I’m one-on-one. Sometimes you’ll play a festival and the stage is about 15 feet up; the crowd is down and back and they let the press up front. And I’ve always thought that’s really not cool, because the press didn’t pay to get in, the ticket buyer did. I’ve always thought that the people that pay for the tickets should be treated like royalty and be up front.

FAF: I’m sure a lot of people have asked you about what it means to be playing with a musician like Lloyd Maines.

TERRI: Yes, it’s been a great experience. We’ve worked together for many years. It’s always a learning experience. It’s great. And you know, he’s also like my family, so that makes it interesting as well. Sometimes I want to kill him; sometimes he wants to kill me! But it’s fun.

FAF: There are two songs off your latest CD, The Spiritual Kind, that I’d like to talk about: “Jim Thorpe’s Blues” and “Bottom of the Hill.” Both have historical references: of course, the reference to the great Native American athlete Jim Thorpe in the former, and in the latter, what it means when the rich people live on the hill and the po’ folk live at the bottom of the hill. So you set these historical contexts, and then you knit them together with contemporary events and people. Is that a songwriting device that you employ, getting a historical context first?

TERRI: Yes. Jim Thorpe, on so many levels that story got to me because he was huge in his field, a huge success. And I think it must have been racism that they took his medals from him. They took his medals because he did something intramural that you’re not supposed to do, some type of sports in off-season...but basically it was racism, and then they found a way to get those medals from him. Because, he was an Indian and he was getting too popular for comfort.

And then I started thinking about Indian history...If they are so honest in saying that nuclear waste is absolutely not harmful, then why do they bury it on Indian land? If I was a governor, and said nuclear waste [was not harmful], I would put it in my own backyard. That’s what you do. Because if it’s not harmful, then put it in your own yard. Let your own babies get born and raised around it. That really gets me fired up.

FAF: Do you see this development as just the latest crime against Native Americans by the government?

TERRI: Absolutely. Without a doubt. That is beyond crime. Because they are already in a state of being in way troublesome economic crisis. Again, if it’s not harmful, then put it in your own yard.

FAF: There is a Native American tribe in The Badlands that wants to farm industrial hemp because nothing else will grow well there and they have been denied that right for years now. With industrial hemp, they could make many products and vastly improve their economic standing.

TERRI: That goes right back to the hypocrisy...they should be allowed to grow hemp. Those are the types of things that I am so sick of politicians not addressing. That needs to be addressed.

I’m so tired of, ‘Who wears a flag pin?’ Who cares? You can wear a flag pin and be satanic. I care about actions. Somebody needs to address those things.

FAF: We can skip from the predicament the Native Americans are in to the predicament that the African Americans are in. Something that’s going on right now, and some people don’t want to talk about it, is that African Americans are being replaced by illegals at jobs they traditionally worked at.

TERRI: That is something else that doesn’t get addressed, because when it gets brought up, it’s almost to where you’re a racist. But I think anyone who wants to come to America, fine, let them come. But you have to have a driver’s license and a Social Security card; and you have to wait in line to get into this country. Those rules are there for a reason. Everybody should have to be paid a certain wage. You shouldn’t be able to take someone else’s job. I wouldn’t go to Ireland and undercut someone.

FAF: In “The Bottom of the Hill” song, you talk about a simple life and simple pleasures, “closing your eyes every time it rains, that you don’t have to move your stuff,” “rolling uphill to get pay,” etc. Of course, the po’ folk lived where it would flood, the rich folk didn’t. And we saw that play out in Katrina, and it’s still playing out there. It’s a rich vs. poor statement.

But then you say, “I’m doin’ alright, I’m here with you tonight, I know where I am, and where I stand.” And that, to me, is such pretty poetry, some of the prettiest poetry I’ve heard you write, because you’re saying, I see all of this going on, but these are my priorities. And it doesn’t really matter.

TERRI: Oh, thank you so much. I think it’s easy to get sidetracked on what’s important. And I think what’s important is family and friends and what’s right in front of you, the people you love and that love you. You can live on top of a hill and still miss the sunrise and sunset. I know people that have.

FAF: And then you go on to say in that song, “Without a view of the city lights, I believe I found my soul at the bottom of the hill,” which reiterates that wealth cannot buy you soul.

TERRI: No, it really can’t. You know, we got asked to play, for more money than I was ever going to make; I mean, it was an ungodly amount of money. We got asked to play the inauguration, the last one. They were saying that it was the Texas Chapter of Politicians, and it was the inauguration for whoever was going to be President. And I said, if it’s Bush that’s elected, it’s going to be partying for Bush. So I had to turn it down, ‘cause I couldn’t run the risk of having to look at him.

I just felt like he’s probably the worst thing that has ever happened to America, on so many levels. He’s made me question things. Like, I am a flag waver; I love America. But he’s made me think twice; and when Michelle Obama says that, everybody dogs her. But who hasn’t felt like that? Who hasn’t said, “Guantanamo? What?”

My Dad was in Vietnam and Korea; he’s so shot up he can’t even feel the left side of his face. We have to wipe mustard off when it dribbles to the side. I am the product of him, and raised with these beliefs, like that you die for your country. But George Bush: I just would never die for that man. He’s done so much harm, and I got really angry when he got elected again. And when I wrote “Bottom of the Hill,” I was angry. I personally was very angry. And then I realized, there isn’t anything I can do about it, but not shut up. I will not shut up about it. And when I’m asked, I’m going to say what I think. And if I lose fans, well then, it’s just not truthful to sit back and not speak my mind. Because that’s what being an American is all about. Even if you are at The Bottom of the Hill, you still have a voice.

And about this whole illegal thing: if people would do what’s right, there wouldn’t be a problem. If you want to hire, then hire; just make sure that they’re here legally. And then figure out a way to make it to where nobody loses. There’s got to be a humane and beautiful way to solve the problem. What’s better than all of these people jumping fence and walking through a desert, because they want to live in America? There’s got to be a way to help these people. The people who have been here for 20+ years and who pay taxes: there’s got to be a way to make things work, without the racism, without kicking out another culture, and taking their jobs. There’s got to be a way to figure it out. And I think if you would look at it through a humanistic lens, it would be possible.

FAF: Thank you Terry, for your courage and for speaking out.

TERRI: Well thank you. I’m just a little folk singer, but I sure am happy with it; a lot more happy being awake. There is this great quote, “One day I woke up, and then I woke up some more.” And I think that’s what living is all about. Every day you wake up, and then you wake up some more. It never stops. That’s what happens when you bloom.

FAF: Thanks for blooming.

Joy H. Hance