Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: I remember being too young to walk, crawling across the living room floor toward a sound coming from the dining room, where my father was playing piano. Years later I realized there had been no sheet music on the piano, though he had considerable musical training. He was playing by ear, and from memory, and I would learn later that he had composed most of what he was playing. Subconsciously I must have received a kind of inspiration from the experiences of hearing him, and an inherent confidence to go directly at music, regardless of how much I myself would study throughout life.
I remember my mom singing in the car and at bedtime, sweet songs that many of us have heard in our childhood. Around the age of ten I recall the record player in a different living room, and the old binder albums of 78’s, and then LP’s. Music was in the household, always in some way part of my young life.
Q: How are you planning on growing your fan base and sharing your music with the world? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover “Hank Alrich”?
A: I am putting music out there, and we will see who responds. My music is not restrained to a style or a genre, and if it finds an audience, that will be among people who have broad musical taste, and who are willing to dig into songs that aren’t necessarily obviously explicit. Therefrom I would suggest that people approaching my music keep an open mind and open ears, and an imagination not tethered to that which is trite or obvious. Ultimately, what a song means is up to the listener. I employ a lot of imagery in my lyrics, some of it almost metaphysical, and some of it explicit yet offering a listener’s imagination room to roam.
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
A: I cannot name an artist who is the most inspiring, because I have been at this a long time in human terms, and I have found inspiration in many different artists – the stars who came out of Sam Phillips’s Sun Records, old country and blues artists, Mance Lipscomb, Doc Watson, Laurie Lewis, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Leadbelly, Hank Williams, Flatt & Scruggs, Mississippi John Hurt, the Grateful Dead, the Band, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, and many, many more. This list could go on for weeks!
Q: Can you tell us about the story or message behind the album, “Broken River.”?
A: I cannot, because the album contains a wide variety of material, and I strongly believe that listeners will determine for themselves, each and every one, what the storyline of the songs offer, both for the album as a whole and for each song individually. Stylistically it’s rock, folk, blues, not- quite-Bluegrass, jazz, and more.
Q: How would you describe your sound in one word for potential listeners?
A: I will offer what the deeply respected Texas author Joe Nick Patoski has said about this album:
“Broken River is a both a storm warning and a meditation. The words ring loud and clear: the world is not in a good way, but somehow we will persevere. The music reflects the wide breadth of acts Alrich brought the Armadillo ranging from free jazz to new wave and punk to funk and soul, along with a heaping helping of songsters of all stripes and folkies of every persuasion.
“You might call it American music; I think of it as the sound of Austin.”
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording “Broken River”?
A: I didn’t write an album. I chose a dozen songs from a few hundred of my compositions that would fit together for a Folk/Americana audience.
Q: What is the message of your music? And what are your goals as an artist?
A: The message of my music in in the ears of the listeners. My goal as an artist remains what it has been since I was a teenager: become a better musician.
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
A: My recording band is a dream team of my fellow Texas musicians. See the album credits for the complete list, but let me say that the core, the musical conspirators with whom I cut the basic tracks live all playing together are Rick Richards, drums, Glenn Fukunaga, bass, and Andrew Hardin, guitar. Those musicians are first call, and I am grateful that through my years of working in the Central Texas music scene in many different roles I have been able to make that call, and have them answer like the stars they are.
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
A: Have some way apart from the music industry to support yourself independently, or develop peripheral skills – administrative or technical, etc. – that can sustain you while you try to find your voice and your audience. Don’t sign contracts without legal and/or managerial oversight. Decide by personal exploration who you are, where your art lies in your own heart and soul. Broadly, there are two categories of performers – those who follow trends trying to figure out what is “hot” and snag some of that action, and artists who follow their own inspiration, who pursue art first for the sake of the art, and then work to find people who might appreciate that art. Within that second category are the artists who set trends without intending to.
Q: If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
A: Practice more.
