It’s time for another installment in What’s In Your Bag?, where I get nosy with artists and find out what they carry around in their bags. This time I’m talking to musician and singer-songwriter Steven Delopoulos. He is a deep well – you can hear it in his voice and in his songs. He tells incredible stories, does some serious guitar picking and strumming, and sings with grit and believability. Somehow over the past several years we connected over social media. I was beyond happy when Steven agreed to this interview and, as expected, his answers are inspiring, grounding, and thought-provoking.
Hey Steven, so what’s in your bag?
1) Keys, wallet with my driver’s license and credit cards. Hawthorne berry tincture. Guitar picks. And baby diapers. Not all in the same bag of course. There are no bags actually. Just my pockets and a nap sack. A blue one that I bought in Manhattan with my sister who specifically told me it’s money well spent. It’s ripped up already, one year later. Oh well.
2) My iPhone takes up lots of space and I really regret my addiction to it. Though traveling is what I do mostly these days, so I need my Uber app and maps…. Do you know I still call it Mapquest…. Google maps comes out of my mouth as MapQuest. I still feel like I’m 24 but I’m not. I’m not at all that.
3) Anxiety, I bring anxiety with me most days. Not about everything but about one particular subject. It haunts me and every time I think of facing it, it makes me want to take pills or drink, but I don’t. But I would if it worked. But it doesn’t. My life though revolves around my daughter. She is what’s in my bag most importantly. All I do is think of her and I most of my time is caring for her, with joy.
Ok, so this took me to deep places and you also made me chuckle with the knapsack story. I have a couple of questions, but I’ll start with a comment about Hawthorne Berry tincture. I’m an herbalist, so I love that this is a tincture you carry around with you! Hawthorne berries are super nourishing. I usually have a couple of tinctures with me, mostly for the nervous system, sometimes for the digestive system.
Yes, hawthorn berry is for medicine. I have some ailments that I use it for. Particularly my heart. Good stuff!
Do you also use your iPhone to record song ideas? Is that where melody and lyric ideas reside, or are they elsewhere in the Steven universe?
I record on my iPhone. I use voice recorder with maybe 100s of samples I record. I must say that writing is getting tougher as I get older. Especially with a 15-month-old.
You mentioned that you bring anxiety with you and it got me thinking…because I tend to bring it with me as well…would you say anxiety ends up inspiring you? Does it help you tell stories and express yourself?
Anxiety has been in my life since I was in my early 30s. I got chronic Lyme disease and been in and out of doctors and hospitals. But anxiety never helps my life in anyway. I really wish I was stronger than that.
Switching gears a bit, what are you working on these days?
I have a Patreon page – it’s Patreon.com/folkmusiclives. I’m currently working on writing music and recording new tracks. Slowly but surely I will knock them out. I love music but 25 years of doing it professionally makes me want to live in the woods. And I do. I finally live in the wilderness on a lake. About time.
I love your emphasis on “slowly but surely” with regards to songwriting. Thank you for saying that. That is a breath of fresh air.
Slowly but surely. It’s a process I suppose. It’s the space between the notes that make the music, right? Truth. If I disappear from my thoughts, soon it will be springtime. It will come soon, I hope.
I so want to ask more questions about how the music industry makes you want to live in the woods.
Yea let me comment on that Jessica. Promoting a brand name for 20 something years really can put a sour taste in your mouth. Especially the social media era. Posting, pictures, video…. It’s one step forward two steps back. Solitude and peace of mind are way high on my list. Everything else can slide gracefully. I’m not attached to it and it has no real benefits in my life at the moment.
So the wilderness and lake setting is a retreat in a way. I really appreciate things better not thinking about me. I still love to express, create and share but not to expose my life in any way. We live in an era where everyone wants to be famous. I would re-think what you want in life. When tragedy hits, do you want to capture it and post it? I wouldn’t. I want to be far away from it. Maybe it’s related to having panic disorder. Like an apocalyptic feeling from hell soaking through the dirt. I can’t imagine staying mentally healthy by including your social media followers and or mailing list. Besides, I’m not as popular as I once was and I’m ok with that.
I am with you on this. It’s maddening – the narcissism on social media, the obsession with fame and looking “good”, and how brand and image seem to weigh more than creativity and art. I so appreciate you and your journey. This interview has been really inspiring for me and I appreciate your time!
Thank you for thinking of me to do this with you, so much fun!
Steven Delopoulos is a singer-songwriter based out of Napa Valley, CA. American Songwriter magazine recently noted Steven “could go down as music’s first truly great writer of this century” while naming the self-titled album by his band Burlap to Cashmere “one of the best records of 2011.” After two solo projects—2003’s Me Died Blue and 2007’s Straightjacket—gained warm comparisons to Harry Chapin and early Bob Dylan, Burlap to Cashmere reunited “having cultivated the scene now occupied by Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons and others” (All Music Guide). Soon enough, The Tennessean noticed the band “reclaim that turf in top form” with a sound USA Today describes as “sumptuous and exotic.” Onstage, Steven Delopoulos is a soulful storyteller, a graceful and gritty singer with guitar chops to boot. Selling over half a million records internationally, Steven Delopoulos is always trying to reveal that Spirit over matter is relevant in this day and age. You can keep in touch with him on his website Folk Music Lives, on Instagram, on YouTube, and on Patreon.