ifitbeyourwill Podcast
“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers!
Season Four runs from September 2024 to December 2024
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ifitbeyourwill Podcast
ifitbeyourwill S03 E38 • Tyler Burkhart
Tyler Burkhart discovered his passion for music while balancing a fulfilling career as a social worker – a journey that we explore in our latest episode. From his beginnings in a musically rich household to his collegiate epiphany with recording and producing, Tyler shares the evolution of his artistic identity. We delve into his extensive catalog on Bandcamp, his DIY ethos, and the profound impact his day job has on his songwriting. Tyler’s candid reflections offer a glimpse into the intimate and honest nature of his songs, revealing the heart and soul behind his music.
As life grows fuller, finding time for creativity becomes a delicate dance, a topic Tyler knows all too well. He opens up about the challenges of balancing responsibilities while carving out Monday evenings for focused music work. His creative process, often inspired by guitar experiments and artists like Nick Drake, has matured technically while retaining its emotional core. We dive into the beauty and impermanence of life, relationships, and self-love, themes that resonate deeply in Tyler’s poignant lyrics and stirring guitar solos. Don't miss this enriching conversation that promises to leave you reflecting on life's fleeting moments.
Thanks. Here we are, another episode of If it Be your Will podcast. Sorry, it's Sunday, so the brains are slowly waking up to the spring and summer. Today I'm reaching down to Pennsylvania, Lancaster, and I have Tyler Burkhart, who's come in, singer-songwriter, indie artist, been doing this so long. I mean, Tyler's catalog, and we're going to talk about this, is just immense and I'm going to give you two examples Tyler's first two releases on Bandcamp Volume 1, Volume 2, at least in 2013. 29 tracks, the first one, and 23 tracks, and I believe, Tyler, those were released really close together, like in October or something of that year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right. So we have a prolific songwriter here and I'm really excited to just have you on, tyler. So thanks for joining us today and kind of talking about your music. Yeah, thanks, chris. Now, kind of like looking in to kind of get ready for this, I saw that you I mean you're a very educated person. Your day job requires you to do some pretty amazing things. Could you tell us a little bit about what you do apart from music? Just a little eyesight, because I do think it plays into what you do with your music.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course, I went to school for social work. I got my bachelor's and my master's in social work. My master's I got in 2016. And I work for a company providing support to people with intellectual disabilities who want to get jobs. And yeah, that's kind of my nine to five, great. And yeah, that's kind of my nine to five, and I definitely enjoy working with people and the day job provides, you know, financial security too. But it does, yeah, it is. It's a very human job. It's challenging, but it's good too. I like it. It adds another dimension to my life.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. And I do get a sense that it influences some of the songs that you write, and we'll get into that a bit more, but maybe we could start off, tyler, when did music really start to click with you in the sense that you knew this was going to be something that had to be a part of your life, sense that you knew this?
Speaker 3:was going to be something that had to be a part of your life. Yeah, that's a good question. I grew up with music in my house all the time. My parents are very musical, listen to music. I took piano lessons as a kid and then guitar lessons as a kid. I never thought when I was taking those lessons that I would play music professionally or write or. Uh, I always had this like great admiration for bands. Like growing up I just remember getting cassette tapes and CDs of bands that I was really into and just like idolizing them, looking through the liner notes and stuff and just kind of dreaming about like what it would be to be a creative person like that but, I, never, I never really.
Speaker 3:I guess I sort of assumed that that was something that people just knew they wanted to do from day one and and were like it was like their destiny or something I Only after, somewhere in college it was 2011, 2012 that I started recording, and just not even with the intent of releasing the songs, but just really enjoying the recording process and layering instruments together my brother got me a usb microphone for christmas one year that just plugged right into my laptop and that was the whole start of everything. Just used garage band and recorded a bunch of songs. And then my brother was a big, uh like advocate for me. Like I would show him the stuff that I was working on, he he would say, like you should put this on bandcamp. And I was like what's bandcamp?
Speaker 3:and and then uh, yeah and then it just kind of went from there. Um that, to clarify those two first releases on bandcamp, they are like, they are, enormous they were consolidated from, like, previous releases that were smaller.
Speaker 3:So like, okay, a couple albums and eps that I just uh, I forget why I changed the format of them. Um, I think it was because I went to put them on spotify, and to put them on spotify at the time, you paid for each release that you put up, and I had, like I had like maybe eight or ten releases that I was looking to put up and it was going to be a lot of money, and so I just figured like I'll just change the format and call it one album and pay once. You know.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's kind of good thinking. I never thought of it that way, but that's that's, that's cool well, I mean they're great songs too. Right, that was all you all recorded, like everything is you? It's like pure dyi bedroom workings that that you did those and I imagine that a lot of your songs, um, your uh, eps, releases, singles, etc. All have that aesthetic to them right, very, I mean, you're at the center, you. You really control much of what gets put out there for people to listen to yeah, that's true, um everything.
Speaker 3:I like to think of it as like documenting my learning of how to record and how to produce, how to mix, how to play instruments. Even I mean, very early on I was playing instruments for maybe the first time or not the first time, but my drumming skills very early on were so simple and yeah, it is kind of a it is is. I value the do-it-yourself kind of aesthetic. A lot of the artists I like have that just kind of baked into their sound and I I've always connected to that. I think it's more um, honest and invites people in a little more absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1:yeah, you're out, you're. Your songs are so intimate. And it kind of brings me to this question about your themes like just looking through and listening to them and I mean, I've been a fan for a long time. I've been posting on my blog your singles and records, shit. I think I went back to 2016, 2015, that I first started. Yeah, I think it was sweet spell. 2015 was the first and I just love that record and it was a little bit more Filled in Than those earlier recordings. They seemed a bit more Complete, bigger, sound, fuller. How do you think that your themes have evolved over time? Now, just to put it in context, I really feel there's a lot of relationship themes that take place, also introspection, like trying to figure out who I am, how I fit, but also big attachments to place. Could you talk a little bit about the themes and the ones that really kind of tug at your heartstrings?
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, I think all of those play some part Introspection, definitely, sort of reflection on my own life and relationships. Obviously it's a lot of. It's kind of a mixed bag, I would say. I kind of approach the themes from maybe like a creative writing sort of perspective to try, I think, to put it into a word, like a moment is the most powerful thing in writing where, through combination of like place and describing what's around you and maybe even like a very specific thing that you experienced, you can put the listener or yourself into this moment and and kind of feel what you felt at that time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, but yeah, I I would say I pull from all different kinds of sources. Like marianne, I was reading a book at the time that was like really, uh, like tumultuous for some of the characters, a lot of like heavy themes and, um, I feel like that sort of opened something in me like just relating to that uh writing, making me feel like I want to write, try to write something similar, or evoke some sort of similar emotion. So, yeah, yeah, it's a lot of like personal, like I'll draw on personal themes, but I also like to draw on themes that I feel like people can relate to beyond just my personal experience and try to toe that line between the personal and universal.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah, because you're a prolific reader as well. I checked out some of your Instagram posts, just the books you read, and there are some heavy, really heavy books and some other kind of music and artists and their development and their struggles and stuff. So I imagine that you can feed off of a lot of what you read as well can feed off of a lot of what you read as well.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, I, I like art of all kinds and and reading is a big part of that listening to music, looking at paintings, visual art, things like that I yeah, I think it's good to just have all kinds of inputs, you know absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I always ask this question too, because I do find songwriting can be very well. I mean, obviously it's super personal and sometimes some of the songs that you put out are, you know, they rip at your heart some of them, others, you know, make your heart fly. It's this beautiful rollercoaster ride you bring us on, um, but how do you get that courage to write something so dear to you, so close to you, and then throw it out in the world for everyone to listen to? Um, where do you find that? Like? How did that? Is that something that evolves or a skill you develop? Could you kind of fill in some of those holes as to you go from writing these really personal songs to saying, ok, I'm going to let the world listen to them.
Speaker 2:Hmm.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of the music that I've connected to deeply has that same thing Like there's a really deep through line that runs through my life in some way and I feel drawn to the song, I feel moved by the song.
Speaker 3:In some ways it feels like wanting to replicate that or try to provide that for other people, provide it for myself, definitely. I think that playing music and writing music is definitely a way that I like explore my own interior life and maybe try to understand or frame the things I'm feeling or experiencing. So I think the decision to put it out is, I don't know, maybe a little not exhibitionistic, but like yeah, I don't know, I I feel like anything I'm writing. I'm not, I'm not getting to the level of personal experience that I'm like throwing anyone under the bus or like publicly humiliating anyone or even myself. I don't think it's just kind of like a. I think it's maybe a vulnerability thing that I always admire in people around me when they're willing to address something that's heavier, that they're struggling with or that they're really elated by and really enjoy, like, really happy about.
Speaker 3:I think it's yeah a little bit of everything, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:I I see this tremendous bravery because I think a few of us in this billion people world of ours have can go beyond that. I think there's a lot of bedroom writers out there where the songs just stay in the bedroom. But I admire people that can say, okay, I'm opening that door and particularly with your music. Like you, it's everything is. Name your price on band camp um, it's not. It's not a financial kind of gain or a hustle. You're trying to do. This is like you and here it is. I mean, no, you don't. I mean, if you want to give me something for sure, but um, and I just find that so noble, um, and necessary because, like you said, songs are universal and some of the things you touch on in your songs we felt you know like it's and I'll, I'll bring it down to something really concrete your song about without you. Now I kind of found the backstory on that.
Speaker 1:That was when you're I guess your fiance or girlfriend at the time was away for a while yeah and that feeling of I know what that feeling is, that you were singing about you know it's it's this common theme um which leads me to my next one how did becoming married change, you think, your songwriting? From you know dating and like, because relationships do play a big part in a lot of musicians um it, it's a very personal thing and it's it's it's your heart. Um, how did how did that change over time as your relationship blossomed into a marriage?
Speaker 3:my first thought is that I never considered how annoying it is to live with someone who records music because there's so much like, there's so much working it out and and recording and re-recording and hearing the same riff like 30 times and getting married definitely, uh, like sort of sort of put a mirror up to me in that my wife will just say, like this is so annoying you need to stop. But, um, but that's, that's only like a small part of it and she's like obviously, obviously super supportive of what I do. But that's. That was my first thought as to how to answer that question. Um, yeah, I don't think it's changed too much in like my um in my process. Maybe, um, it's hard to say I don't think it's changed too much in my process. Maybe it's hard to say, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I'm 35 now and my life is more full in other areas than just music. I would say in my 20s I had a lot more time that I would just give to music all the time, that I would just give to music all the time. So I think my process has changed in that way, but my life kind of like what I said about work, my life is full in many other ways and I think gives like another dimension to my creative life or at least I like to see it that way. But I do try to keep working on stuff and making music is very important to me, so I do. Still, that's always in the back of my mind is like when am I going to work on something next?
Speaker 1:Right and do you carve out times during the week or on the weekends where you say, okay, I got to go in, shut the door and just kind of like, what's your process like nowadays, with this full plate that you have and still finding the time to record?
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, monday evenings are like my time to work on stuff. Um, I will find spare time throughout the week to to work on things, but that's usually where I can get like a concentrated four to six hours in and just really, really work on something, right, so I do try to carve out that time. I mean I can say that it it changes all the time Like, um, just based on schedules. Stuff comes up and I can't make it in for a week. It's like, uh, I sort of I worry about it and I'm like am I ever going to get back in there? But then ultimately I do and it's fine, but that's cool that's cool.
Speaker 1:And tell us, tyler, what's your process. How do you? How does it go from an idea to? I'm putting this down on tape um, usually guitar starts with guitar.
Speaker 3:Okay, some kind of come up with a line or, yeah, a progression, that that sticks out some chords, um, maybe a particular tuning, or you know, two guitar parts, that kind of talk to each other that I like and feel worth exploring, or if I have, like a theme in mind, um, like lyrically, um, and a guitar part that seems to sync with that, but it almost always starts with guitar Nice nice, and you mentioned tuning too.
Speaker 1:I was looking at your YouTube and you have some tutorials on there with different tunings. Capo, I mean just one string. I never heard it sound so full and complete, right, Like because of the tuning. How do you get to that like? Is it just mucking around or do you go somewhere to look at alternate tunings? Like how, how do you get to that stage?
Speaker 3:yeah, some it's both, I would say. Sometimes it is just like having a progression that's sort of working and then one string feels off, so taking it up a half step or down a half step and then trying it. It can come about that way. It certainly has come about by using tunings, by like Nick Drake or like Red House Painters or something like that, just being like learning songs by those artists and then just being in the tuning and kind of working something out. Songs by those artists and then just being in the tuning and kind of working something out. Yeah, that's, but it it makes playing live really, uh, tedious, because between every song you have to like take a tuning break and that is just like a drag it takes.
Speaker 1:Yeah because you can't bring like 10 guitars on stage I know, yeah, who is this guy? Oh, roadie, I need to have a roadie so. When you look at your band camp page, kind of like put the whole thing up there, how do you, how would you best describe the evolution Of your sound from, you know, 2013 or wherever? I mean, that's the first that was on band camp, but how do you find that your sound has evolved up until like 2024?
Speaker 3:yeah, I listen to the old songs sometimes and I really love the raw sort of recording style, the mistakes and the things I didn't know, I think. Now I guess refining would feel like an appropriate word to use for the last 10 years. Like an appropriate word to use for the last 10 years, just sort of everything I know now about mic placement and mixing and how to record different instruments. From a technical standpoint I guess I would say it's become more refined. Um, from a like emotional or lyrical standpoint, I don't really know.
Speaker 3:I like to think that I'm doing the same work that I always was, or I've always been trying to do. Every song is like a completely new experience of songwriting for me, like I don't sit down and write one and feel like, all right, I've got this many under the belt, here's one more.
Speaker 3:it's it's more like it's like I'm. I'm just as like, unsure and scared that I'm not going to capture anything, and then that inspires me to try, and so I really I don't think I'm like a very good defining person to ask how, like, how it's progressed over time, because I do feel somewhat in the dark even every time I try to start a new one which is interesting. I don't know if that ever goes away Fun and scary.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, for sure, for sure. And what was the the um behind? Like you'd re-released a couple? Was that also like things that you had learned? I think sweet spell, you released it and then re-remastered it. I think it was called right like is that through what you were mentioning? Is that just kind of seeing it at in a more mature way or having some distance and kind of having more expertise with the recording process and that was the kind of incentive to try it again?
Speaker 3:yes, initially, I think, sweet spell, I remastered and re-released um like a second time and that was from a place of let's see. Let's see how this goes. If I apply what I know about mixing and mastering um to try and do it again, I'd also started working with a mastering engineer who I really liked and trusted and felt like it was worth trying. Um, I don't think I would do it for every release I've put out so far. It was more like I did it and I was like okay, like I definitely learned something. But I don't know if it applies to like the grand scheme of things, but I do. I can say then sweet spell was released on vinyl, so that was the master used for the vinyl release, and then marianne was remastered as well and I re-released that with the vinyl release.
Speaker 1:Well, amazing, amazing. Well, as we kind of come to a close here, tyler, thanks again for joining. Like, your story is really amazing. Um, I love what you do and I love the way you write and you're so prolific. I just whenever I get an email with a new Tyler Burkhart, I'm like, yes, always name your price too, which I find super generous and noble as a musician to do. But what's coming down the pipe for 2024? What could you tell us about some of the stuff that's happening with your music?
Speaker 3:yeah, if I can just say first, I really appreciate you having me and the support over the years, whether it's blog posts or just showing it to people. Also the fact that you've really done your research. Today it feels like it's cool, it feels like, uh, you've, you've kind of invested some time in understanding me and absolutely absolutely well.
Speaker 1:I've been following. I feel like you've been a friend like this. Is the first time we've met, but I I kind of know you um you probably know me less, but I do feel like like we have this connection just through your music, just through me listening. So I really appreciate you saying that, though I get that. Yeah, I appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 3:um, as for what's coming down the pipe, um, I have, I have some songs that I'm working on that are in like various stages of completion. Some of them I'm just like trying to get the mix done and it's like never ending. One thing I think about having done this for a while is I now know all the ways that I can tweak something, whereas like early on, I would just be like, okay, that's it and it's out in the world. But now it's kind of like, uh, there's added uh steps to go through which are good but can kind of drive me nuts.
Speaker 1:Um, um, it slows the process down a bit from what you're used to, anyway, yeah, yeah um, so I have.
Speaker 3:I have some releases that I'm definitely going to be sharing, uh, this year sometime. Um, my friend, let me borrow his um task cam, like four track tape recorder. So I've been doing some recordings on that in addition to what I'm doing in the studio and really enjoying like just stripping it way down and recording to four tracks only. It's a fun thing. So I'll probably share those in some format. Um, but yeah, just gonna keep chipping away.
Speaker 1:Are you still performing sometimes Like do you, or do you tend to kind of stay away from that nowadays?
Speaker 3:Sometimes yeah, if it's, if it works with my schedule, if it's if it works with my band also. It sort of feels like it ebbs and flows and I'm not like working with a booking agent or anything. So anything I am playing it's just through either personal connections or people just reaching out to ask. But yeah, I'd say this season of life, if I'm not practicing to perform, I'm definitely recording and I love the recording process. Given the choice between the two, I would probably record like 99% of the time.
Speaker 1:So it works yeah it does work, um, and you're great at it, so please don't stop Um. I look forward to those email notifications and I really encourage our listeners to go and check out um Tyler's band camp page. It is a gold mine of gems some great singles, eps, full albums and again, tyler, thanks so much for joining me and and and all the best in 2024 and all you do and keep doing. I'll be watching. Thanks, chris. Same to you. Appreciate it. Cheers man.
Speaker 2:So much beauty in this world, it goes to waste. Though I've seen my share, I know that it could not replace every time when you came crashing in my room, didn't matter, I did anything for you, me. Everyone could hear us fighting in the park, woke the neighbors and their windows lit up in the dark. Every time you two come by. We know you're here to come by. We know you're here, buddy, just go back inside and disappear. Thank you, guitar solo. What is love if not a game of give and take? Some will have their turn and others they will always wait. In the mirror, my reflection broke the spell. How can I love you if I don't love myself? Thank you.
