Local musician talks shop

Local musician Brad Yoder has not yet shared the stage with his idol, Ani DiFranco. But… Local musician Brad Yoder has not yet shared the stage with his idol, Ani DiFranco. But while he’s not ruling the possibility out for the future, he’s just about as famous as he wants to be.

“I’m not 24 and trying to take over the world or be the next Buckcherry,” Yoder said in a recent interview with The Pitt News. In fact, he’s afraid that if he were all-music-all-the-time when he was younger, he might have become burnt out instead of developing into the musician and performer he is today.

Originally from Harrisonburg, Va., Yoder finds his most unpretentious fans to be the most gratifying. One of his favorite memories is of a college friend’s kids singing along to his music in the car – that, he thinks, is better than any magazine cover.

Yoder also prefers to connect with his fans on a more personal level, performing in chill coffeehouses as opposed to larger venues.

Yoder, a self-proclaimed “sucker for words,” proves his own talent with them on his newly released record, Someday or Never, which he jokes was both the working title and release date.

Ranging from funny to nostalgic to spiritual, Yoder finds musical inspiration from anything unique, interesting or “a little bit startling,” even if that means an all-too-cliche love ballad.

“If a song reminds you of what it feels like to be 19 and have a huge crush on someone really cute, that counts,” Yoder laughs. In other words, he explains, artistic value isn’t always measured by how deep something is – it can be as simple as “capturing some aspect of what’s really great, or not so great, about being alive,” Yoder said.

While Someday or Never follows a more stylistically focused path than Used, which encompassed a variety of musical moods, both albums are fairly consistent in their folk-pop-rock roots. Someday or Never, though, uses Yoder’s technique of “collage writing,” or blending assorted images to make a mood emerge rather than forming one from a more linear production style.

“School Together” is an example of this, and it’s a track for which Yoder has a sincere affection. The newest song on the album, it’s full of images of the universality of being human and how alike we all truly are: “When you think about it, every addict’s in withdrawal, that’s why we’re looking for the chemicals to put the hurting off. And when you think about it, all the big lies start out small, but after years and years of practice we have learned to pull them off,” Yoder sings.

Another one of Yoder’s favorites, “Immortal,” was remixed numerous times before finally settling on a version mixed by R.E.M.’s Murmur producer, Mitch Easter. Despite its secular rapport, Someday or Never also bears religious undertones, which Yoder claims were utterly unintentional:

“I certainly don’t intend to write religious music any more than I try to write happy music or sad music – I write whatever I write, and try to make it good, to make it honest,” he said.

And while Yoder admits that his religious upbringing and faith are, in fact, a part of who he is, he relates to that faith in a different way than his parents or grandparents might and hopes his fans can use his words to do the same:

“The baggage of religious upbringing translates into songs about faith and religion – and hopefully songs that people can connect with regardless of their own opinions or beliefs,” he said.

A great example is the re-released “What Would Jesus Do?” While it alludes to the Biblical figure more than a few times, it’s essentially about loving people more – something Yoder feels has been lost in recent times.

The song, like all of his writing, draws inspiration from the legends who came before him. Some of Yoder’s personal favorites? Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, Ron Sexsmith and Victoria Williams.

“I admire people who are about more than their image,” he asserts. “It’s safe to say Neil Young has not had a facelift or tried Botox.”

Yoder admits that Pittsburgh is a bit “under the radar” when it comes to the music scene – with venues in particular – and realizes that local support does not necessarily translate into national fame. (Although it is possible: see Rusted Root, Anti-Flag, Grand Buffet and the Clarks.) The life of a musician is one of sacrifice and imagination, but Yoder is well aware of that and embraces it.

“If you want to be a creative person, you have to figure out a way of life that allows you to make your art,” he said, referring to resourcefulness about renting an apartment or how to spend your money.

When Yoder is not busy performing at local churches, coffeehouses and college campuses (he’s played at Pitt’s Friday Night Improvs several times), he is hard at work on his fifth project, which he says will be more laid-back and introspective. Music clearly permeates every aspect of Yoder’s life, and fans admire him for his passionate lyrics and lifestyle.

Great musicians, Yoder says, consider their careers a vocation: “The reward is the fact that you get to make music, period.”

For more information and a list of upcoming performances by Brad Yoder, check out his Web site at www.bradyoder.com.