On Julie Blackmon

And my first ever photo show score

A few years ago I came across a piece by the incredible photographer Julie Blackmon. I don’t remember if it was online or in a museum, but I do remember that it immediately resonated with me on a multitude of levels. Whatever I saw and wherever I saw it - it really got my attention.

Faced with Julies work for the first time felt, to me, as if William Eggelston had taken a midwestern snap shot of family life in the modern age. It was contemporary but timeless, with nods to the past, present and future - a balancing act I strive for in my own work, and have the utmost respect for when an artist can pull it off. Julie does it better than most.

It was no surprise to me when I learned that Julie lives and works out of her hometown of Springfield, Missouri, just a few miles east of my home in Kansas City. This, of course, made me love it all the more as I immediately recognized the backgrounds of her photographs as the very backgrounds of my day to day life; the grass green but not deep green like you may find in the south, the sky somewhat pale but wide open and the light from the winter sun tilted through the windows at an angle that feels like we’re just barely out of reach.

I had never seen someone capture our magical stretch of middle America in such perfect light. It was something I felt myself striving for in my own album covers but here she was perfecting it. Her images felt staged but chaotic, innocent but ominous, youthful but tragic. I was obsessed.

I met Julie a year or so later at one of her shows at the Haw Gallery here in town. After telling her I was planning on visiting the gallery she met me there with Bill, the owner of Haw who also represents her work. I bought one of her pieces that afternoon which now hangs in my living room.

When the Kemper Museum reached out earlier this year about the possibility of Julie and I collaborating in some capacity on her latest show, A Life In Frame - to say I was honored would be a vast understatement. They initially asked if I would be on board with doing an artist talk with Julie in front of an audience on opening night and maybe performing a few songs. I said yes, of course, but then I also offered to score the art show, as if it were a film that a person could walk through in real time - I was thrilled when Julie and the gallery agreed to it.

My goal was to sonically capture what I imagine the ambience of her photos to be. Looking over her work, I imagined cicadas chirping, rivers lapping and children singing songs. I asked Julie if she’d mind if I came out to Springfield and captured these sounds at the source, knowing there is no better place to do such a thing. This is a lesson I learned while making This Is A Photograph - if you put in the effort to capture something at its source, you will likely stumble into magic.

I felt somewhat nervous driving the three hours towards Julies river house but when I arrived she greeted me with warmth and took me down to the water where we got on paddle boards and she gave me a tour of the river where shes shot some of her iconic photographs. It immediately felt like I had known Julie for years. I collected sound samples as we moved through the water.

Once we were done she took me back to the river house where we met part of her family. Nieces, nephews, children, siblings and cousins all came rushing in. Her daughter Stella had written out lyrics to a short song I had written for the score on the back of a poster for me and the kids to sing together that we would record. The nieces and nephews, who are often the subject matter of her photos, were poised and incredibly easy to work with. They had the air of young professionals who, at this point, were used to being in the spot light.

As we were wrapping up I noticed another guitar in the room and asked who it belonged to. One of Julies nieces, Birdie, who is 15, told me it was hers. I asked her if she’d play a song for me and without much hesitation, Birdie sat down and played an original song and it blew me away. Julie then asked that I play a song, and I did, however mine felt small against Birdies. I left that night for the three hour drive back home enchanted by Julie and her magical family.

Over the next few weeks I composed the score in my home studio. It was effortless and with all the good fodder I captured that day outside of Springfield, my job felt incredibly easy. When I was done I sent it to Julie and her family and they approved it with praise.

A few weeks later, this past Thursday, came the opening night of Julies show. I arrived early and got to walk through the gallery and hear my score alongside Julies images for the first time. I felt deeply honored to have a composition playing in a museum at all, but especially in accompaniment to Julies work.

An hour or so later the guests arrived and Julie and I gave an artist talk alongside moderator Jon Hart from our local radio station the Bridge. Jon interviewed me last year for This Is A Photograph and he still stands as one of my favorite interviews of the cycle. The talk with Julie, as all our talks since meeting, felt effortless.

To end our discussion, I got up with my guitar and played a few songs in front of the audience - I chose to play my songs Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun and This Is A Photograph II as they felt on brand. I then called the children to the stage who had been sitting criss cross on the floor in front of us the whole night. We performed the song from the score and the kids, just as they were that night at the river house, were flawless and adorable.

After we finished our song I leaned down to Birdie and told her that, if she wanted, she could play one of her songs for the audience. She told me she wanted to but had to go grab her lyrics. She took off running through the crowd only to return with a thick note book open to a page scrawled with black ink. Birdie then sat down and flanked by all the other children, played one of her new songs. This got the loudest applause of the night, and was a perfect way to end the evening. I asked Birdie to tell the audience her name so they can keep an eye out for her in the future, to which she took the mic and said “my name’s Birdie”.

Then the night commenced and the doors to the gallery swung up and the audience got to walk through the show. It was a beautiful evening, one of the best nights I can remember having in Kansas City in a long time. There was a lot of community and love in that room and I am forever grateful.

IF you would like to go see the show I highly encourage you to do so, you wont be disappointed. My score plays over the gallery speakers at select times and at ALL times via a QR code where you can then listen on headphones. But the highlight of the show, of course, are Julies photos.

To hear my score played over the gallery you must attend at these times:

12:30 PM ON WEDNESDAYS

7:30 PM ON THURSDAYS (EXCEPT NOV 2, 23, 30 AND DEC 7)

11:30 ON SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS (EXCEPT DEC 16 AND 17)

The Kemper Museum is free and open to the public and the show runs through January 7th.

My score was mixed and mastered by Rob Barbato who also provided additional instrumentation.

thank youuuuuu