By Kate Marlow
G: You had your daughter on stage playing piano for you. What is being part of a mother-daughter team like?
NW: My daughter’s name is Suzy Wilde. She’s been singing backup for me for quite awhile; both of my daughters did when they were younger, but she hasn’t been my piano player before. We did the mariposa festival just a few weeks ago and it’s been just these two gigs so it’s kind of a new thing. She has a music degree, so she’s a really serious musician. It’s fun on stage, but I know that living together, well, I annoy her. I’m a little cranky and sometimes rude to people. I get annoyed at things and it’s embarrassing to her but we have a good relationship. We always have. I adore her as a musician. Her new CD is just out. It’s very gorgeous. Her writing is much more sophisticated than mine, but it doesn’t have as many jokes.
G: Is the comedy in your own music important to you as an artist? NW: It’s not what I listen to and I do write straight stuff too of course, but if you can do the comedy everyone likes to laugh. I don’t know if it’s a gift or a curse but there it is. Some of my comedic music is a little dated now. I wrote a song called “And I Copied It” about people copying music and I don’t even do it anymore because it’s beyond everything and copying music is a fact of life. People at this festival are supportive of the artists and really love music. I like to see the set list– it’s very interesting.
I like to see how people organize the music. But my record company Borealis says that people are still buying CDs but I don’t know how long that will last. I wouldn’t want to be a young musician starting out now; it’s really hard for them. It’s all about the merch now.