Lots of guys get in trouble with their girlfriends for eating in bed. Norman singer-songwriter Kyle Reid was in the doghouse for building cigar-box guitars there.
“Sawdust would get everywhere, including in my bed,” he said. “It didn’t bother me very much, because the sawdust reminded me of the work I had done that day, but it drove my girlfriend crazy.”
If you think that sounds like the habit of someone obsessed with music, you’re correct. Since Reid’s time in the now-defunct JonBear Fourtet, the guitarist clocked hours playing with a lengthy roster of Oklahoma acts: Samantha Crain, John Calvin, Young Readers, Magnificent Bird, Chelsey Cope, Justin Bloss, Kierston White, Feathered Rabbit, Fiawna Forté, The Crescent Trio and CJ Greco.
“I have an addictive personality,” Reid said. “When I discovered my love for music at 16, I dove in and forgot about everything else.”
Naturally, he’s taken to performing solo to fill the time between playing with others and tinkering with his instruments.
At first, solo performance felt less natural than being in the background.
“The first time I ever performed my own music at an open-mic night, I was so nervous that I kept my eyes closed the whole time,” Reid said.
“As a result, I had no idea where the microphone was. I’m sure nobody could even hear me sing.”
Reid has gotten more comfortable onstage, and the time spent with others has helped inform his own songs.
“I
learn from every band and every artist I play with,” he said. “My solo
project is a chance for me to take all of the tidbits of musical
knowledge I’ve gleaned from these creative minds and filter them through
my own experience to create something myself.”
His debut, Sawdust in the Bed, the
title of which was inspired by Reid’s bed habits, might be influenced
sonically by his musical bedfellows, but in the deeper sense, it’s an
internal study.
“The
album is about being comfortable being uncomfortable, I guess, the way I
somehow was comfortable in an itchy, sawdusted bed,” Reid said. “At the
time I wrote it, I tried to embrace the side of me that acknowledges my
darker, more selfish tendencies and hold them up as virtues. Being my
first solo release, it is somewhat appropriately about being selfish.”
Hey! Read This:
• Chelsey Cope interview
• Feathered Rabbit EP review
• Fiawna Forté interview
• John Calvin interview
• The JonBear Fourtet interview
• Samantha Crain interview
• Young Readers interview
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2012.