The Brian Wilson Effect

How the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson shaped my musical consciousness and subsequently, the Farewell Drifters' sound.

a guest post by Zach...

Some of my earliest memories in life involve the Beach Boys.  I remember nights when my dad got home from work; we (my dad and brothers) would all go upstairs together, and while he changed out of his work clothes into whatever he would be wearing that evening, he would turn on Beach Boys records.  I always admired his record player and the care he took putting those records on, gently taking them out of the sleeve, and placing the needle carefully on the vinyl.  But after that was when the fun began.  I remember dancing around, jumping on the bed, singing at the top of my lungs to “Surfin’ USA” or “Fun, Fun, Fun.”  Certainly it was a celebration for my 6 year old heart in a number of ways.  My dad was finally home!  I got to be goofy and dance around!  I got to sing along to my favorite songs!  Looking back, that moment between a father and son is a beautiful one that makes my heart ache in the best kind of way.  While the Beach Boys’ soaring harmonies provided the backdrop for such a meaningful time in my life, I can’t help but think of the seeds that were sown in my musical heart.  A lifetime appreciation of voices blending together in carefully arranged harmonies began there in that bedroom without me ever knowing it. 
The first tape I ever owned was the Beach Boys’ “Endless Summer.”  Man, I wore it out.  I remember looking at the cover of those guys with the beards thinking, if I could just make music like them, it would be the best thing I could ever do.  I knew that music stirred up something in me, and I loved to listen to the radio and my walkman.  Throughout elementary school, I listened to all kinds of music, mostly whatever I could find on the radio and talk about with my friends.  In 7^th Grade I discovered the Beatles, which was mind blowing, and in turn led to a high school experience filled with classic rock and 90’s alternative/grunge.  What happened to the Beach Boys?  I think I felt as though I had outgrown them.  I still thought they had great, fun music with wonderful harmonies, but that they just weren’t cool enough or artistic enough for me anymore.  That was kid stuff, anyway.  I had never even bothered to get their albums on cd.
Then, in my sophomore year of college, my brother gave me Pet Sounds.  I had always heard about this mysterious album, and even seen it in my Dad’s collection, but had never really listened to it.  After one listen, any thought I had of the Beach Boys not being artistic enough, or only being capable of creating “fun” music immediately left my mind as the beautiful arrangements enchanted my ears and made my heart jump with joy at the emotion the music was producing in me.  I felt connected again.  To what?  I didn’t know, but I just knew that it felt good when I put that record on and listened to it.  It helped me believe that life was full of meaning.  It wasn’t the lyrics, it was the depth of the sound.  If music could be that beautiful and powerful, then how much more beautiful and powerful could life itself be?!
The irony is that at that point in my life, when I heard Pet Sounds, I was in the middle of a diehard bluegrass kick.  I was in love with the sound of those old time instruments coming together with harmony singing.  It rang true to me with an authenticity that other music lacked.  Yet, here was this Beach Boys record that moved me in a way that not even bluegrass had.  What was I supposed to do with this?  I didn’t know, so I just let it be.  I continued with my bluegrass interests, playing and writing bluegrass music at Belmont University, and simultaneously joining a group of guys who were recent bluegrass converts like myself (the beginning of the Farewell Drifters).  All the while, in the back of my mind, I longed to create music that resonated with me like Pet Sounds did.  But I didn’t really know how.  I studied orchestration and arranging in college, and wrote orchestral parts for pop/rock songs and arranged big band jazz charts.  I sang in the Chamber Singers, an a cappella choir of 24 members.  I played in the bluegrass ensemble.  I wrote a piece of choral chamber music.  I wrote and performed a senior recital of bluegrass/country/gospel music.  I was in a bluegrass band outside of school.  My head was all over the place.
After I graduated, I knew what I wanted to do – create an album with the Farewell Drifters.  We had done some recording before that, but I wanted to do it for real.  So Josh, Trevor, and I rented a house together here in Nashville.  And somehow in the midst of writing and arranging the album, the harmonic sensitivities I had honed in college became an increasingly interesting palate to work from.  We would stay up late at night working on vocal harmony, as I experimented with different intervals and voicings while we sang together.  We were still a bluegrass band, but playing our own music with these little harmonic nuances were making my heart leap with the same enthusiasm as it had for Pet Sounds.  My longing to create deep, lush music like that was felt like it was finally possible.  It certainly wasn’t realized, but the surface was being scratched, and I began to think it was possible.  A vision was beginning to take shape. 
Sweet Summer Breeze came out with those subtle hints of harmonic depth present, and an attention to harmony singing and strong arrangements.  Now, a few years later, our next album is complete.  We have grown as a band, and continued in a similar direction, focusing on songwriting, and then using that as a vehicle for lush harmony and meaningful arrangements.  We’ve explored further the sonic landscape our voices and instruments can create together.  It’s a musical vision that is evolving and alive, a part of the bigger, broader vision for the music we create.  Have I consistently looked to the Beach Boys and Pet Sounds for inspiration in my music?  Not specifically, but they are always there, a part of my DNA - from my earliest memory to one of my deepest musical experiences. 
For Christmas, I got Brian Wilson’s biography.  I had always heard that Brian was the musical genius behind the Beach Boys, and I wanted to learn more about him.  Of course it turned out to be true that Brian really was the creative force behind a lot of what the Beach Boys did.  I completely identify with his early love for harmony and the sound of voices blending together.  He was the mastermind that arranged the Beach Boys harmony on all the classics that you and I know.  The man could also write a great hook, which I greatly admire, but that is a little off-topic.  Brian took the time and had the ear to create beautiful vocal arrangements that have stood the test of time, and influenced the generations of musicians that have come after him.  Pet Sounds was his crowning achievement. It was on this album that his instrumental arrangements became equally as beautiful, complex, and yet tasteful as his vocal arrangements.  Arguably, Smile, his unfinished masterpiece, is the true testament to his genius that finally came to fruition five years ago.  But, Pet Sounds was a fully executed project by Brian at his creative peak in the 1960’s.  I could go on to further describe why I identify with Pet Sounds more than Smile, but many more people have discussed the topic much more eloquently than I could. 
I wrote all this to say that Brian Wilson’s music has truly impacted the way I hear and create music, probably more than any one other person.  It was a joy to recognize that fact, as I realized that he was the genesis of the Beach Boys’ sound.  It was so interesting to learn more about him as a person, and learn something about myself along the way.  It made me step back, and want to recognize the profound way his music has shaped my own vision. 

Do I have other influences? 

Of course.

Do I believe in the emotional power of music, an end to which vocal harmony and the perfect arrangement are a means? 

Yes. 

Do I believe those are the only means to create meaningful, emotional music? 

Certainly not. 

But that doesn’t diminish the effect that Brian and the Beach Boys have had on my musical conscience.  I just wanted to say that, and give them credit for stirring the deep things in my heart when I was only 6 years old, when I was a wandering 19 year old, and right now, as I’m knee-deep in Music City at age 25.