Interview: Christian Lee Hutson

Photo credit: Michael Delaney

Interview by Kendal Evans

WTBU DJ Kendal Evans is joined by singer/songwriter Christian Lee Hutson ahead of his tour stop in Boston on January 30th. Hutson released his latest album “Paradise Pop. 10” in September of 2024, and has just begun his North American Tour for the record. 

Kendal Evans (KE): Hi, Christian, can you hear me? 

Christian Lee Hutson (CLH): Yeah, I can. Sorry, it took me a second, I was trying to look for the link. 

KE: Oh, that’s completely alright. How’s your day going? 

CLH: It’s going really well. 

KE: Yay, I’m glad to hear it! You’re playing Toronto tonight? 

CLH: Yes, I am excited. I am. I really like Toronto. I have had, like, so many good shows and memories here. 

KE: That’s so great. I’m so happy for you! And you’re stopping in Boston this Thursday.

CLH: I am!

KE: We look forward to having you in this wonderful city. 

CLH: I look forward to being there. I love Boston.

KE: You’re playing Brighton Music Hall, great venue.

CLH: I’ve never been there. Is it cool? 

KE: No? I like it a lot, yeah. 

CLH: Yeah. Okay, cool. Is it like an old movie theater, or something? Somebody said maybe?

KE: Sort of, yeah.

CLH: Right.

KE: It’s an interesting one, but I’ve enjoyed the shows I’ve seen there. 

CLH: Okay, cool, sick. I’m excited. 

KE: Yeah. So, how does it feel to be like just kicking off your US tour after coming back from Europe before the holidays? 

CLH: Um, it feels good. I’m glad I got a little break, a holiday break. I’m glad I didn’t do them like kind of in a row. It’s really fun. It’s a really different kind of tour in Europe, we did a three-piece band with drums and bass, and this tour we’re doing as a duo, with me and my friend Odessa, playing violin and viola. So it’s really just fun low-key, like, very acoustic arrangements.

KE: Very intimate sounding. 

CLH: Yeah, we brought a little setup that looks like my living room with little chairs and a lamp and a table.

KE: That’s really cool. 

CLH: Yeah.

KE: Do you prefer the more intimate acoustic vibe or, like, the big band setup?

CLH: Um, I’m pretty, like, uh, seasonal. So like, I, I’m I, I’m learning that I kind of like one and then to do the other and, like, I’m often craving doing the other thing after I’ve finished one. Like, when I finished a band tour, I’m like, oh, I want, like, an easy tour, solo tour, and vice versa. So, yeah.

KE: It’s all about balance. 

CLH: Yeah, just a little bit of both. 

KE: Lovely. So your new album, “Paradise Pop. 10” released in September. What really caught my attention at first listen of the record was actually the title. What is the significance of that title to you? Where did that come from?

CLH: Well, there was like when I was growing up, my dad and I went to his hometown a lot to visit my my grandmother who lived in this town called Mecca, Indiana, that is like a tiny, tiny town. And when you leave Mecca, you can- you have the choice to turn up this road and go like on this road, back up into the woods. And it takes you up onto this little woodsy hillside where there’s a sign that says paradise population 10, and it’s just really five houses on the street, and then the other side of the street is a cemetery. And I was- that was like a fixture of going home, was going back and seeing this, these people that put up their, like, joke, population sign. And when we were making my record, it just kind of started to feel like, some things kind of just feel like they click, and that one felt right, and made it feel like, like a kind of like a stage production or something like that, where all the little characters in my songs, maybe lived in this fictional little town and that felt like a good place to send them.

KE: Yeah, that’s something I actually loved about the record, is that it felt like a collection of stories, little, anecdotal, fictional people. What was, like, the most creatively challenging song that you wrote on the record?

CLH: Um, there was a song called, there’s a song called “Water Ballet” that I probably wrote, maybe, like, 15 different versions of. It just kept trying to I’d been, I’d worked on that since my last record. So that was like that in this song, flamingos, I just they took a long time to, like, find the right way. But I think water ballet, I wrote, like, probably, like, 15 different alternate verses and choruses, and it could never I was like, I like this, but I can’t, like, fully figure out what it’s supposed to be. And, yeah, but I ended up being really happy with how it turned out. There was like a day that it felt like it just kind of finally clicked. But after me writing, like, a bunch of things where I’m like, well, that’s not it. This feels this feels horrible.

KE: Yeah, I feel like songwriting is a big challenge for artists. Did it differ at all your songwriting process and creative process from this record versus your previous projects like “Quitters” and “Beginners?”

CLH: Yeah, it did. I mean, those records I kind of had a bunch of songs just lying around, or I worked on beginners for like six years, really. I made a bunch of different versions of recordings. And I wrote those songs over a long period of time, and then “Quitters” was a lot of stuff that I like, hadn’t really finished by the time “Beginners” was coming out. So it was, it was like the finished versions of, you know, old songs. And this one I when we started, I didn’t really have any finished songs when we booked all the studio time, and it was different to trust that there was going to be like that there would be finished, complete songs by the time we went in there. And, yeah, I don’t this one was a lot more writing with other people on my stuff than I have in the past, which made things really, I don’t know, just made it, made it feel like it went, like I had a more broad spectrum and less like internal perspective on these got on these characters. I had like, little cohorts.

KE: Yeah, so I was actually going to ask about your co-writers and co-producers for this record. I saw that you worked with Maya Hawke, Phoebe Bridgers, and Marshall Vore. What was it like working with them? Like, I know you said, you mentioned working solo, mostly on your other projects, or coming in with almost finished songs. Was there anything that really changed, like, your expectation for a song versus, like, after their input? 

CLH: It was, I mean, I’ve worked with Phoebe and Marshall for years on like, a million different things, so that was kind of- it stayed. I mean, we, our relationship has been fairly stable in terms of, yeah, I don’t know it’s always like a different version. We come in with the same kind of vibe, and they affect things in a really cool way, mainly just my confidence. 

KE: Yeah?

CLH: I love writing with Maya, and Maya was very good at just like keeping… She knows me and knows my little writing world so well that she was very good at, like, helping me work through all of the bad ideas before, before we got to the initial one. And she is kind of like a living, breathing idea factory. So anytime I would get stuck there was like, ah, what if we did this, or this, or this, you know. So that, that I don’t know it’s like, when you work with like, three geniuses, it feels fairly relaxing.

KE: I mean, I would say there were four geniuses in the room, but. 

CLH: Thank you. If the engineer was also there.

KE: Of course. Oh, so five. 

KE: Songwriting just stuck out to me so much on this album. Like I give you your props, I give everyone who co-wrote with you their props. I wanted to ask, though, because it seems it’s like a pretty oddball collection of stories, what is the weirdest or oddest or strangest place you found inspiration for one of these stories?

CLH: The strangest place that I found inspiration was… the song “Carousel Horses” kind of came out of nowhere, like, I had worked with on this record for this artist called Phoebe Go, who’s an Australian songwriter who’s amazing. And she… our last night in the studio, or the day before our last night in the studio, she sent me her record, and one of the songs that I really loved that we had worked on for it got left off. And I was like, Are you gonna finish it? And she said “uh, no, I don’t know.” And I was like, all right. And, so, me and Maya just sat down and wrote a bunch of, like, wrote, kind of like, a weird, like imaginary breakup. I guess it wasn’t that weird. It was more weird that it came about the song itself. I don’t think is that weird, though it has some funny lines in it and moments in it is, but it was more strange how we were able to pull it together and record it within 12 hours. And, yeah.

KE: Twelve hours is crazy impressive for such a beautiful song. It’s one of my personal favorites off the record. 

CLH: Thank you.

KE: It’s really interesting to hear the backstory on that. 

CLH:Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

KE: So what’s been, changing gears a little bit, your favorite song or songs to play on the tour this time around?

CLH: I’ve really liked playing some of the new ones a lot. My favorite part of the show actually, is always toward the at the end of the set. I, you know, we make a little set list that’s based on kind of what, what it seems like people have requested on the internet. But my favorite part of the show is spending the last two or three songs just doing requests from the crowd of things that we might not have remembered to play or something. So it’s been different every night. And I, it’s cool, I guess, as a songwriter, to have those requests be different every night, I feel like there’s like the horror story with of being an artist is that people really attached to one of your songs, or something like that, and then that’s the request every night, or, you know, so it’s been fun to hear what people like yell out. I’m like, “whoa!” I never thought anyone would request that song. And then we’ll try to do it. And it is very like walking on the High Line or something. Sometimes other things. I’m like, wow. Wish I could remember how to play it, so.

KE: Was there any song in particular that was really unexpected in the request lists?

CLH: In the request list for the tour, there was a song from my last record, “Quitters” called “Sitting Up With a Sick Friend” that a lot of people requested, which I had felt like no one really liked at the time there, because no one- I don’t remember getting requests for it in the past, so.  That one was a surprise that I always really liked, and uh, I’m happy that enough people liked it that they wanted us to play it on this tour.

KE: That’s so wonderful. I love when artists are like, brave enough to do the whole request thing and play some of the music that’s a little more underground to their fan base, and remember how to do it in the moment. I think that takes, I think that takes a lot of talent and a lot of courage.

CLH: To be fair, I don’t do it well all the time. I feel like, last night or the other night, the person standing right in front of me had to coach me through every single verse, like, and I was like, okay, yeah. And then what are the lyrics? Okay, alright. And then what after, I don’t know, I’m not, like, it’s not, my memory is not like an expert level, but we still, it still is fun, even when I mess it up.

KE: Absolutely, I think that would be a really fun time to perform that way. Speaking of performing, you’ve been in the music game for quite a long time. I mean, you’ve been putting out music forever. Like some of your older projects came out a long time ago. Ever since, like, day one to now, what do you feel has been your biggest, like, measure of success to yourself as a performer, and how do you feel that you’ve grown over time? 

CLH: Um, guess the measure of success is just that I still care about doing it and wanting to do it, and because I’ve had so many times of where I’ve been, like, should I? Can I really do this forever? And times where I’ve thought about quitting. And, and I think that yeah, the biggest thing is just that I still get really excited to to to perform and to meet people, and I still get really excited about songwriting. And I think that that’s rare, or more rare than you would think. I think a lot of people like really are like, wow, the cycle of this, it’s really just burns me out. And I think that I’ve changed. I’m more, I think I’ve changed it just in the way that I’m a lot more comfortable with myself than I have been in the past, and a lot more the stakes of everything seem a lot lower to me, which allows me to have more fun and be more present at the at the shows, or making the record, or, you know.

KE: You’ve really, yeah, you found longevity in your craft and in your passion. And I think that’s beautiful. I feel like, like you said, that cycle of burnout can be so killer for any career, really, but I feel like performing, especially. I’ve never experienced it, but I can imagine that it would be if you don’t take care of yourself and your mental health, and like continue to create for the sake of creating, and not for any other reason.

CLH: That is the biggest, the biggest thing I feel like, or that’s trapped that I notice that people are encounter or first is like, Oh no. There’s other reasons to create, yeah.

KE: Yeah, absolutely. Also, just to shift gears again a little bit. I noticed, I was listening to a new song recently called “Bovine Excision” and I noticed that you’re a co-writer. I’m a big fan of Samia. What was it like working on a song that, like, wasn’t your own, and going through that co-writing process?

CLH: It’s always really fun. I mean, I do quite a bit of it. I love and I worked a lot on Samia on her last record. It’s always, it’s there’s just so much less pressure, and feels more like I have I have an easier time helping people than I have expressing. Expressing myself doesn’t come as immediately to me as it does, like listening to somebody talk about their lives and figure out how to, you know. I love to be a cheerleader for for people, which I think is what most of like co-writing and collaborating is, just being a fan and reminding somebody that they rock.

KE: I feel like I can relate to that in the sense that, like, I always feel better giving advice than receiving advice.

CLH: Totally.

KE: Or better giving help than receiving help.

CLH: Yeah. I mean absolutely me too, yeah. 

KE: So I feel like we can relate on that a little bit. That’s really, that’s really cool and really interesting. That’s actually, it’s, funnily enough, I found your music through a cover of a Samia song. It was, “Does Not Heal” yeah, from “The Baby Reimagined.” I hadn’t met her yet, but, yeah, but I, but I remember doing that,yeah, yeah. That’s how I found you and how I came to be a fan, and I really appreciate her for that, shout out Samia.

CLH: Yeah.

KE: So tonight’s your show. Any final thoughts about you know, coming to Boston? Anything that you wanted to say about the record that hasn’t been brought up yet?

CLH: About coming to Boston. I love coming to Boston. The last time that I was there, there was a fistfight that broke out at the back of the show.

KE: Oh, that’s very Boston.

CLH: Yeah. I was like, everyone that I talked to about it was like, Oh yeah, now that’ll happen. I thought it was so. I was like, we stopped the show for a second, or whatever. And then, the most beautiful thing happened, where I watched the people that got in the fistfight, and then by the end of the show, I could see them in the back of the room, and the person, one of them, bought the other one a beer, and then they hugged. And I thought that, that was like the coolest thing in the world, and also maybe emblematic of what the Boston, the Boston vibe can sometimes be. It’s like, yeah, “We, we get in fist fights and stuff like that. But then we buy each other beers.” You know, everything’s good.

KE: That is so very Boston. Like, I’m personally a Midwest transplant. I’ve heard that you’re also from the Midwest. So it’s, it’s certainly interesting seeing that dynamic play out in real-time.

CLH: It’s kind of cool. Like, I think there’s something really real about it, and, like, not the Midwestern attitude is very can be very dishonest in the way that it is your that politeness is, is encouraged, and I am often refreshed by people that are not afraid to get mad at you, that respect you enough to receive criticism from them.

KE: I feel the exact same way, which is why I prefer Boston over the Midwest so much. Yeah, Boston rocks, Boston rocks, we can’t wait to have you here. Brighton Music Hall is going to have its roof blown off by your wonderful acoustic set. Any final, any final words for WTBU?

CLH: Thanks for- just thanks for having me. Thanks for taking the time. You had amazing questions, and I love that you took time here today out of your day to do this.

KE: I feel the exact same way. I’m so grateful that you took the time to talk with me today. 

CLH: Thank you.

KE: Thank you so much. It’s been lovely having you. I’m a big fan, and I’m gonna try to snag some last-minute tickets for Thursday night.

CLH: Sounds good? Yeah, thank you Kendal. 

KE: Of course, have a great rest of your day, and good luck in Toronto tonight.

CLH: All right. Thank you. Take care as well.