What to Say? No Problem for This New Artist

By Jeannette Madden
Staff Writer
Daphne Willis, a self-assured and marvelously expressive new Vanguard Records artist, combines the style of Colby Caillat and a female Jack Johnson while maintaining hold of her fresh sound and distinctive outlook on the social patterns of her generation.

Willis inherited her musical roots from her mother and father. “Both my parents went to the University of Texas and both studied music,” Willis says. “They actually did gigs around Austin. When I was growing up they had all kinds of music playing, so when I was younger my influences were Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Elvis Costello, and things like that. I eventually got into more contemporary [artists] like Lauren Hill, Norah Jones and Dave Matthews.”

Willis was in college in Chicago playing music as a hobby when the unexpected happened. “I was going to DePaul University majoring in English and minoring in Japanese Studies. I was also doing open mike all over the city and I started playing with other musicians. It was through doing that that I kind of got my start. The whole live music scene in the city is really how I derived most of my inspiration and even still, whenever I have downtime I go out to support friends or I’ll go online and look at some of my favorite venues to see who is playing.”

“Music is such a big part of my life, so for me to be able to actually view it on a business level…I never thought it was going to be something that I could make a living doing. I miss school and I ended half-way through so I can still go back and finish. It was a hard decision. I’m very passionate about education but I was like I can always go back to school and I want to do this.”

For “What to Say,” Willis worked with producer Gary Pascoza (Natalie Maines, The Dixie Chicks, Alison Krauss) and Tim Lauer. However, Willis also produced, something unusual for a new artist working on a debut album.

According to Willis, “I put in a lot of work in and for most of the production I was there with those guys. I felt lucky to get the opportunity to work with them. I think a lot of that also had to do with how we worked together and that they were wanting me to weigh in. I guess they didn’t mind having me in there (laughing). I think if I had been saying things that were terrible they would have been like ‘Okay, we’re going to take over now!’ It was great, a tremendous learning experience for me.”

Willis took time to explain her writing style, including the motivation for the last track on “What to Say,” a song called “Jim Thornton.” “I usually get the chord progression down first,” she says. “I have to be in a place on my own where I know nobody can hear me because I’ll hum and scat over it and eventually I’ll get a melody going. I’ll start singing words and sentences that I have in my head and build a song from there. It can sometimes take a week to write a song but sometimes it only takes a couple of hours.”

“‘Jim Thornton’ is about my grandfather, who passed away a couple of years ago. Prior to that I hadn’t lost a close family member so that was an eye-opening moment. That song has more sentimental value than the others. They all have some place in time to me but that one stands out.”

Willis also gets excited talking about her passion for live shows. “I love playing live!” She says. “I love going to live shows, I love playing live shows. I think it’s the reason I do what I do, to interact with people and create connections with people. Getting out and about and making friends, being in front of and around people, it’s awesome.”

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