Interview With Roan Yellowthorn: A Heartfelt Singer With An Intellectual Mind (Includes Lie With Me EP Preview)

After listening to Roan Yellowthorn’s music, I was incredibly excited to interview her. From her lyrics, you can tell this is an intelligent woman with a curious mind. As she composes her own songs, she uses novels and poems that can date past a 1000 years in source. You may ask, “What does a 1000 year old poem, Sappho 13,  have to do with the modern world?”. Well to Roan, real name Jackie McClean, the human spirit and its dilemmas are timeless. Like her father, Don Mclean, Roan has a way with words that can make you listen and see feelings that most think unspeakable.

Diandra: You said something woke up inside of you in 2015 and you taught yourself piano. Do you remember the specific moment that led you down this path and awakening into music? 
Roan:  I don’t remember the moment specifically. I remember being in my house and it was just after having my baby and I was feeling really lonely. I have to talked to other young mothers about it, and you lose a bit of  your self- identity and you  have to figure out who you are all over again. Music took the pressure off of me and helped me find myself. 
        One day, I was like, “I miss music and I need to learn to accompany myself”. I found an old keyboard and my husband said I should teach myself and I said, “Yes!”.  I wasn’t allowed to take piano lessons when I was a child, which I do not know why, but I started watching youtube videos and teaching myself. Then, for my birthday, my husband got me a Yamaha and the songs started flowing out of me. 

Diandra: It’s ironic that you mention having a baby as a motivator to your self-discovery because it was my next question? I could only imagine that becoming someone else’s guide through life would make you wonder in what aspects of your life you need guidance?
Roan: Yeah, I totally think, for me, having a family made me feel safe and secure, which gave me the freedom to explore my own identity more. I felt like I was in a safe place to blossom a little bit, and I took it and went with it. 

Diandra: Do you think that safety to self-explore your identity and musical creativity is founded in love?
Roan: Yeah, Definitely! I’ve been with my husband since college, and having him there really gave me a lot of confidence and safety to explore my own desires. Then, having a baby, gave a whole new dimension to exploring myself but strengthened the support system I had to do that. 

Roan: As soon as I decided to follow this need to play music, it was like the best drug. It just got better and better every time, and it always feels better after I write every song. I feel like I have discovered a really great form of therapy for myself. There was never a moment of doubting it because I was so happy in myself to have found it. For my soul, it felt incredibly good. 

Diandra: You are a HUGE book nerd, which I say as one myself. We are allowed to call each other that, and I want to know what about literature inspires song in you?
Roan: OoOOoo,That is a good question! I always write music when I have a feeling so strong that  I cannot contain it. So, a lot of times, poetry or literature will inspire in me a really strong feeling.
Diandra: What book or poem would you want to write a song to and why?
Roan: William Yeats The Folly of Being Comforted. I am huge fan of his, and it is a really pretty poem. 
Diandra: It is funny that you pick that poem because when I hear your music, it seems like you aim to anlayze the corners of a sentiment. Like, if everyone is going straight for an emotion, you go for its hidden nooks and try to explore those.  
Roan:Yeah, I do like having multi-layers and multiple meanings in songs. When I am writing, I try to find phrases that from one angle can mean one thing but from another it means something else. I like that you can listen to a song multiple times and get a different meaning from it each time. Like Lie With Me, which is asking to lie down with me but also tell me a lie. Doing that adds an extra challenge for me, and makes the song like a puzzle I need to solve.

Diandra:  As Long As Water Runs was about the tragic betrayal of the Native American. Do you feel that music should be used more often to discuss socio-politics?
Roan: I think there is no reason why it should not be. You know, words are limited, and, when you want to get to an emotion, you bring in a melody to build that currency. When you are talking about politics that has a root in emotion, and you need something more to talk about that than just pure words.