Five questions for singer/songwriter Zachary Scot Johnson

Racine native Zachary Scot Johnson is a singer/songwriter, but you might mistake him for a sponge.

That's because Johnson sucks up inspiration from so many musical artists of all stripes and infuses -- often subtly -- into the folk-based music that he's captured on his two CDs.

The latest, "To Whom It May Concern," takes a more rocking road than his quiet whisper of a debut, released in 2004.

As he readies a new disc of original material and ponders a CD of Tom Waits covers, we caught up with Johnson and fired five questions at him. As you can see, Johnson isn't afraid to talk about his music and we love him for that.

OnMilwaukee.com: Give us a lesson in Zachary Scot Johnson 101.

Zachary Scott Johnson: I was born and raised in Racine. I grew up in a house in which my three siblings and I were all encouraged to participate in music and arts, even going to fine arts schools. All of us played multiple instruments from a young age. I took up violin at age 6 and piano around the same time and later taught myself guitar, mandolin, banjo, etc.

My parents played a lot of great '70s singer/ songwriters that I listen to to this day: Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Paul Simon, The Beatles, etc. I was the only 9-year-old who knew every word to every Joni Mitchell record and that led me to Shawn Colvin who led me to Patty Griffin and Lucinda Williams and a million others.

Joni and Shawn in particular influenced me with their abilities to get such an amazing kind of sound of their guitars -- to be able to play a song with just a single guitar accompaniment and their beautiful words and have it be riveting. I began trying to write my own songs around 16 years old; so, a little more than 10 years ago.

I played in a variety of bands to experience different kinds of music and broader my skills and musical horizons. I went to college in 2001 at Lawrence University in Appleton and within days of arriving on campus was performing regularly in the campus coffeehouse.

That's really where I felt I developed. I played every few weeks and had to have a new show each time because it was the same people coming to see me. I put out my first CD in 2004, which I recorded in two days.

Immediately after the CD was released, I had a huge writing spurt and began recording for my followup, which wasn't released until 2008. The 2004 CD is called "Moment of Clarity" and the 2008 CD is called "To Whom It May Concern." I was a triple major at Lawrence in theatre arts -- I'm also an actor -- music performance (on violin) and psychology.

I shouldn't have chosen violin because I wasn't ever serious about being a classical violinist. I took violin, piano, voice and jazz lessons at Lawrence and found plenty to work on. I live in St. Paul, Minn., at the moment, but spend a good chunk of my time in the Milwaukee area, including most of the summers.

OMC: Your music draws from a lot of diverse sources. When someone asks you what your music is like, how do you respond?

ZSJ: Yes, it does. I have a long list of influences on my Web site and my MySpace page and in any interview I do that list comes up. People wonder if it's legit. Those are the people on my iPod; I do soak up everything I can from them.

Since 98 percent of my concerts are solo acoustic, it's easiest to say "folk" or "singer/songwriter" when someone asks what my music is like and my concerts do indeed fit that bill. On my most recent CD and on my next one, especially, you can hear more of the alt.country, blues, jazz, rock and pop influences.

Lucinda Williams is a great one in terms of what she can do with influences. She's done it all -- folk, straight country, she basically invented alt.country, blues, rock and roll, jam band, etc. but when you hear her, there's still no mistaking it -- you're hearing Lucinda. There's a lot that can be gained from acknowledging your influences and I think it's important to do so.

OMC: That list of influences contains everyone from Iron & Wine to Elvis Costello to Mary J. Blige and Jim Lauderdale -- how do you parse that all into what you do?

ZSJ: Some of them do more than others, for sure. If you hear my CD and look at my list of influences, you might wonder where the Mary J. Blige influence comes from. Or the Tina Turner.

Many of the people on my list I may not sound like, but they still influence me with their words, or perhaps the content of a song they wrote leads me to something, or perhaps I read an interview with them when something they said resonated in some way. There are a million different ways to be influenced by someone. As long as that list is, the saddest part is that it's quite out of date.

I haven't had anyone added to it in well over a year and there are many, many artists I've come across since that list was put on my Web site that should be up there. It's also a way of letting venues and festivals know that these are the kinds of artists I would feel comfortable being packaged with. I've shared the stage with some of the people on my influences list; I hope to share the stage with more of them. Anyone on that list is someone who gets a lot of respect from me.

OMC: Let's talk a bit about "To Whom It May Concern." How does it fit into your oeuvre, musically speaking? Have you tried anything new on it or is it more just a logical next step forward?

ZSJ: My first one was recorded in two days. I was in college at the time and could only afford two days. So, I recorded something like 20 songs, basically one take each and picked what was the best stuff.

If I had that experience to do over again, I would have brought in 10 songs and spent twice as long on each one, but that's the beauty of hindsight. So, that record essentially alternated voice / piano songs and voice / guitar songs because I didn't have any time for any additional instruments, except for very occasional violin touches.

For my second CD, I wanted a full band sound and I wanted it to rock a bit more -- I felt like my first one was too sleepy. For that one, I was able to use my brother's home studio and be my own engineer, producer and play everything I wanted. So, any instrument that was available to me ended up on the record.

I liked doing it that way and that's the way I'm doing my next record -- although now I have the home studio instead of taking over my brother's house -- but it can make a procrastinator out of anyone to have endless time. It took me four years to make that record and it's already been another two years for my next one. I'm not necessarily a perfectionist, I just need a certain mood to be accessible.

Some of the songs, like the last one on the CD, "Sour" were recorded fast. I wrote the words to that song in between scenes of a rehearsal for a play I was doing in October 2007, went to my brother's house after the rehearsal at about midnight, wrote the music and recorded it in about an hour and never touched it again.

Then, other songs, like "Don't Regret" were tinkered with for month after month after month. Sonically, that's "my sound." That's likely what my next record will be similar to, though I do hope to express a wider range of my various influences and I've gotten some cool new instruments to experiment with, as well.

I'd say I'm about halfway through recording for my next original CD, which I'd like to have it by the end of the year but probably won't. I stopped setting deadlines for myself after I missed the first dozen for "To Whom It May Concern."

Then I am planning to do a Tom Waits covers album. I'm also appearing as a guest on a few CDs coming out soon -- my friend Mark Paffrath has a CD out in May and a former student of mine, Katie LaFond, is releasing her first CD in April or May and I'm on that one, too. And then a trio I play with is putting out a live CD later this fall, so it could be a busy year for CDs and all of that.

OMC: When can folks around here see you next?

ZSJ: I don't think I'm scheduled in Milwaukee until July 2 at Vino 100 (in the Third Ward). Right around Summerfest so it should be great fun. I'm also at Linneman's on July 14. But I'm playing in Racine, Appleton, Madison, Chicago and lots of other places in the meantime, too. Check out my Web site for current dates.