Minnesotan sibling duo The Cactus Blossoms, one of the most promising up-and-coming classic country acts around, adorn their songs with warm two-part harmonies and unmistakeable elements of bluegrass. We chat with brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum about Willie Nelson, working crowds and the best jukebox standards.
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How long have you been writing songs?
Jack: I’ve been writing songs for eight years or so. Page, you’ve been writing songs for a few years, right?
Page: I’ve written a couple songs over a few years. A song a year or so.
How old were you guys when you started playing together?
Jack: I guess we started playing out together a few years ago. I was about 24 and Page was 29.
Page: It was about six years ago that we started. It was our first band where we were leading together, singing and playing guitar. I had played drums in some local bands in Minneapolis, and Jack had been writing songs on his own.
What’s your typical songwriting process now?
Jack: Well, I guess it’s changing. I’m kinda waiting to find out what the next change is gonna be like. It’s mostly just an idea that kinda knocks around my head and eventually comes out as a whole song. It’s a pretty simple process for me. There’s a little editing at the end and then it’s done. I don’t have a huge, drawn out creative process for it. I heard Willie Nelson talking about it and he was right on. He said it was like hearing your neighbor’s music through the wall. You hear something that catches your ear, but you don’t get the whole thing, and it takes a while before you finally do and it all pops off.
Do you usually start with music or lyrics first?
Jack: Sometimes it’s just a funny line, some irony or play on words that unfolds into a whole song.
Page: Yeah, there was one song I wrote on this album that I had a melody in my head for for almost two years. I just had the chorus “powder blue” – those were the only words I had – knocking around in my mind for a while until I could finally finish it.
Who are your favorite songwriters?
Jack: I’m a big fan of Bob Dylan, Hank Williams and Willie Nelson. Those are people I feel have had a direct impact on me. The Beatles were so good. They were amazing songwriters.
What’s a song someone else wrote that you wish you had written?
Page: “You Really Got A Hold On Me”. I heard it when I was young and I think it just stuck in my head. It’s just so simple and so good. The words perfectly fit the melody.
Jack: I probably would have written “Crazy” by Willie Nelson. On multiple levels, it’s the top jukebox song of the century.
What’s a song on this album that you’re particularly proud of?
Jack: I really like how “Mississippi” turned out. It was kind of a wild card and I’m really happy with it. That was a fun one.
If you could co-write with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose?
Jack: Well, there are a couple directions you could go with that. Fred Rose would be pretty cool. He was the old guy that helped Hank Williams out. He wrote “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”. He would be an interesting person to bounce an idea off of and see where it went. It would be fun.
Page: We’ve never really co-written together, in a way. We’ve both made little suggestions about songs, but we’re not the sort of craftsmen that approach it that way. I know some artists co-write all the time and hook up with different artists who make their living just writing songs.
What do you think your proudest moment has been as songwriters so far?
Jack: Having people that I respect and people we’ve gotten to meet and work with over the past few years, like JD McPherson, actually see something in a song is pretty cool and gratifying. Feeling like people I respect are enjoying what they hear is a really big thrill.
Page: It’s obviously a good sign when people at your shows, average, music loving people, have a song hit them really hard and it becomes a companion to them. When they tell you it means a lot to them, that’s obviously the biggest compliment.
Jack: Another thing that’s been really fun is seeing people sing along when you know they’ve never heard the song before. I feel like I’ve tricked people into singing or something.
Do you have one song in particular your fans have really responded to?
Jack: We have a song called “Change Your Ways Or Die” that I thought might be a bit too heavy of a title for a song. it’s got some pretty big ideas in it, so it’s been fun to see people respond to it and dig it.
What do you think the most perfect song ever written is and why?
Jack: I don’t know if there is one. I think everyone’s trying to write it. You got any, Page?
Page: I think the songs everyone has wanted to do a version of, those standards like “Stardust” or something like that that every jazz band in the world has done clearly have achieved something. Any song that a lot of people want to cover is a good song because everyone connects and relates to it. There’s a pretty long list of those songs.
