Today (August 8), American Songwriter is happy to premiere the new heartfelt single, “A Million Times”, by Americana husband and wife duo, Tekla Waterfield & Jeff Fielder. It’s the latest offering from the couple, who will release their newest LP, Mother Mind, on September 6. The duo’s new LP comes four years after they released their stunning debut LP, Trouble In Time, in 2021.
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Below, we caught up with Waterfield and Fielder to talk about their progression as collaborative artists. We also found out about their journey as recent parents and how that addiction impacts their creative lives together. Check out the new single from the duo below (and don’t forget to keep some tissues nearby!).
American Songwriter: We were proud to premiere a song from your last album in 2020. How have the past five years impacted the way you two write, think about music, or think about your collaboration together?
Tekla Waterfield: Well, the biggest change is that we became parents in 2022! It’s been challenging to fit it all in and keep up with everything as we navigate our lives together as artists and as parents. We actually started recording some of these songs when I was pregnant—that’s how long it’s taking us to make an album with how busy we are. We’ve had to fit recording sessions in at night, after our daughter is asleep, during naps, and the like. As opposed to our last record, Trouble In Time, when we were able to spend six to eight hours a day for a week straight in the studio. So this has been much harder, this go around. But we are finding new ways to communicate and work together. So in that sense, it’s making us stronger, as a team, and in how we collaborate.
Jeff Fielder: Our last record, Trouble In Time, was very much about the state of the world at the time and was all written, recorded, and released quite quickly. This new record is much more personal to our experience in becoming parents and also has a much longer arc to it. It was three years in the making. It also represents our band much more. On the last record, we did it largely just the two of us with only the great Keith Lowe on upright bass. This time, we feature William Sage on drums and David Salonen on the upright bass, and they really give the album a cohesive band vibe.
AS: Tell me what it’s like to collaborate as a married couple. That can be both harmonious and tough. Any war stories?
TW: It helps that we are each other’s biggest fans! But yeah, it can be hard to have our artistry overlap with our personal relationship. Who wants their romantic partner to be their boss? And sometimes, it can be hard to completely shut off the work side of things. On the other hand, I’m much more of a team person than a go-it-solo type. I love that I get to share the songs I write with my partner, and just allow myself to fall into him with complete trust, and that he has so many great ideas for how to bring these visions to life. I love that we get to play shows together! It’s all a work in progress. We definitely have our ups and downs. But I think that we really do get stronger, the longer we do this life, work, art together, both as a couple and as a duo who are collaborating and creating together.
JF: When we very first got together, I was of the mind that we would keep our music lives separate. But that lasted all but a few weeks! I really love being able to make music with my soulmate. We get to have cool adventures and play cool shows and not-so-cool shows. It’s just become another way for us to communicate our love, and it’s actually quite special most of the time.
AS: Jeff, you’ve performed with some of the greatest artists of all time—from Nancy Wilson to Mark Lanegan to many more—what do you enjoy most about this particular project?
JF: It’s true that I have been very fortunate to work with some truly amazing artists and, in some cases, outright legends. As you would imagine, I’ve learned a ton about how to navigate the very specific needs of musicians and songwriters. Many times, coming from very different musical styles and points of view. And that has no doubt been a gift.
In working with Tekla, it can be a trick to honor the music, in which I mostly try to keep separate from my personal emotions in most cases, and also honor our marriage and relationship. But I believe we’ve found ways to let both of our voices shine through in the music we make together. It’s very important to interpret anyone’s music in a way that they feel empowered. My main job, I feel, is to amplify and express what the song tells us it wants to be. The biggest difference with working with Tekla on this particular project is that I lived all of these situations the songs are about with her.
AS: Together, you two have such a delightful touch when you write music. It’s really beautiful. Tell me about the origin of this song and how it fits into the pastiche of the new LP?
TW: I wrote this song after we decided to try for a baby, got pregnant, and had an early pregnancy loss. We were both quite devastated. We also weren’t really talking to very many people about what we were going through. So there was this isolation factor as well. The lyrics talk about how it feels when the outside world is all shiny and happy, but you can’t participate in all of that happiness because you’re too sad, and you also feel you can’t be open about what you’re going through.
A lot of the songs on Mother Mind are about what we experienced during the early months of becoming new parents. A lot of themes of belonging, searching, longing, motherhood, and mental health. There were some dark days for us there, as we navigated some pretty rough waters with post-partum depression. But here we are. We pulled through, the stronger for it! I think this is starting to sound like a theme! Resilience, perseverance, those are definitely some of the themes of the new album. And now we have a beautiful album we created about the experiences we had that we crafted with joy and love, and we get to share it with all of you! What more could we ask for?
JF: Tekla says it best. I will say, for my part, really going after the feeling of Willie’s Red Headed Stranger as an inspiration musically was a joy to put together. Beautiful playing from our bass player, David Salonen, on fiddle, and the great keyboardist and one of my favorite collaborators, Daniel Walker, lovely country piano and accordion.
AS: What do you love most about where you each are as artists today?
TW: I look back and I just see so much growth. That’s what makes me feel the most successful. To know that I’m growing, learning, and evolving.
JF: It’s been so amazing to watch Tekla really lean into her songwriting and explore her willingness to be so open and vulnerable in that writing. Her courage is inspiring. I just like to play!
Photo by Ernie Sapiro / Courtesy Tekla Waterfield & Jeff Fielder
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