We’ve all been there: caught between moving forwards and going back; figuratively stuck in the mud. Christopher Wyze & The Tellers know this all too well – so much so that they wrote a song and an album of the same name. Christopher spoke to Essentially Pop about it.
What life events inspired you to write a song based on the message in ‘Stuck in the Mud’?
Spending time in Clarksdale Mississippi in the Delta, soaking up the feeling and sound of the blues in the place where it all began. As far as the song, we’ve all been there – the experience of being stuck. The lyrics tell a story and the music fills you with some deep down in the Delta, swampy blues.
What parts of your own personality and outlook on life are found in ‘Stuck in the Mud’?
Like most folks, I sometimes find myself griping and moaning about a situation I’ve found myself in. That’s what this song is all about – having something aggravating happen and then getting paralyzed by it. But as far as my personality and outlook on life goes, my nature is to whine about my bad luck – but not for very long. I’m mostly about figuring out how to get unstuck, doing something about it vs. getting undone by circumstance. The sequel to this song – the story of how to get unstuck – is my real, true nature. I said “sequel” – but I haven’t written the song yet. Maybe I should!
What do you hope your audience takes away from the ‘Stuck in the Mud’ song and video?
What I hope is that the song sticks with them! We were after a swampy, jangly kind of groove and a simple story that people could relate to and remember. We’ve been getting great radio, streaming and video plays from all over the world, so from the looks of things, we’ve done OK at creating a song that “gets stuck!”
What part of production for the ‘Stuck in the Mud’ music video was the most fun? Most challenging?
The most fun was doing the sound recording and filming at the same time in such a legendary location – the Juke Joint Chapel at the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The Chapel is an old, converted cotton gin that now functions as a music hall and gathering place for blues fans from around the world. Recording video and music in Chapel – how cool is that?
As far as challenges, there were plenty – but that made the whole adventure even more fun and rewarding. We shot footage and recorded audio for three songs in the Juke Joint Chapel on that day – four musicians, five cameras, a sound engineer and our producer, Ralph Carter. That’s a lot of music and video making for one day, and in a music hall that’s made for live stage performances vs. studio sound recordings. The trick was to capture the visual feel of the music in that great venue while also coming away with studio-quality audio and a great finished music video. That’s a lot of balls to juggle, and we all feel good about the final product. We hope our fans do, too.
What is the earliest memory you have of wanting to become a musical artist?
It had to be listening and singing along with music my mom played on the record player – all sorts and styles of music Sinatra, Nat King Cole, stage musicals, The Mills Brothers, Louis Prima…then the Beatles and all the great classic rock n’ roll songs that my older sisters played. Hard not to get all caught up in music with such a great playlist running through my childhood.
Who could you have not done the ‘Stuck in the Mud’ music video without?
I mentioned the immense production challenges – and to a person, everyone involved was critical to pulling this off. But if I had to pick one person, it’s Ralph Carter. He produced all the music we recorded in a studio in Muscle Shoals and on location in Clarksdale – for ‘Stuck in the Mud’, the music video, and the entire album. Ralph’s a musician’s-musician and an amazing producer. The sound that you hear on the video and on the album – it’s what I envisioned before we even started rolling cameras and making music. And thanks to Ralph’s touch bringing everything together, the finished video –and the entire 13-track album – captures the sights and sounds of the Mississippi Delta, just as we had hoped and dreamed it would.
What is your next goal for your career as a musical artist?
Soon, we’ll be releasing two more videos that we shot and audio recorded for our album in the Juke Joint Chapel earlier this year – ‘Hard Work Don’t Pay’ and ‘Soul on the Road’. We’re also making plans to perform in Europe next summer. And this is breaking news – later this fall, we’ll be recording and shooting video of an entire live Christopher Wyze & the Tellers show in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Fans can follow us to see the video show and to hear the entire live performance album.
What would you tell young, aspiring musical artists looking for advice?
Make music…play…have fun. Learn an instrument. Sing. Learn to write lyrics and dream up music.
My music dreams started early in life, but I got a late start pursuing them. I sometimes wish I would have gotten serious about my music much earlier. But you know, things have worked out well – our album and singles are hitting the charts and our video art is reaching lots of fans. So maybe everything worked out just the way they should have. And I guess that’s a good lesson. Do your best. Be patient. And then watch what happens. You can’t control what happens. But you can control how much of your heart and soul you put into your music and your life.
You can watch the music video for ‘Stuck In The Mud’ here, and find out more about Christopher Wyze & The Tellers online on their official website, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
