From Left, Michelle Johnson and Louise Goffin are interviewed about their Masterclass in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Making Beautiful Music Together

BY STACEY GUALANDI

What happens when Grammy-nominated recording artist Louise Goffin and Sin City’s “First Lady of Jazz” Michelle Johnson decide to collaborate? A match made in masterclass heaven, of course.

Budding Las Vegas songwriters recently got a front row seat to Goffin’s “Songwriting Masterclass” at The Space in Las Vegas, made possible by the legendary local songstress.

“What I’m known for is doing the things that people say can’t be done,” says Johnson. Fortunately, the prolific singer-songwriter’s reputation remains firmly intact.

Born in New York City and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Johnson credits Carole King’s Tapestry album for inspiring her musical journey to versatile Las Vegas headliner. She began writing songs on her piano as a six-year-old. “I would get in trouble secretly playing at 2 a.m.,” she jokes.

She carried that passion through college … graduating from Yale, but exchanging a parent-preferred legal career for a booming backup singing career with such icons as Gladys Knight and Sheena Easton and studio work with Paul McCartney and Elton John.

Now, she impresses audiences with her one-woman musical tribute to the album that started it all in, “Tapestry Unraveled” at The Smith Center.

Louise Goffin was born in Brooklyn, and raised in Los Angeles by her parents, legendary lyricists Gerry Goffin and none other than Johnson’s inspiration Carole King. At 19 she released her debut – the first of eight solo albums – and is now a critically-acclaimed singer-writer-producer in her own right.

In 2011 Goffin earned a Grammy nomination for producing A Holiday Carole; she works with top-notch musicians like Rufus Wainwright and Benmont Tench; and 4 years ago, through her Favorite Song Academy, Goffin started teaching songwriting seminars to help students lose the ego and insecurity and empower them to be their best creative selves. (Her advice? “Keep going in spite of the voices in your head!”)

Coincidentally, these two talents came together in late 2017 thanks to someone who worked for Goffin and happened to know about Johnson’s Tapestry show. He told Johnson to attend one of Goffin’s classes in Los Angeles.

Johnson did just that. The experience, she says, was transformational. “I saw Louise take a class of strangers, put them into groups and, by the end of the class we had written all of these songs,” says Johnson. “Some of them were really good!”

Less than a year later, Johson decided to bring Goffin’s Masterclass to Las Vegas, a city filled, she believes, with untapped talent. Now, it looks they might be onto something.

Chic Compass Magazine recently caught up with this dynamic duo to talk songwriting (of course!), paying it forward and their plans to keep making beautiful music together.

From Left, Louise Goffin and Michelle Johnson.

CHIC COMPASS: So how do you feel about joining forces?

MICHELLE JOHNSON: Louise gave me the tools to not only be a better writer but also a better person. Maybe all this time the reason I was drawn to Carole King is that I needed to meet Louise and work on my craft! From the moment I saw Louise’s face and heard her speak, in the first 10 minutes of [that first] class, I didn’t think a thing about Carole King; it was all about Louise. I consider her a friend now.

LOUISE GOFFIN: Michelle is a rare breed who puts her mind to something and gets the job done and done well. She took a chance having me come out to do a masterclass. But she was determined, saying we must start somewhere. I think she hit on something deeply needed in Las Vegas. Almost everybody works, but there’s not a lot of nourishment for people’s artistry outside the jobs they have to pay the rent … compared to Los Angeles where you have entire neighborhoods of out-of-work musicians who spend all day going from house to house, recording in studio to recording studio creating their dreams. Las Vegas seems to be a place where you have to dig deep to find a place to connect on that level.

CHICCOMPASS: Describe your first Las Vegas masterclass?

LOUISE: What I loved most about the masterclass was how people got in a room with other songwriters – who for the most part they’d either just met or had never written with – and boom! Out of the ether, a song is born! To hear the performers and new songs and to see how people’s faces were aglow to be on stage singing something they’d just written, that’s always a thrill. And I love having the opportunity to be one more “yes!” in their heads, when so many of us are battling too many “no’s.”

MICHELLE: It was transformative the way she taught. It was a class on the craft and personal freedom as a creative person freeing your muse, working with insecurities and time management. Louise has a knack for tapping into what your strengths are and how to better take care of your soul as a creative person in a non-traditional job. [At The Smith Center’s Composers Showcase], it’s like a family of people who come to watch in a completely supportive, safe environment, but that’s not the same thing as sitting down and really breaking down: How do I write this song? What is a hook? Where do I get ideas from? How do I let go of my fear? It’s almost like therapy!

Photo of Louise Goffin by Amanda Björn Photography

CHICCOMPASS: What is your personal take on the songwriting process?

LOUISE: My process is mysterious. I think songwriting has to be a bit like diving for treasure. Most of the work is knowing what to look for, not necessarily making something good up. It’s more about discovery and less about invention. Then there is skill and instinct and a couple of good things to learn so you don’t mess up a good idea.

MICHELLE: My job as a performer and songwriter is to impact you. That’s the whole point. The side benefit is I get to unload the demons out of me if I’m in pain and I get to let whatever I’m feeling – joy or sadness – out of my body and onto the stage… but that’s not the end goal. The end goal is to connect the material to the listener and to let empathy and connection drive the performing experience on a uniquely personal level.

CHICCOMPASS: What do you hope students “takeaway” from a songwriting masterclass?

LOUISE: I try to remind people that songs are to be sung, not read on a page. So the words are best if they have vowels and sounds that you can sing. Sometimes the words are percussive, sometimes more melodic, but it’s essential that they have something that people feel good singing. Add in there some true meaning and make sure you deliver an emotional build so it’s not just a trance of repetition. I try to bust up people’s locked patterns… put phrases and words together they might not normally put together for inspiration. I think everyone can be creative at something, but I don’t know if everyone is a songwriter. Fish shouldn’t ride bikes and cats shouldn’t take swimming lessons. However, it’s rare that someone wants to write songs and can’t get better at it.

MICHELLE: The joy is not to overthink it. Everything doesn’t have to have a specific meaning. To me, a song has a job and that job differs for every person who listens to it. To me… a song may mean healing from my first husband’s passing …or joy because I fell in love again. Songs are chameleons. The point of my [Tapestry] show and what I’m doing now is to show that music can be a healer and a bridge between us so that we communicate.

Songs used to tell a story. With the exception of country music, which is still very story-oriented, most music I hear today is all about, “Let’s get to the hook ASAP.” That doesn’t mean today’s popular music doesn’t have value or meaning. There is something to be said for simplicity too. My point as a songwriter: Find whatever works for you.

Photo of Michelle Johnson performing in Las Vegas, Nevada

CHICCOMPASS: Why do you both feel compelled to give back?

LOUISE: I realized that something that was almost invisible to me, like the water a fish swims in, was wasted if I didn’t share what I had learned with others. I wasn’t interested so much in teaching people how to write a song; rather, in inspiring them to feel they had something to say. I did some mentoring with WriteGirl along with major women songwriters who had a lot more success with writing hits than my journey took me on. I used to feel I couldn’t get in some of the same rooms they could get in because I didn’t have the chart success. But because I could always perform my own songs and survive as an artist whether people recorded my songs or not, I developed a unique set of survival skills. I wanted to share with others what advocating for myself as a songwriter and artist had given me, which turned out to be essential to my psychological well-being.

MICHELLE: If you don’t pay it forward it’s not rewarding. It doesn’t finish until you pay it forward. You get the skill, you get the experience, you get to a certain level and then even though you want more – you must start giving back in order to make room for more stuff to come. That’s how I see it.

CHICCOMPASS: How important is it to invest in your craft?

LOUISE: You can’t get any good at anything if you don’t invest in it. Period. The more you invest in it, the better you’ll be at it. Genetics don’t buy people sustenance. Time will inform where people’s passions lie. You then see what they do when no one’s paying attention to them. That’s where the juice is. When it gets you when no one’s watching.

CHICCOMPASS: What have you learned from your parents?

LOUISE: My dad taught me about economy. Every syllable mattered, and the feeling has to be 100 percent authentic. My mom taught me about that 100 percent authenticity too. And like her, I have laser focus and a strong work ethic. She was the “OG” on female empowerment in the studio. She never asks permission, she’s always taken it as a given that she’s got the goods and steps in to do her job. I never felt like I had to fight because “women don’t get an equal chance.” I just get in there and do my thing. I take the reins. You want to produce, arrange, lead a band? Then get in there and don’t wait for someone to give you a green light. Because they won’t.

CHICCOMPASS: What did Carole King teach you?

MICHELLE: As wonderful as it is to be able to cover all kinds of genres and write all kinds of songs nothing is truer than when you find your own voice. Carole wrote for so many different artists but her true breakthrough came with the Tapestry album. That album represents more than a collection of great songs. The album represents Carole’s self-empowerment as a producer and writer and performer, all in one. That is why the album is so important to me. She got to tell her own stories and to express them using her own voice. That’s where I am now in my career, recording my first solo album of original songs. It’s not about being a cookie cutter artist that looks a certain way or who is a certain age or who fits a certain mold … it’s about telling your truth, no matter where you are in your life. And in the end, that’s all we have.

CHICCOMPASS: What are your future plans?

LOUISE: Too many things to name! It’s taken me a long time to get over stage fright, self-criticism of my voice and measuring myself according to rules a now-outmoded industry imposed on my mindset. I think I got good at so many jobs and skills because I wanted to keep going; what I didn’t know, I’d learn. I couldn’t take no for an answer! I have stories in me that may need a platform that is different than the short form of a song. I love editing. I have my podcast [The Great Song Adventure] with Paul Zollo. I want to make a film, expand the masterclasses to be 5-day intensive retreats, bring my show to bigger audiences and, lastly, be able to afford a roadie!

MICHELLE: I’m at peace making a living doing what I love. In 2019 I will be recording my album of originals with Grammy-winning producer Kamau Kenyatta. I am currently writing a book about the music business. One part is on basic business and music career advice and simple survivor techniques; the other is on the underbelly of the music industry and how to navigate relationships so that you retain power over your career. My husband and I will continue running our “backline” production company that supports touring artists and I will still produce corporate events. I would also like to take what I’ve learned and use it to create an “artist development academy” for career advancement through seminars and workshops using the concepts in my book – especially those that empower women. I have access to a lot of big names in the music industry, and I want to leverage those relationships at this phase in my life by involving them in the academy project. The recent masterclass was just the beginning. Ultimately, I want to encourage people to boldly pursue their passions. My true calling is to be an “influencer.” And I would love for Carole King to see my show. That would be bucket list!

For more information about
Louise, visit:
www.louisegoffin.com
www.thegreatsongadventure.com

For more information about
Michelle, visit:
www.michellejohnson.com