South Carolina songwriter Noah Guthrie sits in to discuss growing up wobbles, finding oneself, traveling internationally with his pops, and America's weird obsession with fame culture.
More on Noah: https://www.noahguthrie.com/
EXCERPT:
Brett: One thing I’m not familiar with is the TV world, I know you’ve done some TV work. Have there been any celebrities that you were nervous to meet, or maybe ones who were more of a trainwreck than you might have expected?
Noah: *laughs* Yes to both. I was on Glee for their sixth season, and that was really great. But I also did America’s Got Talent, and meeting Tyra Banks in person? That was so strange. She was wonderful, she was amazing, just very warm and nice and great. But...have you ever met a famous person who is so famous that they have this thing around them?
Brett: Autopilot?
Noah: Well it’s more of an aura around them, they have this aura to make you go, “Oh, yeah, you are famous.” You can look at them and see they’re a famous person.
Brett: Sure.
Noah: With musicians you don’t get that as much, you can see Jason Isbell in a coffee shop, and he looks like a normal guy. But Tyra Banks would be in pajamas on the set, and still look like she’s made to be famous. And she was very nice.
Brett: Do you think you’re born with that, or is that something that happens from being in the public so much?
Noah: I think there’s a personality that is very good for being famous, that you’re probably born with? But I don’t know, it’s very strange. She was very nice, though!
Brett: I’ve noticed that. I don’t know if I’d call it an aura, for the more famous people I’ve met, though I’ve not met someone like Tyra Banks. There is that celebrity where they’re nice, but they’re on robot-mode, because they’ve had the same conversation so many times, people just coming up to them.
Noah: Oh yeah I’ve had that a lot.
Brett: They know they have to be nice. You can tell nobody’s home, but they’re just sort of smiling and talking to you.
Noah: That’s for sure, I think.
Brett: You can understand. At the same time it’s bizarre, kind of makes you feel like an idiot.
Noah: It kind of makes you feel like, oh right, nothing I’m saying is worth anything to you. You should just leave.
Brett: There’s an art to talking to celebrities, or micro-celebrities, where I feel that you have to be prepared to bomb. You go up to Eddie Vedder and talk about breakfast cereal, or you come up to Wayne Coyne and start talking about the best types of foam padding for gymnastics with the art exhibit he’s building three stories up at the Santa Fe Art Museum. That’s the ice breaker to me. “How can I weird this person out without offending or boring them.”
Noah: That’s a good tactic. Because I’m not good at going up to celebrities, when I’ve had those chances. Because all I want to do in my heart is to say how influential they’ve been to me, and how much I love my work. But I realized a while ago, they don’t want to hear that. They just want a normal conversation, and I’m not good at normal conversation! Like “How about that...pizza sauce?”
Brett: I got one for you. My icebreaker I use when I have nothing else- I just ask...how’s morale.
Noah: How’s morale. Yeah. That’s good!
