"pat pattinson" Discussed on Minnie Questions with Minnie Driver
"Of hi-c? Hello, I'm Minnie Driver. Welcome to the mini questions season two. I've always loved priests questionnaire. It was originally a 19th century parlor game where players would ask each other 35 questions aimed at revealing the other players true nature. It's just a scientific method really in masking different people the same set of questions. You can make observations about which truths appear to be universal. I love this discipline. And it made me wonder, what if these questions were just the jumping off point? What greater depths would be revealed if I asked these questions as conversation starters with thought leaders and trailblazers across all these different disciplines. So I adapted Proust questionnaire and I wrote my own 7 questions that I personally think are pertinent to a person's story. They are. When and where were you happiest? What is the quality you like least about yourself? What relationship real or fictionalized to find love for you? What question would you most like answered? What person place or experience has shaped you the most? What would be your last meal? And can you tell me something in your life that's grown out of a personal disaster? And I've gathered a group of really remarkable people, ones that I am honored and humbled to have had the chance to engage with. You may not hear their answers to all 7 of these questions. We've whittled it down to which questions felt closest to their experience or the most surprising or created the most fertile ground to connect. My guest today is musician and songwriter Madison Cunningham. At 25, she is one of the youngest guests I've had on my show. But you wouldn't know it from the wisdom and sort of old soulless that radiates not only through the lyrics she writes, but also in the way she speaks. And whether she's performing solo or sharing the stage with some of folk music's biggest names, Madison's musical talents are really not to be missed. I love hearing a songwriter describe the world in their own words. And it was delightful hearing Madison's perspective on my questions. I really hope you enjoy our lovely conversation. What person place or experience most altered your life? I would say music has been the thing. I think touring the country and the world was the thing that very much challenged my worldview and my line of thinking because I was immediately met with or I should say my opinions were met with experiences. And that changes everything. You can have thoughts about the way you think life should be or the way you've known it to be, but then when you actually experience life and open yourself up to other people's experiences, your opinions on things drastically change. And I remember the first tour I ever did, I was opening for Chris thee, and the punch brothers, and we both had a really similar background, like both grew up in the church. We were both homeschooled the whole way through and I don't know many people who had a similar story like that. We just were talking on the bus and I just was asking questions and I just will never forget one thing that he said to me. He's like, you're 21 now and I was like, yeah, and he was like, yeah, things are going to change for you. And he wasn't arrogant or like condescending or anything. It just was like, he was coming from a place of sincerely sympathizing with me and going or empathizing maybe and being like, I know exactly what you're saying. And I understand it completely, and why you're asking these things, but also it's going to change for you. I just know it. And he was right. And I don't even remember exactly what I asked him, but I remember the place that it was coming from. And I was very just fearful. I just, I just was nervous and scared and I felt I was experiencing impostor syndrome too. So I always say the music in a way saved my life and I think made me the person that I am because it just immediately challenged me and caused me to open my eyes and touch the world in a different way. Did you write different music before music became your I don't want to use the word escape, but maybe your evolution out of that first part of your life. Did you write music while you were still within it and then did you write your way out of it? Yes, and yes. And what was that music like? Do you have recordings of it? What was it like? I feel like I'm still very much that person I always had a curiosity of breaking musical rules. I really, really enjoyed that and just had a curiosity around that. But in terms of writing, my lyrics were very stale and they didn't show anything. They just told everything. I have a bit of embarrassment around that phase of writing that. There was a whole record that I did that had all of the songs on it, which is since been taken down. And again, musically I'm very proud of that record, but thematically and lyrically I just felt that I was showing my age. I think I wrote my way out of it. I had a friend who had sent me a book. Have you ever read the book writing better lyrics by pat Pattinson? No. God I want to read it. Yeah, you should, it's within the first three chapters you get his point and that's just enough to change you into inspire you and the rest of the book's great too, but he goes on this whole tangent about object writing and sort of how to write from your senses. And that really teaches you how to write and metaphor and to incorporate imagery and that phase, I was probably 18 when I read that book and I just remember that my writing started to take a turn because I would think about those exercises and his whole thing is like you write on an object using your senses, you write every day, but it can only be for ten minutes. So when the timer goes off, you have to be done. It doesn't matter if your thought was finished or not. And it's all about teaching the brain to dive deeper in a shorter amount of time. So just when I did that and kind of went full force with that exercise, I really feel like that's when I started to write songs that I was proud of and could get behind now. How great, that's really cool. I want to check that book out. It's incredible. From the first page or just reading the way that a writer writes. It's so inspiring. I think you totally dig it. What question would you most like answered? I think this is really on the nose, but I would love to know if there was an afterlife or not. I don't know if everybody feels that way. But for me, it's like that would maybe help things in terms of the way that we grieve. It's like, will we see that person again? I don't know. Did you have a spiritual upbringing? I totally did. I did. Yeah, and so much of my young adult life has been shedding all of that. But also coming back to it in different ways that I can't sort of help. I guess that question was planted in me as a kid, but there was always an answer for it. There's always like, yes, there is. There is the hope of that. And now I still have that question, but don't feel like I have an answer. And there's a mystery to that. There's a mystery that I've become totally comfortable
Madison Cunningham
Minnie Driver
Madison
pat Pattinson
Chris
