Questions + Answers

From Kathy S

Good morning,

How did you get involved with the movie The Horse Whisperer?  Your song on the soundtrack? Your cameo in the movie?  How was playing at the Oscars?

"A Soft Place to Fall" is one of my favorite songs.  So beautiful.

One more questions, if I may:

I saw you sing with The Chieftains several years ago.  You, of course, were amazing.  How did that collaboration come about?

Thank you,

Kathy S

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Dear Kathy,

Thank you for the questions.

Question 1 — How did I get involved in The Horse Whisperer?

In 1997, I was introduced to Tony Brown, who was then the president of MCA Records Nashville, which had been the top label in Nashville for a decade. It was home to George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Marty Stuart — and Tony gave me a development deal when I was 24 to see if I could do anything any good in the studio. I teamed up with Kenny Greenberg to cut some demos for him and he liked what he heard. Ironically, “A Soft Place to Fall” wasn’t on the original 4 demos we cut. My husband and main co-writer at the time wanted me to only cut songs that he and I had written together so it got left off the list. I had, however, done a demo of it for my publisher, Windswept Pacific, around the same time which was again, produced by Kenny Greenberg. Tony wanted to see me perform live, so we set up at a rehearsal space in town and got the players for the record together and put a strong 20-minute set on for the entire label. Afterwards, Tony said, “We’ve got a deal,” and also “And I think I’ve got a place for you on the soundtrack to Robert Redford’s next movie and maybe even a part for you in the movie. Also, what is this song your publisher played for me — they like it to as well as that other one.”

The other song that was being considered for the same spot in the movie was “Call My Name,” which was one of the original 4 demos I cut for MCA, and which ended up on Alabama Song (can you believe my first record came out twenty-five years ago this year?). They liked “A Soft Place to Fall,” ultimately. I flew out to Livingston, Montana in August 1997 and filmed my part, Barn Dance Singer, over the course of 4 shooting days, which took place over a week. I stayed in the Sam Peckingpaw suite of the grand old hotel right in town (this was before everyone and their hipster friend started going there). We’d shoot on a ranch some thirty miles away. I was in total heaven — the artistic process of making a film of that scope was incredible to me. I could barely believe I was where I was. Meeting Redford was an incredible thing — to be exposed to a real master at that time in my life made a huge impression on me. He is a true artist, and that emanates from him. I felt so lucky to be there and to get to absorb collaboration on that scale, intention of that depth, attention to that level of detail, all moving forward yet keeping the great traditions of film technique and storytelling.

The Oscar nomination was just sort of ridiculous. I’ll never forget getting the news, though. I was in the car and my big grey cell phone rang (this was winter 1999). I answered and it was Tony Brown and Bruce Hinton, who was then the chairman of the label. Well, a lot of heads had just rolled from the staff and the artist roster and when I heard who was on the line, my first thought was Oh fuck, they’re dropping me. They instead told me that “A Soft Place to Fall” had been nominated for an Academy Award and that I would likely need to get out there and perform on the show.

What a day that was. My incredible news was the buzz of Nashville. I remember being quite present for a lot that time, which is good and almost surprising. I must’ve been operating at a high mental level because I remember telling myself I wanted to remember it, that I wanted to be present for it, that the way through the performance was to visualize it the way I wanted it to be and I did that for the six weeks from the time I got that phone call until the performance was in the books. There were dresses to look for. Musicians to arrange. Performances on light night television and a gazillion interviews to try not to get bitchy in because the questions were sometimes too dumb for words. Arrangements to make and prerecording sessions to think about (you do a recording of the song in the studio the week of the show in case anything happens with the audio during the live broadcast — they have to have a backup). I got to work with Bill Conti, who was awesome and so brilliantly dramatic. We did our pre-record at the legendary Capitol Studios (the round building). The chart copyist made a mistake and as we ran through the song, I realized they’d written a chord wrong and I told Kenny, who was there with me, and he told Bill, and Bill had to tell the copyist, and it was a very long process to make the change to everyone’s chart. I figured they maybe didn’t understand country chord changes, but I told them they’d written my D as an E. It was interesting because the change made the song present in a much poppier way. Anyway. On to the show — Kenny was there with me and right before the curtain went up on us to perform he couldn’t get sound out of his acoustic guitar and started panicking. It worked right on time. I wore some beads in my pre-Raphaelite curls and a dark brown Vera Wang cashmere sweater and beaded skirt because I didn’t want to be cold and shaking. I was happy with our performance and I thought I held it together pretty well for someone conscious of the fact that one billion people were watching. And then Gwil Owen (my amazing co-writer) and I lost to another song. I wish we’d won. That would’ve been so cool. But I am so grateful for that crazy experience. What a thing.

Question 2 — The Chieftains. They called me up, I love traditional music of many kinds including Irish, the pay was right, I wanted to learn, I love to travel, so I said yes. They taught me how to properly drink a Guinness and we had quite a few of them during those two years I worked with them. I adored all the guys in the group as well as the Pilatzke brothers from Canada and Cara Butler who is an incredible Irish dancer. I traveled this country and some of Ireland, the UK, and Italy with them. One night in Italy — I forget, somewhere in Tuscany — Paddy spilled grappa down his shirt in the bar after the show and got a little crazy. We all did. Never try to out drink an Irish. Or a Canadian. Or anyone if you’re me. It was a blast and I’m again, so grateful, for what music has brought to me.

I’ve had a cool life and it’s getting cooler by the day. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Sincerely,

Allison Moorer

I hope y’all have a glorious weekend.

Peace. Love.

Allison

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