motel void

MOTEL VOID: You’ve just released your new single, Felicity. Could you describe the writing and recording process behind it?

CAMERON KNOWLER: “Felicity” actually started out as a thought experiment while doing laundry at my studio apartment in East Hollywood. I thought to myself, “can I write a full song in the amount of time it takes to run a load in the washer?” It turns out, yes. Though it came together almost entirely at that moment, I tweaked it during live shows and recorded it a couple months later. When it came time to add it to the record’s tracklist, I originally titled it “Laundry,” though my friend Dave convinced me to change it.

MOTEL VOID: Who or what is your biggest inspiration at the moment?

CAMERON KNOWLER: At the moment, I’ve been listening to Harold Budd, Brian Eno and Hiroshi Yoshimura almost exclusively. Contemplating the idea that instrumental music, regardless of its form, is able to blend into our daily surroundings and most cherished spaces has been highly generative. This allows me to see portals out of the expected traps of the solo guitar canon.

MOTEL VOID: You’re from Yuma, Arizona. How would you describe the current music scene there? Do you have any favorite local venues or artists? And do you know the song Yuma, AZ by Damien Jurado?

CAMERON KNOWLER: At least when I was living there in the late 90s and early 2000s, the music scene was very much not happening; bar bands and the like playing potlucks, for example. Looking further back in time, though, Yuma boasted figures like Uncle Bob Hardy, a WLS Barn Dance performer who later moved to Yuma as a broadcasting professor at Arizona Western College and as a local television personality. Growing up, I vaguely remember B.B. King playing in town somewhere, maybe a casino, but perhaps I’m mistaken. Yes, I do know that song and it’s great—Justin Townes Earle has one simply called “Yuma” which is also great.

MOTEL VOID: How did growing up in Yuma impact your songwriting?

CAMERON KNOWLER: Growing up rather isolated as an “unschooled” kid, I learned to fall in love with simple observations and ideas. I also think that not having any real sense of time as a result of not being in school (or having any real seasons out there in the Sonoran Desert) helped my sense of connecting with the world in a pretty eternal way. I also had great pride over the visual landscape of Yuma, which I’ve never lost after all these years. The city also has a rich history as being one of the most formative locations during the expansion of the West as we now know it; for example, it was the first place to greet the railroad in Arizona Territory during the late 1870s.

MOTEL VOID: If I’m not mistaken, this is your first new music since 2021. How has your songwriting changed since then?

CAMERON KNOWLER: Mainly, I’d say that my songwriting reflects a wider tradition of songcraft as opposed to the more traditional-leaning sensibilities I brought to Places of Consequence in 2021. No to say that those are gone, but orchestrating for various ensemble formats pushed me to think about the guitar as part of a larger concept.

MOTEL VOID: Do you have any plans for a tour to promote your new songs?”

CAMERON KNOWLER: Yeah, I’ll be touring in the northeast in late May!