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For Sally Spring, life has always been about music, making it an 'adventure'
Photo Courtesy of Sally Spring
Sally Spring’s Mockingbird album reached No. 5 last year on the Americana charts in Europe.
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Published: May 15, 2008
Sally Spring was singing before she was walking and talking, making up melodies and replicating ones she heard around the house.
"My mother told that I sang from the moment I got up to the moment I went to sleep -- and nobody ever told me to stop, so I must have sounded OK."
Spring never stopped singing. Her career took her from Goldsboro to Los Angeles to Boston to New York and, improbably, to Winston-Salem, where she started her recording career.
Along the way, she rubbed shoulders with such people as Ray Davies (The Kinks), Mama Cass Elliott (The Mamas & The Papas), Gene Parsons (The Byrds), Richie Havens, Mickey Dolenz (The Monkees) and others.
But the most important person she met was not the most famous: It was Nancy Nevins, the angelic-voiced singer for Sweetwater, the first band to play at the original Woodstock Festival and best known for its performance of "Motherless Child." Nevins' voice enthralled Spring, who was her neighbor while living in Los Angeles. A near-fatal car wreck robbed Nevins of her voice, and Spring watched with admiration as she dutifully trained a vocal chord to allow her to speak.
"Nancy influenced me as a human being more than anyone I ever met," Spring said, during a recent break from touring to promote her latest album, Mockingbird, released in 2006.
"She taught me the value of independence, of striving to overcome all obstacles.
"At one point, she told me to go and be her voice. And I've never forgotten that."
Spring has been determined to make a living in music since she was young. By third grade, her voice had matured enough so that she was singing in musicals and with a high-school choir. She was born without a left hand -- a definite detriment to anyone wanting to learn to play guitar, but at a party when she was 11, she did just that, picking up a guitar and figuring out, in an evening, how to tune to an open chord so she could play bar chords with her left arm.
"Nobody I know had any concept of how to play in open tuning," she said. "I know it sounds crazy, but I just heard these sounds in my head and figured it out. It took me a while to figure out how to play minor chords, but really, it all sounds so normal that nobody has tried to exploit or make a big deal of it. It is what it is."
Spring had been courted by Columbia Records early on during her time in Los Angeles, but it wasn't until she returned to Winston-Salem and released Save The New River in 1974 that she began to assemble an avid fan base. She became regionally famous, attracting an ever-growing fan base drawn to her strong voice and songs that were a blend of folk style and pop magic.
Spring said she played constantly, recording two more albums -- Bird (1977) recorded with Jack Lawrence who played with Doc Watson, and in 1982, Country Blues, on which Fernando Saunders (Jeff Beck, Lou Reed) played bass.
At that point, she felt she needed a breather, and stepped back from performing to explore bluegrass and roots music -- forms of music that immediately spoke to her in inspirational ways.
"Roots music and bluegrass struck me as so earthy and real," Spring said. "It is not about the money, it is an extension of people's lives. No matter what the occasion, roots and bluegrass music is a part of it. It's pure and genuine."
Her relationship with Ted Lyons, who is now Spring's husband and guitarist extraordinaire, was fully formed over their love of roots music. It was Lyons, said Spring, who was responsible for Mockingbird's undeniably distinctive and enchanting arrangements, an experiment with taking all of Spring's loves -- folk, pop, roots, country, even a touch of jazz -- and combining them into an instantly embraceable whole.
"Ted is such an amazing musician, and a walking encyclopedia of music," Spring said. "He is an amazing arranger, and simply one of the most creative people you'll ever meet." She laughed. "And kids love him and the way he plays guitar -- which is pure Ted."
Spring and Lyons had some help on the album -- ex-Byrd Parsons; singers Tift Merritt, Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell; and bassists Graham Maby (Joe Jackson); and Fred Smith (Television).
But it's Spring's singing and songwriting that stand out, and helped Mockingbird climb last year to No. 5 on the Americana charts in Europe and garner crucial airplay on Americana radio in the states. Spring books and manages herself, and acts as road manager when she goes on tour with her band -- Lyons, bassist Aaron Bittikoffer and drummer Ed Butler, along with assorted guests from time to time.
Spring said she has written more than 50 songs for her next album. She and Lyons will begin recording in New York in July.
"I really feel blessed that music has brought me so much in life," Spring said. "It was never a choice for me. I always knew I was going to do it. I just didn't know with who or where or when."
"So it has helped make my entire life one grand adventure."
Showtime
Sally Spring & The Ted Lyons Experience will perform at 9 p.m. Saturday at The Garage, 110 W. Seventh St. Admission is $10. Chris O'Brien and the Tim Lee 3 will also perform. Visit www.the-garage.ws or call 336-777-1127.
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