Welcome to the Song Saloon. I'm singer songwriter Jordan Smith Reynolds. Each episode, I sit down with a songwriter and we talk about one of their songs. This week's guest is Sky Olson. Sky Olson is an award-winning songwriter based out of Utah. His self-produced music presents an eclectic mix of ideas and genres held together by a shimmering airy soundscape under Sky's breathy vocals. He plays his music live with his six piece band, sky Olson and the Valley. Welcome Sky.
Hey, how's it going, Jordan?
It's good. Good. I'm super excited to talk about your song Cruise Control today. What can you tell us about it? Why did you, why did you write the song?
Yeah, cruise control is kind of an interesting song for me because a lot of my music I write from a really kind of deeply personal place based on, you know, personal experience, that kind of thing. Cruise control was not that way for me. Cruise control started off. I just wanted to write kind of a fun song sort of in the style of the police, which is a band
Oh, cool.
adored. Yeah, it's The police was, they were actually the first that was the first concert I ever went to was their reunion tour when I was, I grew up at in Chicago. So I went and saw them at the Allstate Arena there, when I was in sixth grade. they had a huge impact on me and I was just sitting in my guitar one day and I kind of, I had this lick that just kind of felt like the police to me, and I was, I didn't have any idea of what the song would be about or anything.
I just thought the kind of, the groove was fun. But yeah, this was, this is not the way I usually write, which was kind of fun cuz I was coming at it from a little bit of a different angle. cruise control ends up being about kind of post relationship apathy. So it's like the feeling you're leaving a long-term relationship and you're kind of like, okay, whatever.
Like, whatever goes at this point and you're with someone new and it's fun and exciting and there's no stakes because, Your heart's already been broken to a million pieces, so what could this new person do to you that could be worse than that? So kind of taking things by the moment is sort of what the song ended up becoming about.
Cool. Yeah, I see that with some of the lyrics. Like, cuz trust me, I've been down that road on cruise control. Sweet. I love that. Let's go ahead and jump to the performance now. We can, we can really dive in after.
Perfect.
All right.
Thank you.
Thanks so much Sky. That's so fun. I love seeing, listening to it from the paradigm of the police too.
Thank you.
yeah, I hear like message in a bottle and walking on the moon kind of
Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. You got like,
Mm-hmm.
this similar, similar vibe. Yeah.
Yeah. That's so fun. And you mentioned that this wasn't like as much from life experience. Yeah. Can you go into that a bit more? Why, why this was different this time around.
Yeah. So, okay, so how this one started, I, I had the lick and I was actually at a friend's house, another songwriter who I greatly admire. Her name is Jane Beeson and I was at her house and I was sort of just playing this lick. And she asked me what that was and I was like, oh, this is just something that I've been, you know, it's something I've got, I've been writing. I don't really have any lyrics or anything like that, it's just a vibe.
And And she, she asked me if I wanted to co-write on that. And I have never done that before. I haven't done it since either. Not that it was a bad experience with Jane or anything, but it was a new thing for me, but I was like, yeah, why not? I don't have an emotional attachment already to. This song, it, it, it can be whatever it needs to be. It can be a more collaborative thing. Whereas in the past I would write something, the lyrics and the music would be very intertwined.
It'd be very personal. And letting someone in on that would be terrifying. I just, but for this one, I just didn't have as much emotional investment in it. So I felt like it was okay to, you know, bring someone in a little bit closer and and write something. Yeah. And then I think I was just, as far as like the, the hook, the cruise control hook, I think I was just driving in my car and just saw cruise control on the dashboard. I was like, oh, that'd be kind of a cool idea for a song.
And then from there, Jane and I kind of figured out what sort of the analogy or the the metaphor could be for cruise control. And it, yeah, originally didn't start out as being very personal to me, but. Over time I definitely was drawing from personal experience where I was married for four years and the relationship was seven year relationship. And when that ended, I've definitely been in experiences since then where it's just, I'm sort of apathetic.
It's like, well, it doesn't, none of it even matters anyway, so you may as well just you know, enjoy the moment for what it is. So, I did end up drawing from personal experience when I was writing the lyrics, but it didn't start that way. It, it didn't start as like a story that I felt like I really needed to tell it. It started out more as just something that I wanted to make in a song, which was a totally new experience for me.
Yeah, which is also really interesting, I think, because the song, as you mentioned, is kind of about being a little apathetic and just being there for what it is, and that's exactly what your songwriting process was for the song it sounds like.
exactly. Yeah.
must be why it works so well.
Yeah, no, there's definitely an element of letting go of what things should be or need to be and just kind of accepting it for as it is. I think that's the ultimate story of cruise control, at least for me, what it means to me.
And you co-wrote this entire song or what? What did that look like? Lyrically, melodically.
Yeah. I would say the majority of the majority of it, I wrote on my own. but what I would do is I would, I would take it to Jane. We would, and then she would say, she would give me kind of notes or ideas. What if we tried this here, or what if you, you know, add some space? At this part, she helped me trim a lot of the fat off of it too. There was. The verses were a lot longer before, and she was saying, sky, this hook is so good. You gotta get straight to the hook. You gotta get there fast.
And I was like, yeah, I think you're right. So I actually cut out a lot of stuff that I had written. She had, she kind of, we sat and listened to a lot of kind of inspiration songs like the Police. We listened to like some Japanese house, just sort of like music either eighties or like eighties inspired, adjacent, Melodic pop and uh, we sat there and decided, okay, maybe we'll take this progression for this part. but yeah, it was, it was a really fun experience.
It was definitely outside of my comfort zone cuz I'm a very introverted person in general. And then when it comes to songwriting, I feel like that's the most personal expression that I can. You know, that I can find within myself. So letting someone in on that was a really scary different thing. And it's not something that I still really do all that often, but Jane is such a songwriter that I admire so much that I was like, well, this is just gonna be fun.
And it ended up being really fun and working out really well.
That's really cool. And Jane goes by Beeson for the artist project. What is it?
Yeah, Beeson is her artist project. Yeah. She's a, she's doing great for herself. she just recently was on the cover of Fresh Find Spotify pop or whatever, so yeah, she's got a new song called, haven't Seen You Since the Summer, which is a great song. You should, you should check it out. You should have her on the show if you get the get the Chance. She's phenomenal.
Yeah. Yeah, that'd be awesome. I love how much is happening in Utah right now with artists. I mean, be some getting on the, the artist cover. I know you and Cactus History have been doing quite a lot with the festivals in the area and things. And then you've got Little Moon winning the NPR tiny desk com competition. Like it's a good time for the Utah scene.
Yeah, it's a, it's a cool moment right now cause I feel like there's a lot of diversity in the sound, but there's also just kind of a culture of inclusion. At least that's been my experience, where people are just nice and they're, there's not this competitive. Sort of like I win and you don't kind of vibe. Everyone wants to kind of help each other out, and it's a very collaborative thing at least in my experience, especially down kind of in the provost scene with valor music gallery.
And yeah, it's, it's a really cool, really cool scene right now. And I've been told that in the past it's, it has been more competitive and I think it's cool that it's less that way now and it's more inclusive.
Yeah. That's great to hear. I also wanted to point out with your performance, how obvious it is that you're a producer while you're performing. Which is a, I think it should be taken as a compliment because, I hear your guitar playing and it's just, it's very locked in. I can hear like, you know, if you were playing this to a click or something, it would fit pretty well.
Oh, thank you That means the world to me, actually. Thank you.
good. Yeah. There's a few times like when your vocals, you would do like a triplet and you know, were playing something a little more against like eighth notes on your, in your guitar or something. And it was, it's cool. Yeah. Really love
No, I appreciate that. I definitely feel like I think about music in a way and from like an arrangement standpoint where I, I try to think about all the layers and everything like that. Some, sometimes can be a little bit. Frustrating in the songwriting process where I, I feel like I need to figure out what everything needs to sound like all at once instead of sort of letting the song grow from where it is at a natural place. But I appreciate that. Thank you.
Yeah. What is your music background? How did you get to this point in, in your musicality?
Yeah, so growing up music was something that I was required to do. My dad is a music professor at Utah State University. A piano professor. My mom is a songwriter piano teacher. Both of them have like published piano pieces and so piano was sort of forced upon me growing up, and I think that's what made me not like playing the piano hall that much is, is having it feel like it was the thing that was, first of all, it was like mom and dad's thing, and then it was also just.
The thing I had to do before I could get on the PlayStation. over time actually it was a guitar hero cuz I'm, I feel like I'm a video gamer first and I'm a musician second. And when Guitar Hero came out, that was a revelation for me because I was like, it had combined two things that I loved so much. And then yeah, it also gave me sort of this appreciation, this love for. For music from a different perspective that didn't, that felt more fun.
So that's where I first started listening to the police was a guitar heroi message in a bottle. And then eventually I got my own guitar. once I picked up a guitar, it felt like music became something that was for me that I could claim as my own thing. And instead of just the thing that I was supposed to do, I also played saxophone in middle school and a little bit of high school in the jazz band. So I guess my formal music training stopped like my freshman year of high school when I quit band.
But ever since then I've just, I've been kind of a bedroom player. I, I didn't play for anybody, you know, growing up in high school. And I ended up. So long story short, I I was really sick for about five years, uh, with debilitating chronic illness. It I was essentially bedridden for about five years with Lyme disease and some other like spinal cord issues.
And I feel like that really changed my perspective on a lot of things because as I sort of pulled out of the illness and kind of reentered real life again I had kind of a newfound appreciation for the smaller things, and I sat down and wrote my first song like two years ago. And yeah, that was just the first time I had ever decided that I wanted to use music as a way to self express. But yeah, that's sort of my musical journey.
Wow. So your first song you said was two years ago, like your first completed song. Yeah.
Yeah, I was, so, I'm 27 now. I was, I was 25 when I. First sat down and, and decided to write a song. Like I've, I've been playing guitar in my bedroom all these years, but as far as like songwriting, it just hasn't been a part of my life until recently, until honestly, I felt like I needed it, if that makes any sense. It's like that, that point in my life. I was going through a divorce and I was struggling with my health and all these things.
And I just, for whatever reason turned to songwriting. Honestly, part of it could have just been boredom cuz I was just stuck in bed most of the day with my, with my health issues. Where I was like, well, this something I could try doing. And ended up resonating. I, I ended up writing a song about my experiences. I showed it to my parents and my parents suggested that I submit it to some competitions. I. And I was like, yeah, whatever.
But I ended up doing it and entered into the John Lennon songwriting contest and I ended up winning the weekly contest for that song, which I feel like gave me kind of the external validation that maybe I shouldn't rely on, but I think maybe I needed at the time to sort of just push me
struggle for the artist.
Yeah, for sure. Well, that's a whole other topic for sure, as far as like. Relying on external validation cuz there's so many metrics and, and things you can focus in on, like your streams or your people turning out to shows. And I feel like that can be such a defeating experience to, to lean into that.
Mm-hmm.
much. So I try not to rely too much on the validation of other people and just sort of focus on the value that songwriting gives to me personally. But I, but I would be lying if I said that if I didn't win the contest I would still be doing music. Like, I think that's what pushed me into feeling like I had something worth sharing, if that makes any sense.
Yeah. Yeah. I really liked what you said about Songwriting kind of coming when you needed it. Right? So you were playing a bunch of songs in in before, which to me was like, you're kind of building up your toolkit and you had all this preparation and then you can write a song and win a competition with that, which is, I think, extremely impressive that, you know, your first song becomes that. I wanna dive into that process a bit more.
When you were playing other people's music, what kind of songs were you playing and what was your process in going about learning and performing those in your bedroom?
Yeah, so the, the, like for me it was Ed Sheeran, John Mayer passenger, kind of these acoustic artists that. um, sort of would, uh, do kind of the, this finger style stuff, like, uh, passenger has this one, or, uh, ed Sheeran has, like, there's so much and that kind of stuff. Or, uh, John Mayer, of course. All these, all these songs just for whatever reason really spoke to me growing up.
And yeah, it was, it was the acoustic guitar for me that really yeah, just being able to, that sort of like that immediacy. You just pick it up off the wall and you can just start playing something. It felt low stakes to me. Didn't feel like you know, I had to sit at the piano and practice my 20 minutes or whatever. It felt like something I could just do when I needed it.
Yeah, I have a very similar relationship with the acoustic guitar that way. But you have kind of gone into more an electric setting with being in your six piece band. And so what was that transition like?
Yeah. So I, I won the contest and then my health started to improve and I decided to kind of get out there and play music more for other people and, and share sort of, I. These songs that meant a lot to me. And for a while I was just doing it kind of you know, solo acoustic I would do farmer's markets or things like that.
I ended up making friends with this person named Alex Nuntapreda, who was very much ingrained into the like Salt Lake kind of punk rock scene and ended up opening for him at a Kilby court show. And for me, playing a show like that was such a validating experience cuz a lot of my music, like I had mentioned earlier, comes from a really deeply personal place.
And then being able to get up there, sharing that, and then feeling like I'm being seen and heard is such a. Rare and beautiful feeling for me because for all those years I was sick. With chronic illness. I, I was definitely not feeling seen or heard. I, so to be able to get up on stage and to feel like my story matters was such a gratifying experience to me. So I, so I fell in love with doing shows and I started going to more shows and listening to other people's music and their experiences.
One thing that I really felt would elevate my music to the next level would be getting other people to share the stage with me to make something bigger and create something bigger. I remember going to a show here in Logan where I'm from, there's a, we have pretty much just one music venue, it's called Why Sound? And I remember going to a show and there were three bands on the show. It was Panther Milk. Sorry, mom and the Painted Roses. These are kind of the biggest bands in, in Logan.
Really great songwriters. Really tight bands. And it was just sort of, it was a revelation for me, seeing all these people get up there, play their music, but it felt so big and it felt like everybody was included in it. So that, that was the moment where I had, I had thought to myself, you know, doing some, taking my music and making it bigger and sharing it with other people, not just audiences, but also other people to help me tell the story on stage.
Felt like the next natural evolution of that. And yeah, it's, it was really cool cuz as I started to get more into the scene, I became friends with these people in these. Bands that I had seen at Y Sound and now I've got at least one person from each of those bands in my band playing my songs, which is, it's kind of cool cuz it's like these people were sort of heroes to me, or at least, you know, they were setting a really cool example of what this could be.
And then now those same people are a part of my music sharing it on a more bigger scale. So, Yeah, the, the band thing has been really fun for me. It's been a, a way to connect with more people. But yeah, that's sort of been my experience with that.
Wonderful. Have you had the opportunity? Opportunity to play in other people's bands as well. Is that part of your artist journey or
Not as much.
on that?
I, I, I have done a little bit like I played in Cactus Trees Band for 20 minutes. You can ask her about that sometime. I was fired after 20 minutes. Not really. there was a moment where I was gonna play in Cactus Tree for a little bit. And then Jane Beast and I did, I have played guitar with her a few times for kind of smaller acoustic things, but This maybe sounds like I'm trying to fish for compliments, but I promise I'm not.
I really don't feel like I'm a, a very skilled guitar player, especially with other people's music. I just have a hard time learning it. I have a hard time. I don't like blending with or, or, or matching other people's sounds so, Honestly, I guess my answer to that would be I don't think I'm good enough to be in other people's bands, and that's not me trying to fish for compliments. That's, that's just genuinely how I feel.
And then also just the, my own stuff just takes a lot of my time outta my day as far as doing all the production recording and then taking it to the band and getting the arrangements down. So haven't really played much in other people's bands.
Yeah. Cool. Well I'm definitely in the camp that I, you obviously could, it's just about I think time and Yeah, I'm sure you'd be able to, to figure it out cuz when I heard you play just that little bit right now, I can tell you're, you really lock in, with what you're playing. Yeah.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Vocally. I wanted to ask you, because you get a lot of comparisons to John Mayer and I know you kind of play that up on your social media account too, which like, it's really amazing stuff on that, by the way. but I'm curious from a vocal standpoint. I know John Mayer, At least from what I can tell, kind of struggles with some of like the higher parts of his range because of the tone of his voice and or I think it's because of the tone of his voice. What's that been like for you?
I haven't heard you kind of go for the stratosphere yet, but, when you do, what's that experience like for you?
I generally don't write. The, music that will like, take my voice too high. Like, I guess maybe that's a conservative way to do it, but I like when I'm writing stuff, I, I don't go into my head voice all that often. I'm trying to do it a little bit more. but yeah, I, I, I definitely play it conservatively, I would say. But I hear what you're saying about John Mayer. Definitely. The higher he goes, I feel like the more he struggles with his pitch control, I've noticed.
I will say I saw him play an acoustic show. He's, he's on this like solo tour right now where he's, he's not playing with a band. It's like two hours. Just him. It's actually a really cool one man show. I went and saw that in Arizona and I was actually blown away by his vocals. I think he's really honing in on that. Even, even the high end.
But I, but I have noticed that in the past where when you do kind of that breathy, airy thing, it's, and you try to go into your head voice, it is tricky to maintain pitch control. So I don't generally, I, I don't feel like I lean into the flashiness with my vocals very often.
Like I've got friends who, who are really, really talented vocalists that can do these crazy runs and they're hitting every note just exactly on, and I don't feel like that's something that I. I mean, I, I guess maybe if I practiced, I probably could, but it's just something that feels like not I don't know if it lends itself as much to my style of music, if that makes any sense.
Sure. Yeah. Making that a focus may not be as much of a priority. Right. With John. Mayor too. I know he struggled a lot, so I should mention that he had I think nodes and had to get surgery, vocal surgery a bit. So my my view of that may be skewed by watching videos when he's struggling with that sort of thing too. But I do think it's interesting with having that breathy style, like you said, I would feel the control would be harder.
Especially when you're trying to stay in more of like a, a loud mixy belt range, which I've only heard him do a few times, like maybe bold as love his version of free falling. I think it gets up there. Yeah, it's, it's pretty rare.
yeah. It's tricky. It's, it's. It's kind of a, the other, the nice side to it though is that when you do kind of that breathy airiness, I feel like you get more leeway if you're not exactly hitting your notes as well. Cuz there's so much like texture to it where it's like you can kind of hide your lack of pitch control. At least that's been my experience where it's like I, you can kind of almost like, yeah, you, you can sort of fake it a little bit better, I guess I would say.
Yeah. And the style is really nice. Like, I, I love that for tone and everything. It's, it sounds so great on a record too, as well as live, so that's really cool. Where can people find you on Spotify, Instagram, TikTok? Where, where can they go?
Yeah, so you can listen to all my music on Spotify, under Sky Olson. You can go to Instagram at skys and music and follow me there. Instagram is the social media that I'm most active on. I do a little bit of TikTok, but I just haven't really felt like that's been a fruitful avenue. So Instagram is the way to stay up to date on when I'm releasing new stuff which hopefully should be soon. I'm working on some new things, but nothing to announce yet.
If any of your listeners are from Utah, we play shows here all the time. we've got some coming up in September and Logan and Provo, it'll be really fun with the band. So yeah, that's my plug.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being. In here today. Skye loved getting to, to know your music a bit better and your background too. We've been following each other for a while on Instagram and just chatting about songs and and stuff, so yeah, I really appreciate you doing this and, and getting to, to, to really get into your music more.
Oh, thanks for, thanks for having me, Jordan. It means the world and also just yeah, if your listeners don't already know guys, you gotta check out. Out Jordan's music, like his songwriting is amazing. This, it's the reason why I wanted to do this interview is because of how much I admire you as a songwriter. So, um, just a plug for you on that. You guys should all go listen to Jordan if you haven't already.
Thanks so much, Skye. And we're also, um, John Lennon's songwriting competition.
Yeah. John Lennon songwriting contest buddies.
I was a finalist for the full category one year or something.
Yeah, that's right. That's, I forgot about that. Yeah. That's so cool. my other song, broken Time Machine was the, was a finalist last year for the folk category. Is that the category you did?
Mm-hmm.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's great. I love the the team there too. Did you do the little Instagram live with them and everything as well?
Yeah. Yeah, they're, they're a fun crew.
Yeah. Very cool. All right, well thanks so much Skye, and we'll see you next time at the Saloon.
Okay, we'll see ya.