UK singer-songwriter Maya Delilah has released her debut album, “The Long Way Around,” on March 28th through Blue Note/Capitol Records. Maya’s talent goes beyond her skillful guitar playing; she has mastered the art of trimming excess to create lyrically polished songs. She conveys her messages clearly and effectively. IINAG had the opportunity to chat with her about the lessons she learned while creating her debut album.
Kendra Brea Cooper: Thank you so much for answering a couple of questions for Indie is Not a Genre! We’d love to know who your favourite guitar-playing influences are?
Maya Delilah: My absolute all time favourite guitar player is Derek Trucks of the Derek Trucks Band. He plays with the most feeling and emotion of anyone I’ve ever heard. Another one is John Mayer. I think he’s had a full career, and I really look up to him for singing, songwriting and guitar playing. There’s this guitar player I used to listen to a lot when I was young, who plays more acoustic world-music named Antonio Forcione, and he’s been a big inspiration in my learning of how to harmonize and how to do more finger-style stuff. Those are probably my top three at the moment.
K.C. Awesome! Really good to know. My second question is, do you have any songwriting lessons you’ve learned while making this new album?
M.D. I think I’ve learned to stop writing lyrics when I’ve said what I wanted to say. And I think in my song Begin Again there aren’t as many lyrics because I’ve said what I’ve needed to say. I don’t need to add another chorus, this is it; I’ve said it. I think that once I’ve nailed what I want to say, I’ve learned to really let it go. And whether that is building a guitar solo in place of more lyrics, if it’s quite short, or just having it as a shorter song. I just don’t want to cram too many words in.
The post Lyrical Precision and Guitar Mastery: An Interview with Maya Delilah appeared first on Indie is not a genre.