Apr

28

Samuel Dickison

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 Samuel Dickison
Samuel Dickison, a sandy-haired, white-browed son of the Palouse and Moscow, has recently stepped out of the lentil fields with a clean-cut guitar and a well-built voice as one of the most promising nuggets of talent that that this Heart of the Arts has to offer.   He sings ballads deftly thatched with classical references and historical allusions with a simplicity that gives the limelight to the strength of his lyrics, the poetry of a craftsman who works skillfully with words and music.  A liberal arts student, Dickison draws on his love for story, history, and literature to create his music – “I never get tired of people telling me stories,” he says, “and history is the greatest story ever.  Seriously. There are so many ridiculous and crazy and interesting and incredible characters and events to draw from history.  Nuf said.”  Dickison has a curious partiality to the appearance of the underside of the surface of water and natural talent, a combination which has given him both the unique perspective and the voice of a poet.  

Dickison started playing guitar when he was 13, and in highschool, he starred with the local bands Edward Bugg and The Cubes.  “Every time we played a show I felt like Jimmy Page,” Dickison remembers, “I’d say, more than anything, those bands made me realize how much fun it was to play music that people enjoyed and would come to hear.”  Dickison, now a sophomore at New St. Andrew’s, says that “right now, I’d like to just continue writing songs and playing them for and with my friends in Moscow and this area. We’ll see what happens after college, but right now I just want to keep playing locally.”  Dickison is playing tonight with Richard Buckner  at Mikey’s Gyros at 9 p.m. and you should definitely be there for the friendly vibe.  

Dickison’s roles as musician and writer, he says, are “definitely intertwined;” as such, we’ll let him speak for himself. 

Do you think of yourself as a musician or a writer first?

“I just read about these trees today that live in the rainforest and eat other trees. The seeds start high up in a bigger tree and send down little roots to the ground. Then the seed sends more roots up to where the sunlight is. Eventually, the big tree is completely covered in roots that are running up and down its trunk. The roots get bigger and bigger, and eventually form a trunk around the first tree. The first tree is strangled to death and rots inside the trunk of the new one. It’s the same way with music and writing.”

Hmm, any comments on Billy Collins?

“He’s been my favorite poet for a long time. I think he’s one of those people that is really interested in life and the world around him. He can see connections between things that have always been there, but once he points it out you see the world in a totally new light.  He’s the best.”

Who is your hero?

“Josh Ritter has definitely inspired me more than any other songwriter, and more recently, Super XX Man. I think [that] both of them, in different ways, realize the importance and power that lyrics and poetry wield. They’re both poets in their own right.  Ritter, especially, has a gift with words that I haven’t seen in a lot of other writers.  I feel like I can read his lyrics on their own and they still convey a ton of meaning even apart from the rest of the song.”

What are you trying to accomplish with your music?

“A lot of things, but probably the biggest one is that I want people to become more interested in everything after hearing one of my songs. I think that music is one of the most powerful tools for communicating that we have, and I think that the world and the stories it contains are so incredible that anything that is really good and beautiful should just inspire us to want to know more about creation, and, ultimately, about God.  Everything is connected, and so a good song should be able to bring up images and connotations and stories from a bunch of different places- people that you love, other songs, beautiful places, good books, good food, good smells. Music is so fundamental to humanity that I feel like a good song can communicate and bring together all the different blessings that a human can enjoy. There’s alot more to that, but I’ll stick with that answer for now.” 

Oooh, Moscow adventures - anything to say about MOSCOW?  

“Hahaha. I think in a small town you’re forced to be a lot more creative about having fun.  It’s funny how many things there are to climb here, too. I’m convinced [that] I found Josh Ritter’s initials spray painted on an old building here in town. I think he and his friends did a lot of the same things my friends do, only before us.  There’s definitely been some songs inspired by silos.” 

So, hopes, dreams?

“Definitely.  Lots of both.  I’m planning on traveling to as many places as I can, guitar in tow if possible. That’s a big hope. I want to meet a lot of the musicians that I love- Josh Ritter, Super XX Man, M. Ward, etc., and I’d like to see all of the places that I’ve read about, ever.

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