LISTENING TO THE LAND
Trevor Green likes to sit with a song and get to know it
Trevor Green is grateful for every opportunity in life.
And each one is a chance for him to learn.
So, on his fifth album, “Voice of the Wind,” the musician got introspective with the writing.
“I follow the music where it leads me,” he says. “Through this process, I find the music always comes from an honest place and that is most important in receiving the songs when they come through.”
Through Green’s devotion to bring forward the messages of our ancestors and connect deeply with culture, he launched a successful crowdfunding campaign that sent him, his wife, two young children and the son of his adopted Navajo brother on a two-month journey into the heart of Australia to discover the roots of the aboriginal culture and the story behind the didgeridoo (yidaki), which has been such a fundamental part of the soundscape of his music.
He then performed 25 shows in Australia and met with various wisdom keepers, and counts the experience as one that altered his life.
Green recorded the album in about three weeks.
“It’s a super special record,” he says. “There’s a lot of story behind it and we also did a documentary video for it. The entire album is inspired by the natural world. I think a lot of what was holding me back with writing was insecurity. Over time, I have settled into more honor and respect for myself in song. Sometimes, that’s the biggest challenge.”
Green will criss-cross the country on his latest tour. He will have two shows in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe during his stop in New Mexico.
He’s excited for the tour to take him to many places he’s never performed in before.
“Being in New Mexico is going to be special,” he says. “There’s been a learning curve for me because I was a white kid who grew up in Huntington Beach, Calif. I’ve opened myself up into learning about all cultures and listening to what the land is telling me.”
When it comes to writing, Green isn’t one to push through the process.
In fact, he will sit with a song and get to know it from all perspectives.
“I never force it,” he says of the writing process. “I don’t really put a timeline on when songs show up. I just let them come to me and I try really hard to let that go uninterrupted.”