Rocky Votolato.Photo: Courtesy Rocky Votolato
Wild Rootsis the most recent release from Seattle-based artistRocky Votolato. The Americana folk songwriter is releasing this album while he and his wife April process one of the most difficult experiences a family can work through — the loss of their child Kienan, 22, last December in a car crash.Wild Rootsis an incredibly honest self-examination of family, life and balance. This isn’t a “lockdown album” as much as a beautifully curated love letter to Votolato’s family. The lines from ‘Becoming Human’ “I’ve been home now for a couple of years / I’ve found the happiest world that I’ve ever known / And I think I’m finally becoming human” perfectly illustrate the appreciation and joy of spending time with your loved ones.
PEOPLE caught up with Votolato, 45, to talk aboutWild Rootsand healing after tragedy.
Can you talk about the process of writing such an emotionally driven album, especially dealing with struggle and loss that isthispersonal?
When I started writing the album, I just knew I wanted to make a concept album for and about my family. I wrote a song for each of my family members that focuses on a special moment or memory from our lives together. In a way, the album tells my life story and family history through the lens of my closest relationships. Suffering through the recent tragedy of losing our child has made the songs even that much more meaningful for me and my wife April, and I think for the rest of the family as well, as we’ve all been brought closer together through this incredibly difficult experience.
This album is about family connection but on a deeper level, it’s about the human struggle and overcoming and surviving anything that is handed to you… We keep going and living, and making art, and hoping for the best in the face of the harshness and cruelty of life to make things better for the ones around us. I think that’s what being part of a family is all about. I think that fact is made even more clear for me now as we try to survive the grief we are living through. So many of us on this planet are hurting so much and grieving right now, for so many reasons.
The point of this album to me is not to bring people down with the grief, which is there and very real and valid, but to help lift them up and give them strength in spite of it. I hope that’s what these songs will do for people.
Rocky Votolato and son Kienan.Courtesy Rocky Votolato
Were you in the process of writing already before everything for your family changed?
The album was already written before we lost Kienan in a car accident late last year. Of course, since the focus of the album is specifically on my family, going through this kind of tragedy as a parent has reshaped and deepened my relationship to the songs…especially “Becoming Human” which was written for Kienan, but to the album as a whole as well.
Someone told me that grief is just love with nowhere to go — that resonated deeply with me and I heard the truth in it. Hopefully, the album coming out now can help to express some of that love and in doing so help to lighten the load of some of the grief.
April, Rocky Votolato, Kienan and Autumn.Courtesy Rocky Votolato
Was creating this album cathartic for you? Were you able to channel some of these emotions from the process into healing?
Creating this album was a very cathartic process and releasing it now is even more so. The focus for me with this album was always on finding a way to heal from the past and difficult experiences we have been through as a family. Now I guess we need that kind of healing more than ever. Of course with grief this intense there is always a pull to want to retreat and hide away from the world, but I think that would be a mistake for my wife and me at this moment. We are all connected and this experience has taught me how much we all need that connection in order to get through one of the most brutal experiences that human life can offer.
Kienan and April.Courtesy Rocky Votolato
Was your son a fan of your music-making? Did you have any special memories or stories surrounding that part of your relationship that you can share?
Kienan was a huge fan of my music and so supportive of me as an artist. We loved a lot of the same bands and spent a lot of time going to shows together. They were the absolute best at making playlists. They bought a guitar in the last year they were alive and I was teaching them to play. Those are some of the happiest memories of my life. They were so excited about the release of the album. It was a gift that Kienan was able to hear “Becoming Human” and know exactly how I felt about them before they passed as well. That I loved them unconditionally no matter what.
Are you hoping to play these songs live?
I’m definitely planning on playing the songs from this record live, but with “Becoming Human” I guess we will just have to see when the time comes. I hope I have the strength to be able to play that song for people one day. In the meantime, I hope people will listen to the song and to the entire album, find healing and meaning in it, and enjoy whatever range of emotions it brings out.
Wild Rootsis out on Friday.
source: people.com
