Cory Wong & Devon Gilfillian | Live From Relix

0:00 What's happening Relics?

0:01 My name is Cory Wong.

0:03 I'm Devin Gilfillian.

0:04 What's up?

0:05 I was asked to come in and play some music and I thought it

0:08 wouldn't be very compelling for me to just sit here and play guitar parts.

0:12 Although I could do that and that might be fun,

0:14 I thought it would also be more fun if I brought my friend Devin in.

0:17 Eight.

0:18 Happened to be here in New York.

0:19 So we're going to play a tune that we wrote together called Roses Fade.

0:22 Let's do it.

0:23 Let's do it.

0:23 With a 12-string guitar that I've been tuning

0:25 for the last 17 minutes and I'm still unhappy with it,

0:28 but we're going to deal with it and now that I've said it out loud,

0:31 I'm less self-conscious about it.

0:40 [music] [music] [music] I know I said I love you so fast.

1:00 [singing] [music] No, no, I don't see [singing] no red flags

1:08 through a tint [music] that's [singing] like a rose.

1:12 Oh, baby.

1:16 When I'm with you, it feels like [music] home.

1:22 No, no, I don't care where [singing and music] we go.

1:28 Oh, don't rush it, baby.

1:31 Take it slow.

1:33 Teach me [music] everything you know.

1:36 Maybe we can let it grow.

1:38 [music] [singing] Let's just do what our hearts [singing] say to [music] do.

1:45 No, I don't want to survive.

1:49 Baby, I want to thrive with you.

1:55 With you.

1:58 I know the mountain is [singing and music] high.

2:00 But baby, I want to climb with you.

2:07 With [music] you.

2:11 [singing]

2:10 No matter what it takes, I'll give it everything.

2:16 I'll give it everything.

2:19 Oh, I swear.

2:24 [music] And when the sky turns gray and all the roses fade,

2:29 I promise, baby, I'll be there.

2:36 [music] [music]

2:49 Never thought it'd be this [singing and music]

2:51 easy to find someone who actually sees me.

3:00 I don't have to say a [music and singing] thing.

3:02 Just try to hold the love you bring.

3:06 And I know that this is real.

3:09 Yeah, I know just how I feel.

3:12 I don't want [singing] to survive.

3:15 Baby, [music] I want to thrive with you.

3:23 [music] With you.

3:24 I know the mountain is [music and singing] high.

3:27 But baby, I want to climb with you.

3:34 With [music] you.

3:38 [singing]

3:37 No matter what it takes, I'll give it everything.

3:43 I'll give it everything.

3:45 Oh, I swear.

3:49 And when the sky turns gray and all the roses fade,

3:55 I promise, baby, [music] I'll be there.

4:01 Oh, no [music] matter what it takes, I'll give it everything.

4:05 [singing] I'll give it everything.

4:11 Oh, I swear.

4:15 [music] And when the sky turns gray and all the roses fade,

4:20 I promise, baby, I'll be there.

4:30 [applause] You guys talked a little bit more

4:32 about writing that song together, which is beautiful.

4:35 Thank you.

4:37 Absolutely.

4:38 Absolutely.

4:38 I feel We're You know what's funny?

4:41 Cory sent me this song like a dem original demo and then

4:46 we're like kind of throwing ideas back and forth and I was like,

4:48 "Hey, can you, you know,

4:50 throw a little like Luther Vandross vibes on it?" And And he immediately like

4:55 hours later sent back this just grooving grooving track and I was So I

5:00 got to take that and and kind of and like figure out what I

5:04 wanted what we wanted to write about and uh the song's just kind of about,

5:08 you know, when the when the rose-colored glasses come off

5:10 and and you really see what real love is like and, you know,

5:15 get into the the actual work of love.

5:17 So, yeah, and Cory's like, "Let's go.

5:20 I love it." Yeah.

5:22 Yeah, Devin and I have been trying to work together for a long time.

5:25 We met at a a jam session in Nashville.

5:29 Yep.

5:29 then eventually Yeah, the Flamingo.

5:33 It's the name of the club.

5:35 [laughter] Um fun jam that was happening for a while.

5:38 Still happening?

5:39 Mhm.

5:39 Okay.

5:40 Oh, yeah.

5:40 And then we tried to find some time to make some music together.

5:45 We were both on tour.

5:46 And that and um I was hosting the Bonnaroo Superjam a couple years ago.

5:51 Devin came up and sang a Luther tune.

5:54 Never Too Much.

5:55 Exactly.

5:55 And then it was like, "Oh, yeah, we we got to do some more stuff together."

5:59 And then I was working on an orchestra album.

6:02 Didn't really feel right to Well,

6:05 it would have been dope to do something on that, but now I made this new

6:08 record that's just a bunch of vocal features

6:10 and it's like I have to work with Devin.

6:14 Sent a few demos and he picked that one.

6:16 I was like, "Great." Yeah, very fun.

6:20 It was awesome.

6:20 My man.

6:20 My man.

6:21 Thank you, Cory.

6:21 Thank Bradley, bro.

6:23 Yeah.

6:24 Um so that's the only song that we've written together.

6:27 Right?

6:28 Did we do No, that's that's the That's the one.

6:31 That's the one.

6:32 You know what's nice?

6:33 I think about songwriting sometimes like fishing.

6:35 You go out

6:37 [laughter]

6:36 fishing and you try to catch a fish together.

6:39 Yeah.

6:39 You get in the boat and you just try to get one.

6:42 And our only excursion together, We got it.

6:45 We got a fish.

6:46 a fish.

6:46 Got a sexy little Chilean sea bass.

6:50 [laughter] Is that who this is about?

6:55 [laughter]

6:55 Don't tell.

6:56 So she is Chilean.

7:02 [laughter] Uh and then we were talking on the way over here about

7:06 another song to do and I don't really know what it is.

7:10 So Yeah, this is a this this is a old Bill Withers song that I love.

7:15 It's called Same Love That Made Me Laugh, Made Me Cry.

7:18 Yeah.

7:19 Yeah.

7:19 D minor?

7:20 D minor.

7:25 All right.

7:33 [music] [music]

7:47 Your love is like a chunk of gold.

7:50 [singing] Hard to get and hard to hold.

8:01 [music]

8:04 Like [singing] a rose that's soft [music] to touch.

8:15 [singing]

8:12 Love has thorns and hurts so much.

8:20 [music]

8:19 Well, [singing] then does the same love that makes [music] me laugh make me cry?

8:36 Well, you think [singing] of love as sitting on a mountain.

8:41 Think of it as being a great big rock.

8:45 Wouldn't you think before you start to [singing] roll it down?

8:49 Because once you start it, we can't make it stop.

8:55 [singing and music] And I'll give it all I have to give.

9:02 [singing and music] But if you don't want me, I don't want to live.

9:10 Well, then [singing]

9:19 must the same [singing] love that makes me laugh make [music] me cry?

9:25 Come on, Cory.

9:26 Take it.

9:32 [music] Hey.

9:45 [music] [music] [music]

10:02 Where are you think I'm in love about sitting on a mountain?

10:05 [singing] [music] Think of it as being a great big rock,

10:10 wouldn't you think before you start to [singing] rolling it

10:14 down because once you start it you can't make it stop.

10:19 No, no.

10:24 [singing and music] But if you don't love me, I I don't want to live.

10:38 [singing] [music] Must have said love it makes [singing] me laugh.

10:50 Make [snorts] me cry.

11:03 That's cool.

11:05 Cool.

11:05 [applause] Sorry, I'm going to just pick your brain for a minute.

11:08 We're magazine here and obviously interviews is the kind of what we do.

11:11 And you have your podcast which is great when we all love.

11:13 How did your that experience doing that, if at all,

11:16 influence the way you approach this record which

11:18 has so many different voices and guests and overall?

11:22 Yeah, it's fun having a podcast and getting to talk to either friends

11:26 of mine or heroes or people that I'm

11:29 just like genuinely interested in their artistry.

11:31 And what it's continued to do is pique my curiosity.

11:37 And I think the curiosity is one of the things that keeps me creative.

11:40 It's one of the things that helps me grow as an artist and talking to a bunch

11:45 of different people on my podcast has been

11:48 something where I'm like learning like this is

11:51 either your process or this is what your like

11:56 this is your North Star in your vision

11:59 or even just like what where are they shooting at at the on the dartboard?

12:05 Like where what are they aiming for?

12:07 And then the ways that they accomplish that.

12:09 So it's been cool to just kind of figure out and and get inside some

12:13 other artists' brains and then with this album

12:16 collaboration side has been the exact same thing.

12:20 Like the collaborating with Devin and everybody else

12:23 on this record say what is your process?

12:26 What is it that we can draw out of each other?

12:30 Yeah, here's what here's how and why I do what I do.

12:34 How and why do you do what you do?

12:36 And then we see where that artistry overlaps and kind of what we Yeah,

12:42 I [snorts] think the curiosity of it is is the main thing that's helped

12:46 me grow in it because I'm curious what's Devin going to pull out of me.

12:51 You know, what can I pull out of him?

12:53 And the same thing with anybody else that I was working with on the album.

12:58 So yeah I have no idea what's going to happen,

13:00 but I'm sure it's going to be cool because yeah,

13:04 we All the magic that gets mixed together.

13:06 Yeah.

13:07 And there there was other writing sessions that happened where

13:11 we got in the boat and didn't catch any fish.

13:13 And Yeah.

13:14 you know so That happens.

13:16 I'm not going to call it a waste of 6 hours in the studio,

13:18 but it's just like it didn't happen.

13:21 Yeah.

13:21 And even um some of the other people that I wrote with for the album we

13:28 spent a few days in the studio but it was just the first thing that we

13:32 wrote together in 2 hours was the thing

13:35 that was really compelling and then the other

13:38 2 and 1/2 days were just kind of like ah I think we Mhm, I don't know.

13:42 We're out of bait or something, you know.

13:44 It always feels like the you know the thing

13:47 the first thing that you that happens is the thing.

13:50 You know.

13:51 Yeah.

13:51 The instinct is is like the just following that.

13:54 So Yeah.

13:55 I hear that.

13:56 Yeah.

13:58 Yeah, and I think also I sent Devin the first demo now that I think about it.

14:02 He sent me a voice memo right back and was like, "Hey,

14:04 I'm hearing this little guitar line and I'm hearing this Luther vibe." Yep, yep.

14:10 And he started just kind of singing into the phone

14:14 kind of where he was feeling the phrasing of something.

14:17 And I could tell it was just

14:19 an instinctual "Here's this." And I said, "Okay, yeah.

14:23 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know exactly what to do with that." Absolutely.

14:26 use my instincts on interpreting that and then

14:29 we just kind of went back and forth.

14:30 I think overthinking it is where I get tripped up.

14:34 Absolutely.

14:35 And and you let me do what I do, too.

14:38 Like you let me use my instincts and and that to me

14:42 is a huge uh when I'm writing with somebody I

14:45 want to be able to feel like I can I can

14:47 be myself and you sing with my melodies and and tap,

14:51 you know, all the things and I felt that was that was awesome.

14:54 Yeah.

14:56 Yeah.

14:58 I always write my best stuff when it's just in the moment

15:01 and it just happens and I don't have to force something.

15:03 And I think that's also what's special about live

15:06 music and playing shows I get to craft a setlist,

15:10 but I it it goes from being highly arranged meticulously arranged

15:17 to these jumping points where it it relies on us being in the moment.

15:22 And I think that's what has made playing in my band really fun.

15:27 I mean, you played with us.

15:28 You Devin's coming on tour with us.

15:30 It's you Yeah.

15:32 know and feel that where it's we're in it and then all of a sudden

15:36 you don't know where you're going and but you know where you're going to land,

15:40 you know, and you're you're safe.

15:42 Yeah, you're going to get caught, you know.

15:43 Yeah.

15:44 But that thing requires us to be engaged and present every night.

15:48 I think that's why it it makes it fun to keep

15:52 coming back to and doing it over and over again.

15:54 Rather than just say "Here's the song that was on the radio

15:57 that I have to play every day for the rest of my life." Now,

16:00 I'm I'm not opposed to having radio hit.

16:03 Wouldn't that be nice?

16:05 Just hasn't happened yet for me.

16:09 [laughter] Yeah.

16:09 Yeah, it's it's coming.

16:10 Yeah.

16:10 It's coming.

16:11 Yeah, for the relic session.

16:12 That's [laughter] right.

16:13 Right there.

16:15 Great.