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I caught up with Denison Witmer on Friday, July 5, 2002 about half an hour before he left Cornerstone Festival 2002. He was in a bit of hurry, but kind enough to let me interview him. We found a golf cart to sit on in the shade and I started the tape recorder.

Cadenhead: When did you begin making music?

Witmer: When I was seventeen. I started playing guitar when I was a junior in high school. I never really learned how to play other people’s songs; I just started writing my own from the first day. But professionally, I’ve been making music for two and a half years.

Cadenhead: I’ve noticed kind of a difference between Safe Away and Of Joy and Sorrow with Of Joy seeming a bit more accessible and involving more instruments with songs like “Stations,” “Rock Run,” and “Yesterday, Tomorrow.” How did that progression come about?

Witmer: Most of that comes from me not wanting to make the same record over again. All those songs could have been arranged the same way they were on Safe Away. I think in retrospect a lot of people wish they were since people seem to like Safe Away better than Of Joy and Sorrow just because it’s a little more mellow and that’s what my live show is usually like. But I went into the studio and didn’t want to make the same record over again. I wanted to try to push myself as an artist. There are some things on there I wish I could change, but it’s too late now. I like it for what it is. I was listening to a lot of ‘70s singer/songwriter stuff like Jackson Brown and Carol King and Neil Young and Van Morrison and I was going for a little bit of that style.

Cadenhead: Listening to Of Joy and Sorrow made me want to go back and take a closer listen to Safe Away. So your next album is Philadelphia Songs. What direction are you heading in with that album?

Witmer: I took the production a little lower on this one. The first record was produced by Don Perris who is in Innocence Mission. Production is basically someone helping you arrange the songs and decide what instruments to use on them. Whether it needs drums or whether it doesn’t. Do you put an organ here? Do you think you should use an electric guitar? Acoustic guitar? The second record was produced by Blake Wescott who did the first Pedro the Lion record. He does a band called Seldom and runs the record label Pascal Recording Company. He made a lot of those choices on the second album. But this last one, I did all the production. I brought in Six Parts Seven, an instrumental band from Cleveland, Ohio. They’re on a record label called Suicide Squeeze. I toured with them in March. They played some songs with me on tour and I thought it sounded cool. So I brought those guys in and we discussed the arrangements, then I formulated how I wanted the songs to go from there.

Cadenhead: What kind of process do you go through for writing songs?

Witmer: Usually it’s a guitar part first and then just whatever journaling I’ve done will come to mind. The melody will come on top of the guitar part and then I’ll write the words. Sometimes it all happens at once, sometimes it takes months.

Cadenhead: Do you think your music reflects your life or your life reflects your music or some combination of the two?

Witmer: It reflects the more serious side of my life. What I went for with Of Joy and Sorrow was I was trying to write something that met the title pretty well, happy and sad. Safe Away has a lot sadder tone to it. Most of my writing is just journaling anyway. It’s really personal. Lately I’ve been trying to write some more happy songs. That’s harder to do. It takes like three good things to outweigh one bad thing. Songwriting is that way too but it directly reflects my life. It’s one hundred percent biographical. I don’t know how to write any other way. I’ve tried to write stories before and it always sounded really bad so I don’t bother anymore.

Cadenhead: In some of your songs you talk about April. Is that a girlfriend?

Witmer: No, April is a metaphor I use in place of some people’s names sometimes because I don’t want to be too direct. I also use it in place of the more spiritual side of things. April is one of my favorite months as well and it’s a time of change. At least in Pennsylvania it definitely is. It’s springtime and there’s a lot going on. It’s just always been a really close month to me, so in some ways it’s a very spiritual thing.

Cadenhead: Are you in a relationship with someone?

Witmer: No, no. Not right now. I have been and a lot of the songs are about people I have been with, but not right now.

Cadenhead: Is there a certain audience that you find your music appealing to more than another?

Witmer: I don’t know. I talk with some of my fans about what they listen to and some of them listen to the same stuff I’m into, but a lot of them don’t. I just pretty much will play in front of anybody. I’ve been lucky enough to straddle a couple different audiences like AAA, [the[ kind of adult market that my records do okay in. Then there’s also the indie rock market. Both of them have been pretty great for me.

Cadenhead: Is there any meaning or message that you hope your listeners pick up on in your music?

Witmer: I just want it to be identifiable. If it’s something that they can relate to and help them to see something about a situation that they’re in that they don’t see, then that’s great. Or just if it makes them feel less alone in some way, that someone else is going through the same experiences, that’s great too.

Cadenhead: What are your feelings on the whole idea of a Christian music industry or do you even think there is such a thing?

Witmer: I don’t know. That’s going to be argued forever. There definitely is a Christian music industry. I try not to get involved with it. I come to Cornerstone just because I’ve got a lot of friends here and some of my friends booked this place, but this is about as Christian as it gets for me as far as music is concerned, for sure. I don’t really deal with anybody in the Christian music industry. It’s just not a place I want to be.

Cadenhead: Why is that?

Witmer: A lot of bands do it because it’s easy. But it’s not really what I’m about. Someone’s religious views can reflect the way they make art and they should in some ways, but I think people should make art for everyone. How do you label something you make for everyone? You can’t really put it into one particular [category].

Cadenhead: Are you planning to tour for the new album?

Witmer: Oh yeah, I’ll be out a lot. I’ll do the whole country two or three times over, I’m sure.

Cadenhead: I really appreciate your time.

Witmer: Oh, it’s no problem. Sorry if I seemed a little zoned out or something. I’ve got this slushy here and it’s really bright green. I don’t think I’ve had something this artificial looking for years.

Cadenhead: It was nice to be in a cushioned seat for a minute too.

Witmer: I know, it is. I think I’m just going to sit here for a minute and fall asleep. So yeah man, thanks.