"My inner life is the source that determines how I write about what I am experiencing. What influences me is everything that I experience. By this I mean from love and friendship to politics, the working world from tech to traffic to social media, rain walking, etc."

Fred Hostetler: Americana Experiences

Fred Hostetler is an indie artist, American musician, singer/songwriter, and author who has worked with major artists including Johnny Winters, Graham Parker, the Knack, Billy Squier, Jeff Beck, and Grammy award winning producer Jack Douglas. Along with Karen Lawrence he founded the highly acclaimed southern California blues band Blue By Nature. His style, while grounded in blues and Americana traditions, cannot be defined by a single genre. He won the LA Music Critic Award for Best Singer Songwriter 2019, and nominated for Best Video 2019 ‘You Don’t Know What You. Three popular singles propel Fred Hostetler’ short 7-songs album release forward as genre lines blur across new album “Rain Walking” (2024). It’s packed with feeling and ends with ‘Happy Fingers’.   

(Fred Hostetler, Americana/Roots singer/songwriter/guitarist, and author / Photo by Dennis Browne)

Fred says: “There is something about the Americana musical journey and something in the rain that reaches into the soul. The story of personal travails and vicissitudes translates into a universal life experience. It’s wet and messy stuff but water is fundamental to our existence. It can at once be uplifting, evocative, and sentimental, pulling up memories of struggle and hardship, but somehow harmonizing it all with a joy that seems to emanate from the experience itself. I call it ‘rain walking’.”

Interview by Michael Limnios               Archive: Fred Hostetler, 2020 interview

Special Thanks: Doug W. Deutsch & Fred Hostetler

What is the driving force behind your continuous support for your art/music?

It’s an expression of feelings that arise from the environment, both outside and inside. No doubt love has something to do with it.

When did you first know that you were a musician? What do you love most about the act of songwriting?

I had a ukulele made out of plastic in grade school, but I think music making    first came alive for me when I learned fingerpicking on guitar, and I was able to apply the style to various songs and begin to develop an ear and feel. I have to say I was maybe a little late getting there because of my love for basketball and tennis during the teen years. There was no internet then, so no free lessons on YouTube. You had to figure things out for yourself. If you were lucky someone might be around who could show you something. Otherwise, it was Mel Bay and George’s School of Music, which wasn’t exactly rock n’roll.

As far as songwriting goes, the process can be painstaking and full of decisions, but filled with many surprises along the way. I try to stay open as I bounce off the original ideas and stay true to the feeling. The best part is finishing it and being able to play it live for an audience or to see people are streaming it.

Why do you think that American Roots music continues to generate such a devoted following?

I think that what is known as American roots music is not a singular thing. America is a nation built by immigrants. It is an amazing amalgamation of indigenous music from the souls of diverse cultures. These different streams have mixed sometimes freely and sometimes through great hardships in the giant problematic cauldron called the United States. The result is style creation that’s an unending (substantial) source of inspiration to people around the world. Perhaps they feel in the music an expanded essence of their own culture. One might say that American roots music is of the earth and taproot of the musical plant that grows in all humankind.

"The breadth and depth of Indian culture is truly rich and provides a powerful environment from which you can turn and observe your own life experiences and culture from a distance. You can go inside on a\ journey of self-discovery that brings with it new perspectives on life."

(Photo: Fred Hostetler)

What has been the hardest obstacle for you to overcome as a person and as artist and has this helped you become a better musician?

Obstacles and challenges are the building blocks to success. What seems to be failure and disappointment are often lessons to be learned. Milestones on the way to success. For me, events I have no control over often appear, altering any approaching progress. An example, in the 70’s our band was about to be signed to a Warner Brothers label when the oil embargo hit the US and there was only enough vinyl for signed bands. Another problem I encountered was an inability to find enough time to become the skilled musician I wanted to be. Making a living always seemed to take too much time and there was never enough time left after work for doing what I enjoyed most. So, make the most of the time you’re given. A Chinese proverb comes to mind: If you want to have control over life you will fail. If you try to force life to fit your plans you will ruin it.

What were the reasons that made India (music and culture) to be the center of artistic and Folk/Rock researches and experiments?

I spent many years in India and returned inspi. During that time, I wrote a song along with the Indian saint Vasantha Sai called “Go Inside”. The breadth and depth of Indian culture is truly rich and provides a powerful environment from which you can turn and observe your own life experiences and culture from a distance. You can go inside on a\ journey of self-discovery that brings with it new perspectives on life. Indian music itself is a deep deep well, an artisian well of rhythms and feeling that invite you to drink from that clear water, to experience new fresh approaches to your own music and way of life.

What are you doing to keep your music relevant today, to develop it and present it to the new generation?

It is not possible for me to be relevant as I am an anomaly even to those who know me. I meet at the Commons with the coffee curmudgeons every morning. I get a multitude of perspectives, and I grab little bits that people say, and they blossom in my mind and immediately go into the notes app on my iPhone. That’s often how I write. It’s like Lectio Divina. It is a sort of inner process of burgeoning awareness that can lead to the expression of what I will be concentrating on. The “geezers” at the Commons encourage me because they like my music, and I find their observations motivating. I enjoy the fact that through social media I can maintain a presence and that my music is heard in 107 countries around the world. I keep my fingers on the pulse of the music biz but don’t get hung up about it. I am not a content creator or an influencer. I am a singer songwriter who plays all instruments on self-produced recordings in spite of preferring to work in the context of the creative idea rich environment of other musicians.

"Obstacles and challenges are the building blocks to success. What seems to be failure and disappointment are often lessons to be learned. Milestones on the way to success. For me, events I have no control over often appear, altering any approaching progress." (Photo: Fred Hostetler is an indie artist, American musician, singer/songwriter, and author who has worked with major artists including Johnny Winter, Graham Parker, the Knack, Billy Squier, Jeff Beck, and producer Jack Douglas)

In your opinion, what is the biggest revolution which can be realized today? What do you think the major changes will be in near or far future of the world? 

At this moment, in time, I have no real idea what outcomes will take place. It’s a very volatile moment. A vital moment for the world. Now we may be headed into darkness, but even if things were to turn toward the “sunny side of life,” trouble will always be a part of life. So what comes out from my heart is to stay positive. To give people hope is important to our survival. Moving on from tribalism and fundamentalism would make for a more peaceful and cooperative world. Bloggers, the media, and corporations are pushing the wonders of AI and prognosticating about its arrival and impact. Tech bros, dictators, oligarchs and billionaires are turning us into serfs and viewing us as entities for monetizing. This is what I fear I see coming and that’s very dark. Then there’s what I hope could be coming. I don’t know how it will manifest, but this would include a more positive way for indie musicians around the world to share the amazing emergence of so much music in a equal status on platforms instead of being bought out and pushed out by corporate entities. This same principle of respect and equality would apply in a general way to all people. I cannot help but add that I love Mother Earth so much that taking responsibility for nurturing her and acceding to Her wisdom instead of thinking that human beings can know it all seems fundamental to surviving whatever is coming in the future.

Do you have any interesting stories about the making of the new album “Rain Walking" (2024)?

Where to begin? Happy Fingers was written when young children were coming over and I was partly responsible to provide some form of amusement for them. This is during a time when I was happily getting up early, walking out on the mountain, and then picking up my guitar and writing songs. I thought at the time “I have happy fingers able to play and not be interrupted all day long.” That idea combined with a little food prayer before meals where you raise hands to give thanks and bless and show gratitude - all fell into place to create the Happy Fingers song. It also has a shout out to inclusivity.

"As far as songwriting goes, the process can be painstaking and full of decisions, but filled with many surprises along the way. I try to stay open as I bounce off the original ideas and stay true to the feeling. The best part is finishing it and being able to play it live for an audience or to see people are streaming it." (Fred Hostetler, grounded in blues and Americana traditions / Photo by Dennis Browne)

Are there any memories from Johnny Winter, Mick Taylor, and Jeff Healy which you’d like to share with us?

Johnny Winter blew me away and inspired me with his slide version of Roll and Tumbling, but I think the story that is more fun is Mick Taylor. Blue by Nature, the band I helped found along with Karen Lawrence and Rick Dufay, was on the same small label, Shattered Music and opened for him at a good-sized club in LA. Mick arrived at the venue to discover the guitar that was rented for him from SIR was totally unsatisfactory and threw a fit and wouldn’t go on stage. The president of the label was at his wits end. “Fred to the rescue”… Seeing it was a Fender Stratocaster, I offered him the use of my 1967 Strat. He looked at it and went calm, picked it up and ripped off a few licks, smiled, and said, “This will do.” He played a great gig with my guitar. Hurrah!

What do you think is key to a life well lived? What does your music convey about the human condition?

In hindsight, I would say the growth of love in one’s heart. Knowing who you really are and knowledge of the self deepens the flow of the river of life and tempers the strong currents and raging rapids and the constant changes experienced from the float downstream to the sea. Enjoying the rapids and bouncing off hidden rocks is part of the adventure. A traveling companion is helpful. It could be music or another person or even an unseen being/person/guide.

Life is more than just music, is there any other field that has influence on your life and music?

My inner life is the source that determines how I write about what I am experiencing. What influences me is everything that I experience. By this I mean from love and friendship to politics, the working world from tech to traffic to social media, rain walking, etc.

Fred Hostetler - Home

(Photo: Fred Hostetler)