Will Johnson is a musician and songwriter who has played in the bands Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, Marie/Lepanto, Overseas, New Multitudes, and Monsters of Folk. He also releases records under his own name, and he creates paintings centering on the subject of baseball and its history. As for his writing, his work has appeared in American Short Fiction, and his first novel, If or When I Call, is due out in March.
Please tell us what If or When I Call is about and who your intended audience is.
If or When I Call is a family story—an account of working people, struggling with their respective battles in a place (rural Missouri) that a lot of people might not ever think about. There are some strong cards stacked against them, and there’s unavoidable grimness with that. But I think there’s some hope, too. I didn’t write it for any intended audience. I only wrote to keep myself moving and turned on by the ride.
Would If or When I Call make a good movie? Why?
I guess it could. There are a lot of wide-open spaces in the book: flat terrain, a few road trips, and to my imagination, some good sunsets. I can say that when I write certain scenes, short films often play out in my mind and that inevitably informs the story and various details. There’s a good bit of music referenced in the book, too, so when the scenes play out in my head there’s often some sort of soundtrack accompanying them.
Your background is in music, and you’ve played in several bands. Writing is a much more solitary experience. Do the two experiences feel worlds apart to you?
They don’t feel all that separate, because the songwriting is solitary as well. The recording and camaraderie of touring aren’t, but the writing part is. The one aspect I did need to adjust to was the timeline that exists in seeing things through. With a record, I can generally write, record, and have it mixed and mastered in a matter of weeks. But with the book, I needed to come to terms with the possibility that it would take a couple of years. Obviously, that’s the way it was supposed to be, but after making records for more than half my life, it took a bit to shift gears with that. You have to commit to digging the ditch for the long term, with a lot of backing up, re-writing, and re-working things.
Is there a connection between the subject matter/mood of your song lyrics and the subject matter/mood of your fiction?
I think so. I’ve become less inhibited to just let a moment hang in the balance at the end of a song, or in the book’s case, a chapter. I’ve worked to become comfortable with weirder, or less conventional breaking points. I feel less compelled to try and tidy things up anymore.
What effect has the pandemic had on your creative process?
There’s less writing time than there used to be, and some projects have been pushed back indefinitely. Most of my living before the pandemic was made from touring, and that’s gone. My wife and I are doing our best to help our three kids through this, to be good parents and teachers, and still find time to do our work. I was able to record and release a new record (of pre-pandemic written songs) in the last few months, and I’m making paintings for people at a steady rate. Fortunately, my family and I have stayed healthy. These things are all positive. It’s just different, and like millions of others we’re adjusting as best we can.
Readers may be surprised to learn that in addition to music and writing, you are also a painter of baseball pictures, mostly of players. Why baseball?
It’s been my favorite sport since I was seven or so. Through my adult life, I’ve become more centered on the history of the game, its unsung heroes, the strange and triumphant stories involved, and how baseball’s evolution can tie in with our evolution as a country.
Will you stick with painting sports figures in the future or do you think you’ll move on to players from other professions over time, say music?
I’ve painted a few musicians, authors, and even politicians. I’m usually down for whatever as long as the story is interesting, and hopefully positive. But baseball continues to be the main thing. It’s what I get the most requests for, and what I naturally gravitate toward any time I get free time.
Are you working on a second book at this time?
No. Just taking notes right now, though I think I’ve got sufficient framework in mind for when I finally get the time and space to sit down and get to it.
Where can readers learn more about your work?
- Instagram: willjohnsontx
- Facebook: willjohnsonmusic
- Bandcamp: willjohnson.bandcamp.com
- Wikipedia: Will Johnson (musician)
Images courtesy of Will Johnson. The Artwork (fullsizeoutput0 is copyright and courtesy of Will Johnson
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