Hi Carrie. Please explain the state of mind you were in when you wrote these songs.
I was definitely in a time of transition, and this album is about trying to express all the things I've given up to be able to be on the road full time. With that said, it's also about all the things I've gained from doing this, and about trying to make sure that I'm gaining more than I'm giving up. It goes off track every now and then, but that's the common theme of these songs.

It's simply that difficult?
It's very difficult, and very exhausting on a lot of levels. I think every full time singer-songwriter has that same gripe. It puts you in a vulnerable position, putting yourself out there, night after night, sitting in a place where everyone can judge you. But on the flip side of things, I absolutely love doing it, I love performing for people, and I enjoy hearing about what people are taking from the songs The meaning of a song is unique to each individual.  I just love that. 

You seem to have this great community thing going down there in Austin. I know AJ Roach and Nels Andrews, among many others, are close friends of yours. Is that what attracts you to Austin?
Both AJ and Nels live in New York, so we usually see them on the road more often than we see them in Austin. The scene in Austin is great, but I'm just not there that often, which makes it difficult to dive into the community.  I’ve slowly found my people though.  I’ve yet to find another city like Austin. You can go out on a Tuesday night at midnight and see Johnny Cash's old backing band, so it's a pretty magical place. And also, if you're a full time musician in Austin, you get healthcare. There's a  non-profit organization here that takes care of us.

You worked with Sam Baker, one of my biggest heroes, on this record, in fact, it was recorded in his house in Austin. What's it like having such a gifted songwriter in the room with you?
Of course I see him in the same light as everyone else, as an amazing songwriter. But he's also a really good friend of mine, and I guess that made it like hanging with a pal. He's created this beautiful home, an amazing space with an energy like none other. It just has this vibration to it all the time, it's a really beautiful thing. Sam wasn't a big part of the project as far as production and those things. He sings on Dear Sam, and he was around, painting, just going in and out of the room we were recording in. But just having him there meant the world to me.

Recording an album in your friend's house sounds like the best possible settings for a creative process. Was it?
The time leading up to the recording was kind of stressful. I knew I wanted to do it live in just five days, but I also wanted to do it at a time when I knew a lot of my favorite songwriters would be passing through Texas, around the time of the Kerrville Folk Festival. So we moved the studio to Sam's house and completed the project in four days. My band was incredible. Colin Brooks from The Band of Heathens produced and engineered the record with Danny Schmidt, another amazing songwriter, who also happens to be my partner, so all the people involved on this record are people I know really well, and who know me as a person and as a songwriter. They know what it means to me.

What's it like being two songwriters in one relationship?
It's actually a pretty special and unique thing Usually we're on the road separately, and that part of it is difficult, the touring part of it. But being home and being songwriters together, I feel like we're still growing into that, after having been together for a few years. We've started doing a little more collaborating, writing together and understanding each other's creative process. We work in much different ways, but we have such a respect for what the other is doing. So I would say, it's pretty functional. (laugh)

Call It My Garden comes out almost exactly at the same time as Danny's new album, Many of Many Moons. Are you trying to synchronize your careers?
It definitely wasn't intentional. It's just the cycle of the way things happened I recorded my record and played the Red House Barn Fest here in the Midwest, and I was signed after the record was ready to go to press. Being on Red House Records wasn't a planned thing for me, although I was quite excited when they signed me. Danny was already planning on releasing his album around that time, so it was completely random.

I've spoken to Alison Moorer, who's married to Steve Earle, and Paul Curreri, who's married to Devon Sproule. What surprised me was that none of them seem to actually work together when it comes to music. Is it the same way with you and Danny?
Yeah, we pretty much work in separate rooms as well. There's always a lot of music in the house, but normally, when we're working on music together, we'll be hosting a songwriting group in Austin, with Sam Baker, Colin Brooks and folks like that. And also, that's probably when we're the most creative together, when we're with the rest of our community. But yeah, we're usually in separate rooms.

Here's a very simple question. Why do you sing?
I've been singing all my life, I grew up singing in church, and it's what grounds me more than anything. It's a funny way to put it, but I've had all these out-of-this-world moments from singing that I couldn't find anywhere else. I can't imagine expressing myself in another way, and I can't imagine that people would understand me as a person if they haven't heard me sing. That's where my emotions come out the most. It's a very raw and emotional place to be in, and it's a place that I like to be in.

What inspires you?
Nature is a big one. I spend a lot of time outside. And, just sitting back, watching the world and the way peoples' lives are unfolding. A lot of the songs I write are from a male point of view, trying to understand how your crazy minds work.

Well there's a never ending struggle!
Ha ha! Right. A lot of the songs are also relationship-based, trying to figure out how to keep any relationship going with what I'm doing, friendships, my relationship with Danny, you know, all those things. It's not easy staying connected to everybody when you're on the road so much.

But being in a relationship with another songwriter must make things easier?
Well, there's definitely a different understanding there, but on the flip side of the coin, it would also be nice if you could come home after being on the road for several months, and there would be someone there who had taken care of everything at home. You know, cleaned out the fridge! But I feel very fortunate that Danny and I are together, and I'm not sure a relationship with a non-musician would work. I'm not sure it would work for either of us. But a lot of my singer/songwriter friends are married to non-musicians, and I suppose the musician-life would seem very romantic to someone who isn't leading it. But once they go on one tour with their partner, they normally don’t want to do it again!

Carrie Elkin's Call It My Garden is out now on Red House Records. Her tour starts April 6th in Hempstead where she'll be performing at The Bluebell Inn, and ends April 23rd in Wales.