I had the opportunity to speak with singer/songwriter/guitarist "Shannon Curfman" recently, the newest rising star in teen population. During the interview she was poised and well spoken, more than most fourteen year olds I've spoken with. She spoke as a musician who plans on being around for a long time, rather than a new artist with one album under her belt. However, Shannon has reason for her confidence. Her album is getting a lot of attention already. Her live show is fun, not only for her, but also for her band-mates and the audience. Here's what she had to say. . . AMZ - I noticed you co-wrote a lot of the songs on the album. How are the writing chores broken up? SC - It really depends. Sometimes we'll come in with a title, or a line, or a phrase, or chord, or just a story idea in general and work from that. AMZ - Do you do most of the writing yourself, or is it more of a collaborative effort for both the lyrics and the music? SC - It's definitely collaborative with the lyrics and the actual music to the song. AMZ - I figured it had to be because a lot of the songs are about adult relationships. You'd probably need a little bit of input there. SC - (Laughing) AMZ - What influences your writing? SC - There's not much a 14 year old doesn't know as far as relationships and stuff. Just being around people you know what's going on. AMZ - You mean everyday things are what come into play? SC - It could be TV, or anything. . . AMZ - I read that your album was first released on Pop Sense. How did you get involved with them? SC - That's my manager's record label, out of Minneapolis. AMZ - How did you meet your manager? SC - He just came out and found me from word around Minneapolis. AMZ - Just from playing at clubs, etc.? SC - We weren't really looking for a manager at the time. We had a mutual friend and a lot of the same buddies around town. He just asked "You want a manager?" and I said, "Sure." AMZ - Do you like to tour? SC - Oh, I love the tour! It's what I was waiting for. To be able to get on the road and play in different places. You wake up in a different state every day, hang out, see the country and it will be the world. AMZ - It must be a lot of fun. SC - Mm hm, It's a blast! AMZ - Is it a lot different, now that you're with a major label that backs you and gets you into clubs? SC - Now there's a bigger team. AMZ - Were you doing it all on your own before? SC - Before Jake, we were just touring around the mid-west, getting a fan base in that area, trying to do TV and things like that when we could. We did a lot of fairs and festivals, stuff like that. AMZ - How did you go about forming the touring band? Was that pretty much put together by Arista? SC - No, we had this band the band before we signed. We had trials in Minneapolis with various players. AMZ - How did you meet Kevin Murphy? SC - Just from the try outs. They were done over about a month. We weeded out everybody one by one. It was a really slow process. (laughs) When we finally got to the place where things meshed together in playing and personalities, we were set. AMZ - I was thinking that your age probably has opened a lot of doors for you, but probably also gets in the way. How does it get in the way? SC - It gets in the way when people don't take me seriously. They might think I'm just another gum chewing, hair twirling, teenie bopper or something. No matter how old I am, I'm still doing music. My goal isn't to have a hit or a couple of hits, or just a hit record and then live off that money. AMZ - You're looking for the long haul? SC - I'm not looking for the long haul for the reasons that people might think because of my age. It's because I couldn't ever picture myself not playing and not being in music. The female thing still gets in the way too. My best advice is to come see the show and judge from that. Hopefully, you'll have a chance to really know what's going instead of just hearing the recording, or what other people are saying. AMZ - Yeah, I really did enjoy the show. I was surprised how much stage presence you have already. It was good. SC - Thank you. AMZ - Touring must turn into a big blur after a while. SC - Mm hm. You don't know what city you're in. People will call you on your cell phone. It's not like they're calling a specific place where they can tell where you're at. My sister will call and I'm looking through the hotel directory or the phone book to find the city or state I'm in. But it's fun. AMZ - When you get on stage, is it similar each time, just looking out into a crowd? SC - You always remember the places and the promoters, the people and the crowd. It's just that it's hard to remember which city you were in at the time. Definitely when you look back there are things you remember. AMZ - What's your favorite thing about being on the road? SC - Being able to let people all over the world see the show. The traveling and getting the history of different places. Not having to make your bed. Ordering room service is always nice, no dishes, not having to clean. I like it all. AMZ - What's the worst thing about it. SC - I haven't really found anything bad about it yet. I don't know. Ask me in ten years. AMZ - (Laugh) You'll probably find a lot of things by then. SC - With a lot of bands that open for us we'll end up talking about touring. They say, "You like the road?" I say, "Yeah, I love it." They'll be like, "Well you're definitely new at this." But, you just have to make the time to keep it fun and do other things, and don't get stressed out about petty little things. Just always stay above them. AMZ - That's true of everything. If you can do that, it's just a big part of life. SC - It's like there's no use in complaining about things you can't do anything about. AMZ - Do you have any funny road stories you want to tell? SC - (Pausing for a long time) "Um, I don't think so. I'm not going any further than that." (Laughs) AMZ - Okay. That's the first time I've ever asked that question. ( SC - We have kind of a war going on. My guitar player tends to lose things all the time. So, we've done things like. . .if one of the guys has their girlfriend flying in, they'll return the rent-a-car and meet us whereever we are. Then we'll have the rental company call and say the car is missing. Just stuff that really freaks them out. I don't know, we're kind of mean. I don't know why I'm telling you. (Laughs.) AMZ - So, practical jokes? SC - We need stuff to keep us amused on the road, so we have little wars. AMZ - One team plays a joke on the other, then the other plays one back? SC - Yeah. (laughing) AMZ - Do you have a song that's a particular favorite for you to perform? SC - "Playing With Fire" is always really fun, just 'cause you get to let loose on the song and do whatever comes up comes up, because its such a rocker. That's one of my favorites, for the moment. AMZ - One of things I started thinking about in preparation for this interview is what I was like when I was your age. There'd be no way I could have possibly done what you're doing. Is there anything that's helped you along the way that made it possible for you? SC - Yeah, definitely having supportive parents, because without my parents I wouldn't be able to do this at all. I'd still be living in Fargo. Going to guitar lessons every week, learning the top 40 songs. (Laughs) Without their help and support and belief in me, I couldn't do all this. My Mom quit her job to let me go to home school. AMZ - What do you do for fun besides music? SC - Movies, sleep. I love cooking, but that's not possible on the road. Just walking around. Every city we're in, we try to go to museums. Roller blade, bike, hike, golf and fish. Go to concerts of course. AMZ - What's your favorite concert you've ever been to? SC - Prince, The Artist, is my favorite as far as a stage thing. Reba Mcintyre puts on a good show, but Page & Plant was my favorite "Rah" concert. AMZ - How long have you been home schooling? SC - For a few years now. . .four years. AMZ - Do you miss anything about being at school? SC - No! AMZ - How was the David Letterman Show? Did you get interviewed by Letterman or just play? SC - I played with the band for the hour. David just kind of talked to me during the show - between guests. AMZ - Is there anything you want to talk about that we haven't covered yet? SC - Oh, one thing. I'll be on Good Morning America on November 24th. It's a thing on Clive Davis, the president of Arista. AMZ - Thanks for talking to me. This was a lot of fun.