Latest / Takin’ A Walk Nashville / Krisita Burket: Honoring Nashville's Music Legacy with her Father's Unpublished Songs
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.
- 0:02Speaker 2: Hey guys, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Taking
- 0:04Speaker 2: a Walk Nashville podcast. I have a really special guest today.
- 0:09Speaker 2: It's very special because it's a full circle moment. I
- 0:13Speaker 2: actually met her last year playing at the Bluebird Cafe
- 0:17Speaker 2: in Nashville. She was in the audience with her mom
- 0:20Speaker 2: visiting from Florida, but she told me the story about
- 0:24Speaker 2: how her dad, David Porter, was a songwriter here in
- 0:27Speaker 2: Nashville in the 90s. He had a publishing deal with
- 0:30Speaker 2: BMI and then was tragically killed in a car accident. Well, today,
- 0:36Speaker 2: 20-plus years later, she's taking his songs, recording them, and
- 0:41Speaker 2: putting them out there for the world. Join me as
- 0:44Speaker 2: we talk about that today, and we talk about her
- 0:47Speaker 2: PR company, David & Daughter Music. I've had some of
- 0:51Speaker 2: her artists on the podcast, like Chandler Marie. I hope
- 0:55Speaker 2: you will tune in to our conversation today.
- 1:03Speaker 1: Welcome to Takin' a Walk Nashville with your host, singer-songwriter,
- 1:07Speaker 1: Sarah Harrelson.
- 1:08Speaker 2: Today, I am here with Cressida Burkett. I'm so happy
- 1:13Speaker 2: to have you on Takin' a Walk Nashville today. This
- 1:16Speaker 2: is definitely kind of a full circle moment. As you know,
- 1:19Speaker 2: we were connected last year when I played at the
- 1:22Speaker 2: Bluebird Cafe and you were in the audience with your
- 1:25Speaker 2: mom and And then after the show, you came up
- 1:28Speaker 2: to me, told me the beautiful story about how your
- 1:31Speaker 2: father was a songwriter here. And in the 90s, he
- 1:35Speaker 2: had a publishing agreement here in Nashville with BMI for
- 1:38Speaker 2: 13 of his songs. Well, his name was David Porter. And,
- 1:42Speaker 2: you know, he was on the cusp of seeing his
- 1:45Speaker 2: dreams become a reality when he was tragically killed in
- 1:48Speaker 2: a car accident in 1993. And you were only nine then. Well,
- 1:52Speaker 2: now you're taking your father's unpublished catalog, you're recording the songs,
- 1:57Speaker 2: you're releasing them in his honor. I loved hearing this
- 2:01Speaker 2: story and love having you here today to talk about it.
- 2:04Speaker 2: This Father's Day, you released Shot Out of the Saddle Again,
- 2:08Speaker 2: a song you wrote. You brought it back to life
- 2:10Speaker 2: at the Welcome to 1979 studio in Nashville. Christina, thank
- 2:15Speaker 2: you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville today.
- 2:17Speaker 3: Tell me more about this.
- 2:19Speaker 2: Collection of your father's songs you're bringing back to life.
- 2:23Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me. This is such
- 2:25Speaker 4: a joy to meet for me. So thank you so much.
- 2:27Speaker 4: So yeah, my dad, as you mentioned, he was a
- 2:30Speaker 4: songwriter on the cusp of seeing his dreams come true.
- 2:33Speaker 4: He wrote hundreds of songs. And at the time of
- 2:36Speaker 4: his death, he had 13 published songs. Um, and he actually,
- 2:42Speaker 4: we got one small royalty check right after he passed away. Um,
- 2:46Speaker 4: someone sang one of his songs on that old show,
- 2:48Speaker 4: You Can Be a Star. Um, so, so anyway, so
- 2:52Speaker 4: I have a trunk of his music. So again, hundreds
- 2:56Speaker 4: of songs, I have lyric sheets and old tapes. And
- 2:59Speaker 4: so I've been on a journey over the last couple
- 3:01Speaker 4: of years to bring those songs back to life and
- 3:04Speaker 4: do something with them. So I've been sifting through them
- 3:07Speaker 4: and I chose four to start with. And so with
- 3:10Speaker 4: those four, I had a demo session here in Nashville.
- 3:14Speaker 4: Like you mentioned it, welcome to 1979.
- 3:16Speaker 3: Great studio. Such a fun studio. And it has a slide. Yes.
- 3:21Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 3:21Speaker 3: It's incredible. It's a perfect spot for it.
- 3:23Speaker 4: So about a year ago, actually, Brandon Lane Moore helped
- 3:28Speaker 4: me produce those and sang vocals. That's who you hear
- 3:31Speaker 4: on the demos. Helped me bring them back to life.
- 3:33Speaker 4: So I have four of those songs that we did
- 3:35Speaker 4: during that demo session. And As you mentioned, I released
- 3:37Speaker 4: the first one, Shot Out of the Saddle, again on
- 3:40Speaker 4: Father's Day of this year.
- 3:42Speaker 3: Very cool.
- 3:43Speaker 2: It's such a great production, too. How did you get
- 3:46Speaker 2: connected with Brandon to work on the song?
- 3:49Speaker 4: Yeah. So I, a couple of years ago, actually won
- 3:53Speaker 4: a songwriting session as part of an auction for my
- 3:58Speaker 4: old company's foundation. So when I saw that as an option,
- 4:01Speaker 4: I'm like, I've got to get that songwriting session here
- 4:03Speaker 4: in Nashville.
- 4:04Speaker 3: So I bid on it and won. And it was with.
- 4:07Speaker 4: Brandon Lane Moore and then another gentleman, Timothy James, another
- 4:10Speaker 4: very talented artist. And So, the time that I met you,
- 4:15Speaker 4: just over last April, I came up for the songwriting session.
- 4:19Speaker 4: And in addition to writing a song with them, I
- 4:21Speaker 4: brought some lyrics to a song called Route 2 that
- 4:24Speaker 4: I wrote about my dad chasing his songwriting dream. So,
- 4:28Speaker 4: they helped me bring that to life. Wow. But I
- 4:30Speaker 4: also use the session to pick their brain on the
- 4:33Speaker 4: music business and try to figure out where do I start?
- 4:36Speaker 4: I mean, how do I bring my dad's songs back
- 4:38Speaker 4: to life? How do I get them into the right hand?
- 4:40Speaker 4: So to hopefully get them recorded by a well-known artist.
- 4:44Speaker 4: to make his dreams come true. And as part of
- 4:46Speaker 4: that session, Brandon was so kind and he offered to
- 4:49Speaker 4: help me with it.
- 4:50Speaker 3: So I took him up on it.
- 4:52Speaker 4: And I'm so appreciative of him that he produced a
- 4:55Speaker 4: session for me, sang vocals, played acoustic guitar, and mixed
- 4:59Speaker 4: and mastered the demos as well. So I owe so
- 5:02Speaker 4: much to Brandon. I'm so grateful for his collaboration on
- 5:05Speaker 4: all of it.
- 5:06Speaker 3: It sounds great.
- 5:07Speaker 2: And he definitely keeps it in the neo-traditional 90s realm
- 5:11Speaker 2: in the production. Did you already have a demo of
- 5:16Speaker 2: the song to go off of? Are there demos of
- 5:20Speaker 2: most of your dad's songs.
- 5:21Speaker 3: Or just lyrics? So there's a combination.
- 5:24Speaker 4: So for this one, Shot Out of the Saddle Again,
- 5:27Speaker 4: there was not an original demo that I had. I
- 5:31Speaker 4: just had the lyric sheet and the chords. And maybe
- 5:34Speaker 4: a year prior to all of this, I had actually
- 5:37Speaker 4: connected with another musician friend back home in Florida and
- 5:40Speaker 4: asked him to put some, bring it to life, you know,
- 5:43Speaker 4: an acoustic style demo. So that's what Brandon had to
- 5:47Speaker 4: work off for that one. But then some of the others,
- 5:50Speaker 4: I do have very old, really rough demos that I
- 5:54Speaker 4: got from cassette tapes that I transferred to digital format.
- 5:58Speaker 4: And that's helped us put the other ones together. Wow.
- 6:01Speaker 3: That's so cool.
- 6:02Speaker 2: I'm sure your dad would be so proud and honored
- 6:05Speaker 2: to see these songs come to life now. So for
- 6:09Speaker 2: the songs that just have lyrics, are you going to
- 6:12Speaker 2: put any melodies to it? Are you a songwriter like
- 6:16Speaker 2: your dad and want to bring those to life?
- 6:20Speaker 3: I love writing.
- 6:21Speaker 4: I unfortunately did not inherit his musical gene, so I'm
- 6:27Speaker 4: not capable of putting them to music myself. So like
- 6:30Speaker 4: I mentioned, he had hundreds. So as I've been sifting
- 6:33Speaker 4: through this chest of his songs, I've been prioritizing the
- 6:38Speaker 4: ones that already have chords with them and melodies and
- 6:41Speaker 4: like the cassette tapes. I've been starting with those. However,
- 6:45Speaker 4: I would love at some point to collaborate with someone
- 6:48Speaker 4: who is musically inclined to put music to some with
- 6:51Speaker 4: the lyrics because they're just so clever and unique and
- 6:56Speaker 4: timeless and I mean, I could totally hear on the
- 6:59Speaker 4: radio today. So I would just love to keep bringing
- 7:02Speaker 4: more of his music to life because it's not fair
- 7:06Speaker 4: that his work and his music died with him so
- 7:10Speaker 4: long ago. So I want to, as his only child,
- 7:13Speaker 4: to try to bring that back to life and share
- 7:16Speaker 4: more of that with the world.
- 7:17Speaker 3: That's so beautiful. And he wrote a song for you
- 7:20Speaker 3: as well, right? I think I saw some of the
- 7:22Speaker 3: lyrics were sweet.
- 7:23Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
- 7:24Speaker 3: So he actually wrote a couple.
- 7:25Speaker 4: So two of his favorite songwriters and musicians are Chris
- 7:29Speaker 4: Christopherson and Rita Coolidge. So that's where I get my name.
- 7:32Speaker 4: So he put Chris and Rita together to make Chrisita.
- 7:35Speaker 4: And then actually seven years before I was even born,
- 7:37Speaker 4: he wrote a song called Chrisita and told my mom,
- 7:40Speaker 4: if we have a girl, I want to name her Chrisita.
- 7:42Speaker 4: So that's where my name comes from. And then I recently,
- 7:46Speaker 4: going through the trunk of songs, found one he wrote
- 7:50Speaker 4: three years after I was born called Sweet Chrisita. And
- 7:53Speaker 4: it's about him coming to Nashville because he would take
- 7:56Speaker 4: trips up here and literally walk down Music Row knocking
- 8:00Speaker 4: on doors trying to sell a song. So he was
- 8:04Speaker 4: torn between leaving me and coming up to pursue his
- 8:07Speaker 4: dreams and doing what he needed to do to see
- 8:10Speaker 4: his dreams come true.
- 8:12Speaker 3: So he was taking a lot of trips from Florida
- 8:15Speaker 3: to Nashville? Yes, exactly.
- 8:17Speaker 4: We lived in Florida. at that time as well. So
- 8:19Speaker 4: he would get in the car and drive up to Nashville,
- 8:22Speaker 4: sometimes for a week or more at a time, just
- 8:24Speaker 4: trying to pursue those songwriting dreams. Wow.
- 8:27Speaker 2: And you recently got to share your father's story on
- 8:32Speaker 2: the Opry stage, correct? Yeah.
- 8:35Speaker 4: So the company I worked for for almost 16 years,
- 8:38Speaker 4: I was in corporate public relations and communications And that company,
- 8:43Speaker 4: we had our annual conference in Nashville for several years.
- 8:47Speaker 4: And so we would rent out the Opry, the Grand
- 8:50Speaker 4: Ole Opry. And I had the honor of.
- 8:52Speaker 3: Being the MC.
- 8:53Speaker 4: So I had the privilege of walking out on the
- 8:58Speaker 4: Opry stage in that iconic circle.
- 9:01Speaker 3: And I was able to do it twice.
- 9:04Speaker 4: And so I got to share my dad and the
- 9:08Speaker 4: story behind my name. And then the second time I
- 9:10Speaker 4: did it, I actually got to walk out to one
- 9:12Speaker 4: of his songs. So I like to say he made
- 9:15Speaker 4: his Grand Ole Opry debut. Yeah. So hopefully there'll be
- 9:18Speaker 4: another song from him on the stage at some point.
- 9:21Speaker 2: Oh, that's so beautiful that one of his songs made
- 9:24Speaker 2: the Opry stage. I love that. You also noted that
- 9:28Speaker 2: you hope to gain visibility from an established artist who
- 9:31Speaker 2: maybe they want, they hear the track and they want
- 9:34Speaker 2: to cut it, make it their own. And in turn,
- 9:37Speaker 2: this will further fulfill your late father's songwriting dreams. You know,
- 9:42Speaker 2: whether it happens or not, I think it's such a
- 9:44Speaker 2: tremendous honor just for you to be recording these songs.
- 9:49Speaker 2: When you listen to some of these demos, do you
- 9:53Speaker 2: hear them going to a particular artist?
- 9:56Speaker 3: Yeah, so I could see them going.
- 10:00Speaker 4: So Shot Out of the Saddle again, for example, I
- 10:02Speaker 4: could see that going with an artist that has bringing
- 10:06Speaker 4: back that neo-traditional sound, you know, like the Zach Topps
- 10:10Speaker 4: of the world, Walker Montgomery. I could also see a
- 10:13Speaker 4: mainstream artist picking it up and customizing it, making it
- 10:17Speaker 4: their own, like a Blake Shelton. So I'm certainly open.
- 10:20Speaker 4: And I know a lot of artists these days write
- 10:23Speaker 4: their own songs, too. Mm-hmm. So if it's something where
- 10:26Speaker 4: an artist heard the song and thought it was a
- 10:28Speaker 4: good fit, I'm certainly open to exploring co-writing opportunities so
- 10:32Speaker 4: they could really take it and make it theirs.
- 10:35Speaker 3: Just to help get my dad's work out into the world.
- 10:38Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 10:38Speaker 2: And that's something you could even explore with the lyrics
- 10:41Speaker 2: that still need melodies if they don't have melodies yet.
- 10:44Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great.
- 10:45Speaker 4: I'm open to all sorts of collaboration and advice, certainly. Wow.
- 10:50Speaker 2: So are you back in the studio recording more songs or.
- 10:55Speaker 3: What's next for the releases?
- 10:57Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 10:57Speaker 4: Yeah. So I have the four demos from that original
- 11:01Speaker 4: session we did last year. So Shot Out of the Saddle, again,
- 11:03Speaker 4: was the first one I released. And I actually, I
- 11:05Speaker 4: was debating releasing it because my goal was to get
- 11:08Speaker 4: it into the right hands to hopefully get the song recorded.
- 11:13Speaker 4: And I debated, but I figured getting it out into
- 11:17Speaker 4: the Spotify world and social media, hopefully it'll help with
- 11:20Speaker 4: the visibility. So it was so meaningful to release that
- 11:24Speaker 4: song on Father's Day. I couldn't think of a better
- 11:26Speaker 4: time to release the first one. And so I'm actually
- 11:30Speaker 4: going to release a second one I decided on September 16th,
- 11:34Speaker 4: which is the second anniversary of David and Daughter, the
- 11:37Speaker 4: company I formed to house my dad's catalog and now
- 11:41Speaker 4: help support other artists share their music. It's called Won't
- 11:44Speaker 4: You Come Back. So I'm excited to release that one.
- 11:47Speaker 4: And then hopefully I'll release the other two down the
- 11:50Speaker 4: road as well. And then at some point, I would
- 11:52Speaker 4: love to get back in the studio and record more.
- 11:55Speaker 4: It was just such an incredible experience to see my
- 11:59Speaker 4: dad's songs come back to life and now get to
- 12:01Speaker 4: share them.
- 12:03Speaker 3: I'm sure it was so emotional for you and your
- 12:05Speaker 3: mother to hear the songs come to life too. Oh,
- 12:08Speaker 3: it was.
- 12:08Speaker 1: It was.
- 12:09Speaker 4: And it was so special because my dad's nephew, my cousin,
- 12:13Speaker 4: he's a professional bass player. And he actually tours the
- 12:16Speaker 4: world playing bass for different bands. He lives out in California.
- 12:20Speaker 4: And the stars just happened to align for him to
- 12:24Speaker 4: be available that week.
- 12:25Speaker 3: And he met us in Nashville. So he's the one
- 12:27Speaker 3: playing bass online. on the demo.
- 12:29Speaker 4: So it just made it extra special having him a
- 12:32Speaker 4: part of the project too.
- 12:34Speaker 3: That's so special.
- 12:35Speaker 2: I can't wait to hear the next single. So when
- 12:37Speaker 2: people look it up on Spotify, is it under your
- 12:40Speaker 2: father's name as the artist, David Porter?
- 12:42Speaker 4: So it's under David and Daughter. So I have an
- 12:44Speaker 4: account there, David and Daughter on Spotify.
- 12:47Speaker 3: Okay, great.
- 12:48Speaker 2: Listeners can check it out there on all listening platforms.
- 12:51Speaker 2: As you mentioned, you own your own PR company now,
- 12:55Speaker 2: David and Daughter Music. What does it mean to be
- 12:59Speaker 2: helping other artists with their music? We recently had one
- 13:03Speaker 2: of your PR artists, Chandler Marie, on the podcast.
- 13:06Speaker 4: It has been, honestly, a dream come true. As I mentioned,
- 13:10Speaker 4: I worked in corporate public relations for about 20 years
- 13:12Speaker 4: and primarily in healthcare.
- 13:15Speaker 3: And that was wonderful. But every time I would be at.
- 13:20Speaker 4: Somewhere with live music, we have a great listening room
- 13:23Speaker 4: near my house in Florida, the Blue Jay. And I
- 13:28Speaker 4: would just sit there in the audience and think, oh,
- 13:31Speaker 4: I want to help these artists so much. I would
- 13:33Speaker 4: love to use my PR expertise to help these artists
- 13:36Speaker 4: share their music with the world. And honestly, it just
- 13:39Speaker 4: kind of happened organically. I started David and Daughter as
- 13:42Speaker 4: a publishing company to house my dad's songs. And then actually,
- 13:47Speaker 4: thanks to you, Sarah, I heard an interview you had
- 13:51Speaker 4: done with Rachel of Scarlet River PR. And she was
- 13:55Speaker 4: talking about moving from the UK to the US and
- 13:59Speaker 4: wanted to expand and About that time, I had the
- 14:02Speaker 4: opportunity to leave the corporate world. So I reached out
- 14:05Speaker 4: to her and she's just been such a great mentor
- 14:07Speaker 4: and helped me with this PR side of David and Daughter.
- 14:11Speaker 4: And it has just been honestly such a dream just
- 14:14Speaker 4: to help other musicians share their music. It's been so
- 14:19Speaker 4: much fun and just such an honor, really.
- 14:21Speaker 3: I love that so much.
- 14:22Speaker 2: Yeah, I had a former podcast called Mind Your Music Business,
- 14:25Speaker 2: where I would interview people about the business side of
- 14:28Speaker 2: the industry. So yeah, we had Rachel on about PR.
- 14:31Speaker 2: So I'm so glad you found that episode. And- We
- 14:34Speaker 2: had your artist Chandler Marie on Taking a Walk Nashville.
- 14:36Speaker 2: We're going to have Bronnie on here. Who are some
- 14:39Speaker 2: of the other artists you're working with right now?
- 14:41Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm working with a really fun band, Fox and Bones.
- 14:45Speaker 4: They're actually based out in Oregon. My cousin Jared, who
- 14:50Speaker 4: I mentioned, played on the demos. He tours with them
- 14:52Speaker 4: a lot. And they are releasing their album September 18th,
- 14:56Speaker 4: Are We Still Having Fun? They're an indie pop Americana
- 15:01Speaker 4: type sound. Very creative, just amazing music. So they're one
- 15:08Speaker 4: I'm focused on right now.
- 15:09Speaker 3: I can't wait to check that out.
- 15:10Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 15:12Speaker 2: And then I have another question for you, and we're
- 15:15Speaker 2: on Taking a Walk Nashville, so I wanted to make
- 15:17Speaker 2: this a little bit more custom to you, Cressida. But
- 15:21Speaker 2: if you could take a walk with your dad today
- 15:24Speaker 2: in Nashville, where would you take that walk? And what
- 15:27Speaker 2: song of his would the two of you.
- 15:29Speaker 3: Be listening to on that walk? Oh, man, what a
- 15:32Speaker 3: great question.
- 15:32Speaker 4: Yeah. I think it would be fun to, maybe if
- 15:39Speaker 4: I can have two answers. Of course. One, to walk
- 15:41Speaker 4: down music row with him. I've done that before, just
- 15:46Speaker 4: kind of envisioning him, you know, walking down, knocking on
- 15:50Speaker 4: those doors. So walking down Music Row and then Broadway.
- 15:55Speaker 4: I know it's changed a lot and it's evolved, but
- 15:58Speaker 4: there's just so much talent down there. So I think
- 16:01Speaker 4: it'd be fun to take a walk down there. And, oh,
- 16:04Speaker 4: he has so many great songs. I think Shot Out
- 16:07Speaker 4: of the Saddle, again, that one's just so fun. I
- 16:09Speaker 4: would want it to be a fun, upbeat experience. So
- 16:13Speaker 4: I think that would be a good time.
- 16:15Speaker 3: Oh, that's special.
- 16:16Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely has Zach Topp vibes with that song
- 16:19Speaker 2: if people go check it out. And yeah, your dad
- 16:22Speaker 2: would probably be pretty surprised about how music row and
- 16:25Speaker 2: Broadway has changed.
- 16:27Speaker 3: Since the 90s. Yes, definitely.
- 16:29Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just a whole nother world now too. And
- 16:32Speaker 4: when he was around, it was literally knocking on doors.
- 16:35Speaker 4: But now it's all social media and digital. He He
- 16:39Speaker 4: wouldn't know what to do with himself.
- 16:41Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure you would be so proud that these
- 16:44Speaker 2: songs are coming back to life 20 to 30 years later.
- 16:49Speaker 3: And, you know, you're still.
- 16:50Speaker 2: Being true to the production with, you know, the 90s.
- 16:54Speaker 2: sound that he wrote them in, how he made the demos.
- 16:57Speaker 2: It's so beautiful. Corsita Burkett, thank you so much for
- 17:01Speaker 2: being on Taking a Walk Nashville today and sharing the
- 17:05Speaker 2: songs of David Porter. And everyone can check out those
- 17:09Speaker 2: songs under David and Daughter on all listening platforms.
- 17:13Speaker 3: Thank you so very much. I really appreciate you having me.
- 17:18Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.
- 17:21Speaker 1: Please check out our other shows produced by Buzz Night
- 17:24Speaker 1: Media Productions, Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me, hosted
- 17:29Speaker 1: by Lynn Hoffman, and Take It a Walk, hosted by
- 17:33Speaker 1: yours truly, Buzz Night. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
- 17:39Speaker 1: and are part of the iHeart Podcast Network.