Ed Woltil has spent a good portion of his pandemic isolation completing a superb new album, One in My Tree, his first in six years. With his workload as a freelance graphic designer sorely diminished due to the coronavirus, the singer/songwriter/guitarist focused on bringing the project across the finish line.
One in My Tree, co-produced by guitarist Steve Connelly, kept Woltil busy and engaged instead of just stacking days. But one of his core creative pursuits has faded during the pandemic.
“At the beginning of the lockdown, I noticed that a lot of [musicians] had this notion of, ‘Oh, I can use this time to write and be more productive,’” Woltil said during a phone interview in early July. “I found that not to be the case with me. I’ve been in such a weird state of mind that I haven’t been focusing on producing material. I’m grateful that I’ve had the album and other projects to complete. I just don’t feel like sitting down and writing.”
The 12 songs in One in My Tree were composed over a five-year period. In 2014, after releasing his Paper Boats album, Woltil told friends it might be his last. But the songwriting instinct stuck like lint on a black T-shirt, so he continued to generate melodic ideas and scraps of lyrics. In late 2015, Woltil lay in bed, sick, pondering the recent San Bernardino terrorist attack. Fourteen people killed. The horror swam in his head. Unable to sleep, he engaged in a wee-hours songwriting session that yielded the powerful “Fourteen Angels,” a simmering indictment of wanton violence, do-nothing politicians, the bandwagon media and more, all tinged with deep sadness for the victims.
“Sometimes the antennae come out and it’s like taking dictation,” Woltil said of songwriting. “It comes from the subconscious, something that’s on your mind or in your heart that forms into words. Other times, I just chisel away, chisel away. But I’ve also come to the point where I can recognize if a song idea is not worth pursuing.”
“Fourteen Angels” is the centerpiece amid a dozen outstanding numbers on One in My Tree—a blend of hooky power-pop, moving ballads and a dash of Americana. It’s also one of those rare albums with lyrics that consistently combine deep emotional resonance, social comment and clever rhyme-craft. The pandemic moved the project’s finish line further out, and prevented Woltil from sitting with Connelly in his Zen Recording studio to collaborate on mixes. “I would for sure want to do that, if for no other reason than to hang out with Steve in the studio” Woltil said, “Instead we had to exchange mixes and individual parts remotely.”
Fortunately, that technique was not new for either. Woltil laid down most of the basic tracks—vocals, guitar and bass—in a bare-bones studio in a spare bedroom of his home in Belleair Bluffs. He puts colored ribbons on the doorknob to let his wife Laura know he’s in session. Connelly added guitar, including punchy solos, and a bit of pedal steel. The project moved along steadily, if more slowly. In all, the lack of face-to-face collaboration certainly did not hurt the finished product.
At 63, Woltil is among a handful of legacy rock artists who have consistently produced high-quality, and often brilliant, music—on the bandstand and in the studio. He’s also been, since the mid-1980s, a kind and supportive member of the local music community. Late last year, Woltil fronted The Florida Bjorkestra in a masterful tribute to Nick Drake at the Palladium in St. Petersburg.
Woltil’s partnership with fellow singer/songwriter Brian Merrill, called The Ditchflowers, produced the best album ever made by a Tampa Bay act: 2007’s Carried Away. I’m sure readers have their own opinion about the finest album ever made by a Tampa Bay artist.
Carried Away is mine.
Merrill thinks highly of his one-time partner. “Ed’s incredible to work with, and such a sweet person,” he told CL. “He’s remarkably gifted, an incredible craftsman and so prolific. I had a hard time keeping up. He always wanted me to critique his work. That was hard for me to do because I like what he does so much.”
Ed Woltil remembers the moment his life went from black-and-white to technicolor. He was just shy of his seventh birthday in 1964 when his mother, Katherine, came home with a gift: a 45-rpm single by The Beatles, “Please Please Me,” which she’d bought at a local appliance store (the salesman told her it was all the rage with the younger set). “Up to that point, I had never thought once or twice about music,” WoItil recalled. “I was a kid so I put the B-side on first. It was ‘From Me To You.’ The Beatles were the Big Bang.”
For a significant number of Baby Boomers (myself included), discovering The Beatles was a life-altering experience. The Fab Four’s invasion of America prompted young people across the land to grow out their hair (if their parents allowed it), plead for a pair of black “Beatle boots” (aka Chelsea boots), and, most important, start playing guitar, bass and drums. Many formed bands and fumbled their way through simple three-chord cover tunes in basements and garages.
Ed Woltil was one of those kids. At age seven, he tried guitar lessons, but they didn’t stick. His fandom persisted, though, and expanded to include all the ‘60s adolescent-male touchstones: Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, et al. In his early teens, Woltil gave music another shot, pooling cash he’d saved up with that of his parents to buy a cheap Rexina guitar and small amp at J.M. Fields department store. This time, he taught himself to play.
“I spent hours and hours trying to sound like …,” Woltil paused, searching for a name. “Eric Clapton,” he said with a chuckle. Woltil’s quest to become a guitar god didn’t last. “I kind of just grew out of it. It was probably just maturing and getting past that adolescent period of hero worship. There was also the realization that I’d never come close to being as good as Jeff Beck. I returned to my first love—the song. I started writing and just kept at it.”
Woltil introduced some of his early tunes into the repertoire of a loose-knit band he was part of, Thunderhead, mostly as vehicles to ignite jam sessions. After finishing high school, he became romantically involved with a fellow Largo High School graduate, Laura Osborn. They wed at age 19. (The couple remains married, and has two adult daughters.) “Laura and her brother were more into folk and the singer-songwriter stuff, and that influenced me,” Wotil recalled. “Without them I don’t think I would have gotten into Carole King, James Taylor, John Prine and those kinds of artists.”
Woltil earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of South Florida. “I was paying attention to Elvis Costello and Squeeze, and the lyrics they wrote appealed to the English-lit major in me,” he said. “They didn’t necessarily give my writing depth at the time, but I was really taken with the wonderful craft. It unlocked in me the need to work more on lyrics.”
Woltil’s first band of consequence was Mad For Electra (MFE). He played guitar, wrote most of the material and sang lead. His predilection for power-pop is evident in the group’s tunes (Click here for our survey of essential power-pop songs). Mad For Electra was part of a fruitful period in the Tampa Bay music scene that lasted roughly from the mid-1980s to mid-‘90s. A bevy of acts including The Headlights, Deloris Telescope, Parade in Paris, Multi-Color House, Real Cameras, The Catherine Wheel and Mod L Citizen played original music in such nightspots as the ACL Club, Club Detroit, El Gordo, the Swamp Club, Club More and others. Because bands often shared bills, the community became tight-knit and synergistic.
Many of the musicians dreamed of rock stardom, of course, and diligently pursued record contracts. A few signed deals, mostly with small labels, but none became stars. Woltil wasn’t really wired for that sort of dogged pursuit. “We took some scattershot stabs at it,” he said of trying to get MFE signed. “But I don’t think we had the temperament or the tools or the ego to go all in. If we did, we probably would’ve picked up and moved to Los Angeles. Also, I had young daughters, and I was never willing to sacrifice the sanctity and health of my family to pursue music.”
Mad For Electra split in the mid-‘90s after a solid run. Woltil teamed up with Connelly—a former member of The Headlights—to form Drive Thru Church, a formidable but short-lived band. It solidified a friendship and musical bond that Woltil describes as “each other’s right-hand man.”
Around this time, Woltil took a sharp turn in his musical journey. A growing disillusionment with the constant churn of nighttime gigs and other factors led him toward Christian music. He and his family were active members of Anona Methodist Church in Largo. Woltil signed on to help lead the church band and its youth ensemble.
He maintained his remove from the local secular scene for 10 years. Mark Warren, himself a key member of the Bay area music community, kept in touch, calling regularly, sometimes presenting gig opportunities. One of those was with the power-pop band Barely Pink, led by Merrill. Woltil played a few shows with the group.
Merrill had two song demos with considerable promise but felt they needed something more. So Woltil added parts and helped complete them. “My Next Life” and “Hearts Caved In” inspired the tandem to form The Ditchflowers. Riding a burst of creativity, they wrote and recorded at Merrill’s fully-equipped garage studio in St. Pete, emerging with Carried Away.
Merrill remembers the year-long project fondly. “We would meet at my studio, mostly on Tuesdays,” he said. “We had no timeline. We just kept going and having fun with it. At some point, I was listening back to the songs and started to go, ‘Oh my God, there’s really something going on here’—especially when it was finished, I allowed myself to think, ‘This is really, really good.’ I didn’t tell anybody that.”
He didn’t have to. The music spoke for itself, and rightfully earned a widespread positive reception. The duo formed a live band, which often included Connelly, and played sporadic gigs. In 2011, The Ditchflowers released a 14-song follow-up, Bird’s Eye, a laudable effort that didn’t quite achieve the sublimity of their debut.
During most of our two-hour interview, Ed Woltil walked his neighborhood. He said it clears his head and makes for better conversation. He and Laura take long walks daily, as well as bike rides. They’re avid campers who like to rough it. Ed is also a bird enthusiast who keeps a log of his sightings.
Earlier this year, the Woltils planned a two-week trip to upstate New York and back to celebrate Laura’s retirement from teaching second grade at Anona Elementary School. They were to be joined by their oldest daughter, her husband and twin granddaughters. The pandemic scotched that early-summer trip.
On the musical front, Woltil has a batch of songs ready to refine and record. One of them, “Ultramarine,” a collaboration with singer/songwriter Steve Robinson, is already in production. It features sterling guitar work by Dave Gregory of XTC, a linchpin of British power-pop. Gregory performed his parts, including a knockout solo, in England.
While the dearth of music gigs and a cut back in Ed’s graphic-design work have dented the Woltils’ finances, it has not put them in dire straits, he said. “We’re doing OK,” he added. “Laura’s now got her state pension. We have savings we haven’t needed to touch, and I have a little bit of [design] work. Our needs and wants are pretty simple. Eating in white-table-cloth restaurants is not one of them. I have to say, though, that making music during the pandemic has been a real lifeline.”
Check out “Make Me” and “Migrator” from One in My Tree on YouTube. You can purchase One in My Tree as a download or CD at Bandcamp. Stream Ed Woltil’s music on Spotify and Apple Music.
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