Names: Ashley Campbell, Thor Jensen
Interviewee: Thor Jensen
Occupations: Singers, songwriters, guitarist (Thor), banjo player (Ashley)
Nationalities: American
Current release: The new Campbell/Jensen album Turtle Cottage is out now.

If you enjoyed this interview with Campbell/Jensen and would like to stay up to date with the duo and their music, visit their official homepage. They are also on Instagram.



What were some of your earliest collaborations? How do you look back on them with hindsight?

My first 2 bands were collaborations in the purest sense. I was the youngest of a group of 5 (I was 16, they were 19-21), and all any of us knew is what we liked to hear. We knew next to nothing and it was incredible. A very “yes, and?” approach to it all. We were trying to have as much fun as we could and trying to be better every time we got together.

It was one of the greatest times of my life, and really set everything into motion for me as far as how I create art with people. We chase a muse as far as we can.
 
There are many potential models for collaboration, from live performances and jamming/producing in the same room together up to file sharing. Which of these do you prefer – and why?  

As you can maybe tell from my first answer, I much prefer sitting in a room with people.

Our first instruments are our ears and putting yourself in a vulnerable situation like that is the best was to exercise that instrument.
 
How did this particular collaboration come about?

Very organically. Ashley and I met when someone recommended me as a guitar teacher, specifically for the style of Django Reinhardt, which I’ve been studying for over a decade.

Soon after I started playing in Ashley’s band, and then we each expressed the interest in writing together for duo. Our voices sat nicely together and we have different enough backgrounds for a collaboration to be quite an interesting journey.
 
What do you generally look for in a collaborator in general and what made you want to collaborate with each other specifically?

The first thing I look for in a collaborator is first and foremost personality. Do we get along?

Next is a musical perspective that might share some opinions with my own, but a history that comes from a different place. If we both draw a circle the same way, how will we discover new shapes?
 
Tell me a bit about your current instruments and tools, please. In which way do they support creative exchange and collaborations with others?  

I am a guitarist to the core, and after 30 years of playing I’m still fascinated what you can do with the instrument.

This project currently has me playing acoustic only, which has wonderful limitations that I’m really enjoying. Just your hands and the instrument. What a journey!
 
Before you started making music together, did you in any form exchange concrete ideas, goals, or strategies? Generally speaking, what are your preferences when it comes to planning vs spontaneity in a collaboration?
 
The only thing that was planned with this group was that it was to begin with just the two of us, and that’s all. Most of this experience has followed the “yes, and?” approach and it’s been a joy.

Describe the process of working together, please. What was different from your expectations and what did the other add to the music?

I do my best to enter every project with no expectations. If I go in with expectations then I’m doing a disservice to the project. It’d be like entering a conversation waiting to talk as opposed to listening to the person in front of me.
 
Is there a piece which shows the different aspects you each contributed to the process particularly clearly?

I think “Exit Zero” is a great example. That was just two people seeing a faint light on a foggy path, charting a course with their respective abilities until they found the prize.
 


What are your thoughts on the need for compromise vs standing by one's convictions? How did you resolve potential disagreements in this collaboration?

Disagreements are unavoidable, we’re human.

But in the end, you have to do your best to remove your ego and really ask yourself what’s best for the song. That’s the most important thing any artist can do.
 
Was this collaboration fun – does it need to be?

It’s so much fun! And I suppose it doesn’t NEED to be. As I alluded to in the previous question, if you remove your self from the art and focus on what’s best for the song then fun doesn’t really matter.

But having it be fun sure helps you get started each day.
 
Do you find that at the end of this collaboration, you changed certain parts of your process or your outlook on certain creative aspects?

Well this collaboration is far from over, but it’s certainly has changed my perspective some.

I’d never written words for someone else to sing or vice versa, so learning to write with someone else’s voice in mind is a totally new a fresh perspective for myself.