Welch and Rawlings have collaborated on seven critically acclaimed albums, five released under her name, and two released under the name Dave Rawlings Machine. Her 1996 debut, Revival, and the 2001 release Time (The Revelator), received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her 2003 album, Soul Journey, introduced electric guitar, drums, and a more upbeat sound to their body of work. After a gap of eight years, she released a fifth studio album, The Harrow & The Harvest, in 2011, which was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the soundtrack of the Coen brothers 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. She also appeared in the film attempting to buy a Soggy Bottom Boys record. Welch, while not one of the principal actors, did sing and provide additional lyrics to the Sirens song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." In 2018 she and Rawlings wrote the song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" for the Coens' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for which they received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Welch has collaborated and recorded with Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Emmylou Harris, the Decemberists, Sam Phillips, Conor Oberst, Ani DiFranco, and Robyn Hitchcock.
Gillian Howard Welch was born on October 2, 1967 in New York City, and was adopted by Mitzie Welch (née Marilyn Cottle) and Ken Welch, comedy and music entertainers. Her biological mother was a freshman in college, and her father was a musician visiting New York City. Welch has speculated that her biological father could have been one of her favorite musicians, and she later discovered from her adoptive parents that he was a drummer. Alec Wilkinson of The New Yorker stated that "from an address they had been given, it appeared that her mother ... may have grown up in the mountains of North Carolina". When Welch was three, her adoptive parents moved to Los Angeles to write music for The Carol Burnett Show. They also appeared on The Tonight Show.
As a child, Welch was introduced to the music of American folk singers Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Carter Family. She performed folk songs with her peers at the Westland Elementary School in Los Angeles. Welch later attended Crossroads School, a high school in Santa Monica, California. While in high school, a local television program featured her as a student who "excelled at everything she did."
Welch and Rawlings incorporate elements of early twentieth century music such as old time, classic country, gospel and traditional bluegrass with modern elements of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz, and punk rock. The New Yorker's Alec Wilkinson maintained their musical style is "not easily classified—it is at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms".
The instrumentation on their songs is usually a simple arrangement, with Welch and Rawlings accompanying their own vocals with acoustic guitars, banjos, or a mandolin. Welch plays rhythm guitar with a 1956 Gibson J-50 (or banjo), while Rawlings plays lead on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic Guitar.The New Yorker's Wilkinson described Rawlings as a "strikingly inventive guitarist" who plays solos that are "daring melodic leaps". A review in No Depression by Andy Moore observed that Rawlings "squeezes, strokes, chokes and does just about everything but blow into" his guitar.
Many songs performed by Welch and Rawlings contain dark themes about social outcasts struggling against such elements as poverty, drug addiction, death, a disconnection from their family, and an unresponsive God. Despite Welch being the lead singer, several of these characters are male. Welch has commented, "To be commercial, everybody wants happy love songs. People would flat-out ask me, 'Don't you have any happy love songs?' Well, as a matter of fact, I don't. I've got songs about orphans and morphine addicts." To reflect these themes, Welch and Rawlings often employ a slow pace to their songs. Their tempo is compared to a "slow heartbeat", and Cowperthwait of Rolling Stone observed that their songs "can lull you into near-hypnosis and then make your jaw drop with one final revelation".
Honey Now
Gillian Welch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Begged or bought
If you want to be my
Johnny on the spot
[Chorus]
Honey now now now
Honey now now now
Do me no good anyhow
Honey now now now
Front door's shut
Back door too
Blind's pulled down
What you gonna do
[Chorus]
You take your time
And get me sore
Tell me what you want
To keep waiting for
[Chorus]
Now now now
Now now now
Now now now
You know later won't
Do me no good anyhow
Honey now now now
The song "Honey Now" by Gillian Welch is a bluesy, slow tempo song that deals with a theme of being wanted by someone, but only on their terms. The lyrics start with the singer admitting that she cannot be bought or begged by the person who desires her attention. She goes on to say that if they want to be with her, they must be present in the "now," not just later. The repetition of "Honey now now now" in the chorus emphasizes this point.
The second verse is a bit more suggestive, with the singer using words like "front door" and "back door" to imply a sexual encounter. She asks the listener what they are going to do, emphasizing that it is up to them to take action. The chorus repeats once more, driving home the point that waiting until later is not an option.
The lyrics suggest that the singer is not interested in playing games or being used for someone else's pleasure. She wants someone to be present with her in the moment, and if they cannot offer that, she is not interested. The song is a testament to self-respect and an unwillingness to settle for less than what one deserves.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't be called
I am an independent person who cannot be summoned.
Begged or bought
Attempts to bargain with me will not succeed because I value my dignity.
If you want to be my Johnny on the spot
If you want to be my reliable partner, you must prove yourself worthy of my trust.
Honey now now now
Act quickly and decisively, without delay, to win my affection.
You know later won't
Delaying action will not change my feelings or the situation.
Do me no good anyhow
Even if you take action later, it may not be effective or worthwhile.
Front door's shut
Access to my heart is difficult and may require effort.
Back door too
There are no shortcuts or easy ways to win my trust.
Blind's pulled down
My emotions are hidden and I may be guarded or unapproachable.
What you gonna do
What are you willing to do to prove yourself to me?
You take your time
I am willing to be patient and take things slow.
And get me sore
But if you take too long, it may cause frustration or annoyance.
Tell me what you want
Be honest and clear about your intentions with me.
To keep waiting for
What reason do I have to keep investing my time and emotions in you?
Now now now
Act quickly before it's too late.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DAVID TODD RAWLINGS, GILLIAN HOWARD WELCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind