Nashville musician Blood Root processes grief through guitar pedals in new album

Nashville is full of music gear heads. But in Taylor Wafford’s hometown of Havelock, North Carolina musicians didn’t come through town. They definitely didn’t hang out, analyzing pedal boards. When she moved here, she found a community — and a sound — by tapping a guitar pedal.

Blaire Beamer

Blood Root in “sk-1” music video. Photo by Blaire Beamer

She grew up being forced to take piano lessons but longed to explore the darker sounds that a guitar can make. “I really applaud people who can make a whole career out of acoustic guitar on stage. One person, singing, I think that’s awesome. I got really bored with it. And I wanted to push further. Effects, weird stuff, sound-scaping.” 

Wafford’s first album, Turn, out today, makes use of EMS pedals, amps and synths. The album is focused on delay and modulation and a little bit of fuzz. There is a part in nearly every song where the music jumps off a structural cliff and gets lost in itself. Those soundscapes really make it.

“Music doesn’t always have to be about the words. You can really emote through a freaky delay.” Wafford told WPLN News.

Wafford got a degree in Music Business at Appalachian State University. She would have been happy to stay in Boone, North Carolina but her mom pushed her to move to a big city.

As an art kid and outsider in her old military town, she went to a place in Nashville where art kids and music people hang out: East Side Music Supply. She walked through the doors eight years ago and has basically never left.

“I just hung out long enough. And they finally gave me a job. And thus begins my love affair with pedals and amps and freaky guitars and all that fun stuff” she said.

The album is largely about grief and grief processing. Through the effects that she uses she is able to translate that process into something that sounds like grief feels. It feels like some kind of magic. But offers a warning to aspiring gear heads who are interested in dabbling in the dark art. 

“Once you start getting into gear and effects — the veil is torn,” she said it takes away from the great mystery of song. “But I like knowing. I am having fun.”

That’s why the lyrics on Turn are equally important. The past couple years have been tough for Wafford. A beloved dog died. A young cat died. “It’s been kind of a doozy” she said. 

Her grandpa, who she looked up to, also passed away. “I always pictured him as such a strong man. He was a pillar of our family. But he was always so soft spoken. He never raised his voice or got agitated with any of us. I miss him,” she said. “The album is dedicated to him. 

During the interview, Wafford held a Casio sk-1 in her hands. It is an introductory keyboard that Casio made in 1985 that she has used to sketch songs out. It also serves as the muse for the song “sk-1,” the centerpiece of the album. Even through the grief created by the of the pedal heavy soundscape of the song, there is hope.