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1.) We’re super-excited to be speaking today with acclaimed Minnesota songwriting duo extraordinaire, The International Treasures! Greetings and salutations, gang! Before we meander down the proverbial Q&A musical pathway, could you both say ‘hi’ and introduce yourselves to our ever-inquisitive readers?
Doyle: Hi! I’m Doyle Turner. I write songs. I sing songs! I’m from northern Minnesota. Thank you for having us.
Ted: Hello! My name is Ted Hajnasiewicz. I’m a singer/songwriter from Minneapolis. It’s a joy to be here.
Doyle and Ted: Together, we are the International Treasures
2.) Doyle, we’ve got a lot of very cool stuff to unpack regarding the major activities going on with The International Treasures, but before we get ahead of ourselves can you give readers the VH1-Behind the Music origin story on how you and Ted came together to form this amazing duo?
Doyle: In 2020 I began writing with an online songwriting group and Ted was a part of that group. Somewhere in the summer of ‘20 Ted decided to write all of his songs as co-writes with other members of the songwriting group. He asked me to co-write with him, and it was so easy and felt so natural, that we both wanted to write more. After writing together for the better part of a year, we started performing together and there was an immediate synergy. I felt like I could follow Ted off the edge of a cliff, and that just turned into more performing and planning for an album.
3.) Congratulations on your showstopping new album The International Treasures – Together, We Are The International Treasures which premieres this coming September 18! Ted, what served as the inspiration behind one of the most fresh and vibrant records that we’ve heard around these parts in donkey’s years?
Ted: Gosh, thank you! What served as inspiration for this thing – I “think” there are two things, with regards to Doyle, that inspired me to pursue this project. We’d already written many of the songs, when we decided to dive into this. The inspiration was a) In the two years I’d known Doyle, he’s always been willing to jump off the high cliff with me. From songwriting remotely during the pandemic and lockdowns, to playing gigs where we had to follow the other, watching hands on guitar and faces for cadence of lyrics, we just “went for it”. And Doyle was all in. That made me feel more comfortable taking that leap. That made me comfortable in asking him to take such a tremendous leap of faith in making this album the way we did. I ain’t alone in this crazy dream.
The part b, and the bigger part – is Doyle’s heart. A kinder human you will not find. Making music with him is like a big warm hug. And the wonderful thing is – THAT HUG GREW, as musicians came in to play with us in making this album. I really think the album is sonically so special, because that heart is coming through the speakers. EVERYONE gets the big warm hug…
4.) Doyle, we’re big admirers of the tune Carry Me Home which is featured prominently on The International Treasures – Together, We Are The International Treasures! How did this gem of a ditty come into being?
Doyle: This song! Ted asked to do a co-write with me, and he brought this amazing progression. He brought ALL of the groove on this one. This was one of our first in-person co-writes, and Ted’s groove brought this one to life. We started writing about things that don’t work out and how that is something that is common to the human experience. There’s a quote from the Yogi Ram Dass that goes, “After all, we’re just walking each other home.” That sentiment crept into the last line of the chorus, “singing songs to carry me home.”
One of the things that Ted and I have discovered and rediscovered while becoming more and more involved in our music community, is the joy of connecting with some really wonderful human beings. Ted always says about writing and performing, “If I could do this every day, I’d do it twice a day.” That kind of sentiment is because of the connection we feel to our songwriting community and the musicians we have come to know. We both really value that connection and see it as one of the biggest rewards to come from making music. We get to sing songs with some amazing humans.
5.) Ted, before The International Treasures got into full swing in 2020, both you and Doyle came from successful solo music careers. Was the success and experience you both had as solo artists a big help in getting this duo up and running?
Ted: In a way, yes. Personally, it’s HARD to keep promoting oneself. But as this duo naturally became what it is, we were doing a lot of things together. I produced Doyle’s last album. I was also using songs we co-wrote on my albums, and Doyle even played guitar on one. We were gigging together more and more. So we were intimately involved with each other’s projects, which made the duo just all that more easy to transition into. The beautiful part is, we can float in and out of the Treasures, and we’re still the same folks. So when we go and make our own albums, I think there will be a little bit of Treasure infused.
6.) Doyle, what differentiates Together, We Are The International Treasures from the Distinguished Competition on the 2023 music scene?
Doyle: When someone comes to see The Treasures, I think it is easy to see how much fun we are having, how we truly enjoy one another’s company, and how much we love singing and writing together. Ted has this natural ease and looseness on stage that draws everyone in, including me. He is skilled, yes, but more importantly he is a kind and good human who cares for people. That comes across in how he delivers a song and how he invites everyone around him to join in the fun of the performance. That is what sets an International Treasures performance apart – the love is palpable.
7.) Ted, as we noted at the front both you and Doyle hail from the beautiful state of Minnesota. How do those roots inform the two of you as both artists and people?
Ted: Boy, I’d love to hear Doyle’s answer to this. For me, there is a “midwestern” thing that has infected my musical tastes and songwriting. We do a lot of “Minnesota Nice”. We step out of the way (“Ope, scuse me”). We don’t wanna bother. Sometimes we do that in a bad way – we should ask “HOW are you”, anticipating an answer, no matter the answer. But mostly we just want to get along. If you listen to many of the Minnesota bands that put music out in my coming up years (The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, Gear Daddies, the Replacements), there is a self-deprecating humor often in the lyric, and a melancholy that infects the sound. I think I got “some” of this from listening. But some I think just comes from where I was brought up, here in suburban Minnesota.
I’ll bet Doyle’s answer would be super interesting, as he’s from a very different part of the state, and has a rich history.
Doyle: I think that because we live in a state with a harsh season, we tend to be a bit more community-oriented in Minnesota. We’ve grown up in a culture where depending upon one another is part of the deal. We do better when we work together. That cooperative approach has been integral to me and my musical journey, and part of the reason that The International Treasures works so well. I’m also an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, and that culture and history is infused in who I am. I grew up there. Part of growing up in that culture and in a super small town involved creating, and using whatever was at hand to make what you wanted to make. Turns out that is a common basis for all art. You use what you have – what is around you. For my writing, the natural world is the anchor. It is what we have in common, so when I write about the first thunderstorm of the season, like we did in “Wild,” everyone has that common experience with the natural world. A sense of place is integral in poetry, and that might have been one of the things that made the jump from writing poetry into writing songs for me.
8.) Doyle, on the heels of the September 18 release of The International Treasures – Together, We Are The International Treasures can fans look forward to catching you and Ted on the touring/performing circuit?
Doyle: We have a couple of really exciting full-band shows coming up after the Big Fat Album Release Show at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis on September 17! We get to play the Aurora Theater in Fosston, MN on November 4th. The International Treasures are also playing the famed Rieder Homestead in Delano, MN on Ted’s birthday, November 18th! The Rieder Homestead shows are famed for providing a top-notch listening experience for the audience, and we are beyond excited to play that kind of show.
9.) A question for the both of you: Who inspires you musically?
Doyle: There are so many songwriters who inspire me! I grew up listening to 70s country, so Kris Kristofferson, Tom T. Hall, and John Prine are huge inspirations to me. Mary Chapin Carpenter’s writing is a study in excellence for me, as is Lori McKenna’s songwriting. Locally, I’m inspired by so many members of our songwriting group, the Singer/Songwriter Songwriting Challenge. It is because of that group that I have been able to write regularly and develop as a songwriter. So songwriters like Ted Hajnasiewicz, Matthew French, Sarah Morris, Amanda B. Perry, Emily Haavik, and so many others teach and inspire me every week, and I am grateful to all of the songwriters in that group.
Ted: I grew up loving Kiss. So that led me to many metal/hair bands in the 80’s. Not a fan now – but they DID have the power ballad, that song that just GOT your heart. I love the hook, I love that sound that makes you FEEL, and I think that is partly why.
BIG influences for me are Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, Jeff Tweedy. Each of them approached their craft in different ways, and I love to think I have learned things from them along the way.
And you cannot deny the Grease soundtrack. I listened to that non-stop as a kiddo.
10.) Ted, the two of you did the producing honors on the new LP. What are the pros to serving as your own producer? And are there any cons at all?
Ted: Boy, there can be cons, to be sure. I produce a lot of my own stuff, and I always wish I could have someone else take that, from a CREATIVE perspective. I think for this project, Doyle and me taking the reins worked because it was recorded primarily LIVE off the floor – very minimal overdubs. The musicians just took our songs, and brought THEMSELVES into the sound, with very minimal direction. It just HAPPENED. It made the role of “producer” so easy.
To be fair – we were not in any way responsible for CAPTURING the sound. Troy Foss, who runs Supple Studios in Bemidji, and has engineered all of Doyle’s solo albums (along with many many others), came in with his mobile rig, set up mics, got great levels and separation – all the things. Without Troy, that magical “experience” would not have translated to “tape”. We owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude.
11.) Doyle, at the end of the day what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving The International Treasures – Together, We Are The International Treasures many-a spin on their turn-tables?
Doyle: I really hope that the listeners come away with a sense of warmth – both sonically and in terms of warmth of feelings as a reaction to this album. This album was inspired by walking into Joe & Susan Meyer’s Century Oaks Studio in St. Joseph, MN. Ted and I and our wives were being shown around and there were a bunch of uber-talented bluegrass musicians playing as we walked in. Everything – the color of the walls, the sound quality from the musicians and the room, the actual temperature, and the graciousness of the Meyers – everything was deeply warm and rich. We weren’t five steps into that space, into that experience, when Ted turned to me and said, “We HAVE to record here!” I turned to Ted and said, “We don’t even know these people!” Five months later we were recording live off of the floor in that space with Troy Foss, head engineer from Supple Studios of Bemidji, MN. That is the magic of Ted Hajnasiewicz. There was a warmth between the players as we recorded. We all got along as people and in the music so easily and so well. I hope that all of that warmth comes through in the recording from the songs, to the lyrics, to the mix. That was our aim from the very first step.
