What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Sitting on the porch with coffee and oatmeal piled high with fresh fruit - on a bright morning, with Bramble close by.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Not sure.
Which living person do you most admire?
My friend Amy is pretty rad. She is a leather worker and moved to New Zealand for love.
Which is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I get really stressed out and worry senselessly.
What is your greatest extravagance?
I have a really, really comfortable bed. Sleep is very important and it is nice to come home from tour and know that after sleeping in 50 different hotel beds, mine is still the best.
What is your favourite journey?
The one that takes me home.
On what occasion do you lie?
I don’t, but sometimes I gather silverware from hotels, for use in the van, cutting avocados and the like.
Which living person do you most despise?
I don’t.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Tommy McGee and Bramble Rose.
When and where were you happiest?
On a hot granite rock at the river - just after jumping in.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I’d like to have the patience to become an amazing seamstress. I’d make beautiful things to wear and use. The things I make now aren’t crafted quite up to par.
What is your current state of mind?
I’m counting the days.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Not sure about achievement, but I have felt the most satisfaction from making a perfect pie out of fruit gathered from the yard.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what do you think it would be?
I’d like to come back as a river - just flowing along, but I don’t think I can choose.
What is your most treasured possession?
A painting of my family’s shoes that my mom did when my brother and I were small- work boots, moccasins, little 1970s running shoes, and tiny red mary janes for me.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Oh there are many dark things.
What is your favourite occupation?
My only occupation is so off the beaten path that I have no idea.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Honesty and the ability to chop wood.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
I like a good laugh with the ladies...
Who are your favourite writers?
John Steinbeck, Richard Brautigan, and Barbara Kingsolver, for now.
What is your motto?
I don’t have a motto
Alela Diane plays support to Bon Iver at the Galway Arts Festival Big Top this evening. Check out her new album To Be Still on Names Records.
Kernan Andrews
