Juliet Lawson
Juliet Lawson at Life of Riley Club in Marlow
Searching for the Sugar Man is a film detailing the efforts of two ardent fans that go in search of Sixto Rodriguez, to determine if his rumoured death was fact or fiction. Tonight I found the Sugar Woman, Juliet Lawson, writes Alan Dutters - http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/
Rodriguez was showcased as the next Dylan. Back in 1972 when she released “Boo” her debut album, she was aligned alongside Joni Mitchell, Dory Previn and Janis Ian.
My journey to find the Sugar Woman was simple, a church in Marlow which morphs into The Life of Riley Club on Saturday, July 19. Here I found Juliet Lawson on a hot humid summer evening sharing with the audience her fear of thunderstorms.
Before each song she offers a story, detailing when or why the song was written. The songs feel they were written and constructed in the seventies as in “Dear Fool”, which feels comforting and somewhat nostalgic. Her vocal range hasn’t diminished, church acoustic take the pain of a lost love and bounce the emotion around and around as in,” Is it Really You?”
Everything she does seems easy, with a flow and style from her elegant dress and trousers attire, to the superb Christian Marsac on guitar. This is a quality singer/songwriter at work.
It’s story time again, and she tells the audience how she hasn’t released new material in ten years. Well guess what, here comes the new stuff, an EP, “Songs from the Suitcase”.
“Days gone By” tells of a relationship between a married couple and his unmarried sister growing old together in a large farmhouse. As the world goes by they simply get on with their lives, jobs, tasks, routine each and every day. The lyrics are sharp, concise and more importantly poignant. Marsac’s stringed arrangement on this song allows for the word play to be fully appreciated. Laura Marling doesn’t write better than this, fact. Goose bumps guaranteed.
Moving over to a full sized piano she begins “Come back Mary Lou”. Bang up to date this tells of the kidnapping of children from Nigeria. One of the children who went missing was Mary Lou. As Juliet explains “Just a name on a page, that no one did anything about”. Again it’s more concise than her older work and has a clear demarcation line between old and new.
“Too busy looking at the Moon” is taken from her second album The One That Got Away which is affectionately known as the pink album . The song wraps around you like a well worn cardigan, comfortable, reliable with a smile throughout. With “Sign of the fallen Angel” she shows the girl can still rock. We even get a F word thrown in during Mammalover. The wonderfully thought provoking “Don’t leave your thoughts with Me” all pay testament to the range and diversity offered on her third and currently last studio album “Where I’m Coming From”.
Jazz, blues, folk, ballads, love stories, regrets, plans, old and new, her songs have it all in abundance.
I’ve no idea why the career everyone said she had all those years ago never came to fruition. But she certainly has a career in front of her now with the quality of this new material.
The Sugar Woman is alive and well, Juliet don’t go away again.
★★★ On The Road, Travelling Light
A review by Chicago Critic - http://chicagocritic.com/
Delving into her past, Juliet Lawson brings forth from her suitcase, songs and memories, as she says, ‘of angst and passion, with a smattering of self deprecation, humour and other delights’.
In the intimate atmosphere of the Rosemary Branch Theatre, the soulful style and bittersweet wit and rhyme of Miss Lawson, brought sighs of appreciation from her faithful audience, and in numbers like ‘Is It Really You?’, ‘What a Waste Of a Woman’, and ‘At the Sign Of The Fallen Angel’, some truly wonderful songs are on show. These are just asking for superstar treatment.
Miss Lawson was bravely coping with having to sing without amplification, a chanteuse’ nightmare. With her guitar or by piano accompaniment, but without her microphone, the perennial prop, she was a little light in projection until she came into her own with the moving numbers I have mentioned, and one had a sense of greatness in the wings.
The prospect of seeing Miss Lawson again in the full treatment of her Pizza On The Park performance level is one to be savoured. Until then she will open her suitcase and her heart to smaller, more alternative venues. An evening well spent, and a sense of a friend made.
Juliet Lawson : Interview
A review by Pennyblackmusic - http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/
When I meet Juliet Lawson at a hotel in London just outside Marylebone Station, she is a tad stressed. Something about roadworks, a faulty satnav and a lorry refusing to let her into the correct lane.
“Sorry for being late [forty minutes]. Can we grab a drink?” she asks taking a seat.
“I’m sorry. I must look a mess,” she complains pushing her hands from side to side through her brown auburn hair.
The drink, a green tea arrives, and with several sips she begins to settle. I check if the table I’ve chosen is okay.
“Absolutely, I love this open air design. I am not a fan of closed spaces,” she says with a slight smile as she scans her surroundings.
The reason we are here is because she is about to release her latest EP 'Never Went Away' early November 2014, with a showcase gig at the Abbey Theatre in St. Albans early December 2014.
I decide to start at the logical point, with her first album.
Back in the early seventies Juliet Lawson was about to hit the big time. A bohemian twenty year old singer-songwriter signed by EMI releasing her first album 'Boo' in 1972.
From 'The NME', 'Guardian', 'Record Mirror' as one voice they agreed, she was the UK’s answer to Joni Mitchell.
I read a quote to her from a 1973 edition of 'Record Mirror' predicting…”She will be one of the Superstars of ‘74, alongside Cockney Rebel, Linda Ronstadt, and Bachman Turner Overdrive”...“Ah those early days, happy days. Yes I was going to be…,” she laughs when struggling for the sentences ending. Any two word description will suffice from the various press cuttings. A hit, a star, a success. But it wasn’t to be.
If she was twenty when 'Boo' was released in the early seventies, she must be aged mid sixties. Clearly the years have been kind or the diet plan works. Dressed in a crew cut Shetland sweater with a matching scarf and plain black trousers, she easily passes for ten years younger than her birth certificate would suggest.
“Even now it’s hard to say why it didn’t work out the way it was planned. I’ve no excuse and certainly no bitterness. My music is what it is. It stands the test of time,” she says defiantly. When talking of music she takes on a chameleon-like persona. This is territory she knows. Her speech is slower, thoughtful, more considered. "Careful as you go," I’m thinking.
I saw Juliet and her trio play at one of my speculative nights out via Ronnie Scott’s some weeks ago. I subsequently listened to her material online, which is a task in itself. It’s difficult to place her musical style to any given genre. From the tracks I’ve heard she moves effortlessly from blues, jazz, to folk. Lyrics inspired by personal events.
“ I’ve never lost faith in my music. First and foremost I’m a singer-songwriter. Lyrics are important to me. The songs I write are about my life. There’s no question my writing has become better, and my voice...well” We have a pause, a long pause. “Sorry, your voice?" I ask, not really knowing the answer I’m looking for.
“My voice, it’s, it’s a hundred times better than back then” - Explained with a sweep of her hand.
Back then. After 'Boo' (1972) she wrote songs for 'Chips Comic' which was actually the first children's programme commissioned for Channel 4 back in 1982. The creative juices flowed again when writing a short musical play, 'Flowers from Detroit', in 1988.
It wasn’t until 1992 when her follow-up album would be released, 'The One That Got Away', affectionately known as 'The Pink Album'. Clearly this woman completes creative release at her own pace.
Staying with musical theatre, she wrote and produced her one woman show, 'Throw It On the Water', in 1999.
Her last studio album, 'Where I’m Coming From', was produced and released in 2002.
I re-check my notes. “Think I may have taken this down incorrectly. “'The One That Got Away' was 1992, then 'Where I’m Coming From' was 2002. That’s a ten year gap,” I ask unsure on my note taking and maths.
“Yes,” she says. “I was busy getting on with life”. Game set and match to Juliet.
When I rang Juliet requesting an interview, she asked, “Why?” She has a way of sending you down dark cul-de-sacs. Not the usual response from musicians. But we ain’t talking the norm here.
As part of the telephone chat, she asks me what I’ve heard from her back catalogue. I tell her yes to the three albums, scratching around on the internet, but think I’ve heard all the songs she’s released over the years.
“Have you heard 'Songs from a Suitcase'?” she asks. “No who’s that by,” I reply. There is a pause, not for effect but from my ignorance. “Me, it’s by me. It’s an EP, I’ll send it to you.” She doesn’t say it, but idiot is transmitted and received.
'Songs from a Suitcase', released 2009, produced and arranged by John Hamilton.
Four songs which capture an up-to-date and diverse Juliet Lawson. 'The Skin You're In' is a jaunty, jazzy toe-tapper of a production built on a wonderful virtuoso fiddle accompaniment throughout. Her timing is bang on the beat, with each and every note change. It’s a collision of Cleo Laine meeting Stephane Grappelli.
'A Woman Passer By on the Street' is 4 minutes and 49 seconds of sheer joy. This is by far the more expressive of her four songs - “When I’m gone I’ll be forgotten", a lonely woman with little to say or contribute to life it seems. She is just a woman passer by on the street, whilst everyone get on with their busy lives. To say it is challenging arrangement would be an understatement. An intermittent pitch perfect cornet solo matches the loneliness and heartache in these poignant lyrics. A control in her vocal emotion, whilst still keeping the story important makes this a stand out track on the EP.
“So why now, why release new songs, a new EP now?” I venture.
“Very simple. I played a venue earlier this year with Kelly Oliver (she of rising folk fame). We played in front of less than ten people. It was awful. This was my moment, my epiphany. I had stayed under the radar intentionally for years, played a handful of gigs each year, and that was my lot."
"On the drive home I told my manager, 'Never again will I be put into that situation. Tomorrow we start work.' That is exactly what we did. We got people on board, worked on a business plan. Changed my website, my relationship with social media sites, set up more gigs. I got hold of Christian Marsac (new guitarist and producer) and said, "We are going back into the studio. I want an EP out and available this year, and an album ready by no later than March 2015.'"
“Over the years, I’ve played high profile venues in London in front of appreciative audiences. Even now when I think about that night, it just motivates me to get my new songs out there.”
The fire and hurt can be heard in her delivery. I’m in no doubt this is a serious proposition.
“Why didn’t you start with your older material?" I ask.
“As I said before, my writing, my voice, my on stage persona is better than ever. Don’t get me wrong, I love my older songs, but they were written a long time ago. If people want to hear and enjoy them great. But If this makes sense, I need to move forward before I can move back?” she muses.
Yes it makes sense, perfect sense.
I suggest to Juliet some may compare her plight and even singing style and lyrics to Vashti Bunyan and Judee Sill etc.
“There was a terrific documentary on the life of Judee Sill broadcast some months ago. Yes,friends, people who had seen me live made that association with my music and albums. It is the same with Vashti. We both experienced major disappointment in our early careers, then vanished,” she laughs with a shake of the head.
Composure regained, she continues, “They are excellent artistes in their own right. I want to be known as Juliet Lawson aligned to my own work. I write all my own songs, will release my new EP, and subsequent album on my own label (Ravishing Rhymes), stand or fall by my own material. Does that answer your question?” she checks with me.
Well, the question is answered, but comparisons will undoubtedly be made.
Go into any major music retailer and and ask for a Juliet Lawson album. It will be the same answer, I can guarantee. Not in stock. In fact, except for 'Boo', none of her albums have ever been put out for retail sale. All of them, three studio albums and EP of (2009), produced and sold only to those who attended her limited gigs. She puts it down to bad management,a certain level of naivety and trusting people who then let her down.
“I take it all your past albums will be re-released soon?” I ask, “No,” she says without hesitation.
“The new EP will be for sale online, digital download, CD option etc. My older songs aren’t in this or any other plan at present. I want to concentrate on getting the best material I can out on this new EP. My best work is my new work.”
This is a bizarre story. Albums not released from one decade to another. Not made available to the general public or in shops or online by her recording label. I even doubt if you could have bought them at the gigs she played. Playing in front of ten people. Then deciding to get professional support and still not re-release the older albums. Epiphany moment. Even the EP’s title is defiant - 'Never Went Away'.
You can listen to some of her music through music sites my Editor wouldn’t allow me to mention in this article. She won’t rock everyone's boat. Some songs sound dated, not surprisingly whilst others are exceptionally good. I can certainly see what all the was about. As her story unfolds, I am asking myself, “How many people have actually heard her albums over the years?”
From the limited but varied reviews I’ve sourced, there isn’t a bad word to be said against her music. The 'Suitcase' EP probably embodies what a twenty-first century Juliet Lawson has to offer. You won’t, however, be able to hear all the tracks. Instead of them being in shops and online, they sit in boxes gathering dust at an unspecified address.
“I take it you know the story of the Sugar Man, Sixto Rodriguez?” I ask somewhat tentatively.
“Well I do know he’s far older than me”, she confirms with some jousting taking place here.
“Well i’m not the first to say your the Sugar Woman, been somewhere, but now back. It does have a ring of truth to it, don’t you think?” I state, awaiting a reaction.
“Owen, you can call me what you want, as long as you don’t forget, I’m Juliet Lawson,” she closes with a knowing smirk.
And with that I toddle off down my well worn cul-de-sac.
More information can be found at www.julietlawson.co.uk. The EP 'Never Went Away' was released and went on sale in early November 2014. Juliet Lawson will be at the Abbey Theatre in St Albans on December 4th, 2014.
Live from London - Songbird Juliet Lawson
A review by Music News Nashville - http://www.musicnewsnashville.com/
Juliet Lawson is an English singer songwriter originating from London, renown for her personal, intimate style with audiences. Although her music has been classified as hard to place in any given genre, she switches effortlessly between blues, jazz, to folk inspired melodies.
Juliet’s fan base was built on her outstanding debut album “Boo” (1972) which won musical acclaim throughout the music industry of the time. Although the album didn’t launch her career as expected it still remains an iconic set of songs, which is still very much in demand.
Although she released only two subsequent albums and one EP over a 30 year period she says she never lost faith in her talent as a singer songwriter. It’s some five years since the release of her last studio EP. Now she is back, a new poignantly titled EP “Never Went Away” with renewed passion and a plan for success.
Owen Peters has an exclusive interview with Juliet Lawson with chronicles her extraordinary musical career and why she is only looking forward.
* * * * * * *
When I meet Juliet Lawson at a hotel in London just outside Marylebone station she is a tad stressed. Something about roadworks, a faulty satnav and a lorry refusing to let her into the correct lane.
“Sorry for being late [forty minutes]. Can we grab a drink?” she asks taking a seat.
“I’m sorry I must look a mess” she complains pushing her hands from side to side through her brown auburn hair.
The drink, a green tea arrives, with several sips she begins to settle.
I check if the table I’ve chosen is ok.
“Absolutely, I love this open air design, not a fan of closed spaces” a slight smile as she scans her surroundings.
The reason we are here, she is about to release her latest EP “Never Went Away” early November 2014 with a showcase gig at The Abbey Theatre in St. Albans early December 2014. I decide to start at the logical point, with her first album.
Back in the early seventies Juliet Lawson was about to hit the big time. A bohemian twenty year old singer songwriter signed by EMI releasing her first album “Boo” in 1972.
From the NME, Guardian, Record Mirror as one voice they agreed, she was the UK’s answer to Joni Mitchell.
I read a quote to her from a 1973 edition of Record Mirror predicting…”She will be one of the Superstars of ‘74, alongside Cockney Rebel, Linda Ronstadt, and Bachman Turner Overdrive”…“Ah those early days, happy days. Yes I was going to be…” she laughs when struggling for the sentences ending. Any two word description will suffice from the various press cuttings. A hit, a star, a success. But it wasn’t to be.
If she was twenty when Boo was released in the early seventies, she must be aged mid sixties. Clearly the years have been kind or the diet plan works. Dressed in a crew cut shetland sweater with a matching scarf and plain black trousers, easily passing for ten years younger than her birth certificate would suggest.
“Even now it’s hard to say why it didn’t work out the way it was planned. I’ve no excuse and certainly no bitterness. My music is what it is. It stands the test of time” she says defiantly.When talking of music she takes on a chameleon like persona. This is territory she knows, her speech is slower, thoughtful, more considered. Careful as you go I’m thinking.
juliet-lawson-1_nov2014I saw Juliet and her trio play at one of my speculative nights out via Ronnie Scott’s some weeks ago. I subsequently listened to her material online, which is a task in itself. It’s difficult to place her musical style to any given genre. From the tracks I’ve heard she moves effortlessly from blues, jazz, to folk. Lyrics inspired by personal events.
“ I’ve never lost faith in my music. First and foremost I’m a singer songwriter. Lyrics are important to me. The songs I write are about my life. There’s no question my writing has become better, and my voice…well” We have a pause, a long pause “Sorry your voice? I ask not really knowing the answer I’m looking for.
“My voice, it’s, it’s a hundred times better than back then” explained with a sweep of her hand.
Back then. After Boo (1972) she wrote songs for “Chips Comic” which was actually the first children’s programme commissioned for Channel 4 back in 1982.
The creative juices flowed again when writing a short musical play “Flowers from Detroit” in 1988.
It wasn’t until 1992 when her follow up album would be released, “The one that got Away” affectionately known as The Pink Album. Clearly this woman completes creative release at her own pace.
Staying with musical theatre she wrote and produced her one woman show “Throw it on the Water” 1999.
Her last studio album “Where I’m coming From” was produced and released in 2002.
I re-check my notes “Think I may have taken this down incorrectly. “The one that got Away” was 1992, then “Where I’m coming From” was 2002. That’s a ten year gap” I ask unsure on my note taking and maths.
“Yes” she says. “I was busy getting on with life”. Game set and match to Juliet.
When I rang Juliet requesting an interview she asked “Why?” she has a way of sending you down dark cul-de-sacs. Not the usual response from musicians. But we ain’t talking the norm here.
As part of the telephone chat she asks me what I’ve heard from her back catalogue. I tell her yes to the three albums, scratching around on the internet, but think I’ve heard all the songs she’s released over the years.
“Have you heard “Songs from a Suitcase?” she asks. “No who’s that by” I reply. There is a pause, not for effect but from my ignorance. “Me, it’s by me. It’s an EP, I’ll send it to you” she doesn’t say it, but idiot is transmitted and received.
“Songs from a Suitcase” released 2009, produced and arranged by John Hamilton.
Four songs which capture an upto date and diverse Juliet Lawson. “The skin you’re In” a jaunty jazzy toe tapper of a production built on a wonderful virtuoso fiddle accompaniment throughout. Her timing is bang on the beat, with each and every note change.
It’s a collision of Cleo Laine meeting Stephane Grappelli.
juliet-lawson-2_nov2014“A woman passer by on the Street” is 4 minutes and 49 seconds of sheer joy. This is by far the more expressive of her four songs “When I’m gone I’ll be forgotten” a lonely woman with little to say or contribute to life it seems. She is just a woman passer by on the street, whilst everyone get on with their busy lives. To say it is challenging arrangement would be an understatement. An intermittent pitch perfect cornet solo matches the loneliness and heartache in these poignant lyrics. A control in her vocal emotion, whilst still keeping the story important makes this a standout track on the EP
“So why now, why release new songs, a new EP now?” I venture.
“Very simple. I played a venue earlier this year with Kelly Oliver (she of rising folk fame). We played in front of less than ten people. It was awful. This was my moment, my epiphany. I had stayed under the radar intentionally for years, played a handful of gigs each year, and that was my lot.
On the drive home I told my manager, never again will I be put into that situation. Tomorrow we start work. That is exactly what we did. We got people on board, worked on a business plan. Changed my website, my relationship with social media sites, set up more gigs. I got hold of Christian Marsac (new guitarist and producer) and said we are going back into the studio. I want an EP out and available this year, and an album ready by no later than March 2015.
“Over the years, I’ve played high profile venues in London in front of appreciative audiences”
“Even now when I think about that night, it just motivates me to get my new songs out there”
The fire and hurt can be heard in her delivery. I’m in no doubt this is a serious proposition.
“Why didn’t you start with your older material? I ask.
“As I said before, my writing, my voice, my on stage persona is better than ever”. Don’t get me wrong, I love my older songs, but they were written a long time ago. If people want to hear and enjoy them great. But If this makes sense, I need to move forward before I can move back?” she muses.
Yes it makes sense, perfect sense.
I suggest to Juliet some may compare her plight and even singing style and lyrics to Vashti Bunyan and Judee Sill etc.
“There was a terrific documentary on the life of Judee Sill broadcast some months ago. Yes friends, people who had seen me live made that association with my music and albums. Same with Vashti, we both experienced major disappointment in our early careers, then vanished” she laughs with a shake of the head.
Composure regained she continues “They are excellent artistes in their own right” I want to be known as Juliet Lawson aligned to my own work. I write all my own songs, will release my new EP, and subsequent album on my own label (Ravishing Rhymes) stand or fall by my own material. Does that answer your question?” she checks with me.
Well the question is answered but comparisons will undoubtedly be made.
Go into any major music retailer and and ask for a Juliet Lawson album. Same answer I can guarantee. Not in stock. In fact except for Boo none of her albums have ever been put out for retail sale. All of them, three studio albums and EP of (2009) produced and sold only to those who attended her limited gigs. She puts it down to bad management,a certain level of naivety and trusting people who then let her down.
“I take it all your past albums will be re-released soon?” I ask “No” she says without hesitation.
“The new EP will be for sale online, digital download CD option etc. My older songs aren’t in this or any other plan at present. I want to concentrate on getting the best material I can out on this new EP. My best work is my new work”.
This is a bizarre story. Albums not released from one decade to another. Not made available to the general public or in shops or online by her recording label. I even doubt if you could have bought them at the gigs she played. Playing in front of ten people. Then deciding to get professional support and still not re-release the older albums.Epiphany moment. Even the EP’s title is defiant “Never went Away”
You can listen to some of her music through music sites my Editor wouldn’t allow me to mention in this article. She won’t rock everyone’s boat. Some songs sound dated, not surprisingly whilst others are exceptionally good. I can certainly see what all the was about. As her story unfolds I am asking myself “How many people have actually heard her albums over the years?”
From the limited but varied reviews I’ve sourced, there isn’t a bad word to be said against her music. The Suitcase EP probably embodies what a twenty first century Juliet Lawson has to offer. However you won’t be able to hear all the tracks. Instead of them being in shops and online, they sit in boxes gathering dust at an unspecified address.
“I take it you know the story of The SugarMan Sixto Rodriguez?” I ask somewhat tentatively.
“Well I do know he’s far older than me” she confirms with some jousting taking place here.
“Well i’m not the first to say your The SugarWoman, been somewhere, but now back. It does have a ring of truth to it don’t you think?” I state, awaiting a reaction.
“Owen, you can call me what you want as long as you don’t forget, I’m Juliet Lawson” she closes with a knowing smirk.
And with that I toddle off down my well worn cul-de-sac.
Juliet’s new EP “Never Went Away” was released and on sale in November.
Catch her at a showcase gig at The Abbey Theatre December 4th 2014.
Juliet Lawson exclusive interview
A review by Female First - http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/
Last time we spoke to you was back in March 2013, how much has changed for you since then?
Oh where to begin. I made a conscious decision months ago to get some of the songs which have been bouncing around inside my head out onto an EP during the course of 2014. Also my Manager added more support on the commercial and social media side. Now I can talk with fans and media every day and keep them upto date with my plans and ideas.
Funny thing about being a songwriter, as soon as one recording is done, your onto the next batch of ideas and songs. I had a surge of writing from summer '13 to spring '14, which I'm very pleased with.
You were just releasing EP 'Songs From The Suitcase' during our last interview, how did you find the response to that?
The response was very positive, reviews were kind to the EP. The studio production was excellent but it was difficult to take that sound and band members required out on the road and make it financially feasible. The 2015 tour will be back to basics performing with my three piece band. That said I may perform solo or with my guitarist at the smaller venues which have an intimacy between audience and myself. Either way, if I'm performing my songs, I'm happy.
Now you're releasing your brand new EP 'Never Went Away' - what sort of sound should fans and new listeners expect with this record?
We deliberately recorded "Never Went Away" (NWA) around my three piece band who I'll be touring with during '15. The songs are stories about, love relationships, getting older and becoming more confident/independent. I would describe them as intimate and personal, songs people can relate too.
We have concentrated on my vocals, making sure there isn't an essence of over production which can bury the song itself.
How do you go about finding your sound for a new record and creating new material? Talk us through that process.
I'm always writing, mostly observations which take me down a lyrical track. I then work with Christian Marsac a wonderful guitarist I met in 2009 when I asked him to put musicians together for a gig bizarrely at an Art's fair. I enjoyed working with him so much, he has calm and creative presence, allowing me to deal with any nerves which allow me to concentrate on my performance. For me it was a turning point and although it took a while to get back into more recording (there is much discussion along the way, believe me) I can't think of anyone else I'd prefer to work with.
You played the EP live at Ronnie Scott's in London, what was that experience like?
Well the audience liked the songs and feedback was positive. Phew! It took me a couple of songs to acclimatize to the chatter and background noise. Overall it was a fantastic experience, it's little wonder the place is so iconic. I even have a an offer to play in Kenya!
There's a showcase at The Abbey Theatre St. Albans on December 4 - will this be a similar set?
Primarily its a showcase of the EP "Never Went Away" but the show is around 90 minutes so, yes some of my recent material mixed with old favourites. It's nice to have an audience sing along with my songs, and woe betide me if I get the lyrics muddled up, which I have been known to do!
You've mentioned before you love intimate audiences, is connecting with fans a big reason why you do what you do?
Sometimes this music thing can feel like an indulgence, but as I get older I am more and more aware, without sounding pompous, you the singer contribute to people's well being emotionally. I have been so moved over the years when someone says to me that this song, or that song has helped them, healed them. That type of reaction can be humbling. My on stage chatter is a lot lighter these days, I sure that sometimes I was a bit too heavy and morose.
You've been in the industry for some time now - what has your experience been like?
Checkered! I've dipped my toe in, found the water cold, opted out. I also paint and at times it's taken over my time and creativity. These days I'm not competing, I'm doing my own thing at my own pace, not chasing deals with record labels etc. I now have my own label Ravishing Rhymes, it allows me independence in term of how and when I release my songs. It's comforting to have some control in a world of speed, deadlines and tomorrow is too late.
Do you feel that women are now taken more seriously in the business and it's a better environment for them?
Creatively I think woman are now taking control. The internet has changed the whole structure. Artists such as Adele, Lily Allen, Sandi Thorm, Ellie Goulding have entered into peoples lives by getting there music heard online. I feel strongly about female independence in the industry. I'm lucky, although on a smaller scale with NWA I've been able to write, perform and distribute the EP without record labels and companies involvement. I take great pride in this achievement.
Whilst the music industry as a whole is more respectful and understanding towards woman, not for one minute would I say I'm happy or supportive of the continued stereotyping and sexual exploitation of woman seen in promotional videos. Take Joni Mitchell at her peak of fame, then Annie Lennox, now the likes of Laura Marling or KT Tunstall. They are successful for their music, not getting their kit off! Sorry but you did ask.
What are some of your favourite moments in your career to-date?
Oh goodness. Recording always does it for me. I thinks my current songs and those in the pipeline are the best I've done to date.
The world could end while your putting your all into that last line tucked away in that tiny booth. Looking back there have been some hideous disappointments, self doubts, rejections. Now I'm surrounded by some wonderful souls who understand me and believe not only in my new batch of songs, but albums I put together many years ago. Of course the fans, bless them. Many are on social media scattered far and wide and I'm so grateful to them, they are in contact more than ever through Facebook and my website. It does reach out this music thing.
What upcoming events and live gigs can you share some details about with us?
First of all we have the showcase event, December 4th at The Abbey Theatre St.Albans. As mentioned before we are planning a series of gigs which will be released next month. Initially around the south east then throughout the UK, and indeed overseas, so please invite me! I will also be back in the studio January/February recording another six or seven songs which will be on my new album scheduled for March 2015. Writing, gigs, studio work, this is bliss. We are also in the initial stages of discussions with festival organisers. Festivals, now that is new ground for me. So yes, lots going on it will be a busy 2015 for sure, busy, but exciting times ahead.