Sing You Sinners
That's okay. After all, her latest effort, Sing You Sinners (Nettwerk, 2007) is still simmering, and she's still on tour promoting it. When I spoke with her, she was just starting her morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico, gearing up for a seven-day West Coast tour supporting singer/songwriter Melissa Ferrick.Considering McKeown has historically been a rather crafty songwriter, I asked her what her motivation was for making an album full of cover tunes. "Putting new art into the world has always been my focus," she said. "These songs [have always been] like candy on the side, songs I sang for fun; because they're like old movies, old theater ... I don't have one of these voices that can sing the phonebook, you know. I have a very distinctive voice, and even the way I play guitar [is distinctive]," she adds, indicating she knew this would be a different sort of project.
I asked how she went about arranging the tunes, whether she wrote all the parts, or just gave the other instrumentalists guidelines, and let the songs self-actualize. "Well, like, with 'Paper Moon,' for example," she said, "That was more of a blank canvas ... [that was one where] I just let the musicians f*** around, for lack of a better word. You know that song is very simple. There are some chords and some lyrics, but there are so many ways to interpret it. We actually tried it five different ways—waltz, dixieland, there was a game show version. Allison [Miller, McKeown's studio and touring percussionist] started only playing the beat. The version that wound up on the album, that was actually the only take we did that way."
Onstage and In the Studio
That kind of "anything can happen" spirit translates well to McKeown's live performances, where she, Miller, and keyboardist Sam Kassirer synergize not only in their musical expertise, but also in their stage presence. In the studio, though, McKeown decided to call the shots this time around."I usually partner [as producer] with an engineer, and it's always about collaboration ... But this time around, I already knew all the answers to the sort of questions producers would ask, so I decided to be the producer."
Is Erin McKeown a Folksinger?
One question she's a little more shaky on is when she's asked if she considers herself a folksinger. "Ideologically," she admits, "I'm drawn to that, I'm down with that style of music." Folk music, as she sees it, involves a reverence for tradition and the interplay between instruments and the narratives of the songs. "Musically, however, I've always struggled with that definition. It's a difficult thing for an artist to sort of think about how their records will be labeled in the record stores. Usually, I think they'll put me in folk and rock. Sinners should probably be in the jazz category, but 'jazz' may be a little to [restrictive]."I mentioned that, even within the folk world, among traditionalists, some people are reticent to use the word anymore, because noone can agree on what it really means to contemporary music. McKeown agrees with that standpoint. While she concurs artists like Ani Difranco and Michelle Shocked have been able to come from the folk tradition, with a reverence for the artform and respect for the genre, and create their own metamorphosed style of music from it, she concludes, "I think 'folk' is maybe a term that's outlived its usefulness."
Whether it has or hasn't is up for discussion. Irregardless, McKeown will continue to tour the country singing her whatever-genre-you-want-to-lump-them-into songs. And doubtless, her next album, no matter the sonic direction she decides to take it, will continue to push the definition of her musical style even further.
For more information and Erin McKeown's tour dates, visit ErinMcKeown.com.
