Interviews

  • Five Questions: Mary Gauthier

    There\’s something incredibly poetic about Mary Gauthier, and it infuses everything about her. It\’s in her language and diction, it\’s in her work, and it\’s in her life — past, present, and future. The thing is, poetry isn\’t always red roses and blue violets. Sometimes, poetry is a teenage runaway who falls into addiction and…

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  • Five Questions: Lera Lynn

    With her airy, butter-smooth voice and easy, country-tinged songs, singer/songwriter Lera Lynn wouldn\’t have been out of place amidst the ladies of the canyon (Laurel Canyon, that is) in the \’70s. Pretty much everything about her could sidle right up alongside the artists of that era — the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, CSN, Judy Collins, et al —…

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  • All Space, No Pressure: An Interview with Butterfly Boucher

    Ten years ago, Australian singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Butterfly Boucher made a very impressive debut with Flutterby on which she wrote, played, and sang pretty much every note. The effort caught the attention of folks like David Bowie, Madonna, and Sarah McLachlan, along with a die-hard group of fans. Flash forward a solid decade and she\’s done it…

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  • Intention and Interpretation: An Interview with Sinéad O'Connor

    As the world comes unglued — in Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, and Missouri — and as we lose some of our most fearless, most peaceful leaders — Nelson Mandela and Maya Angelou, among them — many people turn to music to make sense of the madness. For members of Generation X, Sinéad O\’Connor, whether she…

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  • The Past Is Never Dead: An Interview with Ben Glover

    The idea of having a home, of finding a place in the world is an idea that poets have long tried to capture and convey. Singer/songwriter Ben Glover is one of them and he\’s done a decent job of it on his new album, Atlantic. Here, Glover retraces the lives of legends and the heart…

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  • The Lost Art of the Good Fight: An Interview with Linda Perry

    To call Linda Perry anything less than a Renaissance woman would miss the point. She\’s a singer, songwriter, musician, producer, engineer, record executive, philanthropist, and, now, reality TV star. But the whole of who she is is so much greater than the sum of all those parts, which is something that listening to her records…

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  • The Eyes Have It: An Interview with LP

    In the business that is show, there are various archetypes. Songwriters toil away in anonymity, pairing catchy melodies with heartfelt lyrics in hopes of having a hit. Singers train their focus on their voice as their instrument, putting perfect performances above all else. Artists take a 360-degree approach, combining a skill for writing with a…

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  • Tearing It Down and Breaking Free: Ruby Rose & Butterfly Boucher

    Two weeks ago, Australian performance artist Ruby Rose released a short film titled Break Free. The piece, set to a song (“It Pulls Me Under”) performed by Butterfly Boucher, depicts Rose\’s transition from an ultra-feminine identity into a hyper-masculine one. The response has been loud, though not always proud. Some of the viewers want it…

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  • Five Questions: Bry Webb

    After years of blasting it out as a member of the Constantines, singer/songwriter Bry Webb turned it all down a few notches for his new solo effort, Free Will. Written as a something of a meditation on his new role as a father to a son, the set is quieter, to be sure, but it\’s not without some edge.…

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  • Five Questions: Louise Goffin

    As the child of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, singer/songwriter Louise Goffin comes from musical stock. But genetics never grant a free pass or guarantee a successful career. Just ask Ben Taylor or Holly Williams. Sure, it\’s a leg up, but an artist still has to prove themselves on their own merit. So that\’s what…

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