You may recognize Erin McKeown's name from her participation in the Voices On The Verge project. In 2001, McKeown recorded a
live album and toured with four other women (Rose Polenzani, Jess Klein and Beth Amsel), all of whom, in McKeown's words, 'have
gone our separate ways and are engaged in our own projects.' McKeown, who was already making a name for herself as a solo artist
prior to VOTV, has released the spectacular Grand (Nettwerk America), a song cycle that is as diverse as it is consistently inspired.
Opening with the sexy shuffle of 'Slung-Lo' and moving casually into the hip-shaking power pop of 'Cinematic,' the oompah of 'The
Taste of You,' the hummable 'Born To Hum,' the insurgent country ballad 'Envelopes Of Glassine,' and the arched eyebrow of 'A
Better Wife.'
Gregg Shapiro: Your new album, the colorful Grand, was released June 10. How does it feel to be on Nettwerk America, a label
with such an impressive artist roster?
Erin McKeown: I never know who to say is on the label when people ask me. But then I always think twice and I think of Ron
Sexsmith. I would have to say the he and The Be Good Tanyas are the artists that I most admire on that label. I'm pleased to be in
their company.
GS: What was involved in the decision to expand your eclectic acoustic blues sound to include a more pop-oriented vibe?
EM: It wasn't much of a decision. It just sort of happened. It was what I was interested in doing. It was the direction that my music
was taking. Distillation was made at the end of 1999 and early in 2000. That's a lot of time to pass between getting the opportunity to
go into the studio and record. So my music naturally changed quite a bit in that time. It took more of a direction toward things that I like
to listen to.
GS: You are working again with producer David Chalfant, producer of Distillation. What makes your working relationship such a
success?
EM: First of all, I changed everything about my career between Distillation and Grand. I changed management, agent, label,
everything. So I needed some sense of continuity. Working with Dave was my way of making sure that, at the core, things were still
the same with my music. What makes our relationship so successful is that it's a conversation. We're both able to say to each other,
'These are the things I do well. And these are the things that I don't do well, can you help me?' When we would be tracking a song,
the idea would be that I would give a shot to some ideas or playing some instruments and if we both thought that it was successful we
would continue on in that vein. But if it was something that I couldn't play, then he would play it. If it was something that neither of us
could do, then we would call in someone else. As it turned out, there were very few extra people on this record. What you hear is
pretty much me and Dave playing all the instruments.
GS: You play very well together
EM: (Laughs) Thank you.
GS: One of the most striking things about the CD is the presence of Judy Garland. She is referred to in the songs 'Cinematic' and
'Vera,' and you do a cover version of 'Lucky Day,' a song performed by Garland. Can you please tell me something about the Judy
Garland energy on the album?
EM: I think it's definitely an energy and a presence, as opposed to a blatant attempt to talk about her or make something of her
legacy. This isn't a record about Judy Garland. That's an important point to me, because I don't want it to be taken over by the fact that
Judy Garland is on the record. On the other hand, her presence was a way to unify things. She, in her life, described a time period that
I wanted to write a record in, which was basically the period of her fame—the late '30s to the mid-'60s. It was a convenient spirit to tie
everything together. There's more Judy Garland references on the record than just the songs you mentioned. If you take the time, it's
an extra game that you can play with the record.
GS: Speaking of Judy Garland—there is a nod to the 'handsome faggots' who 'make pretty pretty' in 'Cinematic,' and in 'James!'
it sounds like you are offering love advice to a gay male friend in love with a straight boy. Do you feel like you have a particularly
strong connection to your gay brethren?
EM: I feel a great strong connection to my gay brethren! First of all, you are reading 'James!' correctly, that's exactly what that
song is about. It's not masquerading as anything else—it is advice to a friend for sure. I'm just someone who doesn't qualify my love
—that's the easiest way to put it—therefore, in my writing, I don't qualify it either. I have politics and I certainly have things that I
believe in personally. They are in my music. I may or may not take my position as a writer as a soapbox, but if you look deeply into my
music, the politics are there.
GS: I'm glad that you mentioned politics, because the song 'Civilians' sounds like a political statement.
EM: I think that it goes back to my belief of not qualifying love. I think it's very dangerous thing when you divide things into an us-
versus-them mentality. The inspiration for that song came from two places. The first is that I was doing some investigation into images
of atrocities, Holocaust photography, and the idea of what it is to be a soldier. Secondly, I was talking to a friend of mine who was
about to get married and she said, 'This is the last photo that I will take as a civilian.' I started to think about civilians and non-civilians
and essentially getting into the mindset of someone who believes that. What I found was that it was distasteful to me to divide things
that way. I really think that mentality is corrosive. What I'm focusing on is a common humanity.
GS: There is a reclaiming of the oft-misused word 'lady' on both your Web site (in reference to yourself) as well as in the song 'How
To Be A Lady.'
EM: I think a lot of what Grand is about, and what I'm about, is different ways to be a woman. There are so many different ways to
characterize what it is to be a woman. To be crude about it, sometimes it has nothing to do with what's between your legs. I like the
word reclaiming—I think that's a great idea. I can't say that it's what I had in mind, but I definitely agree with you. I think a lot of Grand
is also about how to be a partner, and images of domesticity, and playing with the idea of what is expected of, for example, a
housewife or how to be a wife. Trying to show different ways that people can do that.
GS: Spoken word/sung tune 'Cosmopolitans' sounded like an update of Sondheim's 'The Ladies Who Lunch.'
EM: That's another Judy Garland song, which takes its inspiration more directly from Judy Garland than some of the other things
on the record. In the mid-'60s, she was trying to make some money and she hooked up with a very famous Hollywood agent named
Swifty Lazar. He suggested that she write a book and he gave her a tape deck and said, 'At night, when you're just spilling out your
thoughts to people on the telephone, why don't you hang up and talk into the tape recorder.' So there are these tapes—which are not
hard to find, there's a link on my Web site so you can listen to them—of Judy Garland speaking late at night by herself. She's
ruminating on her family and her life and her career. It's a very emotional experience to listen to them. It calls to mind a certain amount
of colors and a certain esthetic that I wanted to describe in a song. It's the idea of the separate bedrooms and attached baths, the idea
of a cocktail party, the idea of the pills on the draperies, a sort of dark shag esthetic.
GS: A little touch of Far From Heaven.
EM: Absolutely. That's such a beautiful movie. I get so much of my inspiration from movies and books. I would say that the least of
it comes from musicians.
GS: Then 'Cinematic' is more than just an appropriate song title.
EM: Yes, absolutely.
