I recently got to do a little Q&A with Grace Askew, a singer who’s pushing country and blues boundaries with her super cool voice and great songwriting. Askew’s new album, Scaredy Cat, comes out in August, and it opens up a gritty world of bar stools, bad luck and bad habits, unrequited love, hilltop liquor stores, and escape. You might remember her from The Voice last year, but this is music that is distinctive Americana. Grace is a sixth generation Memphian and she recorded Scaredy Cat at Sun Studios.
Tell me about the experience of recording in Sun Studios.
Recording at Sun was a dream come true, and it felt like the days of old had come back to life as soon as we hit record. Since I was about 15, I’ve said that Elvis is my guardian angel, since many of my life’s most marked moments seem to involve Mr. Presley, like he’s been guiding me in a way. Call me crazy … but it’s true. Sun Studios represents an era without over-dubbing, without Autotune, without perfection … all traits I have always been vehemently attracted to and support.
Is there something magical about the room at Sun? How do you think that comes across on your record?
The magic in Sun lies in the presence of the past. The history of that room still feels very much alive and it’s kept alive by guys like Matt Ross-Spang, who continually strive to restore and revive it back to its original state. The surrealness to be in a room that has hardly changed in 60 years is somewhat hard to express in words … you just have to experience it yourself I suppose. It comes across in my record in the primal energy of the performances and the raw, un-touched buzz and energy of the room. I’ve become a huge fan of the magic of the first take and Sun perfectly catered to that desire.
What kinds of subjects are you attracted to when you write songs? Do you rely on your own experiences and craft personal narratives, or look at your surroundings and the people you know?
My approach is based on both really – I write about what I know, based on what I’ve observed in the world around me and what I have personally experienced from all walks of life. Being a “tumbleweed” of sorts, or a road dog, I come across all types of people and am fascinated by hearing their stories to gain more insight and wisdom in how I perceive my own reality. None of our journeys are truly our own, they are meant to be shared and absorbed and passed down, because in the end it’s never about us. It is our responsibility to share our experiences to help others and that’s what I’m beginning to take to heart when working on new material. I’ve always been a sponge of sorts, relishing in absorbing the energy of my surroundings … I just can’t help myself.
I’m completely fascinated with your voice, so I hope you don’t mind a few questions about your singing. First, are there singers – male or female – that you ever wanted to emulate?
Well shucks, thank you! From looking way back, the first artist I ever tried to emulate was probably Cat Power. While crashing at a friend’s loft in Dumbo (Brooklyn) at 17, he handed off a Cat Power album saying “you should hear this”. I was instantly in love with her sound and her voice was a game-changer for me because she was the first female I had ever heard sing like that. A female voice that had flaws, had roughness, and true vulnerability?! Unheard of in my world at the time. It was the first female voice I could really relate to and from that point I began to be more comfortable with my true voice, while incorporating Cat’s style of singing. Tom Waits was another huge vocal performance influence. His manner of making rough sound beautiful is very appealing.
How do you go about crafting a vocal melody?
I don’t think so hard on things like this really … it’s just however the words naturally come out, that’s how it was meant to be sung. And of course the performance of each song evolves with each live performance.
What constitutes a “mainstream” female voice these days is pretty limited – and yours is unique, and stands out from that mainstream sound. Was that ever an issue for you? Have you been encouraged to sing differently? Do you think you can help expand our ideas of how a woman sings?
A woman can be whoever she wants to be when it comes to her craft because no two voices are alike. Human beings need to experience all spectrums of who we are because there is not a limited type of woman on this planet. I do feel quite disheartened sometimes by the mainstream’s portrayal of the modern-day woman, with its polished perfection and belty bravado … give me a woman whose voice tells a story without singing a word any day. I’ve definitely encountered self-doubt in my abilities at certain points because I’m not really into or capable of belting and doing mega vocal runs. But I also whole-heartedly accept that because part of me because the world doesn’t need another Whitney Houston. Where there is only one Whitney Houston, there is also only one Grace Askew.
There’s a pretty strong blues influence in your music; any particular artists that were influential for you?
Growing up, I was very into Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Aretha Franklin, and Al Green, particularly because the latter two had a lot to do with Memphis. It wasn’t until I was about 18 that I began to do more investigative work in my college’s music library (Loyola New Orleans) that I began to truly get into the blues and gospel masterminds, namely Mahalia Jackson. Something about her voice, her message, her strength and conviction has spoken to me more than anyone through the years. It was only inevitable that I would end up writing my own gospel song for this new album, entitled “Calvary”. Blues and gospel are the fruits of my region, my soil, my roots, my ancestors so coming into an affinity for those types of artists is just about the most natural progression that could have ever occurred in my life. They call Memphis the capital of North Mississippi for a reason because Delta culture is such a huge part of who we are.
Tell me more about the record: who joined you in recording, producing, etc. How did you come up with the arrangements?
At the end of the day, it’s all about the voice and what that voice has to say. I simply wanted to make sure that happened on this record. The vulnerabilities needed to be seen and the wounds needed to be re-opened to make the performances their best, so ultimately I thought back on why I wrote what I did while I was singing each song. Re-living each song’s backstory was quite exhausting, but I think it really helped me give the best performance possible. I’m joined with a stellar group of talents on this album. Logan Hanna has been very loyal to me now for nearly five years, playing on a total of five out of my six releases. I think he nailed the lead guitar sound on this album, it’s like the room was speaking for itself and we didn’t even exchange ideas or thoughts. How it came out is purely an outcome of our surroundings. Same case with the engineer’s tactic – Matt Ross-Spang and I never exchanged a single word on how I wanted the record to sound, or how he thought we should approach it … it just kind of happened. Mark Edgar Stuart came in the next day, after we had cut all of the eleven songs in four hours to overdub upright bass, since at first I didn’t think we needed bass. After he spent a few hours very patiently over-dubbing to my pushes and pulls, we ended up re-cutting the opening track, “Wild Heart”, live together and I think that has come to be one of the most magical takes of the album. Adding bass is what made it all really come together and begin to feel like a true album. Adam Woodard from Memphis came in and effortlessly added accordion to “Bad Habit” and haunting piano – the very same piano “The Killer” himself played – to “Calvary”. Kel Kellum also joined us, driving up from Oxford, Mississippi to add some slick pedal steel to “Tip-Top Liquor” and a spooky element to “Calvary”.
All in all, I just wanted Sun and the songs to speak for themselves. Simplicity is hard to do, but when I learned to just let go and let the sessions breathe and be in-the-moment, we ended up producing an album that I will be proud of for the rest of my life. It’s raw, it’s janky, it’s real, it’s Memphis.
Do you have plans for an upcoming tour?
I’ll be showcasing in San Francisco August 7th and Los Angeles on both August 9th and 10th, all with Logan Hanna on lead guitar. Details can be found at GraceAskew.com. I’ve also got a bunch of Texas tour dates up for September, and plans to tour up to NYC in October. Details soon.
Anything else you’d like to add?
For all you younger, budding artists … it’s ok to emulate your musical heroes in beginning because that’s how you eventually find your own sound but ultimately listeners will find YOU more interesting, because everyone else is already taken.
Find tracks from Scaredy Cat, due out August 12, and tour info on http://www.graceaskew.com/.
