Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Sarah Beatty, who discusses her new album, “ Bandit Queen.†Detailing her origin in music and her goals for 2017, Beatty lets us know what makes her a special performer.
Review Fix: How did your childhood influence your music?
Sarah Beatty: My music background was a mix of listening to top 40 radio, independent / college radio, my dad’s tape collection, and a wickedly awesome public school music program. I really learned how to be a musician singing in school choir, playing french horn in band, and performing in musical theatre. Ensembles teach you about playing music and working with other voices and instruments in a way that is deeply metaphoric and poetic. For me, that experience has had a lasting impression in adulthood.
Review Fix: Why does folk music still matter?
Beatty: Well that opens up the question of what is folk music, and as far as I can tell, it’s all folk music. The aesthetics or the content might change or differ between artists, but whether you’ve got synthesizers or actual people and mechanical instruments (guitars, pianos, that sort of thing) making sounds, those stories, emotions, and attitudes being expressed in those notes, words, and rhythms are fundamentally made by human beings and communicating what it means to be a human being. And that will never go out of style.
Review Fix: Why should someone listen to “Bandit Queen”?
Beatty: I hope people have as much fun listening to Bandit Queen, the song and the album, as I had making it. It’s such a wild thing to be able to make records. They’re this completely unruly and human way of holding a mirror up to yourself and the world you’re living in. I hope people get a kick out of listening and perhaps hear themselves in it too.
Review Fix: What do you think makes you special as a musician?
Beatty: I think the curious parts of ourselves are always looking for music that challenges or expands our current understanding of ourselves and the world. If some of my songs or perspectives probe or resonate with other people, then a cool conversation starts to happen, one that’s based on my initial ability to be brave and reveal something that has truth, mystery, depth (or shallowness), has twists and turns, and a big human element. And hopefully, when all is said an done, everyone’s been changed, or soothed, or understood in a meaningful way. That’s a wild thing to take part in and one that I get a big kick out of.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Beatty: Shows! Right now I’m touring in Europe, Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg in support of the record’s release. That will go until March, when I head back to Canada for Spring touring with the new album and festival season in the Summer.
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