Photo credit: Laura E. Partian.
Tell us about your tour vehicle.
I usually tour in my 2013 Toyota Matrix, a handy little hatchback. It’s got 150,000 miles on it, gets great gas mileage, and can fit up to a three-piece band, my husband’s upright bass included! I’m religious about changing the oil, so thankfully it hasn’t needed much work. To quote my friend Noel McKay’s song, “Change the oil, change the oil… it’ll run forever if you change the oil.”
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I’m a big fan of bringing raw nuts, apples, oranges, bananas, my own homemade granola, carrots, and grape tomatoes. I bring my own french press and my own coffee beans (ground the day I leave for tour). I keep a big cooler in the back for turkey, cheese, hummus, milk, yogurt, and for leftovers from my usual restaurant stops- Chipotle, Panera, that Greek place… Zoe’s!
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I try to listen closely to my strings and change them when they start sounding bad, and it totally depends on the guitar. I learned that from my friends Rich Hinman and Adam Levy, who sometimes will leave strings on guitar for years. My Martin, for example, sounds great with old strings. My Gibson totally does not.
It costs hardly nothing to replace your strings, as long as you’re not paying someone else to change them. (Thanks for that lesson, Daddy!)
Where do you rehearse?
I rehearse kind of all over the place. Sometimes at home, sometimes at our drummer Jordan Perlson’s place. We keep it simple, working as little as possible and laughing as much as possible.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
“See the Rain” – written in 1998, somewhere in Texas at a songwriting camp. I was a teenager and just learning how to summon my own thoughts and put them into song form. I’d have to really dig it up to remember the whole song, but I remember the first part of the chorus, “I see the rain fall, I hear your voice call.”
Describe your first gig.
How do we classify an actual gig!? The first time I sang on stage was in middle school, at some school function (probably a pageant) where I sang the intermission song.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
My last day job was at a wonderful place in New York City, where I lived for 10 years. I worked in finance as an executive assistant for some of the kindest, smartest people you could ever meet. I worked at that place for almost 7 years, where I was part of the beloved “other agenda” class; they loved supporting me as a singer-songwriter (many of them still do, quite directly).
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
Making money at making music is really hard. I’m able to see my worth now in ways that were not obvious at first, and I’m really grateful to have a fan base that supports my career in ways I didn’t think would be possible. I’ve been a full-time touring artist for 5 years, and even though I’m still scraping by month to month, somehow it’s working and growing. In the next 5-10 years, of course I hope it will grow, if only to be able to continue doing this thing I do.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I wish I hadn’t spent so much time trying to be what I thought people wanted from an artist, instead of just 100% being myself, because my songs and performances are much more approachable and vulnerable when I’m not putting on.