1 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Pushkin. Just a year ago, it might have seemed strange 2 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: for a black woman from England to record a country 3 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: album in Nashville, But then Oldtown Road held down the 4 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: top spot on Billboard's Hot one hundred for a record 5 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: breaking nineteen weeks, and black folks started reconnecting with their 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: country roots on Twitter. You couldn't have seen it coming. 7 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,479 Speaker 1: Take it from the Black kid whose first concert was 8 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks and was teased mercilessly for it. But Yola's 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: having a great year, singing on stage with legends like 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, working with Brandy Carlyle and 11 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: the Highwomen, even getting a shot out from Kendall Jenner 12 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: on Twitter. She spent years singing with folks like the 13 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack and her band Phantom Limb in England, 14 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: but after connecting with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, 15 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: her grand artistic vision came to life, soulful country the 16 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: way it used to be. This is Broken Record Season 17 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: three liner notes for the Digital Age. I'm justin Richmond. 18 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: Just a quick note here. You can listen to all 19 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: of the music mentioned in this episode on our playlist, 20 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: which you can find a link to in the show 21 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: notes for licensing reasons. Each time a song is referenced 22 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: in this episode, you'll hear this sound effect all right. 23 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 1: Enjoyed the episode. Bruce headlam met with Yola in New 24 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: York over the summer. She'd been up late the night 25 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: before doing a performance at YouTube Studio and Chelsea, but 26 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: she showed up anyway with two members of her band, 27 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: ready to play some songs, talk about working with Dan 28 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: Arbach and about how surviving a house fire inspired her 29 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 1: to write her new album, walk Through Fire. She opened 30 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: with a song from that record, right out in the Country. Well, 31 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: I was right out in the country by Yola. Welcome 32 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: to Broken Record. Thank you so much for coming. Oh, 33 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me, And thanks to 34 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: your two bandmates who came along. Yeah, this is Anthony 35 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 1: da Costa and Jerry Brannhat. Jerry is still grimacing over 36 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: that last notdy hit on Defender. I liked it. Yeah, 37 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: you know, it was a it was a it was 38 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:23,519 Speaker 1: a choice. It was a choice, not an act one 39 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: in the studio. Well, we know we like these. Uh, 40 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: it was an emotional thing, you know. I was still 41 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: I was still bleeding a little bit out on this 42 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: roads yeah, I had one more little finger drop to do, right, 43 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: one more thing to say. Yeah, if you do, you 44 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,239 Speaker 1: want to keep going because you could. If there's more 45 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: to say, and the offender, please, could you guys clear 46 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: the room at got some stuff to just let out? No, 47 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: you wrote that song? Did you write that by yourself? 48 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: Or was that? This one was co written by with 49 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: myself and done our back. And we have made a 50 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: habit of inviting fine gentlemen to help us write songs. 51 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: Bobby Wood helped us write, and Joe Allen helped us write, 52 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: and Dan Penn helped us write, and Pat McLaughlin helped 53 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: us write, and so we were really spoiled rotten when 54 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: it came to co writers in this case, Joel, Now, 55 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: no disrespect to those other gentlemen. But you co wrote 56 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:31,959 Speaker 1: with Dan Penn. Yes, who wrote I'm Your Puppet? Yes? 57 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: Do write woman? Yes, Dark End of the Street. Of course. 58 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: For James Carr, I think yeah, And I haven't know, 59 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: I haven't. Many gazillion other people sang that song, and 60 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: obviously him and Spooner Aldham's represent rich reputation is just lifelong. 61 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,119 Speaker 1: So what was that like to sit in a room 62 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: with Dan Penn. It was surreal, is what it was. 63 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: The kids. I came into the room, and you know 64 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: when you think, I swear I just saw somebody that 65 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: I that I recognized just a little bit too keenly, 66 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: and so you the first first you don't believe it, 67 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: and then you're like, oh, okay, so that is who 68 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: I thought I saw. Yeah, Now let me back up. 69 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: What where was the room? First of all? So the 70 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 1: room was easy I Sound studio in Nashville and that, 71 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: yeah it is, yeah, And then what was the process 72 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: of rating after that? Sit down at a table with 73 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,239 Speaker 1: guitars and start strumming at each other until I've started 74 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: by telling a story supposed specifically in that session about 75 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: house fire. I was in, okay, you tell us the 76 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: story and then we'll go back to the writing room. 77 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: But yeah, what was the story itself? Well, we were 78 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: just thinking about, okay, so what we'll be writing about, 79 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: and they were just like, so, Dan was like, tell 80 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: me a bit about yourself for them. I well, I've 81 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: been talking about myself quite a lot over the past 82 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: few days, but I suppose I haven't talked about this. 83 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: I'm wasn't the house fire recently And He's like okay something, 84 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: and I was like, yeah, well, it was kind of 85 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,719 Speaker 1: Christmas twenty fourteen going into twenty fifteen, and I was 86 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: just getting ready, getting the house ready, wrapping some presents 87 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: in your houses were in Bristol, Ukka, and so I'm 88 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: wrapping and I'm getting ready to wrap this present for 89 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: a friend of mine. That's a bioethanol burner. And it's 90 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 1: a bioethanol burner. It's like a table centerpiece type thing. 91 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: It lets out a little heat. You know, you've got 92 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: a bit of bioethanol fueling it. It's like a natural accelerant. 93 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: Under then it lets out a little flame, not too 94 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: dissimilar to a candle. And so I just thought, let's 95 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: make sure I've just got it's in the post, let's 96 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,160 Speaker 1: make sure it works. And it worked just fine. I 97 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: put a bit of bioweth on in there. It worked 98 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: just great. Problem was that the canister that had the 99 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: bioweth on it had a little leak around the kind 100 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: of cap, and so when I lit it, it worked perfectly. 101 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: I was like, that looks nice, okay, and then the 102 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: little bit of fire catches a little drip and it 103 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: catches the caister. Caister goes up. It's been dripping on 104 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: my dress as I kind of moved my hands towards that, 105 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,919 Speaker 1: and so my dress goes up, and I'm a human 106 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,960 Speaker 1: torch at this point, and I'm in shock, and so 107 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: the first thing I'm thinking is I need to think 108 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: of something worse than being on fire, which is quite 109 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: a hard thought because it's not great. And so I'm 110 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: really thinking how can I get out of this situation 111 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,599 Speaker 1: that I'm in, especially given that I'm in shock and 112 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,840 Speaker 1: I'm in static shocks. I'm not really moving or doing 113 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: anything useful. And so I was like, Okay, let's think 114 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: of something worse, because if I got over that, I 115 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: can get over this. And I thought of kind of 116 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: the life I was enduring, kind of pre twenty nine, 117 00:06:54,360 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 1: pre thirty, which was just highly misogynistic, highly i'd say, 118 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: like the brand of racism that purposefully disguises itself, so 119 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: of a kind of a wonderful brand of missology, noir 120 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: and abuse and neglect and all sorts of things that 121 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: made that part of my life just an utter misery. 122 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: And I kind of thought back on that time and 123 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, I'd take my life 124 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: now on fire any day of the week, and I 125 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: started laughing so hard. I laughed myself out of stack shock. 126 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: And then I stopped, dropped and rolled and put myself 127 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: out like you're supposed to. And that moment of just 128 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: clearing out really felt like a moment of just being 129 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 1: able to start again and being free. And so I 130 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: told this story to Dan Penn and Dan our Back 131 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: and they looked at me like I was a mad woman, 132 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: and I was like, well, we could write a song 133 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: about that, and we kind of got onto writing the 134 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 1: title track of the album. That's an incredible story. Yeah, 135 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: and this comes up and they say, let's turn it 136 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: into a song. What was that? Like, how did you 137 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: turn that into a song? Man? Well, Dan Penn's kind 138 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: of doing this thing of looking up into the ether, 139 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: kind of mumbling. I call it like the mumble right 140 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: where you're not you haven't got a pretty disposed plan 141 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: of what you're going to do, but you're just kind 142 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: of searching for it. So it's a m and just 143 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: like searching, and people that write this way will go 144 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: mrmy mmy murm, and there's no sense to it. It's 145 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: almost like babble, and then words come out of the babble, 146 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: you know. And so yeah, sometimes you hear something and 147 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: it's not what the person was thinking of saying, and 148 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: so I think the song appeared that way. It's amazing 149 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: to hear that. Dan Penn is a great song wrote. 150 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 1: That's how he just sits down noodles and nonsense lyrics 151 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 1: and well something merges. Yeah, but it's almost like you're 152 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: looking for vowels and then there's a meaning somewhere kind 153 00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:02,319 Speaker 1: of in the recess of your mind, you know. And 154 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: what you're doing is you're searching for that elegant meaning 155 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:08,680 Speaker 1: in the recess of your mind. Is that of trying 156 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: to muscle it with the prefrontal cortex, you know. And 157 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: I think like some of like the most elegant ways 158 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: of writing come from just esthetically moving through things that 159 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:24,599 Speaker 1: feel like they belong together, and moving through vows that 160 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: feel like they belong together, through kind of feelings that 161 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: you're searching for that feel like they need to be said. 162 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: You know, Do you ever feel something blocking that even 163 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: in a room with other writers, Like it depends how 164 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: comfortable you are in that environment. If you feel comfortable, 165 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:47,359 Speaker 1: then like there is it's just a conversation. It's just connection. 166 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: You know, it's the same when you can get so 167 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: much more out of everything you do, writing it, doing 168 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,320 Speaker 1: a vocal, be it, playing a show. The more that 169 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: you feel connect to the people that you're working with, 170 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: that more you see your potential rise. And and so 171 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 1: like that's everything that I'm trying to do with my life, 172 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: certainly since is make deeper connections to people that I'm 173 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:19,080 Speaker 1: working with and make a more familial energy, and that 174 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: familiar ergy always leads back to me being more productive. Like, 175 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:27,320 Speaker 1: there are instances in which I've found myself in these 176 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: environments where I've surpassed what I thought I could do 177 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: that day. Now, in the case of that song walked 178 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: Through Fire, did you really able to finish it that day? Yeah, 179 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: Like we wrote thirty songs thereabouts in a space of 180 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: about five days. When we were in a song like, 181 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:49,679 Speaker 1: the flow was supernatural. We'll be back with more from 182 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: Yola after this break. We're back with more of Bruce's 183 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 1: interview with Yola. Now, people who've heard your songs on 184 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:08,960 Speaker 1: country music stations maybe wondering trying to place your accent 185 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: in the Southern United States. I know, because there are 186 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: around ours in my accent. If I say the word are, 187 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 1: you can hear it are and that's also seeing it. Yeah, 188 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: it's a hint of where I'm from. You see Bristol, 189 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: Bristol of black Beard the Pirate. No, less, I didn't 190 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,719 Speaker 1: know that. Yes, he's the accent. So people think Bristolian 191 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: sounds like pirates. On contrair, Pirates sounds like Bristolians. So 192 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,199 Speaker 1: now were you Were you born in Bristol? Yes, okay, 193 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 1: And which for people that on a Bristol it's on 194 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 1: the west coast coast. It's like a port town, port city, 195 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,960 Speaker 1: not too far from Cardiff and Whales, so it's on 196 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: the west about two hours drive west of London. Tell 197 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 1: me about growing up in Bristol. So I went to 198 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: high school in Bristol, but I grew up I suppose, 199 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: kind of elementary school in a small town still in 200 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,920 Speaker 1: the kind of postcode, but twelve miles outside of Bristol. 201 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: And we were one of a very small number of 202 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: people of color in that environment. And it was a 203 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: very right leaning town at the time or village at 204 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: the time. And so like the usual things that you 205 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:32,200 Speaker 1: kind of get used to in life of that stare 206 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: when you walk into any shop and kids learning kind 207 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: of the N word from their parents, and their parents 208 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: having maybe the wherewithal to not say it with the kids. 209 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: Not quite, but you know, everyone's saying it when you're 210 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: not there kind of thing, which is very British way 211 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: to be. You know, we're not very out and out 212 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 1: with our prejudice. It's all just everything you ever try 213 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: and do is kind of slightly affected slash heavily affected 214 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 1: by people's opinions, people's assumptions of you. People's surprised that 215 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: you can speak the English language clearly. And what was 216 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: high school like that? While I was like the poor 217 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: kid in a kind of well a borderline almost rich 218 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: kid's school, not quite. I tried going to a regular school, 219 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: and it costs. We just didn't have any money. We 220 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: used to kind of like get food out of the 221 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,719 Speaker 1: supermarket bins and stuff, and my mom had like four 222 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:28,960 Speaker 1: or five jobs at any one time, and I was 223 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,920 Speaker 1: a latchkey kid, you know. And so it was one 224 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:36,120 Speaker 1: of those situations where it dawned on us that trying 225 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: to pass an entrance exam and go to a school 226 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 1: where you could get everything paid for might actually buy 227 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: me some meals. We could actually eat without having to 228 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: kind of lean on any of the neighbors to buy 229 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,439 Speaker 1: extra kind of avon makeup. My mum was also a 230 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: n avon lady, and I'd like that anyway in which 231 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:58,319 Speaker 1: you could lean on people. It was just like the 232 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:03,320 Speaker 1: hustle was real with that woman. I mean so yeah, 233 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: like anything that gave us, like maybe a little her 234 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: a bit more breathing space would was seen as a benefit. 235 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: And me and my sister were a stone called nerds, 236 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: and so we did that entrance exams too, like I 237 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:19,720 Speaker 1: did a grammar school kind of thing. My sister went 238 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: to a girls' school and we had to pass over 239 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: I know, I think like ninety something percent to be 240 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: able to get everything taken care of. We had to 241 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:31,760 Speaker 1: do that and also be sufficiently poor enough, and we 242 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: knew we had poor covered. How did the interesting music 243 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: start the birth canal? Yeah, just straight out straight out 244 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:48,880 Speaker 1: like singing and speaking well simultaneous. And so I don't 245 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: have a living, living memory of not singing. And I 246 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: used to dance a lot as well, and so just 247 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 1: I had a very much like a performing arts kind 248 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: of feel as just like I'm talking three and four, 249 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: this is just normal for me. To what we be 250 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: singing just everything like whatever was in the charts. So 251 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: I could be singing like something that was like R 252 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 1: and B like oh and I say, not rhythm and blues, 253 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: but like modern R and B like Brownstone or something, 254 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: and then I could be singing Elton John and then 255 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: I could be singing Navana, and then I could be 256 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: singing like there was no kind of continuity, and the 257 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: charts weren't really like that. It was very like you 258 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: could be anywhere kind of Certainly in the UK, the 259 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: charts were all over the shop. You could have like 260 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: Beck and be York in the charts and then just 261 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: something unbelievably poppy and then something unbelievably country. It's funny 262 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: because the charts here or not like that. The churches 263 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:52,320 Speaker 1: are very regulated by AR and they were like they 264 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: are like that in the UK a lot more now, yeah, 265 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: but in the nineties it was like a free for all, 266 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: and so it kind of manufactures eclecticism, and I think 267 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: a lot of people from maybe my generation specifically experienced that, 268 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: having like the most crazy kind of mixtapes where you're like, oh, 269 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: I really love caress One and I really love Blood, 270 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: how's this school, going to go together, you don't care, 271 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: you know, And so I think that gave people license 272 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: to release music that maybe was a little more kind 273 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: of left field. And what was the country music that 274 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: got your attention? Then? Ah? Well, for me, Dolly got 275 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: my attention. My mother was a Dolly fan, and so 276 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: that got me early doors. Do you remember what the 277 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: Dolly song was that you? Yeah, it was Joe Lene. 278 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: It was the album Joelene that got me straight away. 279 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: And I was like, I just loved the feel of it. 280 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: I loved the groove of it and pleading nature of it. 281 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,480 Speaker 1: I noticed when I sang it, it didn't feel when 282 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 1: I used to kind of sing R and B, it 283 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: didn't feel natural in my body to sing. And then 284 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: I'd sing Jolie and it felt more natural in my 285 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,959 Speaker 1: body to sing. And I was like, that's weird, and 286 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: I'll just put that to a side. Let's deal with 287 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: that later. That's a whole can of worms. Yeah, it 288 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: was a whole can of worms. Although like, certainly when 289 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: I got older, it dawned on me that that was weird. 290 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 1: Apparently that was weird. It felt more natural to sing 291 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:31,199 Speaker 1: those songs. And I was into Aretha. I listened to 292 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:34,439 Speaker 1: a lot of Aretha's like a child. My mom was 293 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,719 Speaker 1: into that as well, and that really like again, like 294 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,200 Speaker 1: it's impossible not to be fascinated by her as a 295 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,400 Speaker 1: singer and as a writer and a player. But I 296 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:50,399 Speaker 1: saw more similarity between certainly the kind of the spiritual 297 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:55,159 Speaker 1: side of her music, the gospel side. Young Gifted in 298 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 1: Black was probably the first record that I kind of 299 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: got attached to because I never heard anything addressed to 300 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: a black child before. And how do you sing in church? 301 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,879 Speaker 1: Did you go to church? I'm I'm from England. It 302 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: ain't the same. It's all like all things by dam 303 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: Beatif it's so stiff, there are churches that are a 304 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:23,359 Speaker 1: bit less stiff. But it isn't. It's not our green 305 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: I'll tell you that right now. When because you played 306 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: right in the country, which has that southern kind of 307 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: American feel and the way Southerners feel about the country 308 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,680 Speaker 1: in wide open spaces here you grew up in the 309 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 1: sort of suburbs around Bristol. Yeah, that whole frame of reference. 310 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:46,480 Speaker 1: Did you find in Dolly Parton and a lot of 311 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 1: country music? What did that mean to you growing up? 312 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,919 Speaker 1: Because you're in a very, very different place well kind of, 313 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: and so Bristol if you, if anyone that's visited Bristol, 314 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: it falls away to countryside somewhat immediately. And so even 315 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: though I wasn't very far outside, it doesn't take five 316 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: minutes from the edge of Bristol for it to be 317 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: instant countryside. And so by the time you get twelve 318 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: miles out. At the time of me growing up, anyway, 319 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: I was in a village that was maybe two horseshoes 320 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: of houses, one of which had a shops kind of 321 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:23,800 Speaker 1: linking one horse shoe to the other, a set of 322 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: shops and like you could count them on both hands. 323 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: It was not a big place, and then predominantly surrounded 324 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: by small farms and a high school and that was it, 325 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:39,040 Speaker 1: you know. And so my kind of growing up environment 326 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:43,879 Speaker 1: was very much kind of climbing trees and whittling and 327 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 1: fishing and hide and seek and tall grass fields and 328 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:53,199 Speaker 1: such things that were not city kids ways of growing up. 329 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: So that part of country music, the wide open spaces 330 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: that made sense to you. Yeah, that was just how 331 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: I grew up. You know. We didn't really have any stuff, 332 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: Like I had friends that had like, you know, toys 333 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: and things I had one bald, my little pony that 334 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: we used to call my little skinhead. My sister will 335 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: love this. Yeah, she used to eat plastic and my 336 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: mum was like, your sister eats plastic, so you can't 337 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: have my little pony with hair. And I'm like, it's 338 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: the whole point of the thing. Why would you do 339 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,440 Speaker 1: this to me? Anyway, she shaves the thing's head and 340 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 1: so and then promptly my sister starts chewing one, of course, 341 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,440 Speaker 1: and so I'm like, great, that's that's the only nice 342 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:44,439 Speaker 1: thing I had. Why can't we have nice things? Do 343 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: you want to do another song? I'd really love to. 344 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: We'd like to do that title track for you please. 345 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:56,480 Speaker 1: This one is called walk Through Fire. That was the 346 00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:00,160 Speaker 1: title track off Yola's new record, walk Through Fire. We'll 347 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: be back with more of an interview with Bruce after 348 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: the break. We're back with Yola and Bruce. You are scheduled, 349 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:16,359 Speaker 1: I think to play at the Rieman. Yes, the Rieman, 350 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:20,640 Speaker 1: the Home of country music. That sure is what it is. 351 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,919 Speaker 1: What do you think that's going to be? Like, I 352 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 1: have no idea. You are you know country music has 353 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: not historically had a lot of black performers and typically 354 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: the ones. I guess other than Charlie Pride have people 355 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: who've made their bones and other in other like Tina 356 00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: Turner did did a good country album. Ray Charles of 357 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: course did Sisters points. That's true, Yeah, that fairytale songs 358 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: were real. Arthur crud Up, I guess back in the 359 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:59,200 Speaker 1: day staples to a degree, Huh, I guess that's true too. 360 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 1: You've got some staples in your voice that definitely was 361 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: a massive influence. Maybes helped me understand my voice because 362 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,919 Speaker 1: I didn't hear a lot of people that were, you know, 363 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: at that gruffiness, and so I felt like a bit 364 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 1: of a vocal weirdo. She helped me out in that way. 365 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 1: Have you met her? Yes, we played Luck Reunion together. 366 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:27,960 Speaker 1: What was that like? Amazing? It's on Willie Nelson's ranch, 367 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:31,359 Speaker 1: and we all did like a last song and she 368 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: invited her everyone up from that's been playing that stage 369 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 1: of that day, which were all women, all singer songwriters 370 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,400 Speaker 1: in their own right and amazing musicians, and we got 371 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:46,159 Speaker 1: up and we sang with her, and invariably each one 372 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: of us hugged her before we went off, just like 373 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 1: just like drawn into the majesty of her kind of 374 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,880 Speaker 1: warmth and her kind of very natural way. Yeah, she's 375 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,679 Speaker 1: the saying never meet her heroes unless your heroes mayvis 376 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: is right? Is the saying is it important to you 377 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: that country music, mainstream country music embraces what you do? 378 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: For me? I'm eclectic, and I say that word all 379 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:18,399 Speaker 1: the time because it's true. I love classic pop music 380 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,199 Speaker 1: as much as I love classic soul music, as much 381 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: as I love classic country and classic rock music. So 382 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:29,440 Speaker 1: it's so important to make sure that I'm accepted everywhere, 383 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: not just exclusively within that. I don't think sonically, when 384 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:34,679 Speaker 1: you listen to this record, that's the only thing you 385 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: hear by any stretch of the imagination. It's just that 386 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 1: it maybe pokes out more because I'm a woman of 387 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,000 Speaker 1: color that people are like, so country, and I'm like, yeah, 388 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:46,119 Speaker 1: what about the other things? But it sticks out that 389 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: much because of who I am. You know, if I 390 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:54,200 Speaker 1: was someone else, maybe less. So when you started being 391 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: a professional in music, how did you approach it? What 392 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:02,439 Speaker 1: did you do well? The first professional job I probably 393 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:06,479 Speaker 1: took was jazz gig. I had a friend in school. 394 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,199 Speaker 1: Actually i'd going to a different school, but I had 395 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,720 Speaker 1: a friend in school who had a like someone she 396 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,640 Speaker 1: grew up with who was also a kid and played sax, 397 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,120 Speaker 1: and they were kind of looking for someone to sing 398 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: on this show. And they'd had their singer drop out 399 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: or something, and so they just were they were looking 400 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,880 Speaker 1: for somebody. And I kind of got the call. They're like, hey, 401 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 1: you know you love that you sing all the time? 402 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: Do you want to come and do this show? And 403 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,199 Speaker 1: I was probably about fourteen time, and I was like, 404 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:40,639 Speaker 1: I'm a kid, How am I going to do this 405 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: show again? I was Okay, my friends, you know, sixteen, 406 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,040 Speaker 1: his mom's going to be taking him. So I'd go 407 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: with him and his mother and do these jazz gigs 408 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: and they standards. You'd be singing or yeah, and sometimes 409 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: it was standards. It's a lot of like Elephantzgerald type stuff. 410 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: You know, maybe a little etta, but lots of ella. 411 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: Then just maybe some kind of ad libbing type stuff. 412 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,119 Speaker 1: I'd done none of this before, and I was very 413 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: fortunate to have a lot of talented people in the environment. 414 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 1: We had one of James Brown's kind of famed players 415 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,679 Speaker 1: living locally, and so there was quite a strong jazz 416 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: scene there, and some of the players from Port's Head 417 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: also played kind of jazz as well. The band put 418 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: his head supposed to work her up, and so there 419 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: was always kind of quite certainly in Bristol you'd have players, 420 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,199 Speaker 1: and certainly on my UK band side, people that played jazz, 421 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,560 Speaker 1: and then people that played an afrobeat band, played in 422 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: a English folk band, played in a bolk and folk band, 423 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 1: played in like a country band, and played in a 424 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 1: rock and roll band. People always had very kind of 425 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 1: eclectic backgrounds, so you could go, hey, we need to 426 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,359 Speaker 1: play this with something that feels like disco, and they're like, 427 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:00,879 Speaker 1: straight in, we need to and now it feels like 428 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: a country waltz, so that's fine. So like my start 429 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:07,120 Speaker 1: out in kind of jazz was probably a good fit, 430 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,680 Speaker 1: unbeknown to me at the time, for broadening my palette further. 431 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: And then when did you start breading and performing your 432 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: own work. Well I kind of moved from that too, 433 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,680 Speaker 1: having like a school band that did mostly rock covers, 434 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: and then I started top lining. And since this was 435 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,639 Speaker 1: like DJ producers that I bumped into that we're looking 436 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: for vocalists to write content and deliver and sync content, 437 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,679 Speaker 1: and so it was for me that was so explain 438 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: what top lining is to be. It's like lyrics and melody, 439 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:51,639 Speaker 1: and so the DJ producer environment, certainly for a long time, 440 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: I imagine it's still the same now. Was you'd have 441 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,440 Speaker 1: someone they'd be creating an instrumental backing track that they've 442 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:02,240 Speaker 1: been djaying for a while in clubs, and then they'd 443 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:05,439 Speaker 1: want to release it, and sometimes they'd be feeling that 444 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: there was something missing, like maybe a vocal top line, 445 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,640 Speaker 1: lyrics and melody of some kind, and so you were 446 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:15,480 Speaker 1: there to put a song to that backing track. And 447 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: so I first started with some school friends and then 448 00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:23,159 Speaker 1: we got like a show at the local kind of academy, 449 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,680 Speaker 1: which was point about a thousand two thousand kind of capacity, 450 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,239 Speaker 1: depending on how they arranged it, and I was just 451 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 1: kind of singing top lines that i'd kind of come 452 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,360 Speaker 1: up with and ad libbing all sorts of things. And 453 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: I got picked up by DJ who we were supporting, 454 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:45,080 Speaker 1: and I started writing top lines for him and a 455 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,040 Speaker 1: bunch of other people. So at that time I also 456 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: managed to get into a band called Phantom Limb, and 457 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: in that environment, I wrote all of the top lines 458 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 1: and it was all guitar based, and I was like, 459 00:27:55,600 --> 00:28:00,199 Speaker 1: oh thank God. And because I'd kind of start at 460 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,199 Speaker 1: kind of fourteen. By the time I got to twenty one, 461 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,920 Speaker 1: I was like, thank god, you know, as opposed to, 462 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: you know, feeling any kind of level of pressure or 463 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,199 Speaker 1: anything being the only top liner in that outfit. But 464 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: we weren't necessarily the most prolific of band, But we 465 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: wrote two albums, and I think that did a wonderful 466 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: job for me, having an environment to at least start 467 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:28,240 Speaker 1: on the path of this journey of involving the things 468 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:31,680 Speaker 1: that I grew up listening to, my love of Elton John, 469 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: my love of classic soul, classic rock, classic country music, 470 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,959 Speaker 1: classic pop music. I think it took longer for classic 471 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: pop and classic country and maybe even some classic soul 472 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 1: to make its way into the first record. Was it 473 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: difficult to get your ideas across then it must and say, 474 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,560 Speaker 1: I'm influenced by Elton John? What about this in this? Yeah? Exactly, 475 00:28:57,840 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: you know. And there was like a lot of kind 476 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: of prejudice towards people that weren't kind of straight, white, 477 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: cis gender men and in music and so like, there 478 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 1: were all sorts of things that I was just never 479 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: going to get across. But luckily I was eclectic enough 480 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:17,440 Speaker 1: that there are enough things within the straight white guy range. 481 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: There's a lot of music guys you could draw. Yeah, 482 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: there's loads of music like by straight white guys. I liked, 483 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: you know, and like you know, so like it was 484 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: it was possible to contribute and still be somewhat inspired. 485 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: But I was definitely hobbled by my inability to go further. 486 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:42,400 Speaker 1: But I think still wrote some beautiful songs. I still 487 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:46,239 Speaker 1: rate those songs massively in my journey of towards what 488 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,480 Speaker 1: we're doing now? And that did that lead directly to 489 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: your your first eph now? I took three years out 490 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: kind of by week time we got through kung fuing 491 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:00,280 Speaker 1: all the isms out of my way. Certainly in that 492 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: environment anyway, i'd lost all love for music. I decided 493 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: to just spend time horse riding and drinking cocktails most 494 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: of the time, I think. Really, I was also kind 495 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 1: of teaching at the time and lecturing vocal biomechanics at universities. 496 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: And how did you teachers? Did you is that something 497 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 1: you learned at college? How did you learn how to 498 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: work your voice? Well? I had bilateral vocal nodules, which 499 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: are essentially like corns that grow on your vocal cords 500 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: through resistance, invariably at the front of the voice box 501 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 1: where the chords are closest and are not always recognized 502 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: as But until you go to speech therapy as a 503 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: stress related disorder, did you just notice one day that 504 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 1: you were having trouble singing or is it speaking voice 505 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:57,720 Speaker 1: as well? Yeah, like I had, I started losing getting 506 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,960 Speaker 1: gaps in my range. You go from the bottom and 507 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:09,320 Speaker 1: be like, oh oh, and there's just nothing there. And 508 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 1: when I realized that there was gaps in my range, 509 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: I was like, I've never had that before. And so 510 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: that whole period of my life. It dawned on me 511 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 1: when trying to recover that there are people that knew 512 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: a lot about speech therapy. There are people that knew 513 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: a lot about how to stylize singing, but there weren't 514 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people that knew about the kind of 515 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: muscular biomechanics of singing that were in music. There are 516 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: people that did Alexander technique that knew about the kind 517 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: of osteopathy of it, some people that got into the 518 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: psychology of it a little bit with NLP, but certainly 519 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 1: not to the level of sports psychology and performance psychology 520 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: and neurolinguistic programming that involved the muscle therapy you needed 521 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: to kind of get the muscles into the right kind 522 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: of condition. Then the kind of biomechanics of what I 523 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:04,920 Speaker 1: was doing, both muscularly and with kind of the ostio side, 524 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,479 Speaker 1: and then eventually starting on the kind of psychological side 525 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:12,719 Speaker 1: and how that can kind of pay into how your 526 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 1: muscles react, and on kind of doing this. I couldn't 527 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:18,720 Speaker 1: sing for a year and a half when I lost 528 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: my voice, and I couldn't speak for two months, so 529 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: I didn't really have a lot on when you were 530 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 1: approached by Dan Auerbach from Black Keys about producing this album. Yeah, 531 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,240 Speaker 1: now you didn't know what that environment was going to 532 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: be like. No, I did not. Did you meet with 533 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:35,680 Speaker 1: them and sort of suss out what you thought it 534 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: might be like, Because if you're that dependent on environment, 535 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: you know it could work. It could be everything and 536 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: me a lottery. But that was the entirety of Maya. 537 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:52,240 Speaker 1: That's more about my vocal performance. So it's about muscular outs, 538 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 1: as it were, Like to a certain degree, creatively, you 539 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 1: can feel stifled too, but it's muscularly like my range 540 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:04,640 Speaker 1: can extend quite massively in the right environment and so 541 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: it's more muscular than its creative. And I've been in 542 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: a lot of situations, and probably the first thirty years 543 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 1: of my life in at least a number of situations 544 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: that weren't conducive to me feeling joyful, but I definitely 545 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:21,240 Speaker 1: got through, so I knew that even if it was dreadful, 546 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:24,520 Speaker 1: I'd survive. I was lucky that we had so much 547 00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: crossover musically that I was just like, I can finally 548 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,640 Speaker 1: relax that we're going to be moving creatively in the 549 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,240 Speaker 1: right direction. And it's not. That's not been something that 550 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: I've been able to find very easily people that want 551 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: to pursue this kind of crossover, the kind of gray 552 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,840 Speaker 1: area between classic soul and classic rock and classic pop 553 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,880 Speaker 1: music classic country music in the way that I want 554 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,400 Speaker 1: to When did you know it was a good environment? 555 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: I think for me when we were talking, so we 556 00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:58,280 Speaker 1: had we didn't meet up, but we had a talk 557 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:01,959 Speaker 1: on the phone, and that really felt like, I know 558 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:05,920 Speaker 1: that we're going to be creating like this sound that 559 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,880 Speaker 1: I've kind of been searching for ever since I was 560 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 1: listened to my mum's records as a four year old. 561 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 1: So when you're writing songs, do those kind of arrangements, 562 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: Are they in your head while you're writing that? I 563 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:20,279 Speaker 1: think not all the time, Not all the time. I 564 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 1: think some certainly with this situation, like you're working your 565 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 1: way into figuring out what you want, what the song 566 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,440 Speaker 1: wants to be itself. I think we did a great job. Certainly, 567 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,319 Speaker 1: me and Dan made a point of not going in 568 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,000 Speaker 1: with any preconceptions of what we thought the song should be, 569 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,240 Speaker 1: not trying to force our own agenda onto the song. 570 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:44,720 Speaker 1: You weren't thinking this is going to have a Glenn 571 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:50,080 Speaker 1: Campbell vibe. No, you'd find it. You'd find it. It 572 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 1: would speak to you once you'd written it, it would 573 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,520 Speaker 1: start speaking to you in that way. And like, maybe 574 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 1: it ain't easier had I'd done a production of that, 575 00:34:57,800 --> 00:34:59,600 Speaker 1: because I kind of had a little bit of a 576 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:04,439 Speaker 1: of a sideline kind of starting out producing, and so 577 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,839 Speaker 1: I delivered that pretty much fully demoed up, and that's 578 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,680 Speaker 1: not too dissimilar to the version that I did. Obviously 579 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: weigh more money way into it. I'm like, but you know, 580 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: it's structurally it's very very similar to the demo I 581 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:20,360 Speaker 1: put together. But I think just with all of the 582 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:25,120 Speaker 1: aching beauty and finesse that Dan is brilliant to adding 583 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:29,440 Speaker 1: to a song now once. So you've got this album that, 584 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:32,040 Speaker 1: in many ways was the music you had in your 585 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:36,880 Speaker 1: head growing up. Does that mean the next album become 586 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,520 Speaker 1: something else? Or is this a style you want to 587 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,719 Speaker 1: stay with? You know. I'm thinking of an artist like 588 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:47,360 Speaker 1: Katie Lang, who did first three or four albums were country, 589 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: and then she did something very very different I have. 590 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:55,840 Speaker 1: Do you know what the philosophy continues. I think the 591 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:59,680 Speaker 1: philosophy is less about mimicking a stylistic and it's more 592 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:05,120 Speaker 1: out not forcing what wants to come out. I think 593 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:11,960 Speaker 1: there's one thing that hopefully comes across. It's that I'm 594 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:17,280 Speaker 1: truthing real hard all the time, and that needs to maintain. 595 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: That's the thing that I feel connects me to people 596 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,759 Speaker 1: when I'm singing, connects people to the work when they're 597 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: listening to it. I think at any point I start 598 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:28,920 Speaker 1: trying to manufacture what I think I should be doing, 599 00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 1: then I start distancing myself from that connection that I'm 600 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:38,319 Speaker 1: building now with people. Well, you've worked very very hard 601 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,440 Speaker 1: at this for a long time. Yeah, this must be 602 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:45,040 Speaker 1: very satisfying. It is. I've said no to a number 603 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 1: of things that could have been lucrative a lot earlier 604 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,799 Speaker 1: at their hand of what I thought I could do 605 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:56,360 Speaker 1: given the right environment. And so I'm very satisfied to 606 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 1: be where. I am very grateful to be where. I 607 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:04,560 Speaker 1: am very grateful to Dan for everything that he's given 608 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 1: me the platform and the environment to do. And so yeah, 609 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: I'm I'm a happy girl. That was Yola and her 610 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 1: band playing some songs from a new record walk Through 611 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:22,319 Speaker 1: five produced by The Black Keys Dan Auerbach. You can 612 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: check out more of your music by visiting Broken Record 613 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,600 Speaker 1: podcast dot com and subscribing to our playlist for this episode. 614 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:29,760 Speaker 1: You can also sign up for a behind the scenes 615 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,520 Speaker 1: newsletter while you're there. Head to I Am Yola dot 616 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 1: com to keep tabs on when Yola will be heading 617 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 1: through your town. Broken Record is produced with help from 618 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:40,960 Speaker 1: Jason Gambrel, Jacob Smith, and Milabelle. Our theme music is 619 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,640 Speaker 1: by the great Kenny Beats. Stay tuned for next week's 620 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,440 Speaker 1: episode with why Clefts John, This is Broken Record. I'm 621 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:47,200 Speaker 1: justin Richmond.