Allison Moorer Interview
C: That pressure…
A: Yeah. So I wanted to do a cover records and that’s way too broad for me, I had to have some sort of criteria because if I just said ‘I want to do a cover record’ I still be like sorting...trying to whittle down the list of 200 songs.
C: An even bigger list!
A: And I wanted to do female singer- songwriters because, honestly, I think we’re over-looked. I don’t think we get nearly enough attention, y’know we’re usually running after some guitar player that can’t wipe his own butt or something [laughs]. So y’know it sort of just like in the rest of the world where women have to do it all. In the music business we have to show up, look great, sing great, perform great, do it all and be nice and smile and all that stuff too.
C: More pressure…
A: It’s a lot of pressure and there’s also….10 years in the music business I’ve found, y’know, women are encouraged to not express their femininity. The want us to look feminine and be feminine but as far as our writing and our expression; ‘oh don’t be too feminine, it makes us men uncomfortable’ or whatever. It’s a real tragedy because women, as you know, have a real different way of expressing themselves, we communicate differently and I wanted to explore that. And I wanted to make this record and say; ‘look at these great songs, they’re all written by women, y’know women who have made a real impact’. I just wanted to…it’s a bit of a selfish exercise, I just wanted to stand up and say ‘look at this.’
C: And also to take a step back and give yourself time to take out elements of those songs and to learn from these women.
A: I also wanted to come out of it a better writer, learning songwriting more and also I wanted to explore just being a singer, because I feel that’s what I am first and foremost...but I couldn’t have done this record successfully 10 years ago, I wasn’t singer enough to do it, y’know, I wasn’t artist enough to do it, I wasn’t confident enough to do it…I think that I am finally at this point.
C: It’s about maturity and experience isn’t it? But then the tragedy is that time starts to work against you, especially with the pressures of trying to look good, be feminine, all those things we’ve talked about.
A: Right, that’s why this world is great. If you establish yourself as a real artists and someone who’s committed to doing it for the right reasons as far as I’m concerned singing and playing because you can’t not, y’know, if you can establish yourself in this world it’s not like being a pop star and Lord knows, who would want that pressure.
C: I know, who would want that pressure. I mean, you’ve got enough! Even if I had the talent, I couldn’t go out there and perform. Do you ever get stage fright?
A: From time to time, y’know, five minutes before the show I get butterflies and I think that’s really healthy, I sort of get excited when I do because I’ve been performing since I was a kid but what you need to do is know how to use that and make it work the tension work for you. But it takes a while to learn how to do that stuff and like I said, as a singer, learning what not to do is as important as learning what to do and learning how to control your voice and hit the right…y’know have the pitch the way you want it to be. And it’s not all about being perfect, it’s about communicating at the end of the day.
C: That’s another female trait isn’t it, understanding that communication is what you are engaging in when you perform. On the subject of men and women, being married to such a famous man have you found any change in the way people perceive you since marrying Steve, have you been able to retain your own identity?
A: I try really hard to keep my own identity, it’s not as easy as that just because we do tour together, we’re together all the time and that’s by design, we wanna do that so the best thing to do is just not worry about it. That’s just a recipe for disaster and I’m totally happy for him to be the more famous one, that’s fine, it’s actually OK. I have a great life, I’m actually really happy with where I am career-wise, I mean you can always do better, you can always sell more records, you can always make more money or whatever it is but it’s like, y’know what, it’s also OK to be alright with where it is instead of having that ambition that won’t stop. I am very ambitious or I wouldn’t be here.
C: Be driven…
A: But at the end of the day it’s like you have to just look at where you are and go ’y’know what, this is pretty good.’ And maintaining, I think with the way the music business is these days, if you can maintain then you’ve done really good.
C: That’s where a festival like this is good, where you have an opportunity to air your music to a new audience.
A: And to meet people and to go out and sign autographs in the Mojo tent and have people come up and y’know…and I saw some people today who I’ve seen before and some I hadn’t seen before.
Continued