Seattle-Post interview w/ Vanessa Carlton

[Livia]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/33...ghtlife09.html

Classically trained pianist Vanessa Carlton plays and sings her way across genres
Last updated November 8, 2007 11:50 a.m. PT

By GENE STOUT
P-I POP MUSIC CRITIC

Vanessa Carlton was 22 when she recorded "A Thousand Miles," the lovelorn piano-pop hit of 2002 that reached No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart.


COMING UP
VANESSA CARLTON AND GRAHAM COLTON

WHAT: Pop concert

WHEN: Sunday at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Crocodile Cafe, 2200 Second Ave.

TICKETS: $20 at TicketWeb. All ages welcome

" 'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles," she sang, "if I could just see you, if I could just hold you tonight."

The classically trained, 27-year-old singer and pianist has done a lot of living since she wrote the song for her debut album, "Be Not Nobody." Today, her view of romance is more realistic, if not a bit hardened. She recently ended a four-year relationship with Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins, who co-produced her stirring new album, "Heroes & Thieves."

"I don't want to say the song is naive, but (love) is something that maybe I'd like to believe in at some point," Carlton said with a laugh in an interview from her home in New York City's NoLita neighborhood.

Carlton tries to "channel the little girl" in herself when she sings the tune.

"Hopefully, we all can channel the little girl in ourselves when we listen to that song," she said. "It's really a special song, and I'm really proud of it."

Carlton, whose current Haunted Club Tour includes a show Sunday night at the Crocodile Cafe, is surprised that so many rappers and rap-music fans like her piano-based music, especially "A Thousand Miles."

"I love crossing genres," she said. "I do have a lot of rap and hip-hop folk who come up to me and say they really like my music. I don't know why, but I'm really glad."

Among her fans in the rap world is Irv Gotti, also known as Irving Lorenzo, founder of The Inc Records, which launched such platinum-selling artists as Ja Rule and Ashanti.

Not only did Gotti sign Carlton to his label, he is among the three producers (in addition to Carlton) of "Heroes & Thieves," which highlights her growth as a singer, songwriter and pianist.

"Irv is an impeccable editor for me, an impeccable A&R man," she said. "I trust him so much. If something hits his musical buzzer, it's really on the money. And when he doesn't like something, I know that it's coming from an organic place. He has no other motives than making great music."

Gotti also created this warm and supportive environment for Carlton to work in.

"So I took that and went with it. I personally do best when I'm working in an environment where I feel safe, and he really created that for me."

Carlton also worked with Linda Perry, known for her work with Gwen Stefani and Pink, among others.

"Linda and I had a great time in the studio," she said. "There were lots of late nights and red wine and really dialing in on the fantastic engineering that she does so well. And I really loved the songs. I kind of took that vibe with me to sessions with Stephan (Jenkins) in San Francisco. He has this beautiful, haunted ballroom in this Victorian mansion. I did the majority of the record there with him."

Carlton's goal on the new album was to take her music "a few steps forward."

"It's so important to me to evolve and to find interesting patterns and colors on the piano that are new to me. Anything that's about turning a notion on its head is always interesting."

"Heroes & Thieves" opens with the uplifting "NoLita Fairytale," the album's first single, and features such infectious songs as "Home," a heartfelt ballad, and "My Best," a breakup song that sounds like the B-side to "A Thousand Miles."

Stevie Nicks, who sang guest vocals on "The One," has become Carlton's friend and mentor.

"She helped me through these past few years and really helped me get to the finish line on this record," Carlton said.

Carlton was Nicks' opening act for a summer 2005 concert tour. Her most recent performance with Nicks was at a PBS Soundstage taping last month in Chicago.

"How lucky I am to have someone so magical and earthy and lovely in my life," she said. "She's like my fairy godmother. She's looking out for me. And I really needed that. I really, really needed a mentor. And I found one in her. I'm so lucky."

The current acoustic tour, with violinist Skye Steele, is a warm-up for a larger, full-band tour next year. Carlton offhandedly described the trek as a "haunted club" tour and the phrase stuck.

"It's my favorite season of the year," she said. "It's a little spooky, and we'll hopefully channel many ghosts when we play."

The tour opened last Friday at the Martini Ranch in Scottsdale, Ariz. For years, Carlton and her family have vacationed in Arizona.

"It's a family tradition. We go to this dude ranch every year and ride horses. It's one of few times my whole family gets together," she said.

"I have a special reaction to desert environments, and I particularly love Arizona."

Before the tour started, Carlton took time off to travel to another arid environment -- Cairo, Egypt -- with her brother. She visited the Cairo museum and its mummy room, rode horses and walked along the Nile in traditional Egyptian garb.

"It was so rejuvenating," she said. "I found this meditation in my walks, and it helped me prep myself for the release of this new album and the coming year of work, as well as a lot of changes and transitions."

[steviefan59]

hi...thanks for posting this...i really like vanessa and bought her new cd heroes and thieves...would have bought it even if stevie wasn't singing backup on the 1...take care...pat

[michelej1]

Excerpt from Marilyn Beck column:

http://webcenters.netscape.compuserv...e_hol_11222007

"I almost didn't get to the other side, and I'd like to credit Stevie Nicks for being like my fairy godmother -- mentoring me so beautifully over the past few years, not allowing me to give up, infusing me with so much energy and confidence," says Carlton, who toured with Nicks for three years in a row while working on her latest CD, "Heroes and Thieves."

Carlton explains that at the height of her success, she faced a void. "I was reading this book called 'Settling on Happiness.' It's about how you assume certain things will make you happy, then they don't," she says. "It's like you have a checklist, then you get everything you want on the check list and, for whatever reason, you don't feel satisfied.

"I discuss that in the song 'Nolita Fairytale.' You think, 'Oh, I have a record deal, I'm a platinum, Grammy-nominated artist, I'm done with my checklist. But, the fact of the matter is I arrived in that spot in the journey and I'd never been more dissatisfied and confused, and uncomfortable in my own skin. In the song, I wrote, 'Take away my record deal. I don't need it. Take the goods back. I want the soul instead.'"

Carlton says at her lowest points, Nicks "would specifically remind me that I'm up for the fight. And, I've always been very strong. I'm not very thick-skinned, but I'm pretty tenacious and still very much believe in my aesthetic, and I love being an artist. It's part of my destiny.

"God bless her," says Carlton of Nicks, who's also a guest vocalist on the single "The One" on the new album. "I am just the luckiest chick alive to have that woman in my life the way that she is. She helped me in all areas. I can go to her with a question about anything -- love, life, music. Her presence was a huge reason why I was able to get through the gauntlet and come to the other side."

[michelej1]

Excerpt from Marilyn Beck column:

http://webcenters.netscape.compuserv...e_hol_11222007

"I almost didn't get to the other side, and I'd like to credit Stevie Nicks for being like my fairy godmother -- mentoring me so beautifully over the past few years, not allowing me to give up, infusing me with so much energy and confidence," says Carlton, who toured with Nicks for three years in a row while working on her latest CD, "Heroes and Thieves."

Carlton explains that at the height of her success, she faced a void. "I was reading this book called 'Settling on Happiness.' It's about how you assume certain things will make you happy, then they don't," she says. "It's like you have a checklist, then you get everything you want on the check list and, for whatever reason, you don't feel satisfied.

"I discuss that in the song 'Nolita Fairytale.' You think, 'Oh, I have a record deal, I'm a platinum, Grammy-nominated artist, I'm done with my checklist. But, the fact of the matter is I arrived in that spot in the journey and I'd never been more dissatisfied and confused, and uncomfortable in my own skin. In the song, I wrote, 'Take away my record deal. I don't need it. Take the goods back. I want the soul instead.'"

Carlton says at her lowest points, Nicks "would specifically remind me that I'm up for the fight. And, I've always been very strong. I'm not very thick-skinned, but I'm pretty tenacious and still very much believe in my aesthetic, and I love being an artist. It's part of my destiny.

"God bless her," says Carlton of Nicks, who's also a guest vocalist on the single "The One" on the new album. "I am just the luckiest chick alive to have that woman in my life the way that she is. She helped me in all areas. I can go to her with a question about anything -- love, life, music. Her presence was a huge reason why I was able to get through the gauntlet and come to the other side."