Judith Owen / Credit: Sue Flood
Judith Owen has released her brand new album 'Ebb & Flow' through Twanky Records, and the set of songs are like nothing we've heard from her before.
We got the chance to put some questions to Judith about her career, what to expect in the coming months and just what goes into making a whole new body of work.
Has music always been a passion of yours?
As long as I can remember, music has been in my life. My dad was a very successful opera singer and I spent a lot of time at Covent Garden as a kid, watching rehearsals. I saw the joy in his face when he sang and when he went to work and I knew that that's what I wanted!
Classical music wasn't for me, though it influenced me hugely, as did the jazz my parents both loved. I think I was about 4 when I first sat at the piano and copied the Debussy that my big sister was learning, and I've been glued to one ever since. I think I'm very fortunate to never have had a choice about what I did, or who I was, because it chooses you. I write, play and sing because I have to. It's a great passion to have. I just hope I never lose it!
What is it about music that you love?
Firstly, it has been the best friend and means of self expression I've ever known. Listening to music as a kid, I was emotionally transported, and that's the gift of music, and my job as a singer song-writer- to give the listener permission to feel. Emotions you stifle in life, can be re-kindled by a few bars of a song, and can reduce you to sobbing wreck, or make you want to dance with joy around the room…it's that powerful. It allowed me to feel the biggest emotions, and it's incredible to know that my songs can affect listeners that same way.
What are some of your earliest music-related memories?
Apart from going to the opera, and copying my sister, it would be of my family in the car, (Sunday driving, or on a car holiday), singing along to James Taylor. It's one of the reasons I wanted to make "Ebb & Flow", it being a love letter to that time and the music and musicians that influenced and inspired me to be the artist I am today.
You released your new album on April 7, tell us about the creative process behind that record.
Having decided that the record should be a nod to the American Troubadour music of the 70's, as it had such stylistic influence on me, I reached out to bass player Leland Sklar, drummer Russ Kunkel and guitarist Waddy Wachtel, who between them, had worked with James Taylor, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell (to name a few), during that era. Thankfully, they all wanted to do the project and keeping it "old school", I decided to record it live and in the same room, at another 70's stalwart: Sunset Sound studios. I kept that concept going in every area, even making the artwork a personal representation of the music (by painting versions of wildlife photographer Sue Flood's exquisite photos in oil pastels), embracing that "Ladies of the Canyon" vibe. As far as the songs…well they were written when I was spending the last year with my dad, who was battling cancer. Music's always been therapeutic in hard times, and this was no exception. So the outcome was a cathartic and unexpectedly uplifting album of emotionally honest, yet life affirming songs.
You've opened up about how you battled with depression, what advice do you have for others who may be dealing with a similar situation?
Find a way to speak about what you're going through. I did with music, and it was the best form of self-medication until I actually found therapeutic help. Depression is the loneliest, and most secretive of illnesses, owing to its stigma and the shame that all sufferers feel. If you had diabetes, you'd get help, and that's how we should view depression. Admitting it and talking about it, whether to family, friends, fellow suffers and specialists, is the first hurdle. I don't think I ever felt as relieved and vindicated as the day I got a name for what I had. A real diagnosis that made it clear I wasn't just making it all up! That's the irony of it, you keep thinking "it's all just in my head" and of course, it is!
How did music help you when you went through that time?
Music got me through. When I had no one to talk to it was the best friend I had, actually it still is. I'd been playing since I was 4, silly little songs, but it became a necessity after my mum died when I was 15, and the songs become an outpouring of all I was feeling and struggling with. Depression is so often about the suppression of emotions, through all the hard times I've been able to turn to music, to listen to, to write, to sing. It allowed me to feel, even when I'd shut down to survive. That's what I think my job is as an artist…to write and perform music that gives the listener permission to feel.
What do you hope to get out of this album release?
Emotionally, more of what I already felt recording it…pure joy. Seriously, working with these legendary players was the most "hand in glove" experience of my career. I felt like I'd come home, and from the reaction I've been getting from the listening parties, fans and music critics alike, it seems like the feeling's mutual. Of course I'm hoping I'll reach a bigger audience than ever before, leading to a solid period of touring from here on. It's my favourite thing, probably because I get to connect with people directly. As a performer, you bare your heart and nothing compares to an audience opening up and resonating with that.
What should we expect from you in the coming months?
The Cheltenham Jazz Fest May 1st, followed by a US tour May through to June with Lee Sklar. More recording for a summer EP, then another video shoot. Hopefully a trip to Botswana squeezed in, to see my elephant friends and then an autumn tour of the UK. Sounds like a lot, but it's never enough for me…that's the problem when you live to work.
Where do you hope to be this time next year?
I'd love to be playing the European music festivals (watch this space!)
Are there any other projects you're currently working on that you can share some details about?
Just that I'm writing like crazy woman and preparing for the Xmas shows in the UK and US. They're huge productions, raising money for musician's health care, and drawing on local talent in all the cities we play. It's incredible who we've had performing, everyone from Rob Brydon and Alfie Boe, to Donald Fagan and Jane Lynch. Every year promises to be bigger and better, and starts earlier and earlier. Reverent and irreverent, it's the antidote to the hardest of seasons. Honestly -I couldn't cope without it!
Judith Owen’s new album Ebb & Flow is out now. For more information and live dates please visit http://www.judithowen.net/