Bedouine

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Norah Jones and today I'm playing along with Asneve Corksian of Bedowin. I'm just playing a long wey, I just playing.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: In lone with you.

00:00:18
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Norah Jones with me as always a Sarah Oda. Here I am me and my Oda. Today's show is super fun. We have Asnive Corksian of Bedwin. She goes by Bedwin. She does. She's great. She's so sweet.

00:00:36
Speaker 3: She's a very calming presence, yes, very soothing, soothing and yet like there's an intensity to her. Yeah, and I feel like that plays into her music too.

00:00:48
Speaker 1: You know, it's like.

00:00:50
Speaker 3: Mellow, but you know, a little intense.

00:00:53
Speaker 1: We had so much fun doing this show. We talked a lot about her upbringing. She's lived in a lot of countries. She's grew up in Saudi Arabia. She came to Houston and Boston.

00:01:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, very interesting background. I feel like the fact that she moved around so much like she draws from all those different experiences in her music and you can hear it.

00:01:13
Speaker 1: It makes it so unique. She's got very unique music. I actually I've met her through Gus Seifert. He used to play bass with me and he's an old friend of mine and he's a big part of her project, and he produced the first two records and he co produced the third record. So I've met her through Gus, but I didn't really know her. So this was really fun for me getting to know somebody through doing this. I felt like she's my butt after you know.

00:01:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, And also it sounded like you guys have been singing together for years and years.

00:01:44
Speaker 1: Her songs are really complex in a way. The chords are very It took me a minute to get in there, but it was so fun singing with her. It had a nice we jelled, I thought, so for sure. Hope you enjoy the show. Here she is as Parkasian of Bedouin.

00:02:05
Speaker 4: M hm h m hm h.

00:02:18
Speaker 2: M hm.

00:02:20
Speaker 5: H m hm.

00:02:29
Speaker 6: Hm, walking circles.

00:02:43
Speaker 5: Round the room playing voices from the same O tunes. When you go, When you go, drag my finger around the wrist, drag around the phantom limb, when You're gone.

00:03:17
Speaker 4: When you go, Ain't it a shame?

00:03:31
Speaker 2: Always the same old game with face? I love it, you love how much I love you?

00:03:58
Speaker 7: Living thy beak.

00:04:00
Speaker 2: A fool in love.

00:04:04
Speaker 5: The more I do, the less it does. When You're gone.

00:04:13
Speaker 4: When you go am a shame.

00:04:27
Speaker 2: Always the same.

00:04:29
Speaker 1: Old game we day.

00:04:33
Speaker 8: I love him, you love how much I love him?

00:05:17
Speaker 4: And it is shame?

00:05:23
Speaker 2: Always the same old.

00:05:25
Speaker 1: Game we play.

00:05:29
Speaker 8: I love you.

00:05:34
Speaker 2: You love how much I love you?

00:05:40
Speaker 8: I love you, you love how much I love you? When you God, when you go, I love you so much.

00:06:23
Speaker 1: H I love that song thank You. It's beautiful and the chords are really hard.

00:06:47
Speaker 9: It's so wild to hear Norah Jones say that I have no idea what I mean. I could hardly name.

00:06:54
Speaker 1: Them to you. I don't. Well, that's what I love about it because you can tell that you just played it because it sounds good.

00:07:00
Speaker 9: Probably that's definitely what happened, Yes, exactly how.

00:07:03
Speaker 1: It's not that they're not logical, but they're not something I've encountered before. Really yeah, which is why they're special.

00:07:09
Speaker 9: I think thank You, Yeah, I mean I think I just like what Probably what happened with that song is I just like discovered a new shape and then I just like, you know, brought it up the neck or something like.

00:07:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's a lot of that that's beautiful. I love that. I mean, that's my favorite kind of songs. Really, yeah.

00:07:26
Speaker 9: I mean, that's definitely the approach I have with most of my music. Like we were saying before, like I really love the beginner's mind thing, and it's something I've even tried to like protect a little bit. Like that makes sense, Yeah, I definitely. I mean I always like every year I'm like, should I take guitar lessons?

00:07:45
Speaker 1: Maybe I should, like nah.

00:07:48
Speaker 9: Yeah, I don't know. I mean yeah, I mostly just like using it to write songs. And I've never really wanted to get like like being an amazing guitar estate.

00:08:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you are. I mean what the way you play is very uh, it's very hard to get amazing guitar players to play like that. I've really I mean I've played with guitar players who are great, but I'm like, can you just see this little simple finger pick? Quiet? And it's like it's not everybody's bag, you know. I've definitely heard that.

00:08:22
Speaker 9: It's funny that you say that, Like, I definitely like Gus is very encouraging.

00:08:25
Speaker 1: It's just like, oh, but you have a good feel, and you have a great feel.

00:08:28
Speaker 9: That's nice to hear. Beautiful, Thank you so much.

00:08:31
Speaker 1: You know what I would say about the beginner's mind thing is that only take guitar lessons if you get bored and you don't want to play the guitar right, otherwise, try to play another instrument. And that's some serious beginner's mind. Yeah.

00:08:44
Speaker 9: Well, I think I've actually wanted to try more piano writing. And I actually started on the piano when I.

00:08:51
Speaker 1: Was like five. Oh you did, yeah, okay, And my mom was.

00:08:54
Speaker 9: Really really strict and it kind of you know, worked against her. I eventually hated it and wanted to get off.

00:09:01
Speaker 1: You know, that's the tough part about that. I know I'm struggling with that right now with my kids.

00:09:05
Speaker 9: Oh really yeah, gosh, man, if my mom would put a kitchen timer oh on the piano forty five minutes every day right after school. And there were moments I got really excited by it and I was like kind of into the discipline of it. But as soon as I got to the age where I like I knew it was time to like rebel, it was like easy to know what, Wow, that's the first thing to get Yeah, it's like, oh, yeah, this is the thing she wants me to do the most. It's the thing that I'll quit instantly. Yeah, And as soon as, so as soon as we moved overseas, we didn't have a piano right away, and it was like, this is my chance. Oh yeah, be an assholes high yeah, break her heart. They tried to buy me an electronic piano after that, and it's.

00:09:47
Speaker 1: Just like never yeah, but that doesn't really feel the same anyway. Yeah, that's totally the reason. That's just sophisticated. It was too rich. Yeah, you need piano, right.

00:09:57
Speaker 9: Yeah.

00:09:58
Speaker 1: So I don't know much about your history, but where were you born? I was born in Syria? Wow.

00:10:03
Speaker 9: Yeah, I was raised in Saudi Arabia okay?

00:10:08
Speaker 1: Where and Riad? Okay?

00:10:11
Speaker 9: But my family's Armenian.

00:10:12
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's a lot. It's a lot. There's a lot there.

00:10:16
Speaker 9: Yeah, and yeah I was there. I was in Saudi until I was ten. My family won the green card lottery.

00:10:25
Speaker 1: That's crazy.

00:10:25
Speaker 9: Yeah wow, yeah, it's very unlikely. My parents were actually trying to move us to Canada and my dad couldn't get a citizenship and his friend was like just threw it out there and was like, you should just apply for American.

00:10:41
Speaker 1: Citizensah, you never know, Yeah, and you got it, and I don't want to move to America. It was like Canada is better and now yeah, yeah, well.

00:10:52
Speaker 9: I kind of but he said something so profound. He was like, America's not a country, it's a business.

00:10:57
Speaker 1: Oh man, isn't that crazy? Very profound.

00:11:00
Speaker 9: As a kid, I didn't understand that. Yeah, of course, I'm very ungrateful for the citizenship.

00:11:06
Speaker 1: I'm sure where did you guys say? We started in Houston?

00:11:13
Speaker 9: Oh no, I'm sorry, Boston, Boston, Boston for a year, Houston, Texas, Houston, Texas through middle school and high schools.

00:11:21
Speaker 1: So that's the like formative Texas period for you because I'm from Dallas.

00:11:25
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, So yeah, I had a love hate relationship with Houston and high school because we were so in the suburbs, Like we were in a Leaf, which is like pretty deep in the suburbs and like thirty minutes away from like I don't know, the arts more like the arts district where I was always trying to.

00:11:48
Speaker 1: Get to and you weren't close.

00:11:50
Speaker 9: Yeah, and so I didn't, like, I feel like I didn't get what I could out of it, which because I Houston is such a huge, incredible, yeah, huge sprawling city and it's so rich with like arts and music and the museum scene is incredible, and I.

00:12:07
Speaker 1: Think Dallas is very similar in that way. Yeah, they were very similar. They hate each other, but they're their rival. Really.

00:12:16
Speaker 9: Yeah, So now I I love Houston when I go back and I get to like actually have the autonomy as like an adult to go where I want and the museums I want to go to and stuff. But but yeah, the Urbs. It was deep in the burbs. And as soon as I finished high school, I be lined it to California and then from there I was just kind of I hopped around. I used college as an excuse to travel. Basically, I like went to California, went to Kentucky, went to oh Wow, Savannah, Georgia, I went to back to Austin for ut And yes.

00:12:56
Speaker 1: That's crazy. Did your parents were your parents like what is going on? You know they should have questions when you were enrolled in college? And I yes, was it like semester to semester. Yeah, I was.

00:13:09
Speaker 9: Just kind of I would go until the money ran out kind of, I would like go, I would follow like the scholarships and grants and stuff, and then if I didn't get enough like money to go to the next semester, I would basically just take some time off and regroup and try to figure out where I wanted to go next.

00:13:26
Speaker 1: Wow. And what did you study though? Did you study?

00:13:28
Speaker 9: Ultimately got my degree in sound design, So you got your degree? Yeah, I did at SKAD and Savannah, Georgia.

00:13:36
Speaker 1: And what's sound design like engineering?

00:13:39
Speaker 9: Basically, like it's geared towards film, so most it's essentially post production for film and TV. And there's like some different classes in there, like there there was a music engineering class course that we had to take, and there was like sound art, which was really really cool, like interactive sound and stuff like that that was pretty heady. Yeah, and then there was stuff like music editing, which actually, well I was most interested in because before I was touring, I was music editing for composers.

00:14:15
Speaker 1: Oh that's that's neat.

00:14:16
Speaker 9: Yeah. I loved it. I mean it's like it was a great job. And I was just getting footing in that when I got a record deal and so I had to pivot and get footing in this.

00:14:27
Speaker 1: But yeah, I really liked it. When did you pick up the guitar after quitting the piano in high school?

00:14:34
Speaker 4: And you did?

00:14:35
Speaker 1: You always sing yeah okay for fun? Yeah, but it felt good. Yeah, it felt like natural for sure.

00:14:42
Speaker 9: I think like my earliest memory of singing is well, probably there's earlier, but I just loved Mariah Carey's music Box.

00:14:51
Speaker 1: Yeah it's a classic. I mean we should have had one of those songs.

00:14:58
Speaker 9: I would love that. Yeah. So yeah, I would just like sing my little heart out to music Box.

00:15:04
Speaker 1: That's awesome. How did your parents like that? Were they that's a good question. Were they confused?

00:15:09
Speaker 9: But they probably were very forgiving. I just remember dominating the living room to do that, I think because I think my dad had like a microphone setup or like, oh really cooked almost like a karaoke setup.

00:15:23
Speaker 1: Perfect. Yeah, that's encouraging. I know, I know that I think of it.

00:15:27
Speaker 9: That is pretty like atypical. But I definitely leaned into that. But yeah, I have always sang for fun, that's one way or another.

00:15:39
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:15:40
Speaker 1: Yeah me too. Yeah. Wel did you well? Did you have were your parents? Did you guys speak Armenian when you were young?

00:15:49
Speaker 9: It was kind of a strange exchange. It was definitely mishmash. My parents were learning English from me and my brothers as we were like coming home from school and we were learning.

00:15:59
Speaker 1: When you moved or before.

00:16:00
Speaker 9: So when we moved, Oh right, So in Saudi we went to an American school.

00:16:06
Speaker 1: Okay, it was kind of a weird.

00:16:07
Speaker 9: There was a period where weren't my parents weren't sure where they wanted to enroll us. We started at an Arabic school and that didn't work out. My parents pulled us out and put us in this British school. And so I was trying. I was starting to learn English with a British accent. And then she pulled me out and put me in this American school because that's where my brothers were, and she thought we should, you know, try to be in the same school if we could, And that's where we were the whole time. So really I was kind of primed for America in a way. Like English was more or less my first language, even though it wasn't what was spoken at home until like my parents kind of picked it up, or maybe it was what I spoke to my brothers. Yeah, but but yeah, Armenion, I consider it's like I don't know it's my native I call it my somewhat native language because like I don't even read or write it, but it was what my parents spoke to me and what I speak more or less fluently?

00:17:13
Speaker 1: Can we do solitary daughter? Sure? Yeah, this song is beautiful. This is one of my favorites. All right, I'm just gonna dabble a little on this. Whatever you want to do.

00:17:33
Speaker 7: With the conviction of the woman you made me.

00:17:39
Speaker 4: A fine.

00:17:42
Speaker 7: Blades of course, from the eyeland you led me.

00:17:47
Speaker 2: I find on.

00:17:50
Speaker 5: Everything in every drug word. Though I'm not an iland, I'm a body of order June in the evening of solitary thought of if picked up by now, by midnight, I'm rue Thieve me alone to the books and the radio snow. Thieve me alone to the charcoal and the dancing shadow. If each blade of grass was meant here for me, split apart, sliced and wedged in for me, who's gonna trig.

00:19:34
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna need eat it.

00:19:42
Speaker 5: Leave me alone to the books and the radio snow. Leave me alone to the charcoal in the dancing shadows. I am a lake, don't need to be watered. I am an auction.

00:20:11
Speaker 7: I don't need the barterer.

00:20:13
Speaker 4: I pay in.

00:20:16
Speaker 1: My only friend.

00:20:18
Speaker 7: It pushes at pools.

00:20:20
Speaker 1: I don't pay the rent.

00:20:22
Speaker 10: I don't need the walls to bury my grade. I don't need your company.

00:20:30
Speaker 7: To feel safe.

00:20:31
Speaker 1: I don't need the sunlight.

00:20:34
Speaker 4: My curtains don't draw.

00:20:36
Speaker 5: I don't need the objects to keep on upon. I don't want your pity, concern, your scorn. I'm calmed by my lonesome. I feel that at home, and when the wind blows, I get to danceing.

00:20:54
Speaker 7: My fun is the rhythm of there.

00:20:56
Speaker 2: When it's pricing, I pay in.

00:21:00
Speaker 8: My holy friend.

00:21:03
Speaker 7: It plishes, it pulls me. I don't pay rent.

00:21:07
Speaker 11: I don't need the.

00:21:08
Speaker 1: Walls to bury my grave. I don't need.

00:21:12
Speaker 11: Your company to feel safe.

00:21:16
Speaker 1: I don't need the sunlight.

00:21:18
Speaker 2: My curtains don't draw.

00:21:20
Speaker 5: I don't need objects to keep one at all.

00:21:25
Speaker 7: I don't want your pity.

00:21:27
Speaker 2: Concern, your scorn.

00:21:29
Speaker 5: I'm calm by my lordso I feel read at home.

00:21:34
Speaker 10: Pave me alone to the books and the radios. Beave me alone to.

00:21:45
Speaker 7: The charcoal and the dancing shadow.

00:22:11
Speaker 1: I love that song so much. I love how your voice. I love your voice on this song. Oh thank you, it's so so. I was talking about your accent. There's this part where you say, my curtains doom bra. It's the way you say. It's so cool. I don't know why I couldn't get over that when I was listening to the recording. But it doesn't really sound like you have a an Armenian accent necessarily. No, it actually sounds like Peggy Lee. It reminds me of Peggy Lee. So I was wondering if you ever listened to any of that kind of era of singers.

00:22:50
Speaker 9: I mean, yeah, I feel like my music education definitely came like later in life. It wasn't until I lived in Kentucky that I was really influenced by the people around me and their music. And so yeah, I mean I listened to a lot. I'm not that familiar with Peggy Lee, but like, like, is that like in the era of Loretta Lynn and well, Patsy Klein, did.

00:23:18
Speaker 1: You ever see Lady in the Trap when you were a kid? I haven't, really, Okay, Well then, so that's why I was wondering, because it I'll send you some stuff, because she just had this way of singing that was cool, and she wasn't overly hitting you on the head with anything, but it just everything had a turn that was like, oh, yeah, that's the coolest thing I've ever heard. So I'll send you I don't know why. It just reminded me. Yeah, the song doesn't sound like Peggy at all, but it's just the way you say certain words.

00:23:46
Speaker 9: And yeah, what you're describing makes sense though, because like I'll always just feel like I'm so I sound so sleepy, Like I'll be thinking I'm like singing my heart out, and then I listened back and I'm like, I sound happy sleep What is going on?

00:24:00
Speaker 1: Like I feel you? I feel you. I'm a quiet girl too. Yeah, I know it's like, yeah, so you don't, I know you mean, but you don't at all. It's so beautiful. This song is intense too. And I thought maybe I was going to ask if you were an only child, but you said you had brothers, so you're the only girl. Yeah, are you the youngest? Yes? Oh so that makes a lot of sense, does it. Yeah? Did you play a lot by yourself when you were a kid?

00:24:26
Speaker 9: I was definitely, I mean I was definitely am kind of still a loner type. And do you spend a lot of time alone? Probably did as a kid. Yeah, I think I had a very different experience than my brothers did, for sure. And maybe that's like cultural.

00:24:42
Speaker 12: Because you came when you were younger over here, Yeah, yeah, yeah, and like my mom just you know, in our culture that tend to treat boys and girls differently.

00:24:56
Speaker 9: And yeah, you know, I give her a lot of guff about it. I was very you know, strong headed, and if she would like try to get me to help her clean up, be like, yeah, I'll do it as soon as my brother, you know. Like, but that's how she was raised. Probably, Yeah, yeah, absolutely so yeah in that sense, like definitely it was solitary.

00:25:23
Speaker 1: You feel good? Do you feel comfortable being alone? Yeah, because that's how this song presents to me for sure. But you're good, Yeah, you're good for sure. I grew up an only child, so in hindsight, I did spend a lot of time alone, but usually I would watch TV. I wasn't like being creative necessarily. I do a lot of that too. Yeah, but I think I always had a hard time with it. I always wish I had, you know, someone, until recently. Now I don't have any alone time because I have little kids, so now I cherish it. But yeah, it was really hard for me until maybe my mid thirties. Even really I relate to that.

00:26:03
Speaker 9: I think there's like it's so easy when you spend a lot of time alone to be like, am I doing this wrong? Am I doing life wronged? Am I supposed to have more friends? Am I supposed to have more community? And there are times that I definitely do crave that, especially in the last couple of years. It's given me this like newfound appreciation for a community. And because I always maybe like to a fault, like prided myself over like you know, spending a lot of time alone or being okay, but I think that was it's probably if I'm being honest, like a defense mechanism too, just being like, oh, I don't you know, it's I don't need anything or anyone.

00:26:39
Speaker 2: That's over there.

00:26:41
Speaker 1: Let's chill where we are. Yeah, just like more opportunities for things to go wrong or you know exactly. So that's how I feel now with the reentry of socialization after the and not that the pandemic's over, but.

00:26:58
Speaker 9: Just sure the sort of the initial.

00:27:01
Speaker 1: Face, Yeah, I'm like, oh my god, I'm going to see somebody. This is scary.

00:27:06
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:27:07
Speaker 9: I definitely think that everyone like just I don't know if they need less or just like satisfied by less. Yeah, uh, like interaction.

00:27:17
Speaker 1: I realize that that I'm very satisfied with less. I don't need to be social with some people every day. Yeah, for sure, it's too much.

00:27:26
Speaker 9: It's nice to be selective, right, Like.

00:27:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love all my friends, I just I don't need to see them all every single week. Yeah for sure, and they don't probably want to see me. It's mutual, it's perfect, Probably mutual. I think a lot of people felt like that.

00:27:42
Speaker 9: Yeah, gosh, I feel like that has probably carried over into some It feel like it's just such a time of reflection and people really deciding what it is they want and what they need and what they've just been doing because it's just what they've known.

00:27:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the importance things, the important things. Yeah, but they're figuring out for sure. Yeah, music is important. Music is important, but it's not it's to me. That's what I figured out that music is important to me in that it's something that brings me joy. It's not so important that it should ever bring stress. So that's kind of why I started this podcast, is to sort of just talk to people and play music with them.

00:28:30
Speaker 9: Yeah, have you ever been at a time where you like it was becoming too more stressful than it was joyful and.

00:28:37
Speaker 1: Yes, well my first album because it exploded so big and it was it was disorienting. And then playing music every night was fun being on tour, but there was just too much crap to do with it. Stuff that helped me become successful, like interviews and that's all great, But there was a tipping point for me where it got to be like, I'd rather just quit if it's distressful the time. Wow, So I just scaled back. Yeah, yeah, I was lucky. So yeah, you know, I felt lucky to have that luxury. But yeah, yeah, you know there's a balance. We're lucky to do what we do. So absolutely, that's that's what I keep telling my kids that you know, if you can find something that you love and that becomes your job, that's the luckiest thing, you know. I mean not most people don't have that. Yeah for sure. I think like.

00:29:29
Speaker 9: Music to me is ultimately just how I like.

00:29:31
Speaker 1: To pass time.

00:29:32
Speaker 9: Yes, It's like I think like if you were to ask anybody, like how do you like to pass the time? Like what if you could just do that? And I mean that would be ideal. I didn't exactly expect it to be the case or a choice, and it still definitely comes with its struggles. It's still like an attempt at that.

00:29:51
Speaker 1: You know. Well, now is different because you have to be your own pr show on social media, so it's it's completely different. Paul Game. Yeah, jeez. Yeah, stressful for people because artists aren't naturally Most artists I know aren't naturally self promoting all the time. You know, Oh my god, they're usually kind of introspective and you know, I know there, it's weird. It's so weird.

00:30:17
Speaker 9: Yeah, and it's really kind of chipped away at this like sacred thing a little bit. And I not to like make it holier than that or something, but it just it is something that I feel like should be protected.

00:30:34
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's the thing. It happens to a lot of people. Yeah, it should be protected.

00:30:40
Speaker 9: Yeah, if there's so much about that and the music and your in songwriting and your relationship to music and you're just life that is like feels so personal and close to you, close to the chest, and it's it's weird that and in me it's a very small scale, you know, but it still feels like weird to be expected to just share overshare constantly.

00:31:06
Speaker 1: Well, I was talking to a friend this week about that and how you just expected to speak your truth all the time now and it's like, well, what happened to writing songs about it and being a little mysterious. It's like my favorite musician for sure, I don't know everything about the ins and outs of their life. Yeah, I kind of don't want to because I might like they're poetry less, you know, you don't need to. Yeah, well, it's like if I know how literal something is, it takes the sort of specialness out of it to me. So it's a real weird thing now. It's just the trend nowadays, and there is I get the need to trend. Yeah, well, I get the need for authenticity after maybe things not feeling authentic for people. But it is a weird It's just a weird pendulum, I think.

00:31:53
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm definitely always trying to strike a balance.

00:31:57
Speaker 1: It's hard because I do.

00:31:59
Speaker 9: There's so many many great things about it, so totally great things about social media.

00:32:03
Speaker 1: You can curate it to be exactly what you want it to be.

00:32:06
Speaker 9: There's so many things I learn, But I hate being like I like consuming.

00:32:14
Speaker 1: It, Yeah, I don't like producing it. Well, producing it is stressful. Yeah, and when you produce it because you know you have to, then it feels unnatural.

00:32:23
Speaker 9: And like saying things when you have nothing to say, Like I don't always have something to say. Just because I've written songs doesn't mean I need to poke my head out every day and say something.

00:32:32
Speaker 1: It's so hard to tell people what your songs are about. I think, yeah, it can be. It can be some people are really into it. I've talked to some people, Oh yeah, that songs about this, Like wow, I would never just say that because I Sometimes it's because it's too personal. Sometimes it's because I'm embarrassed that it's about my phone, but they don't know that, and I don't want them to know that. Yeah, totally or whatever it might be.

00:32:56
Speaker 9: Yeah, I go back and forth, like feeling very private and feeling very like, you you know, leave it open to interpretation between that and like laying it on the table because but it's just again, just what feels natural.

00:33:12
Speaker 1: That's all it should be. Yeah, but it's hard. Yeah. Did you make all your albums with gusts so far?

00:33:22
Speaker 9: Yeah, this last one was kind of more of a co production. I started it more alone, and it.

00:33:31
Speaker 1: Was like it started as like a guitar vocal.

00:33:34
Speaker 9: It was just going to be this really casual thing, and then we just had so much time. At first he was just going to mix it, and by the time I brought it him, he was just like, let's just keep throwing stuff at it.

00:33:49
Speaker 1: And then did it start before lockdown?

00:33:52
Speaker 9: No way, After like tourists you know, started getting canceled. Yeah, I thought, okay, well I'll just work on the next record, I guess, and I I got to a point where I realized that I didn't want to like lean on old material anymore, and I wanted to start from scratch. But as I was like going through all my old files and like sitting down with like old like voice memos and stuff, I was like, I have so much stuff that I don't want.

00:34:20
Speaker 1: To throw away. Okay, so that's where all this stuff came from. So yeah, well they become like old friends, right, Oh my god. I absolutely.

00:34:27
Speaker 9: I just I felt like it would be criminal to just like, yeah, you know, I don't know. And also it just felt so easy to just release them, you know, if anybody cared, like, here, here's more stuff where that came from. Yeah, And so it just started like as an offering kind of thing. I was just going to put it online one day and just be like here, this is here if you want to hear it. And then one thing turned to another and it just became kind of more of a proper record, which I never expected it to be.

00:34:57
Speaker 1: It's beautiful.

00:34:58
Speaker 9: Thank you so much?

00:35:00
Speaker 1: Is the wave from it? Yeah? Yeah, so this next song is from it? So how old is this song? The well the seeds of it? How old is this song beginning of this song? This song is probably about like maybe like eight years old? Oh wow? And was it finished or did you finish it for the record? This one was finished.

00:35:24
Speaker 9: There's a few that I had to tweak, but this one was pretty much done. Yeah, there's some this like the oldest song is about fifteen years old, oh wow on the record, Yeah, which is so wild.

00:35:37
Speaker 1: That's rad. But it's kind of like it's like hanging out with your younger self.

00:35:41
Speaker 9: Absolutely, that's what I think. That's totally what I've been saying. And it feels like it makes me appreciate that person because like.

00:35:51
Speaker 1: Doesn't it make you want to hugger and say, hey, you're doing really good?

00:35:54
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:35:54
Speaker 9: Like may it go like you have no reason to lock yourself in the room and write this song like, but you did it and thank you.

00:36:01
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's so weird how we're different people, like different phases.

00:36:06
Speaker 9: Yeah yeah, I mean it's given me kind of It's it's made me really gentle with that like younger self.

00:36:16
Speaker 1: I think it's so easy to look back and like cringe at your younger self.

00:36:20
Speaker 9: But I tried as much as I could to like lean into that that I don't know, appreciation ingratitude of that person who like you know, didn't know that's great what she was doing and you know hardly still does, but like just keeps.

00:36:40
Speaker 1: The more time goes on, the easier it is to embrace that younger self. Yeah. Yeah, you have to get some space from it first.

00:36:47
Speaker 9: Yeah, definitely, definitely.

00:36:49
Speaker 1: Let's see the song, Okay, cool? The wave.

00:37:08
Speaker 6: Well off tomorrows FO for you.

00:37:20
Speaker 4: Not read, you.

00:37:23
Speaker 7: May as well be to see.

00:37:30
Speaker 6: It teas believes.

00:37:32
Speaker 2: Of days come by.

00:37:36
Speaker 13: RENI and looking to Scott, I've tried to borrow.

00:37:48
Speaker 2: I cannot contain.

00:37:51
Speaker 7: The way I feel for you or anything.

00:37:58
Speaker 4: I ride a.

00:38:00
Speaker 14: Way, Bells of shallow.

00:38:18
Speaker 15: Ring, the horizon, sky, blue sky, burning pain, those.

00:38:29
Speaker 1: The fire, silence.

00:38:36
Speaker 2: Are you waiting well.

00:38:42
Speaker 7: As I can do it, stay.

00:38:47
Speaker 13: Out from this silence. I cannot contain with five already say I ride away, I break my pones to show live.

00:39:49
Speaker 2: U s I break my heart.

00:40:25
Speaker 1: The song is beautiful, I am, and the video is really cool.

00:40:30
Speaker 9: Oh, thank you for the beach. Yeah, it was very very d I.

00:40:34
Speaker 1: Y yeah, but I mean that's what's cool.

00:40:37
Speaker 9: I learned video editing in this campaign.

00:40:42
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:40:44
Speaker 9: Do you use eyemovie or it was a lot of eyemovie, Yeah, lots and lots of use her friendly it is. And then I had to use I wanted to do those like karaoke color wipes on the lyrics that I had to use Premiere to do that.

00:40:57
Speaker 1: That's cool. So you did it all.

00:40:59
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:41:00
Speaker 1: I had a lot of help.

00:41:01
Speaker 9: My friend helped teach me my way around Premiere. Uh yeah, but it was very spent a lot of hours in the coffee shop working on that, logged in a lot of hours at the office where I call the office.

00:41:13
Speaker 1: That's funny, it's beautiful, Thank you. I love the words on this too.

00:41:21
Speaker 9: It felt it made a lot of sense to release it. Like first, it just it's a song about grieving, and so it just felt like this is the right thing to share first. It's just yeah, made sense felt fitting.

00:41:37
Speaker 1: I read something you said about it and about grief, and it's something that's taken me forever to learn. How you have to sit in whatever that feeling is instead of running from it. Yeah. I mean that's like a therapy one on one that I finally learned. But it's crazy how you go your home life without realizing that.

00:41:59
Speaker 9: Yeah. I definitely turned a corner when I realized that, like my anxiety was really just my fear of having anxiety. Yeah, and as soon as I was okay with having anxiety, I didn't have anxiety. It was It's crazy, It blew my mind.

00:42:16
Speaker 1: That's a very mind blowing thing. Yeah, to overcome and realize, gosh, and helpful for so many young people, Oh my god.

00:42:23
Speaker 9: Yeah. Yeah, so that definitely that's a lot of what I mean. When I went I wrote I Ride the Wave. It was just like, you know, encouraging myself to or and reminding myself to just like just let something wash over you.

00:42:41
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:42:41
Speaker 1: It's a good lesson. Yeah, it took a second, but I got there, And do you surve.

00:42:48
Speaker 9: I've tried once I actually took get up once, but that was a very long time ago.

00:42:55
Speaker 1: It's pretty fine.

00:42:55
Speaker 9: I've body bordered.

00:42:56
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:42:57
Speaker 9: Actually, what is it called when you're is it boogie boarding on they boarding?

00:43:04
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's like when you're on their body the belly. Yeahah, that's fun. Yeah, you're not as quite as haphazard.

00:43:10
Speaker 9: Yeah, exactly, a lot more stable.

00:43:13
Speaker 1: It's funny living in California. I I'm like, does everybody go to the beach all the time? You don't, though? Right in La it's weird. It's like another city away. It's really far and traffic is bad, right yeah, because you're east.

00:43:27
Speaker 9: Yeah, it ends up. I mean you know, it could be like an hour. So I really don't do much of that, which is kind of a shame. But eh, yeah that's fine.

00:43:42
Speaker 1: You go when you can. Yeah.

00:43:44
Speaker 9: I'm not a huge beach person though.

00:43:46
Speaker 1: You're not, are you? I wasn't when I was young, but I am now. Oh really?

00:43:52
Speaker 9: Yeah, do you go on the East coast.

00:43:55
Speaker 1: A little bit. I'm not a lay on the beach person. I'm I'm give me all the shade and get me in that water. Oh so I feel like a productive Yeah I'm not. I'm not technically a beach person. I'm more of an ocean lover waves. I love being underwater, and really I love getting smacked with a wave really, I mean not too hard, but yeah, you know, just like pushed and yeah. Yeah, when you were growing up, did your parents play Armenium music? Oh yeah, we're so. Is that sort of deep within your your bones? I mean, I can't tell if I can hear that, but I think I can. Oh really, maybe I'm imagining it.

00:44:38
Speaker 9: I wrote a song in Armenian for my first record, and it's like a bonus track, and that was the first time I've ever done anything like that. There's a lot of similarities between, like, you know, all Middle Eastern music and Armenian music tends to fall into that, although it is kind of it can be kind of Eastern European feeling too. But yeah, I mean I don't know that I'm known Encyclopedia for it by any means.

00:45:05
Speaker 1: No, but you grew up within it.

00:45:07
Speaker 9: It's like in my porest kind of yeah, and I love it. I've always actually wanted to do like an Armenian record, even if it's just like covers, because the music can be so beautiful.

00:45:19
Speaker 1: That would be cool. Yeah, I would listen to that. I would love to do that.

00:45:23
Speaker 9: That's something I would I was kind of thinking about doing next that and like maybe like Nick Drake covers or something, but oh yeah, we'll see. I don't know if that'll pan out.

00:45:35
Speaker 1: There's another thing that I hear in your guitar playing and the way you sing is like very Brazilian music. Are you I love Did you listen to a lot of that?

00:45:47
Speaker 9: I mean not growing up by any means, but recently, but like, yeah, I.

00:45:51
Speaker 1: Mean for sure, I really hear that. I love it. Yeah, I love that stuff.

00:45:56
Speaker 9: And it's like sometimes I feel like maybe too much, like barring from it too much or something.

00:46:04
Speaker 1: I don't think that's the thing. I think. I think you go for it. Definitely. It always morphs its way into something different, for sure.

00:46:11
Speaker 9: Yeah, there's always this like layer of interpretation.

00:46:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I love it. Yeah, I love that stuff too. Yeah. That song especially kind of reminded me.

00:46:19
Speaker 9: Oh really, yeah, I never thought of it that way.

00:46:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has it has a something about it. I'm not even specifically like a certain but just the way you play the guitar and saying, m yeah, I love it.

00:46:32
Speaker 9: I play guitar so softly yeah, and I'm like the engineer's worst nightmare.

00:46:38
Speaker 1: I know you, but your rhythmic so it has that what is your guitar there.

00:46:45
Speaker 9: It's called a Martin Colletti. It's not a Martin. It's like this small company that no longer exists, that manufactured guitars in Czechoslovakia.

00:46:57
Speaker 1: It's like from the thirties. It could dissolve it any mo. It's beautiful and it looks really old.

00:47:02
Speaker 9: It's so old, and I take it on tour with me, which is I don't know if danger zone, I know, super dangerous. Yeah, but I just it feels so good. It's so small. It's kind of pain the ass to tune, and it's like the intonation's terrible, but I just love playing.

00:47:19
Speaker 1: She's worth it, She's worth it. Yeah, so beautiful. Thank you, Thanks so much. I like the star too.

00:47:26
Speaker 9: I know I was thinking, like I know, I was thinking, even if I got a new guitar, I'd probably like try to put something like that in it again.

00:47:35
Speaker 1: Thank you one of these days. I really love this song. Thank you. And oh we played it for you years years ago at the studio. That's right, Yeah, before it was that like when you were recording it.

00:47:53
Speaker 9: I kind of feel like before it'd probably been recorded for a while, but maybe it was before it was released, yeah, or maybe like as it was released.

00:48:00
Speaker 1: That and I love it And the cover is on that floor, my favorite floor to cover the album. Yes, exactly, it's amazing. I decided that you did.

00:48:11
Speaker 9: Oh Gus gets mad when I tell her why, Well, because I think I'm like a little too proud of it because I mentioned it whenever I can.

00:48:17
Speaker 1: I think we should. I'm into tiles, so.

00:48:20
Speaker 9: I'm a huge fan of like I try to model it after like Victorian rugs, which were these like linoleum rugs or some quotes like yeah, and so that's why the checkers are so small, because usually in studios you'll see like the big checkers of a linoleum uh huh.

00:48:35
Speaker 1: But yeah, I love that floor too. I'm into that black and white checker. Yeah, it's the best classic. I love this song and it's kind of got a country vibe I love too. For sure. Do you love country music from being in Texas? Just because it's good?

00:48:49
Speaker 9: I got you know, it has nothing to do with Texas actually, because like my experience in Texas in high school is mostly like.

00:49:00
Speaker 1: Mean people.

00:49:01
Speaker 9: I mean probably like top forty.

00:49:03
Speaker 1: Like really rap. And you didn't feel like there was a big country not where contingency at your school. No, not at all. When I was in junior high or middle school, Garth Brooks was huge, And I think I'm a little older than you, but Garth Brooks was huge and we used to go to this place and dance and everybody would do like line dancing, oh yeah, and were like tight jeans and it was very country.

00:49:32
Speaker 9: I didn't realize that was like a thing until like way after I lived in Texas oddly enough, but now that you say it, like Garth Brooks was definitely like a you know, there was like Garth Brooks and like Faith Hill.

00:49:44
Speaker 1: And yeah, there was a huge country wave. Yeah, pop country. Yeah, it's funny when you look back on that. At the time, it seemed like such popified country. But now when you look back, it just sounds like country music because it's come so much further than that. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot more popular. Yeah, it's way more. But uh, this song, I don't know. I just hear these like Dolly Parton harmonies on it. So do you mind if I have a little harmony on it. I would love that.

00:50:12
Speaker 9: I would love nothing more than that.

00:50:14
Speaker 1: I'm gonna like do my best go to town. Well, okay, go to Dolly Dollywood. Let's go to Dollywood.

00:50:27
Speaker 5: Always looking for you on next time. The things I want don't take time and money, Honey, you get it.

00:50:35
Speaker 4: One of these days.

00:50:38
Speaker 11: One of these days are nights We're going to get.

00:50:42
Speaker 6: In and get it right.

00:50:43
Speaker 11: One of these days.

00:50:50
Speaker 10: If I'm talking sweet, you know to hear it.

00:50:55
Speaker 11: It's funny, honey, if you think it's a passing face.

00:51:00
Speaker 5: But if I feed alone in the morning, start to see new shades of blue.

00:51:09
Speaker 2: One of these.

00:51:09
Speaker 10: Days, you know I'm gone to say our hearts place.

00:51:17
Speaker 2: If it's the last. Indeed, if I fear I.

00:51:22
Speaker 7: Love but feet, you may as well turn the blade.

00:51:26
Speaker 2: It's a run in a honey my mouth.

00:51:29
Speaker 4: I know for.

00:51:29
Speaker 5: Days, but Robbins singing the same old song, and I.

00:51:36
Speaker 1: Do not say it all.

00:51:40
Speaker 6: One of these.

00:51:41
Speaker 10: Days, you know I'm gonna say our hearts place.

00:51:49
Speaker 6: If it's the last thing I do.

00:52:14
Speaker 4: One of these.

00:52:15
Speaker 10: Days, you know I'm gonna say in our hearts a place.

00:52:23
Speaker 2: If it's the last thing I had do. If it's true that I feel more for you.

00:52:30
Speaker 6: Than you do for me.

00:52:32
Speaker 2: It's studying a honey.

00:52:33
Speaker 10: Halla has some delays because one of these days and love takes flight, We're gonna get it, to get it right.

00:52:43
Speaker 11: One of these days.

00:53:11
Speaker 1: I could play that over and over. I had asked you if there was any cover that you wanted to try, just to throw something random in, and you sent me this Nick Drake song. Yeah, it's beautiful.

00:53:27
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'm sure you've heard it before.

00:53:29
Speaker 1: I have, but I didn't know it know it? Yeah, but I have. Do you love Nick Drake? I do? Yeah, I mean yeah, when did you discover him? Oh gosh, that's a good question, Like was it during his resurgence or did you know before his resurgence? I mean I think it happened with a car commercial and then he was everywhere. Oh god, it was this story of this, you know.

00:53:52
Speaker 9: I don't even think I think it was like even after.

00:53:55
Speaker 1: That, after that. I just remember when that happened and I was like he was everywhere and I was like, whoa, who is this? That's right?

00:54:01
Speaker 9: The Alkswagen Yeah commercial, it is something like that. Yeah, it's definitely like a part of his story, right, Like.

00:54:08
Speaker 1: I mean, now it is it wasn't part of his story because forty years ago I wish it was.

00:54:13
Speaker 9: She was, you know, got to enjoy any of that, I know, isn't it. Wow, it's just such a shame. Yeah, it's so heartbreaking.

00:54:20
Speaker 1: That like someone like that didn't realize how beloved. I know, it's so weird.

00:54:25
Speaker 9: It's not fair, but yeah, gosh, I don't even know when I discovered him. Probably in Kentucky. I was living in Kentucky. I lived with my friend and her mom on a horse farm, and she had a record label and was like very hip and taught me things about music. I just would never have I just don't even know where I would learn. Like, I mean, it definitely got like, you know into British Invasion from her and Big Star and all that stuff that, you know.

00:54:58
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would have.

00:55:00
Speaker 9: Discovered, Probably that she did this thing where she would give her daughter and my friend like a CD for Christmas. She decided that she would just like give her an album a week or something wo for like, and she'd like had them like locked and loaded, and there were just all these bands that she grew up with and she's like, you know, give them once a week so that she'd have time to like get familiar with the record and then she's cool. I mean, yeah, understatement, it's like she's incredible.

00:55:30
Speaker 1: Do you still keep in touch with Yeah? Yeah, I just actually saw them. Sounds amazing.

00:55:33
Speaker 9: Yeah, she's awesome, And so I think if I had to guess, maybe it was one of those albums yeah, which was really only like gosh, around that time, like fifteen years ago or twenty twenty years maybe that's kind of when I discovered him too. Really, yeah, I don't know when the commercial was.

00:55:56
Speaker 1: Was that around then? I just remember it because I remember I had just moved to New York, which was in nineteen ninety nine, so, and I remember going to the Virgin megastore and seeing the display of the car commercial and if you like this commercial, here's Nick Drake for days. Oh my god, And then you know they had all the music there. Wow. But I think my friend had already played him for me, but I didn't quite. I don't remember I remember it being around then. Have you listened to like Molly Drake's his mother?

00:56:25
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:56:25
Speaker 2: I love mom.

00:56:27
Speaker 1: I love that husband's always playing that really Yeah, yeah, so beautiful. She's got such a crazy you get where he came from.

00:56:38
Speaker 9: Oh my god.

00:56:39
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. And that song is like, oh god, it's yeah. She's got that little dip that you have in your voice. Oh really, a little cool dip? Yeah, what's that? It's just a little dip.

00:56:50
Speaker 7: It was a little dip.

00:56:51
Speaker 9: Okay, I'll take it.

00:57:11
Speaker 5: Who can those thoughts of Maggie change? Why she flies or go go's out in the rain?

00:57:27
Speaker 7: Where she spent? The who she see in her journey.

00:57:38
Speaker 1: To the start?

00:57:50
Speaker 13: Who cannother reasons for her smile?

00:57:58
Speaker 7: What I had, dream, the jarah, need for mine?

00:58:06
Speaker 4: The way she.

00:58:07
Speaker 7: Seems a brideley color, make.

00:58:14
Speaker 15: Her princess all the sky?

00:58:37
Speaker 2: Who can know what happened.

00:58:40
Speaker 4: In her?

00:58:44
Speaker 11: Did she come from a stranger?

00:58:48
Speaker 5: Her mind be along the sides, bridey colored eyes?

00:59:00
Speaker 1: Tell the story.

00:59:03
Speaker 5: To it?

00:59:07
Speaker 2: Who can know the fox soul? Marry Jane? Why she flies and goes out.

00:59:19
Speaker 5: Raid? Well?

00:59:23
Speaker 4: Where she spend?

00:59:27
Speaker 2: Who she said.

00:59:31
Speaker 11: In her journey?

00:59:34
Speaker 4: Jose?

01:00:31
Speaker 1: That was fun? That was really fun.

01:00:32
Speaker 4: Yeah.

01:00:33
Speaker 1: I like the little Brazilian Endie. I love your singing on that. Oh I love you, I love you, I love it more. Thanks for doing this?

01:00:42
Speaker 9: Oh my god, are you kidding? I was so stoked when you asked me.

01:00:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was. I was glad it worked out just playing alone.

01:00:51
Speaker 2: Listen.

01:00:54
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on playing along. We had so much fun. Thanks. Yeah.

01:01:01
Speaker 3: I love what she said about beginner's mind and how it's just something you don't want to lose because it's you can't get it back. Yeah, and it brings so much sincerity to her music.

01:01:14
Speaker 1: You can hear it. I agree, I know, I love that. I love having these epiphanies. Yeah. Well, thanks for joining us. We hope you enjoyed the show. Yeah, see you next time. I mean hear you next time. Smile you later. Thanks for listening.

01:01:37
Speaker 3: Don't forget to subscribe to Nora Jones as Playing Along wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a new episode.

01:01:43
Speaker 1: Today's show was recorded by Justin Stanley at Stella Sound Studio in Los Angeles. The music was mixed by Jamie Landry. It was edited and produced by Sarah Oda, with additional engineering by Nate Yaccino and Greg Tobler. Artwork by Eliza Fry, Photography by Sure Lines