I want to maintain the ability to do a purely musical project where I do interpretations of pop classics, for instance, and you don't need to know anything about me or agree with my politics or my particular viewpoint in order to be moved by the music. That's the tricky thing about writing a political song or taking on religion in America. It gets very specific and concrete, and almost journalistic, in a way.
And then you get pegged with that.
It's almost like an actor who comes out and says something about their politics and then you have trouble believing them as an actor in a role anymore because you know too much about them. How much dare I say? As a musician I want to be able to get up and sing songs from almost any point of view. I love that about being a singer. If people know too much about you specifically or personally, it limits what you can do as an interpreter. So that's what's interesting about this project.
I feel like the walls are closing in a little bit, and I think that after I do this religion project I might wander back out into the world of jazz and just be a musician's musician if I can be because I enjoy that, too. It's a tricky balance to strike as a creative person.
[ Continued with Part Two. ]
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