A major record deal with Universal followed and she went on to sing with Beck and Gilmour this summer, opening for Beck at Royal Albert Hall on July 4. “That was a great honor, a great thrill,” May said. “(Beck has) become a good friend now.”
She and the band were also on the same bill as the Pretenders in July at the Cornbury Festival in Oxfordshire in England. Told her snarling voice on “Johnny Got A Boom Boom” sounds a lot like Hynde’s, May seemed delighted. “Oh, cool. She’s great,” May said. “I hope to get to work her some day. She has it all, hasn’t she?”
Of course, May has been compared with a number of other exceptional singers. One British newspaper wrote she has “the retro appeal of a Duffy or (Amy) Winehouse,” and when asked about possible similarities to the UK’s recent pair of Queens for a Day, you could almost sense May wincing all the way from L.A. “Well, they are women,” she said before unleashing a hearty laugh. “I think that’s about it. I don’t know; I don’t mind either way. I just do my own thing. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not but I know I have a good 10 years on them (laughing again).”
If the Duffy and Winehouse comparisons weren’t complimentary, what about this statement about May in The Guardian? “(She’s) yanked her vital crackle from the lungs of Janis Joplin and ballsy stance from the soul of Patsy Cline,” Leonie Cooper wrote in the UK’s national publication.
“Oh, I like that better,” she said, almost sighing. “That’s a huge compliment. I’m absolutely not worthy. ... I used to sing along to Janis Joplin and sing along to Patsy Cline all the time. I actually used to try and copy that. Try and get that clear, crisp vocal sound that Patsy Cline had and then be able to shriek like Janis Joplin. I hope I managed to do that in some shape or form. Somebody told me that when I was a kid singing in those clubs, ‘You need to be able to rough it up some times.’ And they were right.”
Even if she is 10 or so years older than Duffy and Winehouse, age isn’t an issue for May, who turned 35 this summer. In fact, her personal list of favorites leans more toward classic artists like Billie Holiday than any recent or contemporary singers. “I never did style myself after anyone,” she said. “I did fall in love with Billie Holiday’s vocals, of course. ... I’m glad I did, because that opened the doors (for me, musically) from blues to jazz. Because she did it quite easily between both.”
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