Serious music fans will relate.
Though a lot of music enters my ears, very few make the kind of impression that Lucy Wainwright Roche’s 2013 record, "There’s A Last Time For Everything," made on me. A year later I can tell you exactly where I was when I first popped it into the CD player and sat transfixed, unable to move.
I didn’t want to drive distractedly. That is, I didn’t want driving to distract me from the ethereal quality of the songs; from the melodies at times melancholy, at times , at times almost baroque; from Roche’s innocent, sometimes injured voice.
Because we live in a genre-driven world, "There’s A Last Time for Everything" is branded "folk," but the arrangements and instrumentation refuse to be pinned down. Listen to "The Same" and "Under the Gun," for example.
Lucy carries with her the two surnames of her famous musical parents -- Loudon Wainwright III and Suzzy Roche -- but hers is an important voice regardless of pedigree. That pedigree, however, is something she embraces.
She made a full-length record with her mom, with whom she’s currently touring. The duo stops at Shank Hall, 1434 N. Farwell Ave., on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25.
We checked in with Lucy Wainwright Roche in advance of her visit here to ask about her stellar record and touring with one’s mom.
OnMilwaukee.com: Did you expect the kind of response "There's A Last Time for Everything" got when you were making it? Could you feel something special about it?
Lucy Wainwright Roche: Making this album was a very fast and special process. I made it with my friend Jordan Brooke Hamlin as producer and we worked furiously for about eight days to do the bulk of recording. We stayed up late, woke up early and got lost in the process so completely that we didn't even mind that we were horribly exhausted! I hope that some of that energy comes across in the recording.
OMC: I know you're typically lumped in with folk performers, but the record is so much more adventurous, sonically and stylistically, so much more modern than what most people think about when they hear the word "folk." Is it time for people to calibrate their idea of folk music?
LWR: I think that the fact that we made the album in such a whirlwind left us without much time to second guess choices or sounds. It was all about going with gut feelings and moving on. In a way I think that freed me up to going in different directions sonically and take more chances.
I love and appreciate the folk world very much and so I hope that it's flexible enough to include this latest album of mine.
OMC: You probably get asked this all the time, but with such a notable musical family, what path did you think you'd follow? Did you know early on you'd make music, too, or did you rebel for a while and say, "dammit, I'm going follow my muse and be an accountant"?
LWR: My rebellion consisted of going to college and graduate school and becoming an elementary school teacher -- something i'd always been interested in. I think I needed to go in my own direction for a while and see what that felt like. Of course, in the end I was sucked back into the family business ... but my mom is glad that I got my Master's degree first.
OMC: What's it like performing and being on the road with your mom? Is there a mom/daughter dynamic at work or does the relationship take on a different tenor in the rarefied atmosphere of a tour?
LWR: We've been on tour together for many years -- my whole life, really. I used to tour with The Roches when I was a little girl. So we are very used to traveling together and working together and it comes naturally to us. Plus, it's a nice change to have a companion on tour because usually I travel alone.
OMC: You're coming here with your mom, can you tell us a bit about what the shows are like?
LWR: Yes, we pretty much play everything as a duo. Mostly we are singing in two-part harmony and telling stories and talking with the audience. It's a relaxed show -- and a fun one, we hope!
OMC: Not that I'm done with "There's A Last Time" yet, but I'm eager to hear what's next. Are you working on a new record yet?
LWR: Yes, I've started writing my next album but I'm not into the recording process yet. Hopefully early 2015 that will begin.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
