‘Play your
heart out
— A nd hope that someone is
out there listening'
BY SUE ZALOKAR
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ubbed “Flannery O’Connor with a
telecaster” by the online magazine
Twang Nation, Lindsay Fuller is no
longer the Northwest’s little secret.
Now based in Seattle, Wash., Fuller came
of age in Birmingham, Ala., and the South
still resonates in her raw, warm and
foreboding lyrics, aggrandized by her
distinct vocal delivery and a voice that has
been likened to Lucinda Williams and Nick
Cave.
Fuller is coming off of a watershed year
for an independent artist. She was part of
the Dave Matthews Caravan this past
summer, signed with a record label, and now
she’s touring with Amy Ray of the Indigo
Girls and Jeff Fielder, promoting the release
her third album, “You, Anniversary.” The
trio will be playing a CD release show for
Fuller’s album on March 27 at the Doug Fir
on East Burnside in Portland. Amy Ray
appears on the new album’s title track and
Fuller is featured on two tracks on Ray’s
eighth solo album, “Lung of Love,” w h ic h
was released Feb. 28.
“It’s just been a bit of a whirlwind,” says
Fuller, who took time on a visit to Portland
to talk about music, death and stories of the
discomforted.
D
Sue Zalokar: You live in Seattle now, but
were born in the South — a region thick with a
history o f notable storytelling. Was there
someone or some experience that brought out
the storyteller in you?
Lindsay Fuller: The South has a
reputation for storytelling, but I’m sure
there are good storytellers everywhere and
I guess my family is a bunch of talkers — a
bunch of loud mouths — so I just grew up
hearing stories. We all have stories. That’s
kind of what makes it worth being around
for — hearing other people’s stories and
feeling like you can connect with something.
S.Z.: I can’t think o f two U.S. cultures
further apart than B irm ingham and Seattle.
Has there ever been a conflict, personally or
musically fo r you on that account?
L.F.: There are all kinds of people
everywhere. That’s really what I ve realized
with all of this traveling and moving around
that I’ve done. There are rednecks in every
state, there are awesome people in every
state, there are assholes in every state, and
that’s really all there is to it. There just
happen to be a few more churches in
Birmingham than there are in Seattle.
S.Z.: You have gained attention fo r your
m ournful lyricism and your tales o f death, but
your songs are hopeful too. Tell me about the
pervasive death theme in your writing and
what it means to you.
L.F.: Death is something that knocks us
all back into what is most meaningful.
There’s nothing like somebody in your life
dying to remind you why we’re all here. It
seems to be sort of a taboo subject, but — at
the same time I understand not wanting to
sit around and think about dying — but, how
can you not help but think about death if
you’re really thinking about life? The two
just go hand in hand.
S.Z.: I read that you have said your mission
in songwriting is “to comfort the disturbed and
to disturb the comfortable. ”
L.F.: Well, I stole that from David Foster
Wallace who stole it from somebody else.
S.Z.: Still, it’s an intriguing thought.
L.F.: My hope with a song is that I create
some sort of a longing inside the person
hearing it. Whether it’s a longing to turn off
m y s o n g o r w h e t h e r i t ’s a lo n g in g to th in k
about something. I just want some sort of
reaction. I want my music to mean
something and to stir emotions in people.
S.Z.: This is your third album. Was the
experience o f recording “You, Anniversary”
sim ilar or distinct from your other recording
experiences?
P H O T O B Y K R IS T IN A W R I G H T
then we’re gone. That’s it. We’re here, all of
us. We feel very much alive. We don’t feel
like we’re going to die, but it’s going to
happen to all of us.
S.Z.: Ibw are currently touring with and
L.F.: They’ve all been totally unique.
They’ve all been special to me. This one in
particular was just as special and unique. All
of the players I’ve made my records with
have been great and they’ve done a great
job. On “You, Anniversary” I was coming
from a place of desperation for that sense of
meaning so it was a very important record
for me. I was gonna make that record. I
didn’t care what stood in my way. I just
knew, clearer than any record that I’ve
made, I just knew what it was I was after.
And then, Paul Bryan, who produced the
album, he locked onto a vision for the album
and it just happened really quickly. Things
just came together. It was kind of spooky
how it all just fell into place. All the
musicians, they just knew what to do with
my songs. It’s definitely the fastest record
I’ve every made.
S.Z.: What is the story behind the title
track?
L.F.: It’s based on a W.S. Merwin poem
that I read when I was in college, “For the
Anniversary of my Death.” He’s definitely
one of my favorite poets I revisited the
poem before I wrote the song. The poem
describes how we pass the anniversary of
our death every year and we have no idea
that. So I wrote a song. This could be my
big day and I don’t know it. We’re here and
have built a friendship with Amy Ray from the
Indigo Girls, someone who greatly influenced
you as a songwriter. What is it like to have the
experience o f playing with someone who once
shaped your own style and drive and now is
complementing your music?
L.F.: I don’t think I’m fully capable of
contemplating how awesome it is to get to
play with Amy Ray. It is truly awesome and
she’s definitely one of my heroes and pretty
much inspired me to play when I was a kid.
Hers was the voice that I would listen to. I
would put on an Indigo Girls cassette and
sing the whole song through, over and over.
To meet one of your heroes and to find out
that she’s also just a wonderful person — not
everybody gets to experience that, so I’ve
been super fortunate to also be able to call
her my friend.
S.Z.: The music industry is daunting, to
say the least.
L.F.: Oh, god.
S.Z.: Amy Ray is a strong woman, in a
tough business that can be hard on
independent musicians. She m ust be a wealth
o f experience in navigating the business.
Spending time with her, you m ust be learning
about more than music.
L.F.: Well, she’s taught me a lot about
performing. She’s taught me about making
the best of stuff. And to be thankful for what
you do get and not bitch about what you
don’t get. She’s so generous. The fact that
she’s willing to help out other musicians
that are trying to get their names out there,
she’s a person that has been always know to
take people under her wing and help them.
I’m indebted to her for sure, for taking me
on tour. She’s been great, plus I’m a huge
fan of her music.
S.Z.: Right now in your career you are
playing in front o f thousands o f people on
some nights and possibly a handful o f people
on other nights. What is that like?
L.F.: It doesn’t matter who’s out there in
the crowd, you just have to play your heart
out and hope that somebody is out there
listening. That can be hard though. It can be
discouraging and you can feel like, why am I
doing this? But honestly some of my
favorite shows have been the shows that
there’s been poor attendance, but there’s
been a couple people in the crowd, I knew,
just really loved it. And then there can be a
big crowd, you don’t get any kind of
feedback. If you want to be in the music
business, what I’m learning is that you have
to stay positive, which isn’t my strong suit.
But you just have to or you’ll go crazy,
because there are a lot of ups and downs.
One second you feel like you’re on top of
the world and the next second you’re just
incredibly discouraged. And you just have to
be able to push through that and remember
why you’re doing it.