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A-Sides With Jon Chattman: Eve to Adam, Anna Rose, and Grace Weber Go It Acoustic
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Reality Bites is a pretty underrated movie. Sure, Winona Ryder's a bit whiny in it, but I really dug...Reality Bites is a pretty underrated movie. Sure, Winona Ryder's a bit whiny in it, but I really dug the script, the performances, and above all else, the soundtrack. One famous scene in that Ben Stiller-directed Generation X flick is the characters dancing to "My Sharona" at a gas station mart. Well, last week, I came as close as I ever will to reenacting that scene. In a New York City deli, singer/songwriter Grace Weber and her guitarist joined me for an impromptu "A-Sides." Following a performance of "Hitchhiker" off her buzzworthy debut album Hope & Heart, Weber chatted about the basis for the song, her music, and more while frat guys behind us made their beer selection.
Before you watch the video, know this about Weber: she's a Milwaukee native currently residing in Brooklyn, and has already performed on "Showtime at the Apollo," played the Kennedy Center, and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her jazzy pop styling has also caught the eye of Billboard Magazine who dubbed her an "artist to watch." Speaking of which... watch her now.
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Mike Mangini (Grammy Award Winning Producer)
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“Grace is one of the most talented young artists I’ve ever encountered. She has the perfect blend o...“Grace is one of the most talented young artists I’ve ever encountered. She has the perfect blend of artistry and commercial potential, and I think this album is going to really be something special.”
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My Q &A with “Artist to Watch” Grace Weber
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If you’re not familiar with the name Grace Weber, you certainly will be. The 22 year old singer/song...If you’re not familiar with the name Grace Weber, you certainly will be. The 22 year old singer/songwriter, who originally hales from Milwaukee but now calls Brooklyn her home, is on many “artists to watch” lists. In fact, last year Grace was handpicked by Oprah herself from thousands of entrants in a national video to perform on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Having begun her musical journey as part of the Inner City Youth Gospel Choir in Milwaukee at the tender age of 10 years old, she developed early roots in soul and gospel with a modern pop sensibility. Today she mixes different genres such as pop and jazz, with a sound that has been compared to the likes of Adele and Norah Jones!
Grace’s first solo album, Hope & Heart, debuted last month to rave reviews and I recently had the pleasure of interviewing her via e-mail about both music and fashion. I’m ecstatic that I’ll finally get to see Grace perform live at Rockwood Music Hall tonight, where she’ll be kicking off her tour around the country! I encourage you to join me!
Check out www.graceweber.com for music, videos, photos, tour dates and a free download from “Hope & Heart.”
Who are your favorite three bands/artists in terms of inspiration?
Oh man, there are so many artists that I look up to and have learned from over the years. As a singer, I grew up listening to Etta James, Dinah Washington, Eva Cassidy, Whitney Houston, and India Arie and was so inspired by the way these women used their voices to convey emotion and make art. Lately, I’ve been really focused on song writing and have been trying to learn from different legendary song writers as well as get inspiration from some up and coming song writers of our generation. But, with where I’m at right now, I’d say these three artists have inspired me the most over the last few years:
1. Joni Mitchell & Carole King
2. India Arie
3. Bon Iver
How would you describe your style? Do you have a style icon?
I would describe my style as “boho-sheek” (I think I heard that on the Style network once). I sort of bounce between being the hippie with sandals, long skirts, and a cut off tank top to being the retro/soul girl with the 60's pump heels and dresses. I love both of those sides and I think both are reflected in my music. On stage, I love to dress up, put on the fake eyelashes, and step into the performance feeling really confident and together. But when I’m walking around, hanging out in Brooklyn, practicing with the band, you’ll find me in a pony tail and old jeans. I like to call my music “Indie-Soul,” it’s a little folk, a little jazz, a little pop, and a lot of soul and I think my style reflects that.
Where is your favorite place to write music, or is it all about where you are when inspiration strikes?
Mostly, it’s all about where inspiration strikes. I have a recorder on my phone and it is filled with little sound bites of melodies and words that pop into my head in the most random places. I find that when a melody or words or an idea for a song pops into my head, I have to get it down on paper or record it right away or it’ll fly out of my head as quickly as it flew in. Sometimes I’ll be in the subway or the back of a cab and I have to sing this melody that’s in my head, so I get out my recorder and start singing, and I just have to accept that the other people in the subway car are looking at me like I’m crazy. But then I get home and listen to what I put down and start fleshing out the song from there and seeing where it takes me.
But beyond just letting the inspiration strike and follow it where it wants to go and write wherever I can, there is this place up in Albion, California, that might be the most incredible place for any artist to create. It’s my band mate, Julian’s house and it is the most beautiful place in the world. It’s this piece of land way up in northern California, amidst huge red wood trees and farm land. There are 4 cabins sprinkled on the property, one is the main house, and the rest are little one room studios with old Steinway pianos inside. There is an outdoor shower and a garden that you can pick whole salads from and it’s probably the only place where I feel like I can really shut down my phone and computer and just be and make art. Ugh, if I could get out there every month I would. I wrote most of this album out there with Julian, and it’s been a year since I was there, but as soon as I can get back there I’ll be on the first flight out to CA.
What is your favorite city to perform in?
My two favorite cities to perform in are New York and Milwaukee! I’m originally from Milwaukee, so I’ve had a few hometown shows there the past couple years at an amazing venue called “Turner Hall” and those shows are always so much fun. I get so much support from my friends, family, and fans in Milwaukee and it feels so good to get welcomed back to your hometown in that way. I grew up and got my start singing in Milwaukee so I owe a lot of my musical roots to that city. The musical community there is starting to grow even more now, with radio stations like 88.9 Radio Milwaukee and 89.7 WUWM starting to spread the word about local acts and really good independent music, so it’s exciting to be connected as the music scene begins to really take off.
New York has been my home for the past 5 years and it’s where I really got my start as a songwriter. I’ve become friends with a lot of the bookers here and a few of the clubs like The Bitter End and Rockwood have started to feel like home. I feel so grateful to get to play here and am so inspired by the energy and spark that pumps through this city. Of course, New York can be overwhelming at times, but I think an artist’s relationship with the city is a romantic one, one day you’re so in love you just want to run through the streets and yell, “I can’t believe I get to live here!!!” And then other days all you can think about is moving to the country as your cramming yourself onto the L train after a long day of work. But it’s that up and down that keeps you on your toes and keeps you feeling alive. New York is a special place.
What was the most exciting part about releasing your debut LP, Hope & Heart?
I’m so excited to introduce myself the world as a songwriter and singer with this album. It represents my sound, my voice, and the type of artist I am and I’m just really proud of it. It was a huge honor to work with Mike Mangini, who is a Grammy Award winning producer and has produced a lot of other artists who I look up to, like Joss Stone, Dionne Warwick, Diane Birch, and more. He took this idea that I had in my head and turned it into something that had a real vibe and sound and helped take every single song to another level that I couldn’t have reached without him. I want to keep growing and learning new things about my music and myself and I’m so excited to see what’s going to come next, but as far as my first album, I think this is exactly who I am right now and I can’t wait to get out there and really start touring with these songs.
What is your favorite song off Hope & Heart ?
I love each one for different reasons, but I think my favorite is &Heart. It’s about my family and my hometown and overall just about what I hope for for my life. That’s always one of my favorites to sing live too.
For us New Yorkers, when’s our next chance to see you perform?!
My NYC CD Release show is Wednesday, Oct. 12th, 8pm at Rockwood Stage 2!!
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Ryan Matteson, Pabst Theater/Turner Hall Ballroom/Riverside Theater
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“Earning massive radio play on Milwaukee’s KISS FM, the song, ‘Sparrows,’ displays Weber’s shimmerin...“Earning massive radio play on Milwaukee’s KISS FM, the song, ‘Sparrows,’ displays Weber’s shimmering sleek and soulful voice over Pollack’s impressive piano work. With a familiar sound harking to the finer moments of Norah Jones, Sara Bareilles, and Ingrid Michaelson, Grace Weber is shaping up to have a rather big 2010. With a song like ‘Sparrows’ is their repertoire, it’s no stretch to believe Weber could be the next big national indie act with Wisconsin roots.”
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Elie Tahari ETC. Magazine - "Amazing Grace"
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Featured for a full month at elietahari.com. Story ran about Grace's 9.11 Tribute Performance in Pa...Featured for a full month at elietahari.com. Story ran about Grace's 9.11 Tribute Performance in Paris overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Grace was given an Elie Tahari dress to wear at the event.
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October Feature
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by Reggie Edwards
Growing up in Milwaukee, Grace Weber has been singing for literally as long as sh...by Reggie Edwards
Growing up in Milwaukee, Grace Weber has been singing for literally as long as she can remember. When she was seven, she would set up all her stuffed animals in the basement, tape a flashlight to a pole so it would shine on her and set up her karaoke machine.
There she was, singing to her stuffed animals in this little stadium she had set up. She knew she wanted to be a singer…no matter what.
Fast forward a few years and she starts doing some national anthems, singing in choirs, and at 12 years old, singing in the Central City Youth Gospel Choir in Milwaukee. This is where she learned she wanted soul music to be part of her sound.
It wasn’t until she met an unlikely icon who gave her some important advice. Richard Marx told her along the way that there were a lot of young girls like her who wanted to be famous singers but that if she incorporated songwriting into her repertoire it would set her apart. She took that advice and ran with it.
Met Richard Marx along the way who told her songwriting would set her apart, so she took that and ran with it. She went home and wrote her first song. From then on her self-view changed from a singer to a singer-songwriter.
Fast forward again and Weber now has her debut album, Hope and Heart, in stores and the future is looking very bright for the 23-year-old singer-songwriter.
“We worked on this album last spring and winter and set the release date for September 13 so we could do a lot of build up and promotion,” Weber says. “We worked on the record with Mark Mangini (Joss Stone, Dream Theater and more), who is a Grammy Award-winning producer and artist and I had such a good time working with him on the album. He worked with a lot of artists I look up to so to have him help me with this album was the perfect combination for what I wanted to do.
Image courtesy of Good Cop PR
One would think that since she has spent time in the studio with other artists, the process would match her expectations. The truth is much to the contrary though.
“I’ve recorded a few other albums before with other bands and in the past we’ve done the albums faster, mainly because we didn’t have the time, because on one hand we wanted to get in, get it done and get it out there and kinda see what happens. This time around we had the time to really sit with songs, sit with the mixes, sit with the tracks and really develop the sound for the first two months and spend a lot of time building up the promotion before getting it out there so it was this long process of really finding my sound and vibe instead of instead of just, you know, ‘hey let’s write 12 songs and just when we get to the twelve song lets go in and record the album and then let’s just put it on the website and then we’ll figure everything out afterwards.’
“This is definitely a more thought-out process; it gave me that chance to really figure out who I really wanted to be as an artist and I wouldn’t have traded that time in for anything because it was a really cool process to go through.”
Even though this is her first year or so in the limelight, she is no stranger to being in the spotlight and is very comfortable with it. In fact, if you look at the year she’s had, you would never expect her to have just released her debut.
“It’s been an incredible year/year-and-a-half. I’ve been pursuing this singer-songwriter since I was 18, I’m 23 now. But this last year has been a year that’s really kicked it up to a professional level where I feel I’ve really arrived as an artist in this playing field.
“Oprah was ridiculous. It took me awhile after the show to fully accept that had happened, like ‘did I really just hug Oprah Winfrey? Like, I’m not sure if that was just a dream.’ That kicked off everything onto a big level for me because my fan base blew up, the buzz in my hometown, in Milwaukee, took off to a whole other level. I was able to meet people like my manager, Mike Mangini, the producer, through the experience of having that on my resume.
“From there, the most incredible performance experience I’ve had so far this year would have to be performing in Paris for the 9/11 Commemoration because not only was it such an amazing thing to be a part of, you know, another country paying such a beautiful tribute to America and being one of the only American artists there, I felt really honored to be a part of it. I was able to sing my original song “Leave the Light On” with a 50-piece Parisian orchestra right in front of the Eiffel Tower.
“In between they actually built these two 10-story replicas of the Trade Centers. One tower was covered in this fabric that had all the names of the victims on it and the other was covered in fabric that had messages of hope from around the world, one of them said “The French will never forget.”
Though she may not lean from every experience, Weber says each performance, especially the big ones teach her how to relax more.
“With every performance I do I learn something, I think at the time I may not know what that is but as I look back over the last four or five years of performing, every performance allows me to be more relaxed,” Weber says. “Especially the bigger performances, once I get that under my belt…I still don’t know what I’ve learned specifically from each performance but I feel like I’ve grown a lot as an artist to the point where now I feel like no matter what, I want to be enjoying the journey because I feel like at times you can get really stressed out to where it’s like ‘okay, I just have to get to this point and if I get to this point I’ll know that I’ve, quote-unquote, made it.
“But until I get there I have to put my nose to the grindstone and do everything I can to make it.’ I’ve had that attitude a few times and I realize when I’m like that I’m not appreciating what I’m doing in that moment, I’m not appreciating the performances along the way and I realize ‘making it’ is such a relative term. Who really knows that that means? Especially today as an artist.
“If I’m not enjoying every performance I do then I shouldn’t be doing this so I think I’ve definitely learned to enjoy the journey more and I feel super lucky that I’ve gotten to perform where I have and if I get to keep performing at cool places that would be amazing and if not then I will always be grateful I got to do those things.”
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Ginny Mancini
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"Grace has everything going for her, a fantastic feel for a song and the beauty with which she carri..."Grace has everything going for her, a fantastic feel for a song and the beauty with which she carries it off."
-Ginny Mancini (wife of the late Henry Mancini)
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Washington Square News
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"...she's naturally gifted and some of the most exciting moments occur when she hits that diva paten..."...she's naturally gifted and some of the most exciting moments occur when she hits that diva patented high note..."
supersonic
