Alicia Witt

WITT AND WISDOM
How to Conquer the Music Business with Talent and Verve, Starring Alicia Witt


STORY BY MIKE METTLER,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF SOUND + VISION
SEPTEMBER 2011


“I’ve spent my whole life hiding behind characters in movies and TV shows. But my songs are completely me.”

THERE’S A TUNE BY A FAMOUS NEW YORK SONGWRITER that begins, “Well we all have a face / That we hide away forever / And we take them out and show ourselves / When everyone has gone.”
Many of you will recognize those lyrics from Billy Joel’s “The Stranger.” Even if you don’t, you can still relate to what he’s saying. Some of you . . . well, some of us will connect with those lines because it’s something we all do every day to some degree: hide behind a carefully constructed persona that’s projected for everyone to see. The real “us,” well, that’s something to be hidden away for a select few to experience. So how do you break through those barriers to get in tune with “the real you”?
One answer: through music. One of the many special things about music is that it has the power to reveal — to reveal something about the writer, about the singer, about the performer, and about the listener. But you have to be willing to give yourself over and embrace the special force that leads to a more immersive and more personal listening experience. The willingness to share who you really are connects you with something that’s powerful and heartfelt and true. And you don’t mind where you end up because of it. You don’t mind that you, the stranger, are now revealed. And guess what? You feel fine. You feel free. You are grooving.
That is what Alicia Witt’s music is like.

YOU’RE SCRAMBLING NOW, thinking, Wait — I recognize her . . . don’t I? Yes — yes, you do. Can’t quite place her though, hmm? (She might actually appreciate that; she doesn’t like or seek being typecast.)
Let’s see. Didn’t she turn in a memorable recurring role as the multifaceted waitress Cheryl on the critically lauded, Emmy-nominated series Friday Night Lights? Yes. Didn’t she go toe to toe with Al Pacino in 88 Minutes? Yes indeed. Wasn’t she Cybill Shepherd’s acid-tongued daughter Zoey Woodbine on Cybill? Correct again.
We could continue her C.V. review ad infinitum, but acting is only part of who she is. More than that next plum role, Alicia Witt, 36, has had one burning desire for most of her life: get her music heard. “This is so personal to me,” she says. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for literally 15 years.”
Hers is not a “starlet picks up an instrument as a folly” kind of story. Far from it. For her, it all began behind a piano. She studied classical music at age 7. Practiced 4 hours a day. Entered international competitions for the next 7 years. Played at a restaurant in Massachusetts on weekends to fund her lessons. Put her own spin on the original “Piano Man” script by playing the lobby lounge of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for 2 years. David Lynch, who cast her in her first movie role in Dune in 1984, was so taken by her skills that the director later had her, when she was just 15, bang out some boogie-woogie riffs over the end credits of an episode of the seminal Twin Peaks — Episode 2.1, from 1990. Buy the DVD box set, Google it, YouTube it: You gotta see it. Just that 48-second segment alone shows that, hell to the yeah, the girl can play.
That talent is also quite clear in the four songs on her self-released Alicia Witt EP (available at aliciawittmusic.com and on iTunes). A full backing band fuels two upbeat songs, “Anyway” and “Blind,” and both exude a sharp undercurrent of raw ache. (“A great collaboration to me is one that turns out like what you heard in your head, or even better,” she notes.)
A dramatic and intense take on Paul Simon’s wistful “You Can Call Me Al” shows range and cleverness, but it’s the piano-and-vocal-only ballad “Taken” that tunnels straight for your core, and is recommended as a lights-out, headphones-only special. Ditto that for her iTunes single “Me or New York,” an instant heart-grabber. “As someone who’s still trying to figure this all out,” she admits, “that song was just what I meant it to be, and it means a lot to me that you got all of that from it on the first listen. I appreciate that. It’s really what I would hope for as a response.”
Believe me, you’ll feel the same way when you hear it for yourself.
Alicia and I conducted a few interview sessions in person and on the phone, starting last fall and continuing right up until presstime, to tackle the concept of how to make it to the next level in today’s music world. Here are some highlights of the many deep dissections of some of the meatiest topics at hand.

WE KNOW YOU CAN PLAY. BUT CAN YOU WRITE? Yes, but it took a while to get there. This is something I’ve always wanted to do and have always been driven to do, but I just wasn’t ready at first. I wasn’t at the right point in my life. What was coming out before wasn’t what I wanted people to hear, or what I meant as a writer. But once it started coming out, I couldn’t stop it. These are all songs that mean something. I don’t think I would know how to sing a song that didn’t mean something to me.

HOW DO YOU STEP OUT OF PLAYING ROLES AND “GET REAL” WITH YOUR MUSIC? I’ve spent my whole life playing characters, and I love that for different reasons, because it allows me to hide behind them, and other people can identify with you. You connect with them in a way that’s sort of safe. It’s not really you. I mean, it is you, but it’s really not.
When I write something and then sing it at a show, it can come out different from what I wrote it about, based on what I’m feeling that day or what’s going on with me. It’s just an incredibly personal way to connect with people and try to express something in me that I can’t quite express when I’m playing characters.

HOW DO YOU CONVERT YOUR FILM FANS INTO MUSIC FANS? What’s been interesting in figuring out my path in the music world is that I have this life that’s visible in terms of the work I’ve done as an actor, which I haven’t really exploited yet. When people discover my music, they discover it because they’ve been searching for me because of a movie I’ve done, and then they find the music. They weren’t necessarily aware beforehand that I was doing it. And it’s not just something I picked up or am doing because some label wants to capitalize on “me.”
So what I’m navigating now is how to link those two worlds together, because the two industries are very different.

WHAT MUSIC INSPIRES YOU? BESIDES TOM WAITS AND MUMFORD & SONS . . .
I love them both! I’ve also been a really big fan of Pink. She co-writes and co-produces just about everything she does. There’s a real emotional core to her songs; if you broke them down and played them acoustically, they’d translate really well. That’s why I adore them. I love songs where the artists are really feeling it, and not just singing them because they want to make money. I really respond to that.
Her voice just has that gorgeous thing to it — that fierceness, that real-life-lived thing — so even if she’s singing something that someone else wrote, she’s telling her own story through it because she really feels it. You believe her.
I also love the Paramore album that came out in 2009 [Brand New Eyes]. Hayley Williams has so many songs that are these tortured rock anthems that make you feel really good listening to them, but the lyrics, when you break them down, are about, well, feeling pretty crappy. [chuckles]
You know, I’ve found that there’s a tendency out there to think that music is labeled “indie” or “pop,” or it’s about something that’s “deep,” or it’s “just” a catchy bubblegum number. But I think the truth throughout all of music without fail is that the songs that manage to be all of that are the ones that transcend labels. They become the songs that wind their way into society and people’s heads, and then they stay there.

IS ONE BIG SONG GOING TO DO IT FOR YOU, OR DO YOU HAVE A “DEEP BENCH”? Whenever I play a live show or whenever I send people in the music business my unfinished tunes, generally, everyone has a different favorite. Everyone has a different one that they think is the best one, or the one that they think is the one that I should be focusing on. And whenever I do a live show, I get even more of that kind of response.
What that means is that I can play 10 songs in a live set, and 10 different people can come up to me after the show and say, “Oh, that song is my favorite,” and they’ll still be singing it afterwards. And then someone else will come up and say of another song, “Oh, that one was my favorite.” So then I’ll send some other people one of those songs I played at the show that got that response, but then they’ll say, “Oh, I didn’t really like it.” [laughs]

HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR AUDIENCE? YOU HAVE TO GO ON THE ROAD TO DO THAT NOW, RIGHT? I’ve played in different cities before, but this past May was the first time I did it with my band. We landed together in Denver to play the Denver Day of Rock, then we got on a plane the next day to Chicago and went right up to play Evanston SPACE. That was awesome. That was the first time I played two shows in a row with my band together, and all I knew when we were done was that I wanted to get up the next day and do it again — get in a van and hit the road!

DOES EACH VENUE REQUIRE A DIFFERENT APPROACH? I was struck by the differences of Evanston SPACE. How awesome and quiet it was, and it had the most gorgeous grand piano. Everyone was sitting down, and no one was walking to the bar to get a drink or milling around. Everyone was sitting down and facing the stage. It made me want to play there again! I had such a good time there, but I spent a good half of the show marveling at how beautiful it was. It was hard not noticing that.
I was also just so thrilled that there were a lot of people there. I honestly didn’t know. I had set up the show there myself and hit up everyone I knew: “Who do you know in Chicago?” I did the same thing on Facebook and Twitter, and crossed my fingers that people would show up. I didn’t do any radio or newspapers or anything; I was just hoping. And we had a really good crowd there. Thank you, social media.

SHARE AN “IT COULD ONLY HAPPEN AT MY SHOW” STORY. I have one lovely story I’ll never forget. This one guy told me on Facebook that he was planning to propose to his girlfriend after the show in Evanston, so I said, “I’ll play a song for you guys. I won’t say that you’re going to propose or anything, I’ll just say it’s for a special couple in the audience.” He wrote back the day before the show to say they were still coming, but he wasn’t going to be able to propose where he was originally planning to because they were having a lot of rain, and he had wanted to do it outside. Instead, he asked if I thought it would be okay for him to propose at the table once the show had ended. I felt it was going to be so loud afterward, so I asked if I could play “Taken” as the last song, dedicate it to them, and then tell the audience that someone had something special he wanted to say, and please keep the room quiet. He proposed to her at the very end of my show, and she said yes! And she had no idea it was coming that night! [laughs]

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU’VE MADE YOUR MARK? Something someone told me at one of my shows summed up why I do this. A woman came up to me and said, “When you played that song, it made me feel less lonely.” I’ll never forget that. I couldn’t wish for any more than that. That’s why I feel the yearning to do this. I not only want to share the feelings I have, but I want to find a way of expressing them — the way that certain situations have gone down in my life, that certain sense of jubilation or frustration, or the passion of feeling love and heartbreak — so that people listening know that we’ve shared that experience, even though my specific experience may differ from theirs. Playing different roles all of the time is so social and extroverted, and it’s something that I love, but ultimately that’s not about me. As I started to focus more and more on my music, I began realizing that I didn’t necessarily know who I was outside of a role. That sounds very clinical to say. But I’ve come to understand that when I’m playing music, I know who that is.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IT’S REAL? I firmly believe that if you know you’ve got something, and you know it’s real and you’re not just doing it because you want the attention, then you must do it. You can’t let other people’s opinions or judgments or approval decide for you whether you keep on going. It has to do with recognizing your talent. It has to be something that you’re doing because it means something to you. If you want it more than anything, if it’s something you feel in your gut that you have to do, then you have to do it. But you have to be aware that it’s not easy. It may happen quickly, or it may not. There may be a chance it won’t happen at all and that people won’t respond to what you’re doing.
I knew that I wanted to do this more than anything. It’s such a part of me that I had to take the chance that people wouldn’t like it, that I wouldn’t be good enough. I just had to go for it.

WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE? Every time I finish a show, I can’t wait to do another one. There’s nothing in the world that means more than hearing that you connect with these songs and with what I’m doing. Playing shows, and seeing people relating to certain songs and feeling something from them . . . [pauses]. It moves me beyond anything I can express. I’m so grateful for it, and it makes me want to do more and more and more of it.

I’M WITH YOU 100 percent, Alicia. (This is just us talking now.) I know your secret, and you know mine. We’ve seen each other’s faces. Now let’s share them with the rest of the world.

[END]





QUOTE-OUTS
(NOTE: these quotes used on the original layout are NOT part of the main body text, so you may want to use them too…)


“I hate losing ideas. I always write them down. Sometimes, I won’t have the rest of a song until a year later.”


“Some people don’t approach art to see if they feel connected to it or not. In fact, they try not to let themselves be impressed. The truth is, you’re not going to respond to all art the same way others do.”


“I love playing songs that are about something intense, but they’re in enough of an upbeat tempo that you don’t necessarily have to get into a contemplative mood to enjoy them.”


“There were all these little kids dancing in front of the stage in Denver, so we didn’t play anything down tempo. That just didn’t lend itself to the place.”


“Playing all those different roles — that’s not really me. When I play music, I KNOW who that is.”




- Sound + Vision Magazine, Cover Story September 2011

...earlier the same night Bridges was croaking away on "Colbert," we caught and were impressed by the rock-solid singing, keyboards and songwriting of actress Alicia Witt, serving sharply personal, boldly melodic pop originals in the Carole King/Billy Joel vein.

You know this redheaded beauty best for TV stints on "Friday Night Lights," "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" and "Cybil." Witt's also done big-screen time, from her 1984 debut (at age 8) in "Dune" to her 2009 "88 Minutes" on the run with Al Pacino. Witt has four indie films "in the can awaiting release," she shared.

So you gotta wonder, what's a reasonably well-known and well-paid actress doing as the opening act on a midweek bill (she booked the gig herself) in the smaller Upstairs room at World Cafe Live? Singing her heart out for 40 people (at $10 a head), she's clearly not in it for the money. Clearly not to promote albums, either. Witt has only one 2009 indie EP to sell and no label affiliation, though her cover-girl treatment in September's Sound & Vision magazine might change that.

Witt's answers, shared after the show, would probably be what you'd hear from Robbins, Bridges, Laurie or Deschanel, too, if they were as open to baring their souls as Witt was with us. In essence, she's doing this music thing not just because she can, but because she must - because it makes her feel "complete."

"Acting is often a solitary, disjointed and lonely job," she shared. "You're sitting in a trailer waiting for your scene a lot more of the time than you're actually working. And truthfully, you only put a part of yourself into the role.

"With music, it's a full-in thing. If you're being honest, you're bare naked, totally exposed. And the feedback from listeners when you perform is immediate and real. Do they get it? Are they listening? I can't begin to tell you how it feels when someone comes up and says, 'One of your songs helped get me through a bad patch.' "

Witt's childhood in Worchester, Mass., was set to the tunes her parents loved - Nat King Cole, Benny Goodman, Broadway musicals. "So I was always a bit of a freak in that way," she said. "And I played classical piano. Truthfully, my career could have gone in either direction. The same year I made my movie-acting debut, I was competing in international piano competitions. Then when I first moved to Hollywood, while I was waiting for the acting opportunities, I made my living playing piano standards in a hotel bar."

Witt put her musical expertise to big-screen advantage in "Mr. Holland's Opus," mastering clarinet to please on-screen teacher Richard Dreyfuss. But it wasn't until four years ago, after the breakup of a long-term romantic relationship, that she started writing songs in earnest, the repertoire of snappy, resilient, emancipated-woman anthems and touching lost-and-found love ballads that now make up the set she "sells" quite well in concert.

Witt has found that pursuing music has helped with her acting gigs, too. "I feel more natural and honest now, more in the moment, whatever the character I'm playing."

So if push came to shove, if all were equal in pay and prestige, and she had her druthers, which career path would Witt pursue?

"Hmmm. Do I really have to choose?"

Uh, she didn't. - phillynews.com

When Alicia Witt sings, the heavens themselves stop and listen. On a cold evening in Los Angeles Saturday night, December 12, a rare downpour that washed the city all day took a break from raining as Witt performed her tight 45 minute set at Room 5 on La Brea. A well known movie and TV actress, Witt performs as part of a trio, seated stage right at a piano while accompanied by Alisha Bauer on cello and Kaumyar Delkash on drums. Aside from one shout out to members of the crowd who are also working on her current film, there is no pretense or showiness coming from Witt. Using concise, informative patter between songs and flashing a genuine, radiant smile, Alicia lets her music do the talking instead of her celebrity. And what a voice. It comes from tender, intimate appeals, soaring to roof raising heights, as she all the while works the piano with an ease and command that, in her own words, is like her "weekly cardio workout." She promised to let the audience rock before our holiday parties, and in some tunes, the band takes off and she really lets her inner Pat Benatar out, especially in her self-described "female power song" and her "creepy cover song." But where Witt really excels is in her ballads, personal and universal poems of love, longing, and everyday girl issues. Her lyrics flow with a poetic polish, and her piano playing rivals that of rockers Billy Joel or Elton John. Do yourself the favor and catch her next time she is in LA or in her love/hate town of New York. You can download Alicia Witt's eponymous EP of songs from iTunes. - What Duvet Said