Charlene Ava
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Charlene Ava

Nashville, Tennessee, United States

Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Band Rock Singer/Songwriter

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"A literary journey (in varying states of consciousness) concerning the arts and music scene in various localities in America as of 2005 (A.D., of course). Charlene Ava"

Rather than have any pretensions of being an actual journalist; or rather, a journalist in the classic sense... I hope to let the artists speak for themselves. While this text may be a canvas for their "word paintings," it is the artists and musicians voices which provide the colors and texture to the tapestry of the so called "interview" format. I also find it advantageous and potentially very satisfying to fill the proverbial shoes of a "music and arts journalist" for it is quite likely that I may just get to hang out at concerts, parties, and the (ever important) after-parties so given in the course of the merry-making-and-party-atmosphere which the aforementioned artists oftentimes partake of whilst celebrating the rapture of their creations.

The first artist, musician actually, I met while living in Manhattan. She was on a visit from Nashville I think... I was getting fairly drunk in the only venue on the upper east side I know of where there is live music damn near every night; "The_Underscore" (name somewhat tentative due near permanent inebriated state while living in the "big apple.") The lower lounge area has got a very comfortable vibe and the sound guy had a good ear. On one particular night Charlene Ava played. She played between a set of some other artists, one of which blessed us with his falsetto version of many much played out pop songs of the 1980's and 90's. In my current state of mind, which happened to be in a particular amount of heart-ache and stress due to the crumbling of a 4 year relationship, these pop songs definitely did not soothe the aching in my soul. However, when Charlene took the stage, my ears, and subsequently my emotional state, perked up.

Let me not mislead you however; the songs were (pardon the somewhat bilious reference here) more like a surgeons knife which cut me open to take out the infected body part. Cathartic is a word that comes to mind. Since it is considered very unmanly to openly cry in public, like a good conditioned American male, I managed to hold back damn near all of the awkward liquid which was trying to accumulate in my eyes, of all places. I'm sure the lump in my throat was a result of a bad New York hotdog I must have eaten earlier. I had my portable recording mini-studio with me and I happened to be recording some artists at this show (sometime in Feb. 2005). I made it a point to remember to listen to these songs again later where I might perhaps exude my inner turmoil at a more secluded location. The song "Should I Change for You?" really hit my hard in the gut, so to speak.

I talked briefly with Charlene after the show. She's got an awesome personality, and is totally down to earth. I think I mentioned how full her voice was and that I was moved by her performance, and would she like to do an interview sometime... I'm fairly certain she must have agreed because we've kept in contact. Charlene went back to Nashville (damn I hope that's the right town, a good journalist would do more research) to finish recording an album, and I sold back the money order I had for carpenter's union dues to get a greyhound bus ticket back to Oklahoma City. Charlene and I corresponded via e-mail and I eventually sent her some questions which she so graciously answered and forwarded back. I hope that her brilliance, vision, and sensitivity will show through these words:

Well, anyway here's the interview. Actually I just sent her some questions via e-mail, and these are her responses...

"Charlene Ava interview, (circa "March-ish" 2005 I think...)

What inspired you to start playing music? When was it, what are some fond or frustrating memories you have when you first got into expressing yourself through music?

"I don't think there was ever a “start” or “beginning” . I can’t think of some thing or event that inspired me to start playing music. I believe that was in me since I was born. There is nothing external or outside of me that I can say triggered this, for me it’s something internal and very much a part of who and what I am. It’s something I never questioned or thought about, I just came out singing.
"I have great memories of when I was really little. I used to sing in the car ALL the time. From the time we got into the car, I would sing through every song I knew, it was like a little concert that I put on. I used to put on shows at home too. Or stand on the coffee table while singing along to my parent’s old records.
"I could always hear it in my head. It was just there. When we would go on trips, I would sing with the car window open. I had a knack for hearing harmonies. I used to beg my older sister to sing with me in the car so that I could play around with harmonies.
"It was so ingrained in me sometimes I would even hear a full choir in my head singing. It would almost seem real to me. I could hear every part the soprano, alto, tenor and bass. I could just hear these harmonies. It was really overwhelming and surreal and amazing."

What is your musical background? Are you self-taught, play by ear/ feel, classically trained... a combination of these?

"I’m definitely a combination of these things. I would say that most of my training is improvisational at heart. I began playing the piano that way at age 8. I would just sit down and play whatever came to me and would sing along with my own made up lyrics. It was this spiritual thing, I would lose myself there and could sit there forever and just sing about anything I was feeling. My parents noticed my attachment to the piano so they got me lessons. I started off pretty advanced for a beginner when I began my lessons. My teacher started me on a book that had me playing piano with both hands right away and I began reading the music. It just clicked for me. But I was so in my own world most of the time too. My teacher would make me play with a metronome and I hated it. I hated that it restricted me to follow its clicks; I loved to exist outside the tempo and do my own thing. I would get really bored playing the lessons in the book too, I think I just always wanted to sing and play my own songs.”
"As for violin, I began that at age 8 as well. In school we were supposed to choose an instrument that we wanted to play and I really wanted to play the flute cause all the cool girls were picking that instrument and it was thought of as girly and played high notes. But my dad decided for me that I had to choose violin or I couldn’t play anything at all. I remember I was really upset about that. But nevertheless, the violin is my favorite instrument, it has such a wide range and is so capable of expressing every color and emotion. I never took private lessons for violin, I just took group lessons at school which meant I gravitated towards a more improvisational approach. But everything I played was classical. I loved classical music and hearing a whole orchestra moving together."
"When it comes to singing, I have been singing publicly since age 3. I grew up singing in church. My first solo was “Silent Night”. It’s actually a pretty vivid memory for me. I also sang with my older sister on a local TV show called Sonny Farms when I was 3. We sang a song in Arabic and another song we did at church. I was a really shy girl when I was little, but whenever I had to sing I was never quiet. I would get in this zone. Music was an escape for me from a gray ordinary world. It was so colorful and emotional and would take you on a high. It’s always affected me that way. I felt I could go anywhere in my head when I was playing or singing. When I was in front of people, I would realize sometimes that it wasn’t even about those people, and that is why I never got nervous. Music is an expression, a way to communicate."

When you compose and write lyrics, what goes through your head? Is it emotional, intellectual, do you write for yourself, or are you trying to convey something to others? (Again; these are very open ended questions…feel free to answer (or not) as you feel. Write a poem if ya want.. Its all you baby =)...

”I love lyrics. I think what you say is so important. I think I lean towards focusing on lyrics more than anything. But I also know that how you sing them is important too. There needs to be a strong marriage between lyrics and melody. I have lyrics everywhere. I got a book to write them in, but of course I end up writing them down everywhere else too. In my purse I have lyrics all over old receipts and other scraps of paper, lyrics all over my room, next to my bed, on old napkins, all over my computer (word documents), even a folder on my desk dedicated to lyrics. I try to be organized, but it never works. And sometimes these are just one line things, but I write everything down. You never know, it could turn into a song. Whenever a thought comes into my mind I don’t like to lose it. I write everything down and record every melody that pops in my head. It could be a year later until a song comes of it, but even so I don’t like to lose anything.”

Talk a little about how inspiration strikes you to write. Like, do you ever wake up at 3 in the morning scratching down lyrics/ chords on a bar napkin? Is the process more methodical sometimes; do you get an initial idea and then maybe edit it later? Etc. etc. etc.

"Inspiration at times is my enemy. She barges in when I ‘m not ready or not in a place where I can get the ideas down. It’s exhausting sometimes. You never know when you will be inspired. It's like this interruptive beast that you can’t push away and it doesn’t let up until you write the idea down. But when it’s gone, it’s gone and you’ve lost something that was more amazing than if you were actually sitting down and trying to manipulate something. It’s purely heaven, it’s beyond your control and you feel like you almost can’t take credit for it. Rather than looking at it as something you created, you feel like it’s something you discovered was already there and was meant to be.”

“I have been woken up at 5 am before with an idea that won’t let me sleep. I try to keep the tape recorder by my bed. There is nothing like a song that flows from inspiration. When you try too hard or think so hard while you write a song, you may end up with something that does not feel natural, it doesn’t flow. I think it is more important to prepare yourself emotionally to be in a place where you feel and from that feeling you write. You never know if it will be emotional or intellectual. Sometimes it’s some piece of wisdom you learn about life from watching people, or sometimes something happens and triggers a flow of emotions and you pour it out into a song.”

“Sometimes I get a lyric or sometimes an idea for a string arrangement. I woke up one night with a string arrangement running through my head. I wish I recorded it! I haven’t been able to figure out how it really works for me. It’s messy for me. All over the place. Sometimes ideas come when I’m driving, then I become a hazard to other drivers. I write stuff down while I drive, or call my cell phone voice mail to record things. I like to keep my lyrics fresh and spontaneous. I don’t like to tweak them much after a first draft.”

“I once wrote a whole song while driving, the lyrics the melody AND the chord progression too. It was weird, I could hear where the piano would go, just heard it. (that song was “Should I Change?”)

”I’ve been studying acting at this school where we are learning the Meisner technique. It teaches you how to be more spontaneous and let things flow from a real emotion and how to go with your impulse. I have sort of adopted this technique to my writing so that I can learn how to let melodies and lyrics flow more from a place where I’m not thinking about it so much, but it just rides on a real emotion, it comes out more honest that way.”

How often do you collaborate with other musicians? What has been your experience in this area? What instruments do you play, and if several, how does each lend itself to composing/ performing?


“I love to collaborate with other musicians, but sometimes I become too much of an introverted hermit crab. I do best when I’m creating music alone. It’s a very naked thing to write with someone, at least for me. And plus when I’m alone I take more risks and I write everything down that comes to my head whereas when working with others you tend to want the lyrics to come out already polished and such. And that of course doesn’t happen.”
“I play guitar, violin and piano. I go in spurts between guitar and piano with writing. But use them pretty equally. Sometimes the violin helps me come up with a song, it gives you a different color to work with. I try to write more rockin stuff with the guitar and more moody things with piano, but it always crosses both ways. I do perform playing both piano and guitar, but my favorite thing is to put the instruments down and have the band do their thing. It’s more interesting. That way I’m open to the performance of the song and feel like I can express it better to the audience.”

Have you done any recording in a studio environment? How was the experience? Do you use the studio as a sort of instrument in itself, as for as adding textures etc. to the songs? Do you plan on doing more recording, and if so when and with who?

“The studio scares me sometimes, honestly. When you have a song that hasn’t been recorded, you worry how it will turn out when you start recording it. The studio can be stifling if you’re not ready to do it, but you’re really never ready. But it is exciting to get in there and know that although you have so many ideas running through your head, it may turn out much differently than you imagined. And you can do anything there, there is no limit…I can’t wait to get in the studio again. I practically lived there this entire summer while working on “The Only Way Out is Through”. It was an exciting time. We worked pretty much everyday on the album, including weekends. Everyday is unpredictable in the studio, and when we would bring in various members of the band we never knew what would happen. It was really very inspiring how people came in and were so creative making up parts and coming up with hooks on the spot that would add to the songs.”



Could you talk a little about the business side of promoting yourself as an artist; how has that been. The upsides and the downs. The joys and the frustrations of being a musician in America in the early 21st century... ya know =)

“I’ll do anything to promote my music…I spend hours on it everyday. I’d rather be creative everyday and sit in front of the piano, but this is a business too so I got to “get in the office” and work. I do get tired of it honestly, I would rather be writing and performing, but as an Indie artist, I have to be involved with those things as well. But honestly, there is no real formula for promoting your music. I have 18 cousins who I am very close to who all live in various college towns/cities in the northeast, I put all of them to work. They are my street team. It works out amazingly actually! That is why I called this fall’s tour “The Family Tour”. It has worked out wonderfully, every show I have played has been filled with people because of their efforts.”

“There are definite frustrations when you are promoting and booking and doing everything, but you have to be driven. You just have to do it.”


What is your vision as an artist? What does your music say? Or is it up for the listener to decide?

“I want to make great music. I want it to get better all the time. I want people to relate to it. Sometimes it’s up to the listener to decide the meaning and for them to make it their own. But I believe there are unavoidable spiritual themes in my music.
Sometimes I will write a song and it will sound like just another love song, but I’ll throw in some more ambiguous lyrics in the mix so that it becomes changeable according to who is listening to it. I don’t think every song needs to have such an obvious subject...and I like to write about more than love, love is easy to write about, but there are so many colors with love-fear, jealousy, loss, joy, total bliss, etc. And I do have many songs about love.”

“But there are more interesting things to write about, and I think I’m starting to take on more themes like the problems in the world, why people can’t get along, who is Jesus, the father-daughter relationship, there is so much more than love to talk about. But love works great with music. I think most of the songs in the world are about love. And why not?”


To what degree are you a “Do it Yourself” artist? Do you have management/ or a record label?
What did you have to do to get your career off the ground? Did you move to a particular city maybe, network with a certain group of people? How has the experience of “budding” as a musician been for you... and how do you see the future going for yourself?

“Hmm, I’m still in the “budding” phase actually, I guess you always feel that way as an artist, it’s a life long journey. I’ve never seen myself as doing anything else but music. I’m such a do it yourself artist. I love to be involved with all aspects of my career. I do have a great manager right now, I’ve known her for a few years and she is absolutely wonderful. It’s great working with people that are on the same page as you with the same ambition. I’ve learned to get your career off the ground you do whatever it takes, you don’t give up and you work hard…really, really hard. That is the mentality I’ve had to adopt through the release of this album and the fall tour I went on.”
“The future to me looks like its no where but up. Every time I write a new song its better than the last, every time I play show I get better each time. Each recording project is ten steps ahead of the last. I see no limit of where I want to go. I just want to keep going.”



What is/ are the funniest thing(s) that ever happened to you on the road? Do you self- book them, do you have some type of agent? Do ya dig the road? Why or why not?


“I love being on the road, it’s so exciting to see new places and meet people and spread your album everywhere. I do book my own shows. And I have a street team that do the promotion for me everywhere I go. Funny thing is, the street team consists of all family members---my 18 cousins who live all over the northeast. It’s absolutely amazing how it works. I go on tour and have a place to stay, get to hang out with the coolest friends I have, it’s like a little reunion in every city I go to. And they are fierce promoters, they really get a crowd out there for me. So I’m not totally alone in the booking process.”
“As for funny stories, on this tour, “the family tour” I’ve had so many crazy things happen. I got to Baltimore and parked my car in a parking garage at my sister’s condo building. Well, that night it got broken into, someone shattered the front passenger window and stole my cd player. Luckily, the back door was stuck so they couldn’t get to my guitar and keyboard and CDs. I was at a loss at what to do since the parking garage was not responsible and would not pay for the damage. So, I grabbed my guitar and walked a mile and a half in the thickest humidity ever all the way down to the Inner Harbor. By the time I go there, my ankle was killing me from the heavy guitar I was carrying that was weighing me down. And my hair was so gross and frizzy from the heat, I looked homeless. So I made a little sign that said “help me fix my car”, found a bench and started playing songs to the passersby. I made 5 dollars in tips and another lady bought a CD of mine too. It was hilarious. The Baltimore police drove by and took a look at me (I wasn’t supposed to do what I was doing without a permit), but they read my sign and waved at me. I waved right back and kept singing. I kinda feel like I was inducted into some musician’s walk of desperation or something through that experience.”

Anything else ya wanna rap about?

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this today, about having staying power as an artist. A lot of people fizzle out or have short lived careers. And I was thinking that there is one thing you have to have to stay in it. And that is heart. That is what makes a song timeless and that is what keeps an artist going. It has to be internal, you have to have that passion and that has to be evident in the songs. That is what keeps it alive and that is what makes your music meaningful to other people. It’s not just a business, this is art. And art requires a real emotional connection in order to have staying power. It’s like when people die, what do you remember most about them? People don’t quote someone’s resume at their funeral. No, the thing that stays and lasts is the heart-how we felt about them and how they made us feel. We have a connection to them that meant something, and those memories stay and those things become the legacy that the person leaves behind. And good music is music that people connect to, it’s more than the music, it’s the thing that hits them inside, its how it affects them and how the performer is affected by it too. It’s just something to think about I guess.”

As if any commentary were necessary... I think it is plain to see that Charlene writes from a place deep inside herself, and her music touches a place very deep inside the listener.

--John Rouse
- by: John Rouse


"Charlene Ava-"the only way out is through" CD PRESS RELEASE"


Charlene Ava
[the only way out is through]
CD PRESS RELEASE

Young and passionate, incredibly talented and filled with original
material, Charlene Ava releases her first CD The Only Way Out Is Through August 18th. She moved out of her apartment, sold her bed to pay for her band’s dinner (as payment for a rehearsal)and slept on the floor of a friend’s apartment to make the album happen.
Charlene, a child of two Egyptian parents, is tiny with masses of dark hair, and, at 25, has a huge, supple voice that shows her range with power and delicacy. Her spiritually deep yet musically accessible songs were written in an intense 6 months; whenever the music came to her--in her car, in dreams--she wrote it down. As Charlene says, “It was pouring out of everywhere, it was an inspiring experience.” The CD was produced in a whirlwind 2 ½ months using “diamond-in-the-rough, underground musicians,” who played
with passion and heart, as Charlene puts it. Charlene’s music is fresh
and unadulterated, and her deep faith comes through in every song. Her
two deeply spiritual songs, Holy Savior and Jesus Was a Lonely Man, have beauty and emotion that transcend religious belief.
Charlene’s commitment to her family is brought out in three songs:
Daddy’s Girl, a loving, acceptance of a flawed man; I Need Your Love, a
bittersweet ode of longing to her mother; and Hymn For the Passed, which contains a clip of Charlene as a child singing with her sister and refers to her beloved grandfather (a pastor) who died in 2004. Her strong Beatles-like tune, Goodbye, is an amazing cry of triumph overcoming odds; Slipping chronicles the ache of a failing relationship; the unusual St. Peter’s Square wonders, with humor and sadness, about what it would be like to be the new pope.
Charlene Ava is a veteran session Nashville musician and actor, having
worked with a number of musicians such as Wynona Judd, Brian Vander Ark
(Verve Pipe), legendary guitar player/producer Adrian Belew (Frank Zappa,David Bowie, King Crimson) and Kevin Max (DC Talk). Marcus Hummon, prize-winning songwriter and musician, who has worked extensively with Charlene, says, “She has a core that gives her the most amazing energy and that raises her above other musicians.” - Jeanne Moses


Discography

"the only way out is through", album released 8/18/05

"everything goes to red", single off the album with radio airplay

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

[bio]

Charlene Ava knew that she would do anything to make her first CD, The
Only Way Out Is Through, a success when she sold her bed for money to pay for dinner for her band (as payment for a rehearsal). So she skipped hiring a booking agent, arranged her gigs herself, moved out of her apartment, got rid of some things and slept on the floor of a friend’s house through the making of the album.

“Desperation is good for art. I got sick of meeting with industry people who would promise this or that, but would want to change my sound. So, I decided if you want to get things done, do it yourself. I’d rather take the hard road, it makes things interesting, it adds to the art.”

Charlene, a child of two Egyptian parents, is tiny with masses of dark
hair, and, at 25, has a huge, supple voice that shows her range with power and delicacy. On stage, she is electric, a charismatic performer with an innate sense of how to grab the audience’s attention. Her first CD, The Only Way Out Is Through, is strong, exuberant and complex, and her spirituality comes through in every song.

Charlene performed constantly as she grew up, wanting to be the center of attention, acting, singing, playing, and driving her mother, a doctor, crazy. Charlene started singing at age 3, and played violin, guitar and piano from an early age--violin remains her favorite because of “the emotion it exudes, it can sing, it can cry.”

Charlene grew up in the church, and her church was her family, literally. Her 18 cousins attended church with her, growing up with her in the same town. They performed together at church, organically, a cappella—her music started in the church.

Charlene heard very little music at home (just Arabic music and gospel songs), except the music that she hummed or sang. She says that she writes “naively,” not knowing many artists, not having been influenced by any other music or musician. As a result, her music is fresh, unadulterated, innocent, and fully hers. “You have to write from what you feel-it must have heart,” she says, and hers does.

“Music’s always been a magical gift for me. It’s strange, from a very young age I remember I could almost literally hear an entire choir in my head-it was so surreal. I would hear angelic voices just singing—I could hear 4 part harmony, the soprano, alto, tenor bass. I heard every part beautifully weaving and singing together. I knew I was meant to be a musician from as long as I can remember.”

While in Nashville, Charlene attended Belmont University, receiving a
Bachelors of Music in Commercial Music-Performance, and achieving honors as part of the top 20% of her class. From that start, she rocketed into the Nashville music and theater scene with a steadily increasing stream of session work (for labels like Virgin, Universal, EMI, Curb) and theatrical roles in various theaters.

Her spiritually deep yet musically accessible songs on The Only Way Out Is Through were written in an intense 6 months; whenever the music came to her--in her car, in dreams--she wrote it down. As Charlene says, “It was pouring out everywhere. It was so desperate and alive, I couldn’t control it.” She chooses not to refine her lyrics because she prefers raw, rough lyrics over something too polished or something with just a good hook and no substance.

She co-produced the CD in a whirlwind 2 1/2 months using
“diamond-in-the-rough, underground musicians,” who played with passion and heart, as Charlene puts it. She enjoyed working with musicians that she’d known for years and worked with during college. They also were hungry (literally and figuratively) for success and to make amazing music. “I love that struggle”, she says.

When asked what type of music she plays, Charlene laughs. “Sometimes I don’t really know what to say, I’ve been through many phases and influences.” She rattles off indie rock, folk rock, Brit rock, but when listening to the CD, one catches blues, gospel, pop, and many other possibilities that give the listener a window into the phases she’s gone through as an artist.

Her two deeply spiritual songs, Holy Savior and Jesus Was a Lonely Man,
have beauty and emotion that transcend religious belief. Charlene’s commitment to her family is brought out in three songs:
Daddy’s Girl, a loving, acceptance of a flawed man; I Need Your Love, a
bittersweet ode of longing to her mother; and the bonus track Hymn For the Passed, which contains a clip of Charlene as a child singing with her sister and refers to her beloved grandfather (a pastor) who died in 2004. Her strong Beatles-like tune, Goodbye, is an amazing cry of triumph overcoming odds; Slipping chronicles the ache of a failing relationship; the unusual St. Peter’s Square wonders, with humor and sadness, about what it would be like to be the new pope.

Charlene’s personal faith is strong. When asked where she wants to go, she says, ”The horizon. I remember when I first learned that word in Elementary scho