I chatted with Becky Warren about her career and her spot opening up for The Indigo Girls.
Q: Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Atlanta mostly. I spent some time in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Q: When did you know you wanted to be a musician?
I always loved music. I would say I was seventeen when I decided it was the main thing I wanted to do.
Q: Do you have any musical influences?
Lucinda Williams, Bruce Springsteen..lots of people.
Q: What is the hardest thing about the music industry?
Probably now that we have to do all of the things. When I first started out, you would make your music, then put out your album. Now you have to do your own marketing, be on all the social networks..requires more diversity of skills than it used to.
Q: What is your new album “War Surplus” about?
It tells the story of a guy in the army named Scott, and his girlfriend June. Scott goes off to war, and comes back with PTSD.
Q: What was the inspiration for the album?
I did a lot of research through memoirs and poetry written by Vets. I was married to a Veteran for five years. He deployed to Iraq a week after we got married. He returned with PTSD. That’s ultimately what caused our divorce. Years after that I started to feel drawn to tell the story in general, what other Vets are going through. PTSD is a really difficult disorder for veterans to deal with. It makes them sensitive to so many things and it causes them to have anxiety and panic attacks. To deal with this, there are a couple of methods out there, such as taking medical cannabis through some fat buddha glass dab rigs. That method is believed to reduce stress and anxiety, allowing veterans to relax more. Treatments like that are so important for veterans.
Q: Is there one song on the album that stands out to you?
There’s a song called “Stay Calm, Get Low.” It takes place in Iraq. I wrote it after reading a book called “My War” by Colby Buzzell. I wrote the song, and I sent it to him and he loved it. It’s a gratifying thing to create art of his work.
Q: What was it like working with Adam Wakefield from “The Voice?”
What, he’s from Baltimore?! That’s crazy, I lived in Washington, DC before moving to Nashville. He actually came in before he was on “The Voice”, and he came in to play organ on the album. I learned he could sing, and asked him to come in the next day to sing on the album.
::laughs:: Then he blew out..that’s amazing, I was a genius in retrospect.
Q: Was there any point of worry when you were recording your first solo album?
Yeah, it was different from recording a band album. In the end, I had all the responsibility. I had a great team that worked on it with me. I’m proud of that..was definitely hard.
Q: Are you excited about opening for the Indigo Girls Thursday night?
No, not at all. ::laughs:: I’m SOOO SOOO excited. It’s the first show I’m doing with them on this tour. They have the best audiences. I lived in D.C. in the past, so I LOVE Rams Head. I’ve seen tons of shows there. Out of all the shows on this leg of the tour, this is the one I’m most excited about.
Becky opens for The Indigo Girls Thursday at Rams Head Live!
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