Vonda is perhaps best known for her role in, and providing the music for much loved TV series 'Ally McBeal'. There is also the small matter of over 12 million Album sales and accolades as a superb live performer. Vonda spoke to Folk and Tumble from her Los Angeles base before she embarks on her European tour, including stops in Belfast and Dublin.
FT: Thanks for taking the time to chat to Folk and Tumble.
VS: My Pleasure
FT: Perhaps we should start discussing the new album, ‘9 SONGS’. Having heard the three singles of the album, “Sugar Rush”, “Hallelujah Anyway” and “Don’t Stop the Train”, it seems a rich, eclectic kind of mix of styles. Still very much your trademark stamp on it, but “ Sugar Rush” is a step away from your usual style; is that indicative of the record?
VS: You know that’s funny; it’s not really. ”Sugar Rush was one of those songs that came out of the blue. I had been playing Clavonet, and I was getting kind of funky, and when I finished, it was just a cool pop song. So we decided to put it out. And it was done first, because, for some reason, we mixed it first, and we just thought, oh, this is a bit different, it’s good. Let’s put it out. But the rest of the album is probably much more like my own sound.
FT: Which is no bad thing in in my book at all, and I suppose. Talking about “Hallelujah anyway”, there’s some wonderful lyrics in it.
I see the attraction of I wanna hide.
In the age of distraction.
Something good has died.
World’s getting crazier.
I want to sing hallelujah anyway
It’s quite a hopeful message? Are you an optimistic person?
VS: I am. I wake up, and I try to see the good in the day; I really appreciate my life. I’m so fortunate, you know? I mean, it’s not always easy. I sometimes have to drag myself out of, you know, whatever I’m in.
But I do think as positively as possible, and I want to share that with people, through my music or just through my attitude in the world when I’m out. Try to be a pretty good person if I can.
FT: As the song says, “it’s a crazier world, and it’s getting crazier every day,” and we need that optimism and that uplift, and that’s something that your music very much supplies.
VS: Oh, thank you. Oh, God. I mean, whether it’s through the melodies or the actual lyrics, I hope that’s the case.
FT: The album is produced by Mitchell (Froom), Mitchell is a guy that I’ve come across just through his catalogue of work with so many Amazing artists, from Dylan, McCartney, Crowded House, Ron Sexmith, Sheryl Crow, Randy Newman, Roy Orbison, Bonnie Raitt. Some of my favourite artists. His CV is quite amazing, but I’m just wondering how it works, husband and wife working in the studio. If there are any domestic tiffs, does that go into the studio, or can you park it, or don’t you have any domestic tiffs?
VS: Well, okay, so the first part of the process starts when I play him the new song, you know, I have a little pub in the house, believe it or not. I bought this house from Brian Setzer (Stray Cats). So Mitchell sits in this chair, and I play him my new song, and there’s that very first initial, you know, I don’t know what the word is; it’s a little bit intimidating playing for him. I’m nervous, because I respect him so much.
He gives me some suggestions and they’re always, I’d say 90% of them are brilliant, and I’m so excited to turn on my, you know, my iPhone voice memo and record what he’s saying, because I’m thinking, I need to capture some of the ideas.
And then, you know, that’s that’s actually the harder part than going to the studio. Because that’s when you’re the most vulnerable. You want to keep your ideas intact, but I also want to be open to his brilliant arrangements.
And he doesn’t hold back when he has an opinion. He’s very intense. It’s not always just, you know, smooth sailing, but I stay open to what he has to say.
And then if I disagree, I’ll fight for something if I really need to.
FT: I’ve always thought it’s an interesting dynamic. I’ve always thought you spend so much of the time together, as a couple and then working together as well, but it obviously works very well because this isn’t the first album either that Mitchell’s produced.
VS: I think it might be the 8th? We started working together in 1998
FT: So just talking about the studio process, Vonda? Do you prefer working in the studio with new material or playing live?
VS: Oh, they’re so different. I find working in a studio to be so much fun. You’re realising your songs with the full band and all the ability to overdub parts and rearrange it. I find the invention so exciting.
So it’s very magical experience, the studio. Playing Live is completely different. If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have to play live, but I love it so much.
I love the exchange with the audience and, you know, reviewing a new song, for example, and having people react really well and just being so supportive. It’s a good feeling. And just hearing people sing along and the joy on their faces. That they are there to be happy and enjoy themselves. And if I can give them some of that excitement and nostalgia, you know, joy, that just makes me feel so good.
FT: So what can the fans expect this time round on stage for this tour?
VS: Well, I have a full band. I have a new guitar player. My usual guitar player couldn’t make this to for the 1st time in 20 years. So the new guy’s great. He’s young. He’s 26 years old, and he’s just great. I have a great 23 year old drummer, so I could be the grandmother! But, you know, it’s great for some real energy. My bass player has been playing with me for 30 years; he’s played with Johnny Cash and Bruce Springsteen.
I like the shows to be really dynamic. So sometimes I’ll start alone at the piano for one or 2 songs just to connect, you know? And I’ll do a couple of familiar tunes and then I’ll introduce a couple of the new songs. Some of the singles from the new album, so hopefully people are probably familiar with them. And I’d like to have a nice arc, you know, have to go up and then break it down, and take it up again. We’ll do songs from pretty much all my of albums, and I’ll save a lot of the Ally McBeal tunes for the end.
FT: I suppose you’ve touched on the ‘elephant in the room’, which is Ally McBeal. Do you ever get tired of answering questions about Ally McBeal?
VS: I don’t get tired of it because I know it’s so much part of the reason people know who I am, so I try to embrace it still and appreciate it. I pull people along, listening through my journey of music, with any albums, and I, my fans now, like, when I come back to Belfast, they’ve seen me a few times, and they know that they’re going to get some of the Ally stuff, but they’re also going to get my own tunes, and hopefully, the ones that connect with the most. So, it’s been a challenge of the years, though, making a set list, I must admit, you know, because I’m onto my own stuff, of course. But also, like I said, you know, when you see them jump out of their seats when they play ‘Sweet Inspiration’, and I get to belt it out, which is great! It’s a very powerful feeling, you know?
FT: Ally McBeal was such a great show, and I think your songs just fitted so well. Ally was such a kind of whimsical character, searching for her true love, but there were really uplifting, fun scenes when the crew went back to the bar, you were resident in, and playing with the band. Was it as much fun to film as it was to watch?
VS: I mean, it was huge fun working with the cast, all really great people, but the thing that most people don’t know is we had a 5.00 am call for hair and makeup. 5.00 am to be in the chair! So we had to get up at 3.30, drive down to the studio, and watch the sun come up, while we had our coffee.
It’s not as glamorous as people think! A lot of waiting, hanging around; it could be very tedious, but the connection with actors, I got to hang out and became friends with them, and we all really clicked!
FT: So you’re filming the nightclub scenes at what, 9 in the morning?
VS: Well, could be a little earlier, 8, sometimes 7 in the morning! It’s a strange feeling; it’s like having jet lag. Yeah, but it was fun in many ways!
FT: Is it true you pushed for your band members to be filmed in the scenes, so they also got paid as actors as well as musicians?
VS: Yes, that’s true. I paid the band double scale, which was decent money, but the first year, nobody really made any money. I made scale; I didn’t have a contract, but I signed a record deal, and then I did very well, of course. But we got the band on screen, and then they made screen actor guild scale. I forgot about that. Nice piece of research.
FT: Well, I had the good fortune to interview Val McCallum, who was in your band at the time, now a stalwart with Jackson Browne, and a great solo artist in his own right. Val spoke very fondly of those days and of your good self.
VS: He’s a great guy, seriously talented!
FT: You played with Jackson yourself too?
VS: I did. I think it was ‘ 94, into ‘ 95? I had just been dropped from Warner Brothers. I was writing a new album, ‘It’s Good Eve’. During sound check, I would play the songs from ‘It’s Good Eve’, and he said to me, If you finish the album by next summer, you can open for me, which was so generous
And he’s actually singing on this new album.
FT: Oh, really? Which one is he singing on?
VS: It’s a song called ‘Written on the Water ’.
FT: You worked alongside some amazing artists on the show too! I remember the scene with Al Green playing to part of a judge in one of Ally’s cases! Sting! Bon Jovi, Barry White!
VS: Yeah, that was a blast, working with them and producing the songs. There was a parade of superstars! I mean, Barry Manilow, that was a crazy one! And Gladys Knight, Jennifer Holiday.
FT: Takes a great deal of confidence to produce such stars. I mean to ask Al Green, or Sting, ‘can we try that one more time’?
VS: (laughs) I was ready, I was ready for the job. Because David Kelley ( Ally McBeal series Producer) believed in me so much, he gave me extra confidence. He said, “Do it, do your thing, you know what to do. Read the script, get the feeling, get the vibe and just do it”
So when Sting walked in, I was like, ‘Hey, how you doing? ’ I felt it was where I belonged. There were a couple of divas, but I won’t mention who they are!
FT: Oh please, your secrets are safe with me! I’ll not say a word to anyone!
VS: (laughs)It’s got to be expected that somebody is going to walk in with a diva attitude, but the good news is, I’ll not tell you who it is. By the end, we bonded, and we high-fived, and we got the vocals, and we got the track!
FT: You’ve won the Billboard Award for selling the most TV soundtracks in history, two Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild awards, over 12 million albums sold, still playing to packed-out audiences. You have such a rich and amazing life, and you’ve still so many chapters left to write, but I was wondering if you might be thinking about writing a biography?
VS: Oh, thank you. Well, that is the one thing that’s on my list for sure. I’ve kept journals for my whole life since I was eight, so the chronology, you know, is there, if I need to refer to it and times.
It’s a little bit intimidating to write a book, because you reveal there’s so much I could say, not in a derogatory or salacious manner, just more about my own childhood, my life, and how I got here.
Some intense things that have happened along the road. And so I have to think: do I want to share that with the world, or whoever is willing to read it?
And yet, some of my writing could be funny, and it could be interesting to people and visual, and so I’m considering it very much.
FT: That’s a book I’d look forward to very much! Vonda, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to Folk and Tumble; it’s been an absolute pleasure, and I’m so looking forward to your Belfast gig!
VS: Thank you, and I’ll see you at the gig!
Vonda Shepard plays the Belfast Empire on 2nd October. Tickets available via ticketmaster.