A Conversation with Sara Hickman (continued)

PM: I think my favorite song on the disc, though, is that absolutely inspired cover of "Mother's Little Helper."

SH: Yay! Thank you.

PM: It's so cool.

SH: [laughs] Well, and again, I thought, oh, I'm going to have Tosca play that, because they're all women. And I just couldn't believe--I mean, to my knowledge--and you know much more about music than I--

PM: I doubt that.

SH: --I've never heard of a woman covering that song. And I thought, "How can that be?"

PM: Right. And why not?

SH: I mean, it just seems like it was screaming for a woman to sing it, and especially in a kind of a creepy drug-addled way. So I love it. I didn't have the full string quartet, I had a violinist, Danny Levin, who did the arrangement. And he did such a beautiful arrangement--

PM: He did.

SH: --and I love him so much. He came out and played fiddle with us last night. And people just go crazy. I don't know what it is about that song, but having a woman singing it, everybody goes, "Oh, yeah!" And the way we do it, at first they don't get that it's a Stones' song, and then they start going, "Oh, I know this song." And it's just fun to see their eyes open up and the smiles cross their faces.

PM: It's just rare when somebody does a really incredible cover of a classic song that's really different. And when somebody does that and actually pulls it off and they create a whole different thing, it's so exciting.

SH: [laughs] Well, I thank you for that, because I've always told people, "I don't care if Mick Jagger was ninety years old, I would still do him in an elevator because--"

PM: Of course. I mean, I'd practically do him.

SH: Yeah! Everybody wants to do him! What's not to do about him? And he is definitely on my to-do list.

PM: That's good, "My to-do list"...

SH: He and Jack Black who I also have a thing for--

PM: [laughs]

SH: Anyway, I kept saying, "God, I want do that song," but it is intimidating, because when you're talking about the Stones, or Zeppelin, or the Beatles, why mess with perfection? But I thought, well, the way they do it is so perfectly kind of like a Klezmer song almost--I mean, I could hear them going "Oy!" at the end or something.

PM: [laughs]

SH: And I thought, well, what if I just switch it around and sing it from what's really being talked about here. I slowed it down and made it kind of sexy and eerie and creepy and hip-hoppy. And my drummer did a great job. I mean, his groove on it is awesome. And Danny's arrangement is beautiful. And I just sang--like I was almost eating the microphone I was singing so tight to it. And putting my harmonies on stuff is always so much fun for me, because it's so much easier to do it myself because I just know exactly what I want. But I had the best time putting that down, that was really fun. So I'm very, very excited that you like it.

PM: Yeah. And I hope Mick and/or Keith get to hear it, and that you get to hear from them, because I know they'd like it.

SH: [gasps, moans]

PM: Speaking of putting your own harmonies on, there's so many good harmony singers on the record, and they all sound so different with you. It's very enlightening how different Kelly Willis sounds from Shawn Colvin, and Shawn sounds from Gretchen, and then Colin putting in his bit, and it's just really amazing. Kristin DeWitt is a friend of mine--she used to sing a lot with you.

SH: I love Kristin DeWitt. I love her so, so much. And I have to say that singing with Kristen is like--I don't even know how to say it--it's almost like I feel like we were one atom and we were split, because I don't ever have to worry or think about it, she's just there, and I thought our voices mingled perfectly together, because she has a lot of depth to her voice.

PM: Yeah.

SH: Like when I go low, she's there, and when I'm high, she's high. And she can do all the different elements I do, which is everything from gospel to folk to jazz to just--her voice is capable--our voices are capable of creating a symbiotic relationship. Yeah, she's awesome. I have nothing but awesome things to say about her. And I did ask her to sing on this CD, but I think she was in Colorado or somewhere. So I just went ahead and did it.

PM: Yeah, she is a truly remarkable blender.

SH: And her CD--have you heard her CD?

PM: She gave it to me at Folk Alliance and I'm looking for it. I don't know what the hell I did with it.

SH: It's so beautiful. People need to hear it. Really, her choice of songs is excellent. There's a song on there by Tom Prasada-Rao that I love.

PM: One of my favorite guys, yeah.

SH: And the song she does with Guy Forsythe, his song--the two of them together, wow. I mean, I think it's a really excellent album, and I wish something would happen with it for her, because it's stellar.

PM: Yeah. If I can't find that, I got to ring her up or something, because yeah, I got to cover that for sure.

SH: Yeah.

PM: Does a ferociously busy insomniac like yourself find time to read books?

SH: Oh, yeah. I just finished two books, Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, and The Truth With Jokes by Al Franken.

PM: [laughs]

SH: Right next to my bed I constantly have about ten books going. I love Life of Pi. Ever read that?

PM: I never did.

SH: Ah!

PM: Is that very good?

SH: That book blew me away, from page one, because he mixes the elements of history and God and philosophy and male/female, and travel--it's stunning. It's a stunning book--and religion, and just how--zoology and biology--I mean, I read that book and I gave it to everybody I know. And I love Fast Food Nation. And I read all the Harry Potter books, I'm keeping up with them, of course. I love to read. I read a wonderful biography about Harriet Tubman last year that was unbelievable--kind of dry reading, but so inspiring. And I feel that Harriet Tubman should have her own day, and I wish Oprah would do a whole show on her, because I think she's kind of a forgotten heroine. But anyway, I love to read. I'm a read-aholic.

PM: So having rolled back into adult music, are you going to tour widely behind this release, or does the family make that kind of hard to do?

SH: Yes, we've been preparing the children for a year. My husband, when I stayed home and I was just playing around Texas, and doing mostly children shows, he had a job with a big outfit as their chief photographer. And then after I wrote "Living in Quiet Desperation," I realized, "Okay, I have to make an adult CD, I have to go back out there." He and I started talking about how we would make that work. And we set a time line. And he ended his job, and now he's a stay-at-home dad as of three months ago. So he'll be here full-time, and I'll go back out in the world. And we've explained this to the girls, and they've gotten a taste of it, because I've been working more and more as the weeks go by. And it's a real blessing to have a partner who is as loving and giving and supportive and has the most healthy self-esteem of anyone I know.

PM: Wow. You got somebody good there.

SH: I do. And he's a hottie, woo!

PM: [laughs] Well, that never hurt anybody.

SH: He just went and had the oil changed in my car so I could drive to Dallas today for my shows and not worry about my car blowing up.

PM: Beautiful.

SH: And he's wearing green. How can you not love a man that wears green?

PM: And pulls it off. Not everybody can wear green, after all.

SH: You're right. You know what else? He's on my to-do list, and I get to do him!

[laughter]

PM: So I'm determined not to turn this tape over, because that means I'm taking up too much of somebody's time. And you're just as lovely as I expected you would be.

SH: And I really enjoyed it, Frank. I feel like we've just had a lovely cup of tea, and I can't wait until we can actually have real tea together.

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[It's always a pleasure whenever we get to feature a Todd Wolfson photograph. (Our first time might've been a couple of years ago in an interview with Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez.) When this Sara Hickman piece started to happen, we really hit the jackpot: Todd appears to be something like the presidential photographer for Sara (you know, if Sara were the president). Lately Todd has been doing some blogging over at sharkforum.org--check that out here--and of special note to Sara Hickman fans would be this assortment of Sara photos posted at the time of Motherlode's release. Generous, funny, and a hell of a shooter--if you need a great photographer and you're anywhere near Austin, Texas, then Todd is definitely the man to see. At toddvwolfson.com you can look at some samples of his work and get in touch.]