A Conversation with Erika Luckett (continued)

PM: And what kind of producer was Jeffrey Wood in the studio, what is his style?

EL: He's very musical. He would encourage my expression, and then prune back my sort of overgrown wildness. He'd say, "That was great. Now play something that's about half that much."

One of the things that I feel was a really big shift for me in this album was the vocal approach. I never felt so challenged or pushed in the studio by somebody I loved. I would lay down a vocal track and he'd say, "That was nearly stupendous."

[laughter]

[Here my recorder batteries ran out, and I scrambled into the kitchen while we continued talking, didn't want to break the flow.]

PM: That was fortuitous, I had some AAA's in the drawer.

So let's see, where do I want to go that we should have gone? How heavy has the touring schedule been this last year? Are you on the road a lot?

EL: Yeah, pretty consistent. It's been pretty heavy. I tend to tour about six to nine months out of the year. And last year I was working on the album in one way or another for two or three months, so it felt like I was home a lot more. But I tend to be on the road about six to nine months out of the year. I'm leaving in a week or so, and I'll be gone for three months.

PM: And do you tend to stay out solidly or--

EL: Well, pretty much, yeah. I mean, sometimes I'll do shorter ones, like four-week tours and then come home for ten days and then head back out. But most of the touring so far has been ground-based and rather continuous, as opposed to fly dates. It's been very grass roots.

PM: I understand. Does that lifestyle afford you much opportunity and give you the inclination to do much reading?

EL: Yes, I'm a voracious reader and always travel with a library in a little box. That kind of nourishment is essential to my life.

PM: Do any books of late come to mind that had an effect on you?

EL: Oh sure, let's see. I've been reading everything from Lao Tzu to Brian Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos. And David Deutsch. I've been a little over the top lately with the physics material, like Campari, Arnold Mendel...but also poetry, Rilke, Mary Oliver. The Genius of Language is a collection of writers who write in different tongues than their native ones, I'm enjoying that.

PM: Have you run into a book called The Power of Now on your travels?

EL: Yes! That's another one I meant to mention. That's a very powerful book, and one that straddles Lao Tzu and modern physics impeccably, don't you think? Because they're both saying that we're all nothing but expressions of energy. Thanks for mentioning that, I first came across that a couple of years ago, and it continues to resonate within me as a very important book.

PM: On or off the record, how's your love life?

EL: On or off the record, I've been very happily single. After a major breakup a couple of years back, I felt like I needed a good stretch of time to really put it all back together correctly, and heal properly. I feel like I've been going through a major transformation. And this record has been a good vehicle for all that, for stepping out of the poignancy of heartbreak and into nourishing, nurturing, and cultivating my inner voice, and letting it ride.  continue

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