Philadelphia is a season rich in history, music, and the history of music. As such, Record Store Day is always a popular day for Philadelphians, celebrated by supporting your local record store, grabbing your favorite vinyl, or attending events featuring some of your favorite artists.
In the spirit of the season, 88.5 WXPN has announced the release of ‘Homegrown Originals Volume 3,’ a limited-edition vinyl album exclusively made of live recordings by Philly-area artists — including Eliza Hardy Jones, Mannequin Pussy and Dr. Dog, set to drop on Saturday, April 12.
Alongside the release of the new vinyl, WXPN is hosting a special free concert called Homegrown Live. The concert will take place on April 16 at World Cafe Live and feature performances by the dd Toby Leaman Trio, Eliza Hardy Jones, and Cadre Noir.
Ahead of the show, Metro sat down with Eliza Hardy Jones to discuss her latest album and upcoming live performance.
‘This is the Year’ is the track from your album ‘Pickpocket’ that’s featured on the ‘Homegrown’ album. I wanted to ask about the title versus the lyric, which says, “This was the year.” Was that difference intentional?
I guess it’s sort of backward intentional. When I wrote the song, I actually wrote the title at the top of the page before I wrote any lyrics, and I wrote the title, ‘This is the Year,’ and then proceeded to sing in the past tense. I obviously could have just changed the title to how it is that I sang the lyrics, but I kind of liked that difference. I kind of liked that feeling of looking back at a very difficult year of my life and all that it brought, but also looking forward to what was coming.
The song sort of ends with a look forward about letting go of what has happened and being open and ready for what might come. So I think that the idea between the type of being this is the year is that it’s sort of looking forward, whereas the song is looking back.
What called you not just to create this entire album but also to share it publicly?
I mean, the call for the album was certainly a private call. This was a time in my life where I was going through this very private struggle to get pregnant, to stay pregnant, to have a baby… I did not always intend for it to become an album. I think a lot of it was intended purely as a private endeavor, but in the process of writing, I think you start to feel universality in some of that and that, like, ‘Okay, well, maybe this isn’t just for me. Maybe there’s something here that other people would enjoy, or maybe not necessarily enjoy, but that it would resonate with them?’
This album is quite an honest look into what was, as you said, a very private struggle. Can you speak to the therapeutic experience of documenting your honesty in the creative process?
I think that’s what art does for everyone, right? Art gives us an opportunity to look at ourselves, to look at the world, and to look at others. I’m lucky enough to be an artist, so I don’t just have to experience that through the lens of other art makers. I get to experience that as a maker myself.
It’s a thing that I hope more people want to do and feel the need to do in whatever version of making your creativity that they have. I think that act of creating, that act of making, that act of just building something for nothing, in ways that are both direct and indirect, helps us to be more honest with ourselves about what’s going on in our lives or in the world, and to help us to sort of tap into how we are feeling in ways that often in our life, we just sort of put aside. Art opens our hearts and our minds to really look deeper into the human experience.
You’ve worked with Iron & Wine, Grace Potter, and currently with The War on Drugs. What have you learned about yourself through your journey as a musician, both solo and otherwise?
So much of my career is about friendship and collaboration, and what an incredible gift that is my life, that I just get to be so connected to the people that I love and becoming connected to people that I’ve never met before through this incredible process of getting to make music with them every night, or, be part of the creative process with them. It’s great.
I think the key for me is to have enough sense of self and confidence in myself to know that I should be who I am and that I’m there to be me, but also to be flexible. The difference between performing with Grace Potter and performing with Sam Beam from Iron & Wine? Those are very different performances, different sorts of musical offerings.
But to be able to know what I’m bringing to the stage is neat and specific, but also that I am able to be flexible, to bring the best version of all of that to best service the music of the artists that I’m working with. It’s like I’m flexible and ready to take on all of these new formats, but also confident that I’m there to be me.
What excites you the most about this upcoming live performance?
Well, I have never performed any of the songs on ‘Pickpocket’ other than when WXPN, again because they’re such incredible supporters, had me come on to do a key session and a live session. So I’ve never actually had the opportunity to play these songs live, so I’m super excited about that.
But also I decided to do it in a really different way than I normally perform. So, instead of pulling a band together, I actually pulled a choir together. So it’ll be me playing guitar, piano, and singing, and then in addition to that, I have four amazing singers who are singing these really wild choral arrangements that I have written for each of us, so it’ll be something totally new that I’ve never done before —for any of my albums or any of my shows—so it’ll be a really special night.
The singers that I have are just so incredible. I have Eliza Becker, I have Brandon Beaver from ‘mewithoutyou,’ and who I was in ‘Buried Beds’ with for many, many years, my best friend for the last 30 years of my life. I have Todd Starlin, who is a member of the Silver Ages Choir, and then Dito van Reigersburg of Martha Graham Cracker and Pig Iron Theater fame. So, just like four truly, truly incredible singers who are going to sing these amazing Choral arrangements with me, it’ll be something totally new.
For more information on Eliza Hardy Jones’ performance at WXPN’s upcoming free concert and to RSVP, visit eventbrite.com.
