[Cover photo credit to Anna Haas]
Nashville-based singer-songwriter and Grammy award winner Buick Audra has released her new album Conversations with My Other Voice and a corresponding essay collection. The album asks the questions, “Have you ever wondered what you would say to a younger version of yourself? Which stories might you update if given the chance?”
The guitarist and vocalist for Nashville duo, Friendship Commanders put her solo work away after her second full-length album, Family Album. She started FC with drummer Jerry Roe and made that her musical priority for years. But some of her older solo songs kept calling her back.
She explains:
I had this handful of songs that I’d written during my earlier solo career and never recorded, but they were good songs that deserved to be heard. I decided to book some studio time with a few of my favorite musicians and record them, but when I went back to re-learn them, I realized I wasn’t the woman who had written them anymore. And the stories had changed. I chose to respond to them from here, from who I am now. For each of the older songs, I wrote a new song.
What resulted, was an actual back-and-forth between her previous perspectives, and her current perspective. The songs are presented in pairs or conversations. The odd-numbered songs are the original five, and the even-numbered tracks are the responses.
She adds:
I don’t believe in re-working songs that already exist. But I believe in updating the sentiments! It was wild to see how much I’d grown; how different I am now. Not better, but different. I consider this body of work a memoir in songs; a map from where I was then to where I am now.
Audra has also written a collection of memoir-style essays that correspond with the album. The essays are companion pieces to the songs, expanding on the stories contained within the music. Conversations with My Other Voice: Essays is her debut collection.
Buick Audra has also announced a hometown record release show to take place on September 28 at The Basement in Nashville. Tickets are available HERE.
