Erin McKeown

The singer-songwriter talks about the recording process, her 2007 album, and the brutality of the music industry

By Kristen Ford
Published: December 1st, 2006 | 3:20pm

I caught up with Erin McKeown after her November 2006 performance at the annual Jeff Buckley tribute at Chicago’s Uncommon Ground. The feisty 5-foot-2 performer has been making records for years, and work is just about to heat up around her fifth album release. On this evening, she was tired, borderline subdued, so we relaxed by the fire over brownies and red wine.

Your last record, 2005’s We Will Become Like Birds, has been called a pop masterpiece by some critics. What was the recording process a nightmare?
It wasn’t. Birds was really easy to make because we did most of it live; I put together a good band. Bass, drums, guitar, and keyboard live. The bulk of the record was made and mixed in five weeks. Most of the recording was done in a week.

Is that how the album achieved such a cohesive feel?
I wanted the piano and guitar in the same room. I wanted us to be able to see each other and play in a band, which I’d never done before. It made it an easier record to make and more like a traditional pop record, one bit at a time.

You produced your upcoming album, Sing You Sinners, yourself. Have you always been involved in the production of your records?
Yes, always. Sing You Sinners I did all myself, yet it wasn’t all that different from what I’d done before. Part of producing is knowing when to ask somebody for help. So there’s a couple technical things, like certain mics and a layout for the studio. But as far as decisions about parts, I’ve always been really involved, and that is as much producing as anything else. Each of my records before this, I’ve had an engineer who was my co-pilot and the only difference on Sing You Sinners is that I took over some of those engineer decisions and was the sole auditor of parts.

Tonight you appeared without your band, and you certainly hold your own solo. Which do you prefer?
I prefer the band because it’s more interesting for me. It gets a little mentally exhausting being on the road by yourself, on a plane by yourself the whole time. Having the interaction of musicians and the company of other musicians is much more human — you can be out longer and stay in it.

Over the summer, I saw you perform “Born to Hum” from 2003’s Grand. Before you sang the song, you explained to the audience that you were burned out on all the talking that’s involved with the business side of being a musician.
About four years ago, I was in the process of changing managers. I had to do a lot of interviews and business calls — just too much talking. I was really tired. I was home for a tiny amount of time between two long tours, and I was waiting for another boring business call. And that song just happened. I think waiting for anything is a good time to write. You’re theoretically thinking about something else, but your mind is still working on the song.

“Slung-lo,” also from Grand, is one of my favorite songs. I heard that you wrote that under pressure?
I had made a version of “Grand” that was 31 minutes long, which I was totally happy with — it’s a really concise statement and I love all these songs. My record label [Nettwerk] was like, “We can’t put this record out; it’s too short. And by the way, would you consider writing something for the radio?” It’s very easy to raise your hackles when they say something like that to you. So how can I best respond to that? I recorded a cover and wrote two songs — I think they’re the best two songs on the record. “Slung-lo” was also about having a block and a finding a way to not be blocked because you have to.

What’s your favorite part about being a musician?
I think the sense of newness. When music feels really new to you, it’s the most amazing feeling in the world. The first time you really sing one of your songs, it feels incredibly powerful to you. You know you’ll sing it a 100 million more times in your life and it will never feel as good as it does that one time. I also love when people are playing together, really digging each other and creating a new thing together. It has to be that great a feeling; otherwise, you wouldn’t deal with it. So much other shit around it sucks so hard. I should be more elegant with language [laughs]. This industry is so brutal that if there wasn’t this magic, you wouldn’t do it.

Sing You Sinners is an album of jazz covers. How do you think your fans will respond?
I don’t know that this record is being received as jazz. I meant it to be a really fun, unique-sounding record. Not some jazz purist, or a singer-songwriter with writer’s block. I want this record to do well and I want to work really hard. That’s my goal. I want it to do better than the last one. I want it to be part of a long career. I just want to get out and work. That’s where I’m at right now.

Sing You Sinners will be released January 9, 2007. You can catch her on a national tour through April 2007. Visit erinmckeown.com for more information.