ARTICLE FROM TOASTEDRAV.COM

  March 17, 2009

St. Louis Songstress, Blue, Talks About Being Acoustic & The Irish Whistle

by Melody Meiners

Local singer/songwriter Blue has been the driving force behind the STL SHE! Shows, the all female musician showcases that are put on every two to three months around town. Blue's unique folk sound combines a signature blend of Celtic flair, jazz style and acoustic instruments for original songs and unique arrangements of old favorites.

In anticipation of her show at Picasso's Coffee House on March 21, Blue talked to us about her influences, the importance of her acoustic sound and the St. Louis music scene. Read on to learn more about Blue, and click on the Audio tab to hear her song "Deliver Me Up" from her CD Charm.

Many bands, even in the folk world, are starting to incorporate electric instruments like electric mandolins and guitars more often but you have remained primarily an acoustic performer. Can you explain why this is important to your sound and how it has impacted it? 

I used to be in an electric band and there were a lot of fun times but as I've gotten older I've moved toward quieter and calmer music. I think that's a pretty normal progression but in my case it felt more like coming home again. I've always loved acoustic folk music and all of the songs I write are written as acoustic folk songs. When I've been in electric bands we've rocked up the songs some but I've always been more comfortable with these songs being performed as they were written.
There is a purity of strictly acoustic music that I love. My husband and I are nature freaks, lots of camping and long distance bicycle touring. Playing acoustic music parallels my love of the natural. We've been given such a beautiful world; I don't think we can do very much improve it. Music is the same way. I love that the combination of wood and string, wind and metal, can make such beautiful music. Adding to it is like a 10 page restaurant menu. Too many choices! How can you ever decide which is the right sound for each note of each song? I want to keep it simple and pure. 

Your music is described as a mixture of folk, Irish and blues. Which styles and artists are your biggest influences?

My current music now that I'm a solo artist is a mixture of folk, Celtic and Americana. But some of the biggest musical influences in my life have been jazz musicians... mainly John Coltrane. The way I thought about music was totally transformed when I heard his "Ol'e" album the first time. I could listen to nothing else but that album for weeks. I'm a completely self taught musician and I certainly am not skilled enough of a musician to play good jazz! So perhaps my strange style is my poor attempt to emulate the feelings I get from Coltrane.

I'm also drawn to powerful female vocalists like Annie Wilson, Grace Slick, Holly McNarland, Tori Amos, and Janis Joplin. Lila Downs has inspired me the most. Her vocal range is just incredible and I work hard to increase my own range. I'm up to to two and a half octaves but that's probably less than half of Lila's. Maybe some day I'll have to admit defeat and take lessons.

How many different types of instruments do you play?

I play guitar, mandolin, flute, Irish whistle, a little saxophone and percussion. I use a looper pedal during live shows with allows me to record my guitar and mandolin and then play my flute and Irish whistles on top of that. The looper pedal has been a lot of fun to play with. I've started using it to build more complex songs and even add some vocal harmonies to my songs. I do all of the recording on the looper live during my shows... no prerecordings. I think it makes the show very interesting but is risky. Getting the timing right with the looper can be tricky; I'm actually surprised that I've been able to get as accurate with it as I have.

Can you tell us a little bit about your history?

I've been playing music and writing songs since I was a little kid. My first instrument was one of those little toy xylophones when I was about four years old. I taught myself how to play every song I could on a little eight note toy. Then we got recorders in first grade YAY! I took mine home and learned every song I could think of. I played flute in the school band for a short time in second or third grade but my flute got stolen and my parents were too poor to buy a new one for me... very sad.

I finally got a used guitar from a pawn shop when I was twelve and spent hours and hours with a "Teach Yourself How to Play Guitar" book by Roy Clark. So I do know how to read music (slowly) and chord charts but I mostly play by ear and "make up" my own chords to match the sounds I hear in my head. I have names for the chords like "Blue 7" and "Blue minor add G." It drives trained musicians crazy.

The mandolin I picked up used about six years ago in an eBay sale and learned how to play it quickly. It's a fun little instrument and is now one of my favorites.

There's a funny story behind the Irish whistle. My husband bought an Irish whistle to play around with but it sat in a drawer for a while. When we were recording "Deliver Me Up" on the "Mirror" album, I thought 'hey an Irish whistle would be really great in this song!' So I got it out of the drawer and played around with it for a few hours and then recorded the Irish whistle part of "Deliver Me Up" the very next day. I think that's so amusing because I had no idea what I was doing at the time... I hadn't yet gotten a firm grip on the correct breathing needed to play the three different octaves so I'm all over the place in the recording and there are a lot of unintentional squeaks. But we thought it sounded pretty good and I still love the whistle track on that song. Now that I'm more adept on the whistle I actually think I've lost the wild, unique quality of the solo on that song.

What are some of your favorite things about St. Louis' local music scene?

I love the rich musical history of St. Louis; we should be very proud of it. There is still a very active blues scene in St. Louis as well as a great rockabilly scene. But I think the St. Louis music scene is facing a lot of challenges today... the rise of digital entertainment and the evolution of our city into a sports city has really damaged the scene. I applaud people like you and others like Becca at STL Sound Magazine and KDHX radio for supporting our local music scene. Please keep it up!

Where can we find your albums and see you live?

My performance schedule is listed on my website BlueTappMusic.com and my CDs are for sale on CD Baby (find the link from my website). I perform around St. Louis three to five times a month at various coffee houses and venues. This Saturday I'll be at Picasso's Coffee House in St. Charles. Come on down!

THE VALUE OF LIVE ORIGINAL MUSIC

by Blue Tapp Scheffer
Published in "STL Sound" Magazine, January 2008

I'm talking about new music that you've never heard before… written by that guy or gal sitting ten feet in front of you strumming a guitar, crooning into that Shure SM58 in this smoky bar. What's so special about that?

Granted there's a very-near-the-surface animosity between original and cover musicians and I dare not fuel that fire. Cover bands are hugely popular in St. Louis. There is comfort in the familiar and many people want to relax their souls into lyrics and tunes they already know… all the more merry if those guitar licks are coming from a live human being rather than an iPod. Cover musicians respond to that call. A bit of money is to be made for St. Louis cover bands and I don't begrudge them their sweat earned dollars in the least.

It takes a different sort of mind to appreciate new original music… an adventurous mind unafraid of the unknown. But what I love the most about original music is the human interaction required to really HEAR it.

Once upon a time I was a college composition teacher. I loved it. I got to know my students much more intimately than my fellow math and science teachers because I read their words. I learned their lives and identities in their writing. Original music takes that to an even deeper level because the words are combined with melodies. Even wordless music can stir a soul.

An original musician bares their hearts before the audience every time they perform. These are words and melodies they have woven together with care and often pain. Songs are a musical diary of the musician's life. I feel honored to share that with a musician, honored that they give us this glimpse into their psyche.

As our culture has slowly evolved into our own navels we have less tolerance for original music. We want to dance and sing along with our beers lifted in the air. Our patience is not long enough to really listen to the soul cry of another unless it is fed to us by iTunes and VH1. We don't want to think.

But I want to dig deeper than the plastic music shoved at us by the media. I want to share emotional space with the musician sitting right in front of me at the bar down the street from my house. This is someone from my own neighborhood. We travel the same roads, experience similar worlds. We are kindred by location. I want to hear about this person's pain, love and struggles and forget about my own for a few hours. The microphone is the musician's confessional. By listening, by caring, we help them heal as well.

STL Musicians Unite members throw this word around a lot – SUPPORT.   We need to "support" each other.  "Support" the St. Louis music scene.  "Support" local live music.  "Support" original music.  Cool.  I agree.  But what exactly does "support" mean?  How do we do it?  Besides the contents of Dolly Parton's underwear drawer, just what exactly does "SUPPORT" look like?

A big obstacle for us musicians is that really supporting one another requires turning our focus outwards away from ourselves.  This is difficult for all self-centered humans (as we all are).  It is especially insurmountable for musicians.  Afterall, we are artists, little "creators" if you will.  Creators want to be worshipped.  We consider the substances of our own souls to be of highest importance… we extract our emotional innards, analyze them, mold and massage them into pieces of art.  We invite others to examine our masterpieces and are offended when they don't respond with appreciative "ooohs" and "aaaahs".  What other occupation is so innately self-adoring as ours?

The best plan, in my opinion, would be for us to collectively pull our noggins from our buttocks and just love each other.  Loving each other, my musician friends, is the truest, purest form of "support."  Support is stomping down that envy inside your heart and instead being happy at someone else's success.  Support is making time to become someone else's audience for a change.  Support is to really listen to someone else's emotional innards.  Support is to care.  What a beautiful world it would be.

Besides, our self worship is a road to self destruction.  The more obsessed we become with our own selves the more elusive happiness will be.  Nothing is ever wholly fulfilling.  We never satisfactorily express our souls.  No one ever completely understands us.  We can never delve deeply enough to reach a blissful conclusion.  Behold the tortured artist.

STL Musicians Unite is an invitation to remove ourselves from the torture chambers of our self obsessions and embrace each other.  There is power in our unified embrace… power to breath life back into St. Louis music.  I do believe it is possible.  But our success has everything to do with our understanding of "support."  Let's quit throwing this word around haphazardly.  Let's do it.

Check out the STL MUSICIANS UNITE! myspace group here: STL MUSICIANS UNITE!

READ MORE AT BLUE'S BLOGS

The music scene is a difficult place to survive and you've got to be pretty tough to keep your motivation year after year. Working your ass off to make good music is only the beginning... there's CD and show promotion, booking, recording costs and time, music equipment expense. It never ends...

Craig and I saw the Duhks perform at Lucas Schoolhouse last year. These guys were nominated for a Grammy two years ago. They are an AMAZING band, one of my favorites. Yet here they were traveling around the country in a van with a trailer, crawling around on stage setting up their own instruments. Even for a Grammy nominee, this music road we travel is lots of hard work and "success" is an elusive almost nonexistant destination.

It is so disheartening to work your butt off rehearsing, promoting a show like crazy, packing and hauling gear and setting up to play to an empty house or to the other bands that are performing that night. It's tough to get into new venues and to break into the little music "cliques" around town. Then there's the seemingly inevitable internal band disagreements and member changes... more stress and setbacks. There are certainly times when I have wondered if it's worth the effort...

We dropped out of the scene for a little while earlier this year. After working so hard for three years to put a band together, raise money for recording a full length CD and establish our name in St. Louis... the band was fragmenting once again due to differences in musical vision. Musicians don't always leave nicely and when a nasty rumor damaged our relations with one of our favorite venues I didn't think I had the heart to keep going anymore.

My music partner saved the band. Ron and I decided to go it alone as an acoustic duo... one huge problem solved! No more internal band strife. We spent six months rearranging our music to fit the acoustic format and adding material. The format change opened a plethora of new venues so we redirected our booking efforts and marketing. It's been a great move for us.

But there's still the issue of damage control. No matter what scene you're involved in... if people are involved there's going to be occasional disagreement and misunderstanding. My vision for this band project has always been to connect with others using the music and to encourage unity. Can this really happen? I had to decide if I could practice what I preach. Healing starts right here in THIS heart and in the end it really doesn't matter what someone else has said about you or done to you. Unity requires forgiveness. Forgiveness is an action not just some little warm fuzzy feeling... no matter what blows you've been dealt, healing will not be complete unless you get back out there and spend time with people who you've had trouble with.

So here's my point of this post... surviving the scene means getting your eyes off yourself and looking at the bigger picture. It means NEVER taking things personally. I've seen some of the BEST bands in St. Louis playing to empty houses. If you want to play your music, you just have to buck up your soul and accept that those nights will happen occasionally to most bands in St. Louis. It shouldn't be considered a judgment of your worth.

Surviving the scene means overlooking differences. Supporting the venues and the local bands because you care about the St. Louis music scene... not only when it personally helps you and your band. When any band in St. Louis does well, it helps invigorate the local music scene, which in turn helps us all. If we can help each other and support each other, we can all survive the scene together.

MORE AT BLUE'S BLOGS

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