Sounds Local: Paula Cole returns to her roots

By SHERYL HUNTER

For The Recorder

Published: 12-20-2017 11:39 AM

In the mid ’90s songs like “Where Have all the Cowboys Gone?” and “I Don’t Want to Wait” sent singer-songwriter Paula Cole soaring to the top of the charts. Both songs are off her 1996 album, “This Fire,” a work that garnered seven Grammy nominations, including a nod for Best Producer, making her the first woman ever nominated in that category. She ultimately won for Best New Artist and “This Fire” went on to sell over two million copies. Cole has toured with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Dolly Parton and her songs have been covered by a multitude of recording artists including Herbie Hancock and Annie Lenox.

But life at the top wasn’t always easy, and in 2001 the Rockport native walked away from the music business. When Cole re-launched her career seven years later, it was as an independent artist determined to only make music that spoke to her truth. This past year was an eventful one for Cole, 49. She celebrated the 20th anniversary of “This Fire” and also released her seventh album, “Ballads,” a collection of jazz and folk classics that reconnected her to her jazz roots and showcases her gorgeous, rich voice.

Cole is touring in support of both albums, and will perform at the Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield on Friday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m. Greenfield resident Tracy Grammer will open the show.

I recently spoke with Cole, who was calling from her home in the Boston area, and we talked about her early success, her new album and how working for a major label nearly devoured her.

Sheryl Hunter: “This Fire” turned 20 this year and you have performed it in its entirety at some shows. What was it like to go back and revisit that album?

Paula Cole: Frankly, it was a bit exhausting because I wrote those songs in my 20s and they were so full of angst and fire and anger and release, but thrilling and liberating at the same time. It’s been really fun and I’ll definitely do a lot of songs from “This Fire” on this tour.

S.H.: Looking back on the success that you experienced with “This Fire,” what was the best and worst about that time in your career?

P.C.: When the album was completed, I felt very free. I knew I had done my best and done it myself. That was the high point — knowing that you had done something artistically right. The climb to success was thrilling, but after a while it became clear that it was not my cup of tea because I’m introverted, and it all happened too fast. I think in hindsight, I would have preferred not so much radio success and had just kept touring to build an audience that way. But I was on a big label and they wanted more pop, and that ultimately made me want to self-sabotage, to rip myself out of that horrible pop constraint they were making for me. That wasn’t who I was, so the ascent was exhilarating, but then I remember thinking “I hate this.” It was the machinery of the record making business.

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S.H.: You eventually left that world and took an extended break from making music.

P.C.: I mothered during those years. My daughter had asthma and I needed to take care of her and not be on the road. It felt good to take a break, and I think I’m the better for it. Looking back, I know I’m a much healthier human being with a better personal life. I now have a good relationship with my beautiful daughter and she’s healthy. The break was good. I recommend it to everyone.

S.H.: Now that you are back and working as an independent artist and have your own label, you have the freedom to make an album like “Ballads.” I don’t think your record company would have gone for a jazz album.

P.C.: No, they wouldn’t have (laughs.) I had to reset and salvage myself from the old record company days, and it nearly devoured me. I’m sure they considered me difficult to work with because I had big opinions and I wanted to navigate my career in the way I saw as truthful for myself. I was a musician’s musician, and I wanted to make the music that I felt was true. So, yeah, I needed to pull myself out of that and I’m glad to be where I am now.

S.H.: What prompted you to do an album of covers?

P.C.: Well, I have always been singing them, and I started out wanting to be a jazz singer. My very first gig was singing with a big band in the Boston area, and I sang jazz all through college. At the end of college, I got a record deal with a jazz label and I didn’t take it because I was wanting to not be confined by that label. And it sent me down a different road, but it is part of me – I was raised on that music with my father singing that music. I love that music.

I worshipped at the altar of Ella, Miles, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and John Coltrane for years and years. I listened to that music all the time, and I absolutely adore them. They are my heroes. So it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t make this album for my heart, my legacy, for my father. I’m very aware of my mortality and I’m aware of leaving the right legacy of music for me and my family.

S.H.: We can’t talk about all the great songs on this album, but I have to comment on your decision to cover one of my favorites, “Ode to Billie Joe” by Bobbie Gentry.

P.C.: It’s a brilliant song isn’t it? She was a self-producing, Grammy winning artist who was really an introvert, so she receded from the music business. I feel a huge kinship with that. I adore this song and some of her other work, too. So I needed to honor her, and there is a lot of honoring of women on this album as writers. “Willow Weep for Me” is one of the only standards written by a woman as is “God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday, who I like to describe as one of America’s early great singer-songwriters.

One of the reasons I left singing jazz is that I didn’t like singing so many standards that had antiquated, chauvinistic lyrics, or lyrics that were ill-fitting for me. I needed to write my own reality. But here I chose those that did feel right lyrically, whose stories I love. And I also wanted to weave in the genre of roots music because that music was all lumped together with me when I was growing up. I wanted to make a rootsy, jazz album (laughs).

SH: What can we tell people about the upcoming show at Hawks and Reed?

PC: I’m proud of the live show. You can really see who I am. It’s always like a family when my fans come together and I’m looking forward to seeing everybody — so I hope they come out.

Advance tickets are $40 and meet-and-greet tickets are $60 (only 20 available) and can be purchased at hawksandreed.com. Tickets will be $50 at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Hawks and Reed in located at 289 Main St. in Greenfield.

Visit: paulacole.com

Sheryl Hunter is a music writer who lives in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national magazines. You can contact her at soundslocal@yahoo.com

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