Posted February 2018
Photo by Mona NordoyIf you’ve been a reader and follower of Boomerocity for any time at all, you already know that we’re huge fans of the lovely and talented Beth Hart. We were introduced to her by way of her duet album with blues great, Joe Bonamassa. After passing the litmus test of successfully daring to cover Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind” (and we warn people, “Don’t be messin’ with our Etta James’ work, now!). Blowing us away, we’ve become steadfast fans of this remarkable artist. So much so, this piece marks the unprecedented FOURTH interview with her (here, here, and here, being the first three).
I called Beth up at her SoCal home. After we compared notes about my weather in Eastern Tennessee and her weather in L.A, we started catching up on news since we had talked earlier in 2017. When I asked how the then recent fires had affected her and her husband, she said, “It didn’t really mess with us here too bad. I mean, it’s just really sad to see you know? But I do know a few people who almost lost their homes but they didn’t. And it’s still going!
Continuing, she added, “There were only about two days that it got kinda smoky where we are. We could smell it. But the winds have been so high, it just blows it right out.”
During our last conversation, Beth shared with me about the home renovation she and her husband, Scott, were undergoing due to some flooding so I asked her how that all turned out.
“My manager told me - because he had had a flood at his house – he said, ‘You wait and see. It’s going to be so much better when they fix it. You’re gonna like it better – what happens to it after than what it was before.’ And it’s so true because they repainted everything and built some shelves and they, obviously, had to rebuild the walls and stuff like that. Now, it’s ten times nicer now than what it was before the flood. So, it was a blessing! Thanks for asking about that! I was freaking out about that, wasn’t I?”
Our last chat focused on her then-new-CD, Fire On The Floor, so I was curious as to how it had been doing for her and what fan and crowd reaction had been.
“Oh, Fire On The Floor? Well, you know? People really seem to love that record when we play it live. I mean, we don’t play all the songs from it every night. We play different songs from the record at different times. If you go to all the shows on that tour or whatever, you’ll see the whole record at some point. We’ll do maybe four or five songs off the record and then switch them out on different nights. It’s just gone over like gangbusters and it’s funny because I loved ‘Better Than Home’ even better as a record.
“But it seems like ‘Fire On the Floor’ goes over better for live shows for some reason. I don’t know, maybe because ‘Better Than Home’ was a lot of ballads. ‘Fire On the Floor’ is more up tempo. Maybe that’s part of it. It’s been so much fun playing that record! I love that record! Oliver (Leiber) did a great job on that record, though. He’s a great producer! And all those great musicians he had. I mean, you kinda can’t go wrong with that!
“I started making a new record, though, with Rob Cavallo and we just got into the studio ten days ago. We started our first round for four days. We have Vinnie Colaiuta on drums which is really exciting for me because I’d only done the show with Jeff Beck that he had me do with him years ago. Vinnie Colaiuta was the drummer in our band. So it’s amazing, now, that I got him for one of my records! I can’t believe it! And Chris Chaney on bass and Stephen Pierce on guitar and, of course, Rob is playing guitar. It’s just a really great group of people and it’s so fun making a new record! So I’m excited about that.”
When I asked when we could expect to see the new record come out, Beth said, “You know? I’m not sure ‘cause I’m on the road so much and this is not like the typical records that I’ve been doing the last seven or eight records where we go in with the band then we basically play live to tape. We’re really not doing that this time. This time, we’re taking it in layers. Then, when I’m on the road, I come back and, then, if we get four or five days, we’ll go in with them and then I go back out on the road and then we come back and we do it again. And we just go until Rob says, ‘Hey! We got it!’
Photo By Mona Nordoy“But I think we have a really nice start and the songs are really lovely and I’m just really happy and thankful, you know? It’s just so nice to get on and to have such a great connection. They were playing the other night to the song called “Let It Grow’ and I was just listening to them laying it down. What happened to me never happened to me on a record before. I started crying really hard just being moved by them and what they were doing with that song. It was just a neat thing, man, and Rob was crying and everybody started to cry. We were big cry babies! We were all hugging each other! It was really sweet! I never had that happen before. It was a neat, neat thing!”
Is there a crowd favorite from the album?
“Yeah! It’s like ‘Bang Bang’ had that kind of thing – the Bang Bang Boom Boom record – where people just want to have fun with those songs and dig in. It’s just been really, really cool. My band plays the hell out of it. They play it so great! I mean, my band right now is playing better than I ever heard them play. It’s ljust ike we’ve really gelled and become like a band. Everything is effortless and really fun! I love them so much! We’re going to start back up here in a little over a month. I’m go and do a one-off in Russia and I come back and we start a states tour with my band. I’m really looking forward to that. I miss them! I see them all the time but I still miss them!”
News of a new duet disc with Ms. Hart and Joe Bonamassa has been floating around. I asked her to clue me in on it.
“I don’t if the record has actually been released yet but I know that they put out the first song. It’s a song called ‘Black Coffee’ and that’s the name of the record, as well, is ‘Black Coffee’. They put out a video tape of us in the studio when we were making it. So, I thought it really came out good. I was, like, ‘Wow!’ ‘Cause, I don’t know if you know, but I tend to be pretty tough on myself. I don’t really like to listen to my records once I they’re done. You know what I mean? I don’t really like to hear myself sing so much. I love TO sing but to hear myself sing is like another thing. You know what I mean?
“So, I watched it. Oh my god! This is rockin’! We seem really on it and it’s a really great song and I adore and worship Steve
Photo by Mona Nordoy Marriott. So, yeah, it’s cool! I’m happy with that, for sure. The experience was tough for me in the studio this time. I don’t know why it was. It was a struggle. We weren’t in there very long. We were only in for three or four days. But I struggled with it. I felt extra insecure. I wasn’t sure about the songs. There were some other players that I hadn’t played with before so I didn’t really get a chance to connect with, you know, when we went in. But they seemed thrilled with it. Kevin’s really happy with it. Joe’s really happy with it. That’s what matters the most. Sometimes, when records are difficult to make, Kevin was saying, Kevin Shirley, the producer, he was saying that some of the best stuff comes from that.”
The main purpose of this particular interview with Beth was to cover the tour that was going to include a stop in my town. I wondered what fans could expect from her during this tour.
“You know, this is always been what I do and it’s probably will always be what I do is that we go out and we just play songs from every record and we change it up night after night. That way, it’s always seemingly fresh to us and then, hopefully, that energy translates to the audience. I think, more than anything, I just want that little bit of on-the-edge energy there. And what I try and do is I don’t assume that people have all the records. Sometimes, people will have one record of yours, you know? So, maybe we have a shot at giving them at least a song or two that they know really well or that they really like. It’s not like I’m a hit song person, you know what I’m saying? Where I know that I have certain songs that are, “Oh, my, my, my!” You know what I mean? So I mix it up night after night and just truly try and have fun with that.
Photo by Mona Nordoy“So, we’re definitely going to be playing some stuff off of Fire On the Floor and then stuff from all the other records but I’m not sure exactly what songs, yet, because each night I make a new little set list. So, yeah, we’ll see, but it will be a mix. But, then, I’ve got my stuff where we’re rockin’ and we’re doing some soul stuff. And, then, I sit and play by myself at the piano. And, then, John and I do an acoustic set where I play some base and some acoustic guitar with him. Tell a lot of stories and that kind of thing.”
What else is on Beth Hart’s radar for 2018?
“Touring and figuring out what songs we’re going to do on the new ‘Joe’ record and, hopefully, people will like it. And, then, really working on this new record with Rob. It’s going to be something very different. That’s another reason why I like working with different producers on each record is that you just don’t know what new, fresh thing is going to happen. Then, plus, you know, I tend to write all over the place, genre-wise, anyway and different producers like different genres. Rob leans more towards rock or that singer/songwriter/heartbreak kinda like frickin’ storytellin’ stuff. So, it’s probably going to be along the lines of more of that. It’s an exciting thing to do! And he’s so nice! He’s so sensitive and sweet and I love that!”
Be sure to log in to BethHart.com to see the latest on her and to see where she’s going to be performing near you. I guarantee you that, if you’re not already a fan of hers, you will be a lifer after listening to her and seeing her perform.
