Linsdey Webster

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Festival Feature

By: Keivu Knox

Lindsey Webster has become one of the most recognizable voices in jazz music. After five albums and more than 10 Billboard Charting singles, she is ready to release her latest album which is also her more personal album yet, entitled “Reasons.” She recently chatted with Smooth Jazz Magazine to discuss the album, her career and stepping out of her comfort zone. SJM: Hey Lindsey! Overall how's everything going post-pandemic? I know that you have been able to start touring again! Lindsey: It's great. Really happy to be back at it. It's been a rocky road climbing back into gigs because people are still getting sick and cancelling from time to time but you can tell we’re on the other side of things. It's kind of this indescribable feeling because when the pandemic hit none of us really knew what was turning into, or what we were about to experience as a world. So, as time passed, and more things canceled and things got worse, I felt like I slowly like lost grip of what it meant to not have shows. At first it felt like a vacation. But then it was like we didn't have gigs for, a Jul/Aug Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 43

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then it was like we didn't have gigs for, a whole year. It was an adjustment but then we had our first show back at Seabreeze and that made me remember what a huge part of me is tied to performing. A lot of my identity pre pandemic was based on my career, and that's a tricky place because at that point all of a sudden when the career is gone, what are you left with? It was a wild experience. But it's been great since things are open because honestly the pandemic gave me time to really force some serious growth. I had some personal lessons and growth and through that came this incredible album!

SJM: It is an incredible album, one last question be-

fore we get into it. How was Jakarta? Lindsey: Jakarta! Oh Jakarta was like a dream. It took 30 hours door to door to get there. So we got there and it was like 2:30 in the morning their time without was like 1:30 In the afternoon our time so I was 44| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Jul/Aug

Festival Feature

wide awake and then I stayed up until 6am. When breakfast opened, I went downstairs, got some food and I ran into Jeff Lorber and ended up singing with him that following night. I stayed up for 60 hours and then I slept for 13 hours, then I had my show. That was incredible there were so many people who've never heard our music before, we're all of a sudden big fans. I got about 250 followers after that performance on Instagram and Facebook. That was cool because the crowd is a little younger than the crowds that we play for here, and so they're a little more active on social media. The cool thing was that it was very interesting because all these young people are loving jazz. I'm like, man, what's going on in America? (laughs) They like Doja Cat and all of that kind of music but they also appreciate the musicians playing music. SJM: How was the food? I heard you had goat tongue! Lindsey: Yeah, I wouldn’t go for it again! Keith (Slattery) liked it and said it was so tender and delicious. I’m like “ Tender? It was like chewing rubber. Not doing that again! SJM: So with the new album, I have to ask, why the title “Reasons?” Lindsey: So the original plan was that we were going to release two EPs. The first would be called “Library Lane” and the second “Moonlight Way.” That is because they were just such different times in my life, and they didn't belong on the same album. In my opinion back then I was like “no, these are not alike the songs are different. They're not alike they don't add up.” Looking at it now they Jul/Aug Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 45

actually do add up really well. But back then I had these two parts, and I was trying to figure out how to put them together and Reasons (the song) was probably the second or third to the last song that I wrote for the album. and that particular Part Two was a really profound experience in my life. So I thought that pulling the title from the second part was something I wanted to do. Also, ”Reasons” kind of sums up what this whole album is really about. It's like we all have the reasons that we do things we do and my whole experience that I describe on the album going through two different relationships in that one COVID year. I was a different person, like from the first song to the next song to the next song and I just had all these reasons of why I did things I did and I didn't even realize what they were at the time. There were so many reasons why things didn't work out with either one of them and then there were reasons that sent me into my growth. The album ends with the song “I'm OK” because that's genuinely how I feel now. Part One is more of like me talking about how I really like this person and I really want to try things out with them, while just being so naive and totally blind to the fact that he was just a single guy and wants to be that way and I just couldn't wrap my head around it. SJM: So I did my research, and I did see that Library Lane and Moonlight way are streets in Woodstock, right? Do the actual street names represent something?

Lindsey: Yes! Library Lane is where the first guy lives. A lot of the inspiration for these songs, you know, occurred when I was like hanging out on Library Lane. Moonlight Way was where I moved in the middle of the pandemic. And it was where I was living when this other person came into my 46| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Jul/Aug

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life So they just kind of symbolize, the different chapters of that time. I spent a lot of time on Library Lane and then when I stopped going there, I was just hanging out more at my house. SJM: Most artists at some point or another, have an album that is more personal in terms of what they talk about. What made you come to a realization that this would be the album where you would do that for yourself? Lindsey: I wonder if it was the combination of pandemic just scaring like the heck out of me and really rattling my cage and then just dating. The first song I wrote for the album is “I Wish You Well.” When I was writing I was just thinking like I want to write these words so the guy I dated knows what I'm talking about but at the same time no one else knows what I'm talking about,” you know what I mean? I wanted to use specific phrases that he said to me in “I Wish You Well.” He would always say that I was at a different pace than he was so I wrote the lyric “so how is this for a change of pace?” He’ sworn the same necklace on his neck for the last 20 years that I've known him and so that was always a thing. I would always like have this necklace with my fingers and I mention that in the song. It was weird because I felt like my songwriting all of a sudden was like “BAM! That's how you like go into like the heart and the soul of yourself and who you are.” I think that pre pandemic I was so far away from who I really am and was a little afraid to express things. I also haven't experienced anything like that. I really haven't had any real heartbreak or rejection was in relationships from, 14 to 17, 17 to 19 and then 21 to 30 and then 30 to 32. All of those relationships were with wonderful guys and now when I come out in the dating world and guys aren’t as wonderful. So I would definitely say it was a combination of, you know, experiences and COVID throwing me into a reality check. Jul/Aug Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 47

SJM: Those experiences come across musically as well because aside from “I Didn’t Mean It,” which was the first single, the rest of the album is different than what we have historically heard from you. Lindsey: I agree with you because I had a much bigger role in production this time, and extremely selective about songs. Keith probably sent me 50 ideas that I was like, “nope, nope, nope, “because I wanted to make an album that really represents who I am because, I kind of found out who I am during the pandemic. I realized that I was afraid to express myself a lot and be who I am. I think that I was, insecure a bit and I don't want to tell anyone how I really feel because they might not like me anymore. Or if I talk about, you know, the way I like someone putting their hands on me I've never done that before. While that's not really my style, this person made me want to express that part of me and I felt more comfortable just being that way. It's not even like my words are that risqué, you can go listen to a lot of pop songs for that. For me is a little risqué to talk about some- one putting their hands on me or, talking about laying down with someone. I never ever really do that because I feel like my image had been shaped to where you wouldn’t expect those kind of lyrics from me. It was like, I was putting out albums, which I'm very, very proud of. I look back and I see where I was at that point. I remember writing those songs and being like: “Okay, this is good, the music is good.”But a lot of like the love songs that I would write on certain album weren't even personal. It ’s more of an “inspired by” situa- tion, what I would do if someone cheated on me or what I would do if I had one night with some- one. I think of the song “One Last Time” from the “Love Inside” album. I never experienced wrote “I’m OK” and I’m happy. I’m single and I’m, happy, enjoying my life, my dog and 48| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Jul/Aug

my wonderful home that I get to live in.This is a great chapter of my life and I’m excited about the next chapter and excited about my next album! SJM: There’s definitely a confidence that you’ve gained and as you stated, due to the pandemic. I think all of us have learned something in these 2 years. Lindsey: I hope we did! I was working at a restaurant during the pandemic and people are like “where’s my salt and pepper?” and I just thought “where is your gratitude? I helped out a friend who opened a restaurant and it was great. I had to do something during that time but some people, I hope they learned something. SJM: But even working at the restaurant speaks to the confidence you gained. A lot of people wouldn’t do that, being an artist, just like a lot of people wouldn’t be that daring to put an album like this out. Some people may just go through the motions of putting albums out to fulfill a contract. But you are on your sixth album, you’ve built this fan base, and decided to go in a bit of a different direction musically. Are there any nerves there? Lindsey: It ’s funny because it is different but still who we are! You can put on a song and say “oh that ’s a Lindsey Webster song, that ’s Keith’s music. So while it is different, it still fits right in with what we’ve done, you know what I mean? Sonically, we didn't make a whole new sound and the music still sounds the same and just as consistent I just I feel like it's the perfect next chapter. And I do believe that because I feel in my bones that the more real, I can be with my lyrics and my music, the more people are gonna

resonate with it. All throughout these last few months, I've been playing it for people. when I get together at a party and people are like “Lindsey this is your best one yet! I think the same way. It ’s more R&B, and we have a big horn section on a couple songs. I know what you mean when you talk about it being different, but I just feel like it's who we are. Do you feel it ’s that different? SJM: I think it ’s different in the sense of, for example, there’s not another “A Love Before” on this album, and that ’s fine, because I like to see artists evolve, but you still know it ’s them. Like every Stevie wonder album is different, but you still know it ’s him. Lindsey: That's exactly right. When we were making “A Woman Like Me, and we sent it to the label they were like “ This is good. He's like, but we need different songs you guys should we did not put this out.” We said: “well we're putting it out,” and I look back now and see they wanted evolution, but we weren't ready to evolve. But it can be scary when you're like, “Okay, so now I'm gonna try something different. At one point somebody had suggested to me that I hire a band of old school jazz musicians and make, just a completely different type of album, a straight-ahead jazz album. To me that's a little bit too much of a calculated move. Not to mention I didn't really want to do that because I really like our sound and I'm so happy with our evolution SJM: As an artist, do you go into a recording process and say I want to recreate a previous album, or are you content with saying that this album isn’t like A Woman Like Me or Love Inside? Lindsey: I don’t think we really do that because with the song on the album, “Stay With Me,” Keith wrote that music back in 2016. I found it years later and I was like “oh my God, this is so good, that I sat down, and I all those words at once. It was just what I was trying to say and it was perfect 50| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Jul/Aug

When Keith and I write, we just don't really sit down and say “oh we’re going to write a song now. Keith is constantly writing song ideas and sending them to me. He’s probably written just thousands of little ditties and songs. Then sometimes I go back through and go through my phone n the car and hear something. He’ll title it by the date and say “July 16, 2018” and I’ll say, “ooh July 16, 2018, I’m going to write to you.” So I don’t sit down and write to make an album, I’ll just get songs until I think it ’s enough for a project. When I wrote the songs about my first relationship and when everything ended with him. I was like, “well, I have nothing more to say about that so I guess this will be an EP.” I just wanted it to be its own body of work. I wanted to Taylor Swift him! just really wanted it to be its own entity. So that's why I was thinking it would be an EP, and then life unfolded and then I got to experience that next relationship. That it all kind of came together. And I love how it's part one and part two, and it worked out even better than I really could have imagined. And I think a lot of that was just letting it unfold without really putting much thought into it. For this I told Keith that I wanted to incorporate more r&b into it. Not like today's r&b but more neo-soul. I wanted it to be us. leaning into that lane by adding programmed drums. Even though Lil Roberts plays live drums on the entire album we mixed loudly. programmed drums in there because it sounds more contemporary. As much as we don't like write songs to be for, certain genres, the truth of the matter is you can take the same song and just turn the drums up and maybe Heart and Soul will pick it up on Sirius XM. So I would be truthful If I said we're not trying to expand our market. Like you said, the album isn't in the smooth jazz lane necessarily. SJM: So in listening to the album, I’m still mad that 4AM is only an interlude, we need a full song! Jul/Aug Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 51

Lindsey: It is a full song, that ’s it! It ends on the perfect note, and it leaves things up to the imagination. SJM: It does, and it makes sense with the album being in two parts, and it ’s an interlude dividing the parts, it makes total sense. Lindsey: Isn’t that cool? I didn’t plan it that way. Originally, I was going to do something different. On “ Twin Flame” on this album there’s a verse where I’m doing “oohs” and “ahhs” and harmonies, and the interlude was going to be that. But I was sitting here one night late at night, and the interlude music for 4AM came on, and I wrote it in one sitting. I knew there were things that I wanted to express about that experience in the second relationship but at the time I didn’t know how. But then it just came right to me, and it says exactly what I wanted it to. It was a perfect segue from part one to part two, and the lyrics came out great and totally captured everything I felt about the beginning of that relationship. It just started with him calling me when he got back from Colorado and then we just couldn't stop talking and then he wanted to come pick you up and I just didn't know how to word all of that at first. SJM: You definitely were able to word it the right way and had great imagery with the lyrics. After the success of “I Didn’t Mean It ” have you thought about what the next single is going to be? Lindsey: We’re trying to figure it out. We thought it was going to be “Stay With Me” because the radio edit is on the album, but now the talk is putting “I’m OK” as the next single. I may have to put a veto on that one, because that is more like the 3rd or 4th single. I’m not finished with telling the story of the album yet. I want one of the angsty heartbreak songs to be the next single, or maybe “ Twin Flame” which is about being so much in 52| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Jul/Aug

love. Who knows? What would you choose? SJM: I would say either “Love of Your Life” or “Wish You Well.” For me its about the melody and “Love of Your Life” has a good melody and hook, along with the arrangements and vocals. Who would you say you inspires you from a melodic standpoint? Lindsey: Probably Mariah Carey. That's what I love most about Mariah. I love her voice and her instrument and how she carved melodies. I think that's why she had so many hits because she just was able to come up with these awesome beautiful hooks. But then there's Stevie Wonder, you know, she always says how Stevie Wonder inspires her. So, you know, Stevie is master of the melody and is an originator and I hear him in the back of my mind all the time when I'm writing. But it's really between those two. But I have other influences as well growing up. SJM: Who would you say is one influencer that people will be surprised that you listen to or consider as an influence. Lindsey: Probably Jeff Buckley, because his tone for me is just so awesome. He can hold those notes really long and I’ve learned from him how to understand breath control. SJM: Another thing I’ve noticed since the pandemic it seems like you’ve placed more of a priority on your health. Was that a direct result of the pandemic or has it been important all of your life or both? Lindsey: You know what, that's a good question because it was kind of forced upon me when I realized that in 2016 or early 2017, I was having back problems and that I was still in like my 20s. I would pull my back just from like pressing the brake in the car or just moving in a certain way. I wasn’t Jul/Aug Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 53

super active at that point. I would love to hike and go for walks, but I hadn't gotten into running so much at that point on a consistent basis. But with all the pain I was thinking “dang, I feel old!” And so I started seeing a physical therapist and massage therapist. At my first appointment with her she said “you're just so inflamed all over your body, it seems like you’ve got this chronic inflammation. I think you should really consider switching your diet.” And so I was finally ready to make changes. I've been told that before by other people that said that if you have physical problems. It's got to be something you're eating. I was not ready to hear no bread in my diet or I could not have cream in my coffee. And so I finally made the switch and I cut out dairy mostly and gluten at the same time. After that I just experienced so much less pain that it inspired me to be more active. I will say that at one point I was self-conscious about my appearance but now I’m doing it for myself and I’m happy about who I am and how I look. SJM: Do you have any pre-show rituals? I’ve heard of artists running before a show, is there anything that you do to get ready? Lindsey: No not really (laughs). I don’t need anything; I just like to be comfortable on stage. That might be my thing. I don’t have any elixirs or rituals. I run every day because that ’s who I am but just staying in the groove of my normal routine, that helps me now. SJM: Even though this album is releasing in September, what is next on the horizon. Lindsey: Well, we're shooting music videos. We’re in the process of storyboarding the ideas but we are definitely shooting a video for “Reasons.” We’re going to recreate the night that the guy in the second relationship and I met and started spending time together and then I'm going to 54| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Jul/Aug

recreate just little key moments of our relationship. The chorus is going to be me meditating on a beautiful mountain side because that was something between us that we that we had. We would enjoy waking up at dawn and going to meditate at sunrise. It was the perfect way to start the day. I’m excited to see how its going to come together! We have some CD release dates as well so we’ll be on tour for those. SJM: Last question. What is one thing people do not know about you, would be surprised to know about? Lindsey: Well, the thing that I always tell people when I get asked this question is that I was an EMT. Before I was a professional singer. I was studying cell and molecular biology. I just started that program in State University. I graduated on the Dean's list from my community college, and I was on the Student Senate, and I was extremely involved in college even though I dropped out of high school and got my GED so I could go to college early. I was failing all my classes in high school because I wouldn't go to school, but I did have A's and perfect scores in my orchestra and chorus. I also did landscaping for a few years when I was growing up. SJM: Is there anything from that time, or you being an EMT, that resonates with you today? Lindsey: Absolutely! Take care of people, be selfless and do your best to comfort others in dire need and pain. SJM: Thank you so much Lindsey, good luck on the new album and it was a pleasure! Lindsey: Thank you it was great!