Artist Appreciation Post: Joan Armatrading

Last.fm

Joan Armatrading is a singer-songwriter I wish had a fraction of the attention thrown at all the Springsteens, Youngs, and Dylans of the world. She's remained off the grid (at least to US audiences) for most of her career, yet managed to produce a body of work worthy of the acclaim allotted her peers.

Not only is she an ace songwriter, Armatrading has an incredible smoky, soulful voice, and is wholly underrated as a guitarist.

Born in Basseterre on the island of St. Kitts and raised in the English city of Birmingham, she made a name for herself by the early-70s performing on John Peel's BBC show. A few years later she scored her first top ten, "Love and Affection," from her self-titled album. Here are a few of my favorites, starting with an amazing live version of "Down to Zero":

Joan Armatrading in American Songwriter

American Songwriter has a nice piece on Joan Armatrading talking about touring, songwriting, and creativity. Here are some of the highlights:

"When I’m touring I might get ideas and I might get a feeling I want to write, but when I write I need to be in a quiet place, and not distracted, and just on my own. On tour there’s too much moving around–you’re getting to the gig, and you’re doing the soundcheck, then you’re doing interviews, and your day is kind of busy…but I might write something down in a notebook, and then when I’m off the road, I just wait for the writing experiences to come to me."

"So I don’t just say “OK, today I’m gonna write.” It’s the other way around, dictated by the song. I’ll start to write, and stay with it for however long that’s working. If I’m in the mood for it for 15 minutes then that’s how long I’ll do it; if I’m in the mood for it from whenever I start ‘til 5:00 the next morning, then that’s how long I’ll do it."

"..my form of writer’s block is writing rubbish! I can always write, but to me they’re just not very good songs. But I must complete whatever it is I’ve started, so I don’t have lots of unfinished songs and stuff like that. I finish everything, even if it’s bad. And then once I finish it, I will just put it away."

Lost and Found (Video): Down To Zero by Joan Armatrading

Have you ever liked a song so much you wished you could live inside it forever? Yeah, it's that good. I was first hipped to Joan Armatrading via Bettye LaVette's cover of "Down To Zero." Loved the Lavette version -- it's rougher and more bluesy than the original -- but when I finally heard Joan's version, I was blown away. This is a fantastic live version shot at a German TV station more than twenty years ago.