Downtown Austin
Thanks Raoul!
RECEIVED Wed., Sept. 2, 2020
Raoul,
I appreciate the wonderful review of my new record, Fallen Angel. I have been influenced by those great singers you compared me to, but more than having just listened to them, I have lived those experiences. I won't tell you about my crazy childhood growing up on an airbase in SC, but I will tell you about being turned on to Jimi Hendrix at 13 after having explored tons of records my older sister had gotten from her college DJ boyfriend. That turned me on to the Band and the Allman Brothers, just because of the beautiful album covers that intrigued me.
That summer, my mom let me and my sister go to the First Atlanta Pop Festival on our way to visit Grandma in Alabama. Life changing! As we pulled away in the '66 baby blue Mustang, I asked Mom to change the radio from George Jones to the rock station, and landed on Steppenwolf "Born to Be WIld" as we passed a cute young hitchhiker. I knew my life had changed. I started hitchhiking everywhere. Across the country 3 times+! Even made it to the first Rainbow Gathering. At the second Atlanta Pop Festival, I was accidentally dosed and missed my favorite band, the Allman Brothers, as I started hallucinating too much to see. I blacked out, I guess. I missed Janis Joplin that day, and everything, until I woke up at the front of the stage to Hendrix playing the "Star Spangled Banner.” I went to a progressive "Free" school, marched on Washington against the war in Vietnam, got arrested for being a peaceful protester, came back to regular high school and started an underground newspaper, dropped out of high school to live on an island, went to college after taking the GED, refused a music scholarship, sang and worked my way through college singing in a house band. I stayed in SC playing in a band until I moved to Nashville after a broken marriage to a sax player. Nashville was a great adventure, but the best part was going to LA to record at Brian Ahern's studio with Fred Tacket, Albert Lee, and David Lindley - still unreleased. Those tapes even got stuck in Willie's studio during the IRS shutdown. I came to Austin on a road trip, stopping at Antone's for Albert Collins. I met my son's dad that night. I went back to Nashville and sublet my apartment to Walter Hyatt and came back to Austin for the music, the water, the salsa, and the radio! When I met you while we were both working at the Chronicle, I must have seemed like a very conservative young girl. I was a single mom who had moved here in a van with a 6 week old baby. So the van life is not new to me when I read last week's article [“#VanLife Isn’t Just a Trend Anymore. It’s a Tether to Home,” Features, Aug 21]. I skipped my SC years where I recorded the Spirituals of the lower South Carolina islands and sang in a Black church choir. My years in Austin have been very good to me. Thank you for listening to me and for such a great review. Yes, I have definitely listened and loved those great singers you mentioned me channelling, but you didn't nail the one I actually studied, Bonnie Raitt. But truthfully, I just try to dig deep into my soul and sing from there. My soulful singing comes from that place where heart break, hard times and lots of hope live; deep inside of me. It's my voice you are hearing, and my heart that is writing the songs. Thank you to the Chronicle and for all you do for Austin.
I appreciate the wonderful review of my new record, Fallen Angel. I have been influenced by those great singers you compared me to, but more than having just listened to them, I have lived those experiences. I won't tell you about my crazy childhood growing up on an airbase in SC, but I will tell you about being turned on to Jimi Hendrix at 13 after having explored tons of records my older sister had gotten from her college DJ boyfriend. That turned me on to the Band and the Allman Brothers, just because of the beautiful album covers that intrigued me.
That summer, my mom let me and my sister go to the First Atlanta Pop Festival on our way to visit Grandma in Alabama. Life changing! As we pulled away in the '66 baby blue Mustang, I asked Mom to change the radio from George Jones to the rock station, and landed on Steppenwolf "Born to Be WIld" as we passed a cute young hitchhiker. I knew my life had changed. I started hitchhiking everywhere. Across the country 3 times+! Even made it to the first Rainbow Gathering. At the second Atlanta Pop Festival, I was accidentally dosed and missed my favorite band, the Allman Brothers, as I started hallucinating too much to see. I blacked out, I guess. I missed Janis Joplin that day, and everything, until I woke up at the front of the stage to Hendrix playing the "Star Spangled Banner.” I went to a progressive "Free" school, marched on Washington against the war in Vietnam, got arrested for being a peaceful protester, came back to regular high school and started an underground newspaper, dropped out of high school to live on an island, went to college after taking the GED, refused a music scholarship, sang and worked my way through college singing in a house band. I stayed in SC playing in a band until I moved to Nashville after a broken marriage to a sax player. Nashville was a great adventure, but the best part was going to LA to record at Brian Ahern's studio with Fred Tacket, Albert Lee, and David Lindley - still unreleased. Those tapes even got stuck in Willie's studio during the IRS shutdown. I came to Austin on a road trip, stopping at Antone's for Albert Collins. I met my son's dad that night. I went back to Nashville and sublet my apartment to Walter Hyatt and came back to Austin for the music, the water, the salsa, and the radio! When I met you while we were both working at the Chronicle, I must have seemed like a very conservative young girl. I was a single mom who had moved here in a van with a 6 week old baby. So the van life is not new to me when I read last week's article [“#VanLife Isn’t Just a Trend Anymore. It’s a Tether to Home,” Features, Aug 21]. I skipped my SC years where I recorded the Spirituals of the lower South Carolina islands and sang in a Black church choir. My years in Austin have been very good to me. Thank you for listening to me and for such a great review. Yes, I have definitely listened and loved those great singers you mentioned me channelling, but you didn't nail the one I actually studied, Bonnie Raitt. But truthfully, I just try to dig deep into my soul and sing from there. My soulful singing comes from that place where heart break, hard times and lots of hope live; deep inside of me. It's my voice you are hearing, and my heart that is writing the songs. Thank you to the Chronicle and for all you do for Austin.
Peace, Leeann Atherton
Music Editor Raoul Hernandez replies: Dangit, I had Bonnie Raitt written down too!