Ali Sperry, when faced with a year of trauma, racial reckoning, and downright worldwide existential crisis, did what she has always done — turned inward and wrote songs that channeled, mirrored and ultimately DISTILLED those cultural currents — distilled is the operative word, here, as she and her producer, Jamie Dick, wisely avoid long-form folk indulgence for streamlined contours and razor hooks that feel more rock/pop than folk, and are fairly begging for a decent car stereo and an open road.
Sperry’s new song, “Cool Under Pressure,” has a bubbly beat with a deadly serious message. The song describes a woman who is effortlessly cool, one we can all look up to, embodying the qualities of someone who takes no guff while ensuring the world is a better place for everyone.
Ali was inspired by watching the US Vice Presidential debate–“Kamala Harris was a force to be reckoned with that night and made a deep impact on me,” she explains. “I stirred with pride to be a woman, pride that there was such a woman as her ready for the task of leadership, and honestly the most pride I had felt in our country for a long while. She was graceful and commanding, intelligent and elegantly self-assured. The way she calmly fought for her time to speak, insisted on it, was almost shocking to me, as it was an example too-seldom seen.”
Of course, as Attorney General of California, Harris famously denied the rights of incarcerated trans woman, used her office to threaten parents of truant students that they would send their kids to foster care (something she supposedly thought was hilarious!), and was embroiled in a number of controversies regarding evidence tampering. So I would like to capture the energy of “Cool Under Pressure” and dedicate it to women who are truly deserving of the song’s homage. Kamala Harris is not.
Anyway, Sperry spoke with Adobe & Teardrops about other inspirations: namely, music and how she draws strength from touring.
Explain the title of your album.
In Front Of Us is the last song on the record–the sentiment that brings this 40 minute journey to a close. That phrase felt like an album title as it both implies the question “what is in front of us?” and also serves as a needed reminder “all we have is what’s in front of us right now.” This album was born in a time of incredible uncertainty. We were all stuck at home. People were getting sick and dying in droves all over the world. Political tensions were riding as high as I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. We hardly knew what to expect from one day to the next. There was no planning ahead for next week or next month or even next year. All we could do was hold close to our loved ones (many of whom we could only hold close in our hearts, not physically) and garden and write songs and bake sourdough and literally take our lives a single day at a time. In the song “In Front Of Us,” Andrew (Combs) and I tried to capture the feeling of loving someone so much and knowing that someday you will lose that person or they will lose you, and the sense of impending pain that comes with knowing that. It is an inevitability of loving and committing your heart to someone. And the only remedy for that pain is to simply love with your whole self in the moment that you are in right now–all the love we have, here in front of us. This idea is a reminder to me when I feel scared of what’s ahead–to simply look at and feel the beauty of what is present right now and to know, in a way, that that is what is real.
Tell us about the first song that you wrote.
The first proper song I wrote (there were many improvised, unstructured song-like things that came before this one) was when I was seven years old and I can still sing it. The lyrics went:
It’s in the sky, I see it fly
It’s in the air, everywhere
I know that love has come, peace has come
A song has come to everyone
Lighting the light of everyone everywhere
It’s in the sky, it’s in the air
I see it fly, it’s everywhere
It’s in the sky, it’s in the sky
Haha, a real tell that my parents were teachers of Transcendental Meditation that their daughter was singing about world peace at age seven. And I actually performed the song at the Golden Domes in Fairfield, Iowa at a big assembly of meditators.
Recent release you can’t stop listening to?
Some friends gave me “The Pet Parade” by Fruit Bats for my birthday this past year and that record stays in heavy rotation over here. I never tire of it and find something new to be inspired by with each listen. Some of my other go-tos lately as far as recent releases have been Dori Freeman’s “Ten Thousand Roses”, Kathleen Edwards’ “Total Freedom”, Jill Andrews’ “Thirties”, Allison Russell’s “Outside Child” and Bonny Light Horsemen’s debut record. I also am looking forward to many releases in 2022. Several Nashville songwriter favorites of mine have records coming out this year, like Erin Rae, Nicki Bluhm, Michaela Anne and Andrew Combs, to name just a few. I think 2022 is going to be rich with great music as many of us were quietly creating pandemic babies during these past couple years and are ready to let them loose.
What have you missed about touring?
There are many things I love about touring–the excitement of being in new places, the joy of getting to see friends and family that live in the various cities, the challenge of upping my game and delivering a great show each time. But one thing that I love that stands out most is the single-mindedness of it. When I am at home, I am a woman of many hats with many jobs to do. Luckily, all of which I enjoy, but I do sometimes feel scattered and even spread thin. It is so refreshing to me to be on the road and have but one role–simply to get to the next show and make it the best performance I’ve got in me. There’s nothing extraneous. It is a sense of purpose that makes me feel both capable and also very alive. Like my whole being is working together to do just this one job and do it well.
How do you manage having a good time at shows, but also trying to stay mentally and physically fit?
This one has evolved over the last ten years since my first tour, and will surely always continue to evolve. I remember fondly my very first tour ever and I remember us eating pizza for dinner for the first three nights in a row. Also when you’re starting out and not making much money from gigs, drinking all the free drinks really seems like a significant part of your paycheck and something that needs to be taken advantage of. As I’ve gotten older, the drinking and the eating of crap has become less appealing and certainly less sustainable. I’ve become more aware of what I personally need to feel good and to perform my best. It pretty much boils down to ample sleep, eating enough vegetables, moving my body, and finding moments of alone time. There is so much social and energetic output on tour and I have become better over the years at carving out quiet moments where I don’t need to be “on” or communicating, I can just be with myself and re-charge. So I guess the way I approach it is to know my limits and pursue balance.