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That haunted voice that we hear constantly these days belongs to Billie Holiday. More than six decades after her death, the legendary singer is living a moment of culture: she is the subject of a recent documentary (from director James Erskine Billie) and a soon-to-be-released biopic (director Lee Daniels’ The United States vs. Billie Holiday, starring Andra Day, released later this month) and “Strange Fruit,” the anti-lynching protest song she popularized in the late 1930s, has been remade, sampled and relaunched. One of his songs even appeared on HBO. Guardians.
Perhaps the most unexpected holiday nod comes from seasoned indie rocker Mr. Ward. Ward has covered Holiday before, but his recent Think about spring takes the appreciation a step further. A nearly complete remake of Holiday’s Lady in satin, the last album she released during her lifetime (and number 317 on RSrecent list of the top 500 albums), Think about spring strip Holiday’s music. Instead of the small jazz bands or orchestration she relied on, Mr. Ward analyzes songs purely based on her vocals and guitars, making them even darker than before.
As he tells it RSWard had worked hard on the album for years, but like many musicians, he found himself with plenty of free time last year in the midst of a pandemic. A scheduled world tour was canceled and he ended up ending up Think about spring at home in his longtime Portland and Los Angeles home, where he lives part-time. Whenever he gets to tour again, he hopes to perform some of the holiday songs live.
When you were making this album, did you know that Holiday was in the middle of a new appreciation?
It’s a complete coincidence [laughs]. I can’t understand how it all happened. The stars are in line with my record, I guess. I’m excited about this [Daniels] movie coming out.
Why do you think people are newly drawn to her?
What she’s accomplished as a woman, let alone as an African American woman, is an endless source of inspiration for the generation you are in. And add to that, a controversial song like “Strange Fruit” – that makes sense to me. so inspiring for this generation and the future.
Yes, “Strange Fruit” is suddenly and sadly relevant.
I don’t even believe it ever existed. Thinking that people went out and bought it [in the Thirties] is an incredible story. I can not believe.
It was even released on an independent record company owned by Billy Crystal’s uncle after his label, Columbia, got nervous.
Oh, yeah, that’s kinda crazy. The plot thickens!
When was the first time you heard his music?
It got under my skin at a very young age, at a very impressionable time when I was thinking about making records. When I was about 15, I started playing guitar. I thought she was just making records with these little jazz combos, and that was pretty, you know, “happy” music. And then about five or six years later I heard Lady in satin in a mall. I had no idea what it was. His voice sounded like a distorted electric guitar associated with these very beautiful string arrangements. It was like something I had never heard before. The whole experience was a bit like a dream. But that’s what really got me hooked on her.
What else drew you to this album?
Back then I was learning Beatles songs and got into John Fahey and discovered Joni Mitchell and Sonic Youth and other chords. So I had a very open mind. But I guess what really got me hooked was that there was something that sounded broken in the production, in the song, in the vocals. Her voice was unlike any other. She broke the rules every time she performed these melodies. The way she played with the beat and the way she played with the keys of the songs is not something that no one has really been able to do. It is very difficult to fold the notes while still making it believable and emotional. I know she took a lot of inspiration from Louis Armstrong’s trumpet playing, and she’s another idol of mine, so maybe that was an extension of all of those things that drew me. I love to think of her as a kid, imitating some of her solos.
Have you ever seen Diana Ross movie Lady sings the blues?
I read the book Billie Holiday wrote, but I haven’t seen the whole movie. It didn’t really interest me. Sometimes when you watch a movie it takes some of the magic out of the record. Every now and then that increases your interest in music instead of turning it off, which is what the Tina Turner movie did. I’m not usually a big bio guy, but would love to see this again.
You first covered one of his songs, “I’m a Fool to Want You”, as the instrumental of your album Mataining time in 2009.
When I heard his version of this song, I wanted to try and record a version where you see the distorted electric guitar as the voice. It ended up being one of our favorite songs to play live. The response from the crowd was really interesting. So I decided to sit down and arrange all the songs on this album [Lady in Satin] that I had been listened to hundreds of times. And because of the situation of the year and the lack of touring, I was able to finish the arrangements and all the recordings and put everything together to release it.
Considering you’ve already released a new album last spring, I had a feeling this one was made during lockdown.
Yes, I’ve been arranging these songs for 10 years, I’ve been recording them for a few years. I experimented with different chords to get the songs to suit my voice. I was just trying my best to take my favorite parts of Ray Ellis arrangements and it took a long time. There is a song called “For Heaven’s Sake” that kept lining up with other versions I had heard. So I tried another tweak, and it just got a lot easier to deconstruct and build from scratch. So I finished all that, then the graphics, the mastering and everything that was done this year.
Have you ever considered arrangements for a full band?
I knew I wanted to strip him from the start. I’ve been doing this ever since I started making records, whether it’s David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” or Christmas carols. And it fits in well with 2020, because you can do it at home.
What did you learn about Billie Holiday and her music by immersing yourself in it this way?
I realized how experimental she was as a singer. When you sit down and try to play his vocal parts on the piano or guitar, there are small, intentional or unintentional trips in and out of the key to the song. This, to me, is endless education on how she can do this. For her, everything came from a place of emotion. It is impossible to copy this, but very easy to learn from it.
How much of his appeal is attributed to his tragic life?
For me that only increases the interest, you just have to learn it. The more you hear about his story, you know, it’s similar to the Robert Johnson story to me. Talent and emotion are the hook that draws you in, then once you step into the mystery and drama of their lives, you are there for the long haul.
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