And now for a Tiny Desert Concert — that’s when local bands come into the KJZZ studios to play a couple songs for us and talk a bit about the music.
Today we hear The SunPunchers. The band is known for creating a blend of warm, open Americana music, with gorgeous vocal harmonies, full guitar sounds, and a delicate pedal steel.
The Show spoke with the band’s frontwoman Betsy Ganz, and they started by talking about their latest album “Levity,” and its very personal roots.
Full conversation
BETSY GANZ: Several of the songs on this record were a result of feelings of grief from my mother's passing and managing that grief in a constructive way through writing and creating melodies and trying to have some quasi-closure or compartmentalization of strong feelings.
STEVE GOLDSTEIN: My wife recently lost her mother, and it has been, for her, trying to find that creative outlet has been a struggle. So, I wonder how long did that take you to feel like you could get to that?
GANZ: Well, I think what I ended up doing when my mother passed, it was … May 2013, … and I think I just rolled right into a new job and rolled into playing our first EP kind of constructive grieving just, you know, don't stop because the centrifugal force is holding you together and when you slow down, that's when the wheels fall off.
So, I had some songs that were done before, but the, but the, the name of the album is “Levity” – that was written at the height of asking for help from the universe to try to, try to get through a very tough time. You know, humor saves, and I have to say that there's, there's much humor and hope in these songs and levity.
GOLDSTEIN: Well, right, because levity to some would say, that sounds ironic based on what some of the topics are. If I may, did it get any more emotional playing on stage knowing where these songs emanated from?
GANZ: It does and it did and I struggled with a tremendous performance phobia for a long time, but I'll tell you, I, I've worked on that, and for a record release show I kind of channeled channeled the energy from my mother for, for that show and kind of identified a place in that room where I could look and assume she'd be there.
So it's helped performance-wise, it's helped me kind of just get a handle on moving through this period of my life and loss.
GOLDSTEIN: Betsy, why don't you tell us a little bit about the song we're gonna hear?
GANZ: Yes, the song is called “Levity.” It's the title song to our most recent record. We released May 20 of this year.
[PERFORMANCE]
GOLDSTEIN: Musicians can be musicians for their whole lives, obviously. Does that experience, not what we talked about specifically related to grief, but just life experience. How has that affected the way you go about music and frankly about the types of folks you wanna play with?
GANZ: Well, I, I think I just didn't have the confidence or the, to move forward on the singing and the playing because I truly, truly had stage fright, debilitating stage fright. And I was in the mortgage banking business, commercial mortgage banking, and I, you know, had a gray suit and a gold Nissan and a taupe cubicle, right?
And then I'd cry in the parking lot, knowing that I probably wanted to sing and do something with my music. I learned how to sing some Cole Porter songs and I picked up my guitar and through a friend of mine named Wendy White who's an artist and illustrator, we would go on Fridays and work on each of our respective creative outlets and we'd go to open mics and I was, I couldn't, my hands were shaking, my feet were shaking.
And so I went to a doctor and got some beta blockers so from wearing a gray suit to being able to go onto a stage. It took drugs, Steve.
GOLDSTEIN: You're not the first to say that, but different kinds of drugs.
GANZ: Yeah, yeah, just beta blockers, but, but they helped a lot, and we were in a recession and my job pretty much went away and I wanted to show our kids, you have to face your biggest fear in your, in your life in order to move forward.
GOLDSTEIN: One song I wanna ask you about specifically is “Brown Metal Box,” because based on the title, people can read into that and based on what we've talked about with grief related to your mother. Is it that straightforward as far as what it's about?
GANZ: I have found in my journeys and by talking to people and having my own experiences that sometimes when people pass and you're not ready to let them go. Their physical remains will be stashed away in the most arbitrary places to be found by an unassuming third party and yes, so that song is about a particular challenge of really letting somebody go finally.
GOLDSTEIN: Well, why don't you play it for us?
[PERFORMANCE]
You can watch The SunPuncher's performance in KJZZ's studios below, and check out their album on Bandcamp.
If you’re in a band or know of one you’d like to hear on air, send us a note at [email protected].
