Rebecca Turner
Rebecca Turner is a country-folk-rock singer-songwriter formerly of New York and Los Angeles, now residing in Maplewood, NJ. She is releasing her third album The New Wrong Way November 6.
She had made 2 well-received albums: first, Land of My Baby in 2005, then Slowpokes in 2009. First influenced by 70s FM radio and 80s-era record stores, her musical influences have ranged over the years from Emmylou Harris to Liz Phair, from Doris Day to Tom Petty, from Goldfrapp to the Go-Gos. Writing for a third began almost immediately thereafter…then she was swept away by a dream-like, sometimes uncomfortable, but always interesting sea of time and family and cats and work. Years passed, songs came and went, but she kept performing…and writing…
Finally, a deadline of 2019 was set for a new album. With her husband and bassist Scott Anthony (Fond Farewells, Nu-Sonics), she started recording in winter at their home-based studio Storybook Sound with a solid cast of musical cohorts, such as the amazing Rich Feridun (Tammy Faye Starlite, Jimmy LaFave, Amelia White) and the stellar Sim Cain (Rollins Band, Chris Harford, Marc Ribot), as well as her longtime, since-college, not-so-secret weapon, harmony-singer Sue Raffman.
The project became less like their last efforts, typical modern albums (with much labor and many takes), and more of an old-school production with many stellar first takes and magical live ensemble moments. In March, they headed down to famed Ardent Studios in Memphis (Big Star, ZZ Top, Al Green) to add finishing touches and record two cover songs. They couldn’t be happier with the relaxed, eclectic, offbeat but always true-to-the heart results on The New Wrong Way.
The title refers to the 13 songs’ frequent theme: getting older and attempting to do things better, but like all humans, sometimes succeeding and sometimes not…but always trying, ‘cause why not? Music itself is a constant theme; characters in the songs include DJ Vin Scelsa, Anita O’Day, and the members of XTC.
Rebecca’s musical life doesn’t start and end with albums…for 10 years she’s hosted the Saturday Afternoon Song Swap, a songwriter’s performance series, with pal Deena Shoshkes of Cucumbers fame. She and Scott also keep busy with Storybook Studio, home to projects such as the mastering of recent Feelies’ albums, mixing a Richard Thompson documentary soundtrack, remixing unreleased recordings by the David Gilmour-produced band Unicorn. Thrilled with the amount of music going on in her home and radiating outwards across the Garden State, she has been known to say, “New Jersey is where it’s at.”
Rebecca performs sometimes with an electric band, more often with an acoustic-based trio or quartet, and occasionally solo.