Tara Holloway

I’m standing in the mens’ restroom, camera in hand, inside Momo’s nightclub in Austin, TX. The door is open, exposing the lavatory to the narrow walk-through that serves as a passage from the outside deck into the club’s booth area.

I don’t really care that some guy is in there wondering what I’m taking pictures of. It’s the only way I can get a full-length shot of the girl standing on the other side of the doorway, up against the red painted brick wall opposite me. She’s holding a Corona. I’m glad she’s game for one last set of pictures. We’ve been shooting at a different location for a couple of hours already, and I know she didn’t expect to continue the shoot at the club.  I tell her this is the last picture, “I promise.”

Just a few minutes before, Tara Holloway was taking it all in as we sat on the steps of Momo’s deck. From there, you’ve got a relatively good view of the stage and can hear the music without it being on top of you. Kacy Crowley was doing a solo acoustic set for the small late-afternoon crowd. Holloway sat jotting notes into her red Moleskine. “I’m not copying her lyrics. Really, I’m not!,” she assured me with a playful grin.

And she has no reason to. Like Crowley, Holloway writes from a very honest and open place. It’s so real you can feel it. It’s so good, you want to hear it over and over.

You have a great laugh. It’s one of the first things people think of when they think of you.

It’s something that people can’t help but to mock actually! hahHAhHa! They mean it affectionately, but it happens alot where I laugh, and then someone else does the whole Count Dracula thing. Is that what I sound like? Laughing is the best thing ever… hahahHAhhahha!

Your voice is often compared to some of the great female vocalists for its strength, texture, and heartfelt power? You know what I’m talking about. How do you feel about those comparisons?

I feel GREAT about those comparisons! Thanks Ed! Women in music will easily always be compared to one another, and really all music is like that. People want to name it, when they hear it. It’s just about communicating a feeling, when you compare. I do it!

You mentioned Howlin Wolf as a major influence. Can you talk about that. How were you introduced to his music?

Vinyl. That’s how i got into Howlin Wolf and alot of my early influences come from my Daddio’s record collection. I really got into the blues when I was 16 [1996]. It didn’t matter that none of my friends ever thought twice about a turntable, I did.

My dad was always giving me shit for listening to everything on vinyl. He figures it’s a saving grace to record it on tape, the first listen. But I had a love for dropping that needle and listening to the crackles. Still do.

Yeah my dad would come home after a Saturday morning out record hunting, he’d open my door a hair (I was always still sleeping by noon, when he’d be arriving home with what gold he found), and he’d yell from the kitchen, so excited, “Kid! Listen to this!” And he’d be blasting the new records so I could hear.

Where do you play locally, in Ottawa? What’s that like?

I play EVERYWHERE in Ottawa. There are some really great legendary places to play in and around Ottawa. Each with a different vibe. Honestly, some gigs are just to keep my head above water. These are called “cover gigs” hahahHHA! But the original shows are special.

The Avant Garde Bar, a Russian, below ground level vodka bar, is a gentle force on it’s own. Zaphod’s has LOTS of history, lots of bands, always a great gig. Wakefield, on the Quebec side, but only a twenty-minute drive frum downtown Ottawa, is one of my favorite places to play. An amazing vibe, wow.

The crowds in Ottawa are very used to being able to see live music every night of the week, so it can be a struggle to get ‘em out. But when they do it’s a trip. I have a great little fan base in Ottawa, not to mention a killer support system, I’ll always call that home.

You’re doing some stuff in the U.S. Can you tell me about all that?

Yes, as long as you don’t have any friends in the border guard hahHHAhHahhahAHHA! I’ve been coming out to Los Angeles for a couple years now, making my record with Dave Way. That’s shaping up! And it’s been a good run of gigs now everytime I’m here. And now I’m expanding a little… Nashville, Austin.. havin’ a ball tryin’ to do this thing, south of the [Canadian] border.

How did you meet up with Dave Way? Is this turning out to be something that might go somewhere? A CD perhaps? Fame, fortune?

A CD fer sure! And hopefully that goes somewhere! We met through a mutual friend, Andy Sturmer (Jellyfish) who I was going to make this record with. Dave had heard a couple tracks and said, “Yes! I’ll engineer it!” Eventually Andy got so busy, with his permission Dave and I started working together. It’s been a match made in heaven. I hope more people will hear what we’ve been cooking up, real soon.

What’s the personal life like right now?

The personal life is an up and down thing, especially with the way I’ve been living the last few years. I have ALOT of kickass friends, most of whom are in the same field. Are there any people NOT doing music, ‘cuz i rarely meet them?!

My extended family has been a backbone for me up until recently. You know how it goes, lack of communication leads to a breakdown of relationships. But that’s all for the best, too! I have had alot of heartbreak in the last four years, which gives me songs to write, something to say, and a stronger sense of self.

Recently I’ve met another artist, and this is a whole new ballgame for me. I miss alot of normal life stuff that goes on, ‘cuz i’m away alot, but now i have a partner who is creative like me, and understands what drives me. I miss him! But that’s the way it goes at this point in my career; missing certain things, to create opportunities elsewhere.

What is your music about? As if we didn’t know it’s about you, but in your own words, please.

Oh shit, you can tell. eh? hahaHAh! When I was a teenager, I started writing verbatim, about the things I felt, thought, and saw around me. I tricked myself into thinking that since it’s in a song, nobody will know fer sure if it’s about me. Well that way of writing REALLY stuck with me. I have to be brave, because I wouldn’t write about anything at all if I didn’t write about the truth. It’s a big ol’ habit at this point. It’s just like, oh yeah, gonna divulge that now, okay! Here we go! hahahhahHAHAHa!

Look for new Tara Holloway music, and her current touring schedule, on her MySpace page.