New York City-based singer-songwriter Pamela Laws recently released her album, The Ones I Love, a vibrant collection of songs encompassing country, rock, and pop elements. Laws explains, “‘The Ones I Love’ is my fourth studio album. Its’ origins can be traced to the total lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, but listening, you’ll hear the coming out, the freer, deeper breaths of fresh air we have all begun living in 2023.”
Along with producer and co-writer Jack Petruzzelli, co-writer Adam Bernstein, and engineer Justin Guip, The Ones I Love features the talents of Larry Campbell, Cindy Cashdollar, Rich Pagano, Jon Graboff, and Shawn Pelton. Throughout her career, Laws has toured Europe and the U.S. and shared the stage with Weezer, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Counting Crows.
XS Noize caught up with Pamela Laws to discover the inspiration behind The Ones I Love, her definition of tone, and her creative process.
What three things can’t you live without?
Music, children and… New York City
My first foray into songwriting and performing was at around age two. In the family photos of me sitting on the floor playing and singing at the top of my lungs, the plastic toy grand piano was already tattered, chipped, and worn. I guess I started banging on that thing when I could sit up. My grandmother was a violinist, and my dad was a harmonica and flute player. They were super musical but chose more stable careers and hoped I would too… In my first year of college, I sat near the law books in the library when I studied, thinking I might go to law school. Everything went wrong that year. My life got back on track as soon as I went head-on, full force into music again.
When I moved to New York City from the Bay Area, I fell into a situation that had me mentoring young kids growing up on East 2nd Street between Ave A and B. As I was growing as a professional musician, making records, and performing and working as a session singer (learning the ropes in a changing industry), I was there as a sounding board for the kids living in the buildings on my block. It was truly inspirational to hear their stories and watch their growth.
Lastly, though I was born in Houston to parents who grew up on farms in rural Texas communities and then raised in California – first in San Francisco and then in the more rural outskirts of Sacramento and West Marin County, New York City is a place I can’t live without. Anything is possible here, really. It’s a cliche for a reason. It’s a place that inspires me to envision a truly authentic path to who I am.
What inspired your new album, The Ones I Love?
‘The Ones I Love’ was inspired by the stories that emerged when the world stopped during COVID. I released an EP last year called ‘High West.’ You hear the music I wrote in total lockdown on that collection of songs. I collaborated remotely on the ‘High West’ material, both on the writing and recording, with two extremely talented friends, Jack Petruzzelli and Adam Bernstein), who I’ve known in the music business for a long time. The songs featured on the ‘Ones I Love’ that I am releasing as the singles leading up to and corresponding with the release of the entire album are songs that emerged when the world began to open up. Music allowed me to continue moving forward even as the world was at a standstill. The stories were like a magic carpet for me – they had been building up, accumulating while I rushed around for the few years leading up to COVID. When COVID happened, the stories that would become songs could finally get my attention.
The stories came with force, probably due to how long my hectic life had made them wait. I hope to have learned to listen more to my inner world so that these stories get their day in the sun more regularly. Knock wood. But I have eight songs started for my next record – jotting down ideas as they come and developing them enough so that they retain the textures and modes of their original inception.
Please walk us through your mindset as you enter the studio to record the album.
I think I can speak for everyone involved in the recording of the album; we were intensely thrilled to be in the same room together, making music finally. The mindset was an absolute joy and intense focus. With this combo, we stayed true to the stories to their core. I had an incredible team. My main collaborator is Jack Petruzzelli. He is a producer and multi-instrumentalist, and a writer. Jack and I have worked together musically in many forms for a long time. He has an intense level of integrity and artistry. I know I can trust him to direct me and everyone else in ways that stay true to the songs. This gave me permission to be free creatively, knowing I had a wingman for my ideas. We partnered with Adam Bernstein on the writing. Adam is a sophisticated musician and a great writer. He brought a lot of nuance and finesse to the songs.
Justin Guip was the final core member of my team for the making of this album. He is a fantastic recording engineer and mixing engineer who has worked with Levon Helm on Levon’s last three records, winning a Grammy for each one. He also records with Larry Campbell for Larry and Teresa’s albums and many others. His studio, in the Hudson Valley, Milan Hill, is where we did the heavy lifting-recording of this album along with Jack Petruzzelli’s studio in the Hudson Valley, Little Pond.
How did you get started in music?
After pursuing music from early childhood, I begged for music lessons and began playing the piano at age six. I focused on singing, though and eventually focused on piano and guitar as a tool for writing my own songs. I sang in every choir I could find. I sang in acapella harmony groups through high school and college. I joined a rock band in college, and the rest is history! I entered the music business with a band I was in after singing backgrounds for The Counting Crows.
Where are you from?
I was born in Texas, raised in California, and am having my adult life in New York. I feel I am from all three places – I’m grateful for the rural farm background and the city streets that have made me who I am.
Did your hometown impact your sound?
My Texas roots, and my San Francisco early childhood and then West Marin wilderness teenhood have combined to influence my musical sound. The strings in the form of guitars and fiddles and lap steels and dobros that I gravitate towards are a direct influence of my childhood – I’m thinking of the rodeo two-step dances I frequented with my cousin and uncle and aunt in George West, Texas, and the golden grasses of the Northern California Coastal Mountains where I hiked. I hear the textures of these memories in my music. I hope everyone else does too. It’s a certain light and texture that I am drawn to due to its familiarity.
Which singers/musicians influenced your sound?
I’m writing this after seeing Kendrick Lamar perform at GOVBALL in New York City last night. He and John Prine are my most intense influences right now – the storytelling is hardcore with both these legends, and they inspire me to try to be better and more true all the time. My parents loved Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, and Kris Kristofferson. I am fortunate to have grown up in a house where singer-songwriters always came through the speakers. I love Rosanne Cash’s albums, Black Cadillac and River and a Thread – they were both guiding lights to me during the writing of my first songs during the lockdown.
What is your definition of tone? And is your tone evolving?
This is a great question. I think about tone a lot – vocal tone and guitar tone. I love truth and authenticity in tone. I think it’s one of the reasons I love live music so much. The human voice, body language, and energy are so true in a live music context. As we record, and voices and instruments go through equipment crucial to recording, we inevitably lose some of the original unique tones in everything. I love singers who are themselves vocally above and beyond anything else. I think, as humans, it’s our life journey to learn who we are and to become as true to that as we can be. Everyone has their own vocal tone. It’s like a fingerprint. The more we can bring our voices forward truthfully, the more distinctly we can tell our stories. My goal moving forward is to capture even more true tone in my recordings.
What inspires your writing? Do you draw inspiration from poems, music, TV, or other media?
My songwriting is inspired by human interactions and my observations, and the processing of all this. My internal mechanisms are constantly in the throes of doing, of taking in scenes from the life going on around me. Writing is a way for me to make sense of my experience in the world. I am inspired by everything life has to offer. I love poetry and have a collection – I love Louise Gluck’s ‘Faithful and Virtuous Night’ – it rocks my world!
What can you share about your writing process?
I keep my phone by my bed. Song ideas, melodies, and lines come to me as I am going to sleep or wake me up in the middle of the night or present themselves as I am waking. I record them all on my phone and go back to them. Sometimes they won’t let me put them down, and I go with them, hashing them out no matter what time of day or night, writing what comes to mind until the ideas slow, figuring out the chords that support the melodies, etc.
Which artists, in your opinion, are killing it right now?
Kendrick Lamar. Amanda Pearl Shires. Margo Price. Tyler the Creator. Every one of these artists is excavating deeply, and we are all learning in ways we don’t even know from listening to them.
How do you define success?
Getting the song true! It’s a journey. Also, being there for my live audience. I hope to be present and open and true so we can share the journey the music has in store for us. May sound idealistic or naive – I’m talking about the full range of experiences music offers – not just the merry and bright aspects. Music is a safe space to explore the darkness in life and gain an understanding of it so that, when it inevitably shows up, you have more strength to deal with it.
What can your fans look forward to over the next six months? Music videos? Live gigs? New material?
I will be making more videos!! I do love the visual arts, and I love representing my songs visually!!! I hope to be doing some exciting shows too. I hope some dates are in the works to be solidified in the next few days!! Please watch for the announcements on my Instagram or my website. I am gathering new song ideas together too. I would reckon I may have a new song to release in six months or so. It’s only the beginning for ‘THE ONES I LOVE.’ I intend to stay focused on playing these songs live for as many human beings gathered together as I can possibly find!!
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