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Interview with Kim Baker by Bekah Barnett Fall 1999 |
| “Baker plays guitar,
writes the songs and sings the leads in a throaty, riveting, alto; long time friend and musical partner Krista Enos, also a guitarist, adds soaring soprano harmonies. Their music is lyric oriented folk-rock reminiscent of Joni Mitchell in it’s comple
xity and scope, with a rock edge a la the Indigo Girls.” “My music, she said, is honest.” “I have always been drawn to lyrical music with a strong rock beat. I think the words and the music can com e together in an almost hypnotic way, which can be a very healing and powerful force. I feel so grateful to be an artist everyday of my life. I feel that it’s a gift from a higher source and I hope that I can reach people or make some positive differ ence in the world.” |
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There is a lot to be said about Kim Baker. She is a singer/songwriter with a higher goal. More important to her than even having great music is spreading her message to a large fan base. An artist with her own label which she created, Earthwater Records, Baker is an independent woman with a strong vision for what she wants, and slowly but surely, she’s getting it. Her new album On Her Dream was released recently and has been well received by folks here in the Bay Area, and people as far away as Belgium. She is currently working on her next album, and focusing on touring as much as possible. Baker chose to create her own record label after working at Polygram for a year and seeing up close the way the music industry really worked. After seeing many artists mistreated by the label and the extreme focus on money, she realized her music would come out better with an independent label. This also gives her control over her own sound and marketing. She gets to make all the choices and can produce her songs the way she wants them to sound, not the way some recor d company thinks they will sell the best. She’s been influenced by artists she grew up with like The Go-go’s, Led Zeppelin, and Bob Dylan, and is also heavily influence by other woman singer-songwriters like Sarah McLaughlin, Shawn Colv in, Joni Mitchel, Melissa Etheridge, Ani DiFranco and The Indigo Girls, who she considers her biggest influence. This preference is obvious when you consider that her favorite sound is women’s voices singing harmonies together. She’s studied eve rything from Jazz to classical and believes that the more variety of music one studies the more their work will improve. Kim began taking piano when she was nine, and says at 15 she “just knew” she’d be doing music for li fe. She knew she wanted to spend her life playing it and trying her hardest to reach people. “If something is inside of you, it’s your dream, you know you’re going to keep doing it.” says Baker. Her favorite experiences are when a fan finds a lot of meaning in her songs and is sincerely and greatly moved by what she’s sung. She is amazed and thankful for the loyalty of her fans, and one of her main goals is to communicate to them her message of creating a common thread through all humankind. She sees music as a big responsibility that should not be taken lightly. It’s an incredible force she can wield as a musician, and she believes it’s important for every musician to find the deeper meaning behind wh at they’re doing. “It’s important to figure out why you’re doing music and the reasons behind it.” she says. Kim hopes her music can be a positive, healing force in a world that is quite often not a positive and healing place. 47;Every time I turn on the news ...this person killed their wife or raped their child.... relationships between people need to be healed.” Baker says with much feeling in her voice. She hopes her music can help to do that. She is often inspired by p ersonal issues and also larger world issues. She sees both as very important and connected with one another. To her, even songs about huge world issues, are also about personal relationships on some level, and vice-versa. She’s seen her songs shift f rom very personal pieces focused on getting out anger, to a positive and uplifting space stressing the larger picture and her larger goal: to communicate the interconnectedness of everyone. During her performances, she is constantly focusing on the best w ay she can communicate the message of her song and get it across to the audience effectively. While at Mills Baker worked hard to create a space for her and her music. At the time she was there only classical style music was taught and performed in the music department. She fought to learn Joni Mitchel songs in her voice lessons, and to do her thesis concert on the music she had written. She broke down a lot of barriers in the department and made it possible for Mills’ definition o f music to change and broaden. At one visit to Mills after she’d graduated, to do a concert, a student came up to her and let her know that she’d studied Joni Mitchel in one of her courses, and all thanks to Baker’s tenacity. It was also at Mills that Baker met her long time collaborator and friend Krista Enos. Enos sings beautiful harmonies to Baker’s music, and the two tour as a duo. Though Baker would like to have an entire band to play with regularly, it’s be en hard to keep people together, so for now she’s sticking to the duo and the advice of her friend and co-producer Cookie Morenco, who says it’s just easier that way, and you can always hire the rest of the instruments for recording and touring if need be. Kim sets aside 12 to 15 hours a week for practicing. When she is inspired to write a song she’s learned to lock the door, unplug the phone and give herself over to the music until the song is finished. Music is a very s piritual thing to her, and she’s learned the hard way that songs you’re writing in your head can be lost if you don’t get them down right away. Of the Bay Area Baker comments that it’s an area where it’s difficu lt to form a close knit music community because it is so spread out. She speaks wistfully of the close community she became a part of when she spent time in Atlanta, Georgia during her junior year at Mills College. She grew close with a group of talented musicians in the area while she was there. This group included Carolyn Aikin, who collaborates with Kim on a few tracks of her album, and whom Kim comments is “one of the most soulful vocalists and incredible guitar players of today’s music scen e.” It was actually seeing Aikin perform that persuaded Baker to stay in Georgia, when she’d been thinking about going back to Oakland and wondering if it had been right decision to go. Baker says of her own music that it has a lyrical folky style with the words being a focus, but also has a rock edge and a driving drumbeat. I say her music is beautiful, meaningful, touching and healing. The words make you think, Krista Enos’ harmonies are absolutely beautiful, and there is clearly a deep understanding and respect for the sound of music as well as the greater purpose and power of music. You should pick up a CD or take a quick listen at her web site, www.earthwaterrecords.com and join the growing fan base supporting this e xciting young woman, who is an important independent recording artist. |