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Throughout her musical life, Laura Boswell has bounced back and forth between the classical and folk worlds. And while the music on the new Place to Be<\/i> EP \u2013 the Asheville musician\u2019s third release \u2013 is firmly rooted in the folk idiom, those and other musical traditions inform her work.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy training began with classical piano when I was a kid,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThen, I kind of renounced it.\u201d After seven years of piano training, she switched to guitar, and redirected her musical focus. \u201cI was an angsty teenager just sitting in my room learning these songs,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI began learning the songs that I was listening to on the radio; I got really into electric guitar and was really into classic rock like Jimi Hendrix.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time she started at Guilford College in Greensboro, Boswell had begun to find a way forward that combined elements of all the musical traditions she had been absorbing. After changing her major \u201ca number of times,\u201d she settled on classical music performance, building on her piano foundation. \u201cBut I also decided to play one of my songs on guitar during my audition.\u201d She immersed herself in classical guitar, but was also drawn to more contemporary music. \u201cAnd I started writing more music,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Boswell had already been composing, but her earlier material was simpler. \u201cBefore I started playing classical guitar, my music was more bluesy and funky,\u201d she says. \u201cStudying classical guitar really advanced my technique \u2013 especially right-hand fingerwork \u2013 and that influenced my songwriting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another leap forward came as she discovered the music of Nick Drake. \u201cHe [wrote] in a lot of alternate tunings,\u201d Boswell says. \u201cSo I was taking the tunings that he plays in, and tying in my classical technique to combine those elements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Classical music would continue to exert influence on Boswell\u2019s emerging style. \u201cI got to see so much live music \u2013 chamber music, orchestral music \u2013 and I was being exposed to more complex harmonies,\u201d She says. And she began to apply those qualities to her own songs. \u201cWhen I\u2019d write something, there were times where I\u2019d be like, \u2018That\u2019s a little bit bland. What can I do to make this a bit more interesting or unusual harmonically?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The complex yet accessible nature is at the core of Boswell\u2019s three-song Place to Be<\/i> EP. The set includes two originals \u2013 \u201cLoss\u201d and \u201cIdaho to Montana (Loving Softly)\u201d \u2013 and the title track, a reading of a song Drake wrote and recorded for his 1972 album Pink Moon<\/i>.<\/p>\n
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Boswell\u2019s \u201cLoss\u201d features the sound of a mourning dove, clearly heard in the mix. \u201cI draw a lot of inspiration \u2013 for songwriting and in my life \u2013 from the natural world,\u201d she explains. And, she adds, \u201cI just really love birds.\u201d She lived for several years on Maui, and would be awoken each day by the gentle sound of mourning doves.<\/p>\n