Denver Magazine / July 2009 / Acoustic Soul

 Email  Print  Feed

Acoustic Soul

Denver-born Grammy Award–winning India.Arie comes home to perform at this month’s Mile High Music Festival.

Her Denver roots run deep. Her father, Ralph Simpson, began his professional basketball career with the ABA’s Denver Rockets in 1970. India was born five years later; she attended Cimarron Elementary in Aurora before heading to Horizon Middle School. Her high school years were split between Atlanta and Denver, but she ultimately graduated from Rangeview High School before attending the Savannah College of Art and Design. Now that she’s an international superstar, life rarely affords time for visits, but a closeness with her family and an affinity for the Mile High City mean she gets back here as often as possible. We recently caught up with the golden-throated singer-songwriter, who was enjoying a rare moment of downtime in Maui while finishing the video for her next single off of Testimony: Volume 2, Love & Politics.

Denver Magazine: Can you tell us a little about the new video?

India.Arie: It’s for the song “Therapy” with photographer David LaChapelle as the director. He owns a farm here on Maui with his own settings and lighting. We used some of the natural beauty of Hawaii, but not in the typical way. It’s more like his photos with pretty things in the background, but it’s really about the person and what the picture is saying. I’m not just on the beach.

DM: You’ll be here in July for the Mile High Music Festival. When was the last time you were in Denver?

IA: Well, the last time I was in Denver was for my sister’s high school graduation in May. She and my other half-sister still live there with my dad. But the last time I performed in Denver was a while ago, maybe 2003. It was outside somewhere.

DM: Red Rocks?

IA: No, I haven’t played at Red Rocks yet. I can’t believe they haven’t asked me. I’m dying to. My mom used to go to concerts at Red Rocks, and I always wanted to go. I still have never seen it.

DM: What should the Mile High audience expect from an India.Arie performance?

IA: The thing to expect at my shows is to always expect something different. What people don’t really know is that my shows are very improvised. There are some structured moments, but most aren’t. One thing is for sure: I’m going to be singing and playing my guitar along with some other instruments. I have a really cool band. There are seven of us. I have my amazing background singers, and the way we blend vocally is a really big part of the show for me. My mission statement is to spread love, healing, and peace through the power of music, and I talk about that a lot — those familiar concepts of loving each other and yourself. Some people think that’s really flower child, but I think it’s fundamental.

DM: How does a girl from Denver, Colorado become so worldy?

IA: I’m in a relaxed place, and I don’t know if I would say it this way tomorrow, but I don’t think that being born in Colorado has anything to do with what I was born to do. I think I was born to explore and born to write and communicate with people whether it was through music or writing. Colorado just happened to be my jumping-off point. I love the way that it shaped my music, but I think it was just one facet of who I was supposed to be. I’m not limited. My soul is expansive like everyone else’s.

DM: How did Colorado shape your music?

IA: I think being born in Colorado made me a much more open-minded musician. In Colorado, it wasn’t all about black radio at all. I grew up listening to whoever was popular — Lionel Richie, Air Supply, Stevie Nicks, and Cyndi Lauper. I think that starting off in a place that was much different than expected for a young black person was important. Growing up, I idolized James Taylor. I used to imagine with a racquetball racquet that I was James Taylor. I would close my eyes and want to be him. What I love about this album the most is that I’ve been able, for the first time, to express all the ways I see myself musically. In the past, it was more narrow because I was told I needed to cater to a certain radio market. This album I was free from any expectations or trying to fit into some mold of what a black artist is.

DM: You strike a nice balance between a weighty message and uplifting music on Volume 2. How do you see your music impacting listeners in 2009?

IA: I try to seek a balance of being honest without being negative. If I’m going to sing something over and over again, I want it to be my truth, but I don’t want to travel the world singing things that don’t feel good. I try to be very specific about how I feel but also incorporate my take on the human condition, so it’s not just about me but about what I see going on with people in general. I want people to see themselves in the record whether it’s 2009 or 2012. Even if there are things in the album that speak to where we are politically in America right now, I hope it’s about the human condition more than anything. I want people to see themselves in the energy of music and to hear something that’s comforting to them on a human level whatever year it is.

DM: Two songs on the album, “Long Goodbye” and “A Beautiful Day,” were co-written with your mother, Joyce Simpson. What was it like to work with your mother on a record?

IA: One of the things I like about those two songs is how rewarding it is for her to be doing something she’s always wanted to do on a professional level. She never went completely professional. She had a lot of opportunities, but she chose a different path. I don’t always write songs with my mother technically, but I always write songs with my mother emotionally. She has a lot of input and not because she’s my momma. It’s because she’s a great songwriter.

DM: When should we expect Testimony: Volume 3?

IA: I don’t think there will be a Volume 3, but you can never say never. I have an idea of what I want my next album to sound like. I keep getting closer and closer to my ideal album, and I see it being less orchestrated and more natural. I do want to put something out in the next year or two though. I have all these songs that I love, and I want them to come out before I get tired of them.