Ana Popović may be headed back soon to perform in Milwaukee (Shank Hall, July 16) but lately she’s had Texas on her mind. The Serbian born and current Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and guitarist and her Texas-based bandmates decided to use their unexpected free time off the road work on song ideas.
Without the option last year to tour—something she’s done for over 20 years—Popović started writing new songs. “I was really enjoying writing, and I would get on Zoom and FaceTime call with my band, my rhythm section lives in Texas,” says Popović.
When restrictions eased, she traveled to Texas so they could work in person. They improvised in their makeshift studio, using a laptop to record ideas.
“It was really more about just enjoying creating music and shooting back and forth the ideas,” she says. “It was just one long pre-production. We had so much time for the pre-production, which is really nice because usually you don't have that much time. So, we would put down some ideas and then come back and record them.
“I'm all about good pre-production nowadays. You really need to. When it's time to get in the studio, the songs need to be ninety nine percent ready. That's how I like to work, anyhow. I just never had this much time as in the past year. But it was positive. You’ve got to take the positive things.”
New Material, New Sound
The hope is that the sessions will eventually lead to a new album, which would be her first since 2018. Like her past work, the new material in steeped in guitar-based blues rock, with forays into other styles such as funk and soul. But she feels it also adds new wrinkles to her sound.
“It's going to be very different than anything I've done before,” she says. “With every record I try to really touch on a new sound and still be true to what I am, which is the blues rock and funk, guitar driven music and that's the artist I am. So, there's just going to be a little twist to it. My audience knows that, and they expect that with every record. So, this one's going to be no different.”
Similarly, the new songs also are heavily influenced by her time in Texas, in the same way past albums were influenced by time living or recording in Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
“Every city I discover musically, I kind of like to take a little souvenir with me, which is always a CD,” says Popović. “I lived in Memphis for three years and I did something that was really inspired by Memphis, not only the sound, but also the way people live in the city. So, I have a record that every time I put it on, I'll get reminded of my life in Memphis, and then the same thing about Nashville and same thing about New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago.
“So now this one is really kind of a mirror of the life in Dallas and life in Texas, because Texas has incredible musicians in Houston and Austin and Dallas got its own special vibe. And I think that's going to be captured on this record for sure.”
Prior to her July 16 Milwaukee show, the Shepherd Express caught up with the Popović by phone to talk about her music and the return of live shows.
Throughout your career, you’ve jumped between blues rock and funk and soul. What do you like most about being able to jump between styles and sometimes merge them?
It is wonderful to give yourself freedom, to explore different styles of music. And I think that's what I’ve been doing ever since the beginning of my career on every record. So, it is just giving yourself the freedom to explore. And as long as that inspiration lasts, I think you're good as an artist.
And whilst that inspiration with new sound and searching for new and hearing that voice inside of you, that you haven't used before, that's the biggest motor. That’s the biggest motor you can always find that inside you. I mean, not always, I guess I don't know how long that lasts, but I’m always very happy when I find new spark. Like, okay, I hear something and wow, I did not touch that before, let me focus on that. And that's the biggest motor for me, bringing something new to the table.
Last year marked 20 years as a touring musician and you released a live album. What does that milestone mean to you, seeing how far you've come both professionally and geographically?
Well, it is a wonderful time to be, I put in 20 years of work, I never had a different job. And it's really what I just mentioned before, which is to keep still finding inspiration in different musical styles so you can renew yourself. I think it's very easy to be new and new on the scene, and everybody's excited to come see you, but I think it's a real success to have people keep coming back after so many records and buying records and still be able to bring something new to the table.
We were getting ready to celebrate 20 years and that’s the craziest time because we never had a slow year in 20 years. And we had a full agenda in 2020 when the pandemic hit so that also kind of put things in perspective of how fragile we are and how you shouldn’t be taking anything for granted.
Now I always had huge respect for my line of work because it got me through a lot of crises in different countries. I started from Serbia, went to Holland, got to the States, go through all kinds of political crisis and financial crisis and I always had a new agenda until pandemic hit. So, I think I had always huge respect for my line of work. I think musicians that didn't now have it because the audience is hungry and musicians are just so happy and just to be able to do what they love again, which is play live.
What do you like most about the live experience?
I like everything about it. People just ask me, “How do you do that, traveling so many hours per day?” I never had a problem with that because it is connected directly to what we’re going to do that night, which is we're going to make people happy and be able to have that exchange and energy and positivity. And it definitely pays off. And so, everything.
The moment I step in the van in the morning and stop at a coffee shop to get my coffee, to signing the merchandise after the show, which I love to do every night, because that’s my only chance I get to get really personal with my audience and ask or just answer some questions or just kind of get a feedback, how they feel about the show. Did they like the show? Did they like the new songs? Did they like the new versions of the songs? How do they like the rhythm section? What did they think of the horn parts?
This is how you can talk to people because you ask them to come over and over again and they pay tickets to see you and some of them literally, know me. Lots of them know me from seven years ago. They’ve been there on my first tour in the States. So, I'm very thankful for that and I want to get their feedback and I enjoy that meeting after the show very much, though the show's done and sometimes you’re kind of tired, but it gives me energy, you know? So, I love everything about it.
Speaking of your first tour, which you went on with Michael Hill, that experience and recording your debut album 20 years ago, led you to committing to being a professionally touring musician. How did those experiences give you confidence to make the decision?
It’s really my passion, this is where I want to go. I [had] studied art and fine arts and graphic design too. But Michael Hill, that was the first American tour. A long, long tour. Before that I played the space with my own band two times, then I fell in love with the America audience. I just really wanted to be on this side of the ocean as much as I could. Because this was the right place for blues and guitar music, but I still enjoy playing Europe and I love going back and forth and discovering new continents and playing new countries. But yeah, that's that same spark that was there 20 years ago, I feel I still have that feeling about touring and I certainly didn't change my mind in the meantime. I still enjoy what I do.
You’ve been living in Los Angeles since about 2015. Has your time living in Los Angeles influenced you musically?
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I recorded records here way before I was living here. Now we chose a very peaceful place in Los Angeles with no traffic hassle, which is Manhattan Beach. So, if anything it calms me down where I live, but I have experience with Los Angeles way before, when I was recording here years ago. And it's a very exciting place. It's an exciting place in every way and I love the mix of things you can do here, museums and high-end lifestyle and shopping and also just down to earth places. I love the beach. I love proximity to just relaxation and just kind of walk by the beach every morning for coffee and every evening for a walk with the family.
And it's just kind of as close as I got to the European style of living in the States. Because I lived in New Orleans, I lived in Memphis, I lived in Calabasas, which is a place just north of Los Angeles. And the Manhattan Beach is just as close as you're going to get because they’re days that I don't use my car. And when I get to the airport, it's a 10-minute Lyft ride. I don't have to bother nobody with getting me there and I haven't seen traffic in years, you know?
So that's the very positive things on Los Angeles. Because those are the biggest problems really, the bad air and traffic and we don't have any of that here, no fires, just a really down to earth, kind of living. And that's what reminded me of Amsterdam, because I lived in Amsterdam many years and that's what we had. We had a boat, and we never would use our car. We were on a bike or on a boat. And that was it. I think it's a really good contrast to my life on the road. And that's really what I need. I need to really detox from doing the rock star thing and coming back and just enjoying the everyday life.
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What do you like most about playing Milwaukee?
I just love going back. It’s always a good audience and people that have seen us before and they know the music and they come out and I love the chat afterwards. I know and recognize a lot of that audience from way before that. And it's just a good rocking crowd. They love good guitar, and they're open to different musical styles, and they love to hear blues, but they're okay with hearing everything else as well. So, it’s going to be a great show again.
