By: Ron Wynn
Ambition and desire are two essential qualities for sustained success as a performer, while luck and timing are two other important attributes.
So far singer/songwriter Priscilla Ahn has demonstrated plenty of the former and enjoyed lots of the latter, as she’s currently one of the headline artists on the Hotel Café Tour, which comes to town tonight at the Exit/In.
She also has a solid new release A Good Day, which was issued in June by the famed Blue Note Records label. A single and video “Dream” are widely available online, and Ahn has been touring with labelmate Amos Lee.
“It’s such an amazing thing when people find out that you are on Blue Note Records,” Ahn said. “They have almost immediate respect for you as an artist because of that company’s long reputation. You still have to prove yourself once you get on stage, but the great thing is that so far they have been extremely supportive, asking for my input on everything, asking if there’s anything else they can do to help. They want to sell records, but they’re also interested in you as a person and a performer, and it’s a great feeling to be on that label.”
Though best known as one of the country’s premier jazz labels since its inception in 1939, over the past few years Blue Note has worked to expand its roster in other directions. It now includes multi-Grammy winner and big seller Norah Jones, critically acclaimed Lee, and soul legend Al Green among others.
Ahn fits in well with the company’s history of having skilled vocalist/instrumentalists on board. Ahn plays acoustic guitar and harmonica as well as piano, and has gotten raves for her prominent, melodically distinct voice, outstanding harmonica work and a live format that combines singing live while playing back her own recorded harmony lines.
Both “Dream,” with its lush arrangements and intimate lead, and other singles on the disc showcase a style rooted as much in folk and soft-rock as pop, though Ahn’s start in the music business was anything but conventional.
Ahn divided her childhood for years between Fort Stewart, Ga., and South Korea. After spending more than a decade in Pennsylvania, and getting her musical start playing coffee houses and open mikes in both the Reading and Philadelphia areas, Ahn decided to pack her bags and travel cross country to Los Angeles.
“I really had planned to go to college and study songwriting academically, but of all things it was a teacher who told me that I should start my career right away,” she said.
Indeed, it was a music professor who saw one of her live shows and was convinced she had the type of talent that needed to be developed in a concert setting rather than a classroom.
Following the move out west, Ahn came to a recording studio along with some friends to watch newly signed Blue Note performer Amos Lee cut his first EP. That led to Ahn getting an internship at the same studio, and subsequently a professional friendship with both Lee and his producer Barrie Maguire.
“Amos has been a champion on my behalf,” Ahn said. “He was the person who convinced me to keep on writing and singing back when it seemed like nothing was happening and he was also the person who really helped me at Blue Note, along with Barrie.”
Though she’s toured with Joshua Radin, Meiko, Brandi Carlile and the Cary Brothers, and is featured doing harmony vocals on Lee’s Supply and Demand disc, Ahn says she’s really enjoyed being on the Radio Café tour. The communal show that also includes Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, Erin McCarley, Brooke Fraser and Katie Herzig has given Ahn a chance to hear and observe other singer/songwriters in action, something she says has been quite valuable, even though they don’t really talk shop that much.”
“You really learn a lot from seeing other people performing both in front of you and behind you,” Ahn said. “But we haven’t really done that much talking about music when we’re on the road. It’s more just talking about life in general, something that certainly helps in terms of your writing. But you do get a chance to see what works and what doesn’t with your own show each night. It’s been one of the greatest learning experiences I’ve had so far in my career.”
With recent appearances on National Public Radio and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, plus having songs featured in the film Disturbia and on the television shows Knight Rider and Grey’s Anatomy, Ahn has made it out of the underground and squarely into the mainstream of popular music.
What: The Hotel Café Tour featuring Priscilla Ahn, Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, Erin McCarley, Brooke Fraser and Katie Herzig
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday
Where: The Exit/In, 2208 Elliston Place
Cost: $15
Info: 321-3340
