I was delighted to see Francesca Lee at a recent show, where I got caught up on her latest projects and work with Bread & Roses— an organization that brings music to institutionalized and otherwise isolated-from-the-mainstream populations. Francesca’s having a great year–in addition to being passionate about her job, one of her songs was included on the BayVibes Songwriters Unplugged CDs, and she recently released a lovely video of her tune ‘Paper Hearts.’
Q: How do you describe your music? Do you remember writing your first song?
FL: I often describe my music as introspective alt/indie pop. My inspiration for songs comes from the emotions I feel, my observations and personal experience. The songs can be played with a full band or with just me on piano or guitar. I have a poetic style of a folk singer, a voice that has a lot of jazz influence but a very contemporary pop aspect in my music. I started writing music when I was 15 years old, and [my first song] was titled “Fade Away.” I recorded my first demo in Texas in an analog recording studio with a country session band. One of the band members compared my style at the time to Joni Mitchell. That was such a wonderful compliment to hear at the age of fifteen years old and it’s probably those words that planted the seed in me.
Deborah Crooks (www.DeborahCrooks.com) is a writer, performing songwriter and recording artist based in San Francisco whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant.
Singing about faith, love and loss, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing and world travel while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. She released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003 produced by Roberta Donnay, which caught the attention of Rocker Girl Magazine, selecting it for the RockerGirl Discoveries Cd. In 2007, she teamed up with local producer Ben Bernstein to complete “Turn It All Red” Ep, followed by 2008’s “Adding Water to the Ashes” CD, and a second full-length CD “2010. She’s currently working on a third CD to be released in 2013.
Deborah’s many performance credits include an appearance at the 2006 Millennium Music Conference, the RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, IndieGrrl, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, the Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest, MacWorld 2010, Far West Fest and many other venues and events. She toured the Northwest as part “Indie Abundance Music, Money & Mindfulness” (2009) with two other Bay Area artists, and followed up with “The Great Idea Tour of the Southwest in March 2010 with Jean Mazzei.
