Image: Leah Senior and band by Izzie Austin – supplied.
Author: Paul Watling
Victorian folk singer Leah Senior is going through a purple patch. She must surely be basking in the acclaim she received for her excellent fourth album The Music That I Make, released late last year. And on the back of that album Leah and her band recently completed their second US tour. By my calculations (based on her posters), the tour had the band performing in at least 15 cities. Today Leah has just stepped in the door from a meditation class at the local Buddhist centre back home in Victoria. I asked her about her trip to the US.
“It was great. I feel like we were fortunate to be able to go back and do the kind of tour that we did. It was super indie, like very small venues. I feel like doing it that way is kind of old-fashioned now; it’s hard. We certainly didn’t make any money. The people that came were just really beautiful and into it, I mean, it’s so special to connect with people who have listened to your music that far away, just special intimate shows. There were some really beautiful ones with amazing audiences. There were some terrible shows too, where not many people came at all. But you know, that’s kind of what you get.”
Every artist has a terrible show or two in their history but those gigs make the successes taste that much sweeter. And as if Leah’s recent musical triumphs aren’t enough, right now she’s poised to embark on an Australian tour opening for Wilco, those giants of Americana. I asked Leah how the Wilco tour came about. She revealed that a promoter who was a fan of her latest record may have had a hand in it.
“They probably just shared my album with Jeff Tweedy and put me forward as the support and he thankfully gave it the thumbs up. I love Wilco’s music and I feel grateful and really excited to meet them, it’s nice to have those really special things happen.”
‘Special things’ happening is fine and dandy but as we’ve come to know through the social media accounts of countless musicians, the working life of any troubadour is not all beer and skittles. A seemingly autobiographical lyric in Leah’s song and title track, ‘The Music That I Make’ reveals “I get put out by the music business / but I’m grateful to the people who come along and listen.” And the song goes on to say, “I’m more dedicated though I keep working my day job.” I asked Leah about balancing her art form with the more mundane responsibilities of paying the bills.
“It’s really hard to get the balance, there’s always sacrifices somewhere. I feel like it is just hard. I guess last year was the first year where I sort of tried to be more of a touring musician and it really took a lot out of me, like juggling the piano teaching plus touring, plus the general… I mean, it’s just getting financially so much harder, I think, to be a musician. That said, I feel fortunate that in that song, I wasn’t touring at the time, and I had this piano teaching job that doesn’t take up too much time. Sometimes I think having a day job is good because it allows you a feeling of freedom. You’re not totally investing everything, banking on people liking what you do. You’ve got your day job, and then you make your songs. And there’s something really pure about that that attracts me. But the reality is that I’m someone who would always rather be playing music and painting than teaching.”
When Leah played at the Great Club in Sydney last year, she mentioned onstage that she had been talking with a friend of hers recently who told her they wished they “could get back all the years they had devoted to music.” It was a mischievous thing for Leah to say as someone who was at the time on tour herself, standing on stage in front of an audience. The crowd was aware of the irony and many giggled. However, it does beg the question – exactly what is it that drives a touring songwriter to keep on keeping on in these times of notoriously low royalties and venue closures? I asked Leah what it is about writing songs and playing them for people that brings her joy? Why does she do it?
“Gosh, they’re the kind of questions I feel like I’m always asking myself – why I’m doing it. But at the same time, I’ve never thought I’m going to stop doing it. That would never cross my mind. In terms of the making side of things, making anything kind of calls you into the present and it’s just so satisfying. I feel like if I sit down for an hour there’s nothing better than just playing around and seeing what you can kind of pull out of nothing. I like it for that, the element of play and just sitting down and searching for melodies. But I guess it also serves as an important mode of self-expression as well, and a way of connecting my inner world to the outer world. Does that make sense?”
Since returning from the US, Leah has been able to re-direct her focus back to the bones of a songwriter’s creative output – the writing of actual songs.
“I’ve been writing every day for a little bit, for just like an hour or so. It feels really good because I got out of it a bit last year. It was out of balance. I was too much in all the other stuff, the release and playing shows and things. So it feels like such a relief to come back to my favourite part. So I’ve got lots and lots of songs, lots of new ones, enough definitely for an album. I’ve just started recording with Jesse [Williams, guitarist and keyboardist] in his new studio space, which has been really fun. So we’re just chipping away, doing a little bit every week. I’d be very keen to put out another record pretty soon, I feel like I’ve got a backlog. Sometimes it’s good to put them out and then there’s room for new stuff.”
When I saw Leah and her band play last year, I guesstimate that there must have been a couple of hundred people in the room and it was pin-drop quiet. Her songs and her performances are captivating so the fact that she has returned to the beginning of her creative cycle and written a new collection of songs will be music to the ears of many.
Catch Leah Senior supporting Wilco
- 12 Mar 2024 Tue Brisbane (Meanjin), QLD, Australia – Princess Theatre (Tickets)
- 13 Mar 2024 Wed Brisbane (Meanjin), QLD, Australia – Princess Theatre (Sold Out)
- 15 Mar 2024 Fri Canberra (Ngambri), ACT, Australia – Canberra Theatre (Tickets)
- 16 Mar 2024 Sat Melbourne (Naarm), VIC, Australia – The Forum (SOLD OUT)
- 17 Mar 2024 Sun Melbourne (Naarm), VIC, Australia – The Forum (SOLD OUT)
- 18 Mar 2024 Mon Melbourne (Naarm), VIC, Australia – The Forum (SOLD OUT)
- 22 Mar 2024 Fri Sydney (Eora), NSW, Australia – Enmore Theatre (Tickets)
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