Feature: Tara MacLean Decodes ‘Live in My Hometown’
How does 'Live in My Hometown' reflect your musical journey and growth as an artist?
’Live in My Hometown’ is a rare professional live recording made during a concert in my hometown of PEI. I had just written a best-selling memoir about my life in music called "Song of the Sparrow", and there had been an accompanying album that went with it. I wanted to create a live show that had film vignettes of stories from the book, beautiful versions of the songs with incredible musicians, and a live audience of people who knew me and had been along for the personal and artistic ride. It was an incredible moment in my life, when everything had come together so I could present a show on the biggest and most nostalgic stage for me in Charlottetown. It was also the room where my parents met in 1969. So to be there, singing about love, heartbreak, unity and passion was a milestone moment.
Can you share any memorable experiences or stories from performing this EP live?
Having Senator Brian Francis in the audience was so special. He had been a part of co-writing the song Beneath the Path of Crows, a song written for the Indigenous people of Atlantic Canada (Mi'kma'ki). He did a dedication and a blessing before the show and that was incredibly special for me.
Can you talk about any standout tracks on 'Live in My Hometown' and what makes them special to you?
I really love “London Bridge,” because I wrote it for my new love. It was also written at the beginning of a new adventure of coming to the UK to sing and now here I am, touring and making a new album in London.
What has been the most memorable experience or achievement in your music career so far?
It's hard to choose a moment, but singing in the Conan O'Brien show was pretty huge. My cameo as myself in the movie Coyote Ugly. When I opened for the Cure and hearing that Robert Smith said I was his new favourite artist really blew my mind.
How do live performances and audience reactions influence the way you create music?
The stage is where I feel the most comfortable in my life, and so songwriting and recording for me are a means to finding my way back to the stage. There is nothing like it. It's a rush and a connection and most importantly an intimacy. If the audience can feel a song I've written, and I can feel they've been moved, then I feel like I have served my life's purpose. If I sing a song onstage and it doesn't really land, and it's happened a lot, then the song usually doesn't make the record. Live performance has to be honest. It's vulnerable. I don't even think of it as performing. It's opening. And every show I try to open more deeply and reveal more of myself, hoping it gives the listeners permission to let down their armour and open too. So many artists have done that for me and I walk away changed. It's medicine that goes both ways. If it works, then we recognize ourselves in the other, we see that we are not separate and it creates empathy, which we need so desperately in this world.