Her place in the sun
Folk rocker Tristan Prettyman is finding her voice with songs that echo her positive vibe
By Steve Morse, Globe Staff | September 30, 2005
Cynicism saturates the pop scene, but that's not what makes Tristan Prettyman tick. The 23-year-old singer grew up a San Diego surfer who discovered folk music -- especially the self-empowering Ani DiFranco -- and her upbeat attitude is becoming something of a trademark.
Prettyman popped into view two years ago with ''The Love EP," which has now been followed by a new radio hit titled ''Love Love Love." It's not hard to see where she's coming from.
''I'm definitely a very hopeful person," she states. ''Whenever a friend is down or someone is lonely or says that 'My best friend just got engaged and I'm really sad,' I want to rush to them and say, 'It's going to be OK. You just have to look at what you have. It's really not so bad.' "
Prettyman, who opens for the John Butler Trio at the Somerville Theatre on Sunday, is in love herself -- with fellow San Diego singer/surfer Jason Mraz, a rising star with whom she shares a bond that lies beyond the stress of the record industry.
''I've been lucky to date somebody who understands what you're doing," says Prettyman. ''And we're a lot alike. We don't like to go out and be seen or go to clubs. When we're home, we wind up surfing, or he comes over to my parents' house and we watch surf videos with them. And we're both very focused, and he keeps me very driven."
The lovebirds sing together on the aptly named track ''Shy That Way," from Prettyman's new CD, ''Twentythree." It's a seductive folk-rock tune in which she sings such lines as ''Maybe if you were daring, you'd stop staring" and he answers, ''The way you keep your distance is keeping my interest."
''We went on tour in 2003," she recalls. ''At that point we were just so shy. We liked each other but didn't know how to deal with it. We didn't really talk to each other. Then we wrote this song, and it was the most that we had said to each other ever. And that became our song. When we toured together, we would always play it."
Prettyman says it was an accident that she ever discovered folk rock.
''My mom was a workout instructor, so I'd hear Janet Jackson remixes and Bobby Brown and all this other pop music of the '80s and '90s," she says. ''But then my brother's friend gave me a tape of Ani DiFranco when I was 15, and I was shocked by what I heard. I went, 'What the heck is this?' [DiFranco] succeeded because she worked her [butt] off. So I went about it the same way. . . . And this is where the 'Twentythree' comes in. I thought, 'If I don't get anywhere by the time I'm 23, then I'm just going to play music for fun and I'm going to go back to school.' "
Prettyman hasn't had to do that. In fact, Virgin Records signed her and put her in the studio with an all-star band, including guitarist Jesse Harris and bassist Lee Alexander (both have played with Norah Jones) and drummer Matt Johnson, who was on Jeff Buckley's ''Grace" album and now tours with Rufus Wainwright. Their contributions to ''Twentythree" are immense, but the showcase is Prettyman, whose earnest vocals and funky acoustic rhythms recall DiFranco, and whose smoothness invokes Jewel.
Prettyman hopes to form a touring band later this year, but right now she's hitting the road by herself. ''My band is me and my guitar and my capo so far," she says, laughing.
MFA shows: The Museum of Fine Arts has booked four new shows at its Remis Auditorium: the Fiery Furnaces on Oct. 12, Lhasa on Oct. 13, the Dirty Three on Oct. 16, and the Mountain Goats on Oct. 27. For tickets, call 617-369-3306 or go to mfa.org/concerts.
Bits and pieces: Arena-rock never dies. Aerosmith just signed to play TD Banknorth Garden Nov. 12 (tickets on sale today at 11 a.m.), and Bon Jovi stops there Dec. 9 (on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m.). . . . Expect Brad Paisley and Sara Evans to be at the Tsongas Arena Dec. 9 (ticket details to come). . . . Me'shell Ndegeocello is at the Berklee Performance Center Nov. 3. Tickets on sale now. . . . The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble is at Johnny D's on Thursday to benefit the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. . . . New residencies in October -- Damone at the Middle East Upstairs on Mondays, Everyday Visuals at the Lizard Lounge on Tuesdays (with Bleu opening this week), and Gato Malo (led by Shaun Wortis) at the Abbey Lounge on Tuesdays to benefit New Orleans musicians. . . . Tonight: Los Lonely Boys at Avalon, Waltham and the Dents at Harpers Ferry, Porcupine Tree and Robert Fripp at the Berklee Performance Center, and Ellis Paul at Sanders Theatre to benefit the homeless. . . . Tomorrow: Aqualung and Tracy Bonham at the Paradise, Alien Ant Farm at Axis, Tom Glynn and the Blizzard of '78 at Johnny D's, Stonecrazy at the Malden VFW to highlight Black Rose Records' 25th anniversary, and Eilen Jewell at the Nameless Coffeehouse. |
