Boston’s Female and Non-Binary Singer-Songwriters During COVID-19

By Ciara McKay | December 9, 2020 |

The moment this project was introduced, I knew I wanted to study the community of female and non-binary singer-songwriters of Boston. A community that I had come to learn was rich in history and wide in range, after only six months of personally living in Boston. I’m from Asbury Park, NJ, which will quickly ring a bell to many avid music fans as a hotspot for singer-songwriter talent. Growing up with this community back home, I was intrigued to learn about the singer-songwriter community in Boston. I studied online livestream forums and social media, interviewed award-winning Boston-based singer-songwriters, and took classes on songwriting. All to learn as much as possible and to truly immerse myself into the community from a socially cautious and respectful perspective. Due to the major shifts in the music industry caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, some aspects of the community have drastically changed, and some have barely been phased. My studies deepened my love for the talent of songwriting, my knowledge of the Boston female and non-binary singer-songwriter community, and gave me a whole new perspective on what it means to be a female or non-binary singer-songwriter in 2020.

In January of 2020, I met Melissa Ferrick when she was my professor at Northeastern University for the class “Intro to Music Industry”. Ferrick quickly became someone I looked up to as she is a very successful singer-songwriter, and I confided in her as a mentor and supporter. In September of 2020, I began her class “Advanced Songwriting”, and I will admit it that the class surprised me. Through this participant observation, I began to form a whole new appreciation for the skill, craftsmanship, and talent it takes to write a good song. With my Breedlove guitar pictured here (that my parents gifted to me when I was 13) I spent many hours during the week - sometimes until the middle of the night - trying to write a song. The small class quickly grew a tight bond, and every class period we had time for peer review. This proved to be enormously beneficial, and very realistic since co-writing is so prevalent in the profession of songwriting. In this picture of my songwriting journal you can see the notes my peers gave me written in the margins, as well as a line they advised me to cut out. I learned how to analyze songs in both normal and abnormal structures, and I appreciated the art and emotion that we had shared with each other. The unifying trait I've found among singer-songwriters is that they are so incredibly in touch with their thoughts and emotions, which is very inspiring. Getting the chance to learn from Ferrick, who is at the top of her game in the industry, was truly a special moment for me. I felt I had unlocked this whole other part of my mind that artist’s tap into for creativity. Now wherever I hear a witty phrase or hear a stranger humming as I walk past, I immediately think of how that would work as a lyric or melody. In the end, I believe this newly gained perspective on the art of songwriting allowed me to form a deeper understanding of the singer-songwriter community.

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In my interview with Melissa Ferrick, she noted that the club venues in Boston are where many incredibly important - and sometimes career changing connections - are made. These venues are where an artist can meet other artists and possible future managers, form connections with fans, and build residencies for their practice. Without these venues to network amongst the community, an essential part of an artist’s development in the Boston local scene has been taken away. Here is a short audio clip from my interview with Melissa Ferrick where she spoke about how connections are typically made pre-covid for Boston singer-songwriters.

One of the most heartwarming snippets from our conversation was when I asked Ferrick how the Boston community of singer-songwriters forms personal connections, to which she responded:

I go to Passim probably once a month when it’s open, to see other people play. I constantly am sending students there to try to get jobs. I’m calling Matt all the time, like emailing Matt and being like ‘you should hire this person, this person’s great’ or ‘she would be great, look out for her, she’s playing an open mic’ and I mean so we’re all doing that with Matt and I do it with Billy at Lizard. The different people that you know are the different bookers and that’s how you hand it off, that’s how you hand it down to the next generation of writers, and then when you start playing open mics or whatever and then you're touring and then some opening act or someone will send you their music and you’ll say you should go play so and so let me email him for you, it’s the same thing. (Personal Interview, 16 November 2020)

This culture of helping each other out has continued throughout the Pandemic, and has just been shifted on line. In fact, many believe that the forced use of technology right now has only made the community closer and more in touch with each other. Ferrick also noted that Zoom has allowed for many more co-writing sessions, something new and serendipitous to come from this pandemic. In Boston, the singer-songwriter scene was so heavily based around live performances and venues that it is fortunate so many people have been able to adapt to the new online setting.

Unfortunately, famous venues such as the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge have temporarily shut down for the pandemic, a now vacant space that used to be vibrant with life, music, and community. This venue and its community is very important in the Boston scene for singer-songwriters, as I learned in “Madonna, Moby, Raves and Rodman: An Oral History of the Lizard Lounge” (Hicks 2020). Meanwhile, various other venues around Boston have adapted to the pandemic by hosting online live streams that anyone can tune into from home. However, this doesn’t replace the face to face connections that could be made at live shows or the income for the artist. The loss of live entertainment has undoubtedly been the biggest hit to the music industry since March when the coronavirus pandemic began. Live streams seemed like a temporary band-aid adjustment at the beginning, but it has since become obvious that this provides a new form of entertainment for many fans. Those who might not enjoy being around crowds of people, or those who live far from a venue on the tour stop can still pay for a ticket and watch the show from the comfort of their home. It seems as though the format of live-streaming shows will remain a common form of entertainment even when the pandemic has settled down and live entertainment is back.

I watched Melissa Ferrick’s live stream performance with Signature Sounds, a record label based out of Northampton, MA, famous for The Parlor Room. Their up-to-date website provides a list of upcoming performances to tune into, and ways that you can donate to support the artists and the company. Other venues around Boston, such as the famous Passimin Cambridge, have a similar online set up. I watched a few of their nightly livestreams, and I found that a lot of artists will link or say their social media or emails, so that people watching can easily reach out to them. This is one way that they have adapted to the new online environment, and continue to meet each other virtually.

One of the Passim live streams I particularly enjoyed was Lori McKenna performing for her latest album release. Although she is widely known in Nashville for her tremendous success as a singer-songwriter, she is a Massachusetts native and has played Passim a number of times.  Here is a video and audio clip from Passim’s live stream of Lori McKenna performing for the release of her album The Balladeer. The full footage can be found in the live stream archives on Passim’s website.

In one of the scholarly works I read, the author stated that “A successful performance must be carefully constructed, from the choice and order of specific songs to the facial expressions and gestures of the performer.” (Haworth 2013: 9) While I do agree that it is important for a performer to be prepared and comfortable on the stage, I also think the best part of live-stream these days is to hear the artist share random anecdotes and make it feel more natural live rather than rehearsed.

Since the community has been forced to move to online platforms, I began to research for specific platforms where artists interact. The majority of connections are now happening on social media such as Facebook and Instagram, as well as outside websites. I am a part of a Facebook group called “Girls Behind the Rock Show” (link to their website) which women and gender-nonconforming people in the music industry can be a part of network. In this group there are a variety of opportunities and many different conversations every day. Some examples of posts in the group are an artist asking for help or guidance on their specific projects, or an A&R director posting a new job opening at their company. These connections are vital, and it is very encouraging to see the community stay alive through forums such as GBTRS.

Through this Facebook group, I also found out about Amethyst panels, which are every other Wednesday night featuring 5-8 female and non-binary people from all different aspects of the music industry to answer questions about their job and talk about their experiences. After the panel, a google sheets form is sent out where everyone in attendance can list their information, like their skills, social media links, and what they are hoping to do in the industry. As seen by this screenshot of my Linkedin messages, every time after I would attend one of these sessions and put down my information, I suddenly had between 15-25 requests on my socials or emails in my inbox. It was uplifting to find that during this pandemic, the singer-songwriter community is still making connections that will last for long after the virus.

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Social media has become the life-support of the music industry, as it is the most-effective way for a singer-songwriter to promote themselves during COVID-19. It is now a necessary skill in 2020 for an artist to have if they want to gain exposure and grow their career. It is no surprise that I found similar sentiments in my research with scholarly articles such as “IT-Enabled Broadcasting in Social Media: An Empirical Study of Artists’ Activities and Music Sales”  reinforcing how much of an impact social media is having on sales and on an artist’s entire career. Social media has presented an entirely new way for artist’s to market and advertise their music and brand (Chen, De, Hu, 2015). Currently, social media is how many artists are maintaining relevance without having the ability to perform live.

In another one of the journals I read, titled “Indie empowerment: New media strategies and the rise of the independent artist” by Simone K Harris, she often references the growing strength of the independent singer-songwriter community and indie artist community at large. Even though this was written before the global coronavirus pandemic began, I have recently seen many of the same continued themes that she references. She described independent artists in this new digital era of the music industry as artists who “utilize new media strategies (fan base management, social networking, digital distribution, etc.) to exploit their musical product in ways tailored to their brand’s message, while creating fresh and profitable approaches to the business of music” (Harris 2010: 18). This new strength behind the independent artist, which often coincides with the singer-songwriter, is another reason why I strongly believe that Boston’s community of singer-songwriters will find a way to survive this pandemic.

I am confident that Boston’s female and non-binary singer-songwriter community will return from the COVID-19 pandemic even stronger than before. These incredible musicians have managed to adapt to a music industry without live shows, and have found new ways to build their audience and hone their craft. My research and participation in the community was truly eye-opening to how hard these singer-songwriters work, and how much they adore what they do - even when it is not easy. It is hard to simply wrap up how fantastically complex this group is, at the heart and soul of the industry is the art these singer-songwriters create. An always evolving and ever-necessary community, the female and non-binary singer-songwriters of Boston, MA, will not let even a global pandemic stop them.

Acknowledgments:

I would now like to thank everyone who made this project possible. First, Melissa Ferrick, for always sharing your wisdom and being kind enough to allow me into your creative space for a semester - giving me the incredible opportunity to learn from you. To all of my wonderful classmates and friends for co-writing with me, and sharing your art that I cannot wait to see live post-pandemic. A special thank you to Passim and Signature Sounds for providing live-streams for singer-songwriters during this time, and making it accessible for all fans. Also, all of the amazing female and non-binary people in the Girls Behind the Rock Show group on Facebook, as well as the people I have connected with through Amythest’s panels. I am thankful for the opportunity to have learned so much over the course of this research, and for all of the authors I read who dedicated their time to writing on this topic. This project was very inspiring and I feel that I have learned so much more about this community that I am very lucky to be a part of now. Thank you.

Endnotes:

Harris, S. K. (2010). Indie empowerment: New media strategies and the rise of the independent artist (Order No. 1485933). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (750082648). https://link.ezproxy.neu.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/docview/750082648?accountid=12826

Chen, Hailiang, De, Prabuddha, and Hu, Yu Jeffrey. "IT-Enabled Broadcasting in Social Media: An Empirical Study of Artists’ Activities and Music Sales." Information Systems Research 26.3 (2015): 513-31. Web.

Haworth, Rachel. "The Singer-songwriter on Stage: Reconciling the Artist and the Performer." Journal of European Popular Culture 4.1 (2013): 71-84. Web.

Hicks, T. (2020). Madonna, moby, raves and rodman: An oral history of the lizard lounge. https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/docview/2405088052?pq-origsite=primo&accountid=12826

Breedlove. (n.d.). The Story. Breedlove Guitars. https://breedlovemusic.com/about-us

Girls Behind the Rock Show. (n.d.). Girls Behind the Rock Show. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/gbtrsnetworkgroup/?multi_permalinks=2636503330000474&notif_id=1593822314591512&notif_t=group_highlights&ref=notif

Northeastern University. (n.d.). Songwriting, Minor. Northeastern University. http://catalog.northeastern.edu/undergraduate/arts-media-design/music/songwriting-minor/#minorrequirementstext

Passim. (n.d.). Live Stream. Passim. https://www.passim.org/stream/

Signature Sounds. (n.d.). Upcoming Shows. Signature Sounds. http://www.signaturesounds.com/homesessions

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