In + out

Cécile Doo-kingué sounds off on the things enquiring minds want to know.

On her initial blues epiphany: “That’s an easy one: one of my brothers gave me my first guitar, and when he saw that my rhythm was solid, he gave me two tapes. He gave me a T-bone Walker tape and a Freddie King tape, and that was it for me!”

On her plans for the third installment of the Anybody Listening trilogy: “The trilogy, part of it was sparked by the fact that I’ve been touring a trio for the past few years, and some of my fans mentioned to me how they missed hearing me solo acoustic. It kind of made me think, ‘Hmmm. Well, what is it that’s different between me solo versus me with a rhythm section?’ That’s why you’ve got the first chapter that’s solo acoustic, and the second chapter that’s me accompanied by good friends. And then the third chapter will add the element of a crowd. How does an audience affect the tunes, and the performance?”

On taking a break from songwriting: “I’m taking a step back to try to better understand what’s going on, so that I can come out with a deeper opinion, or at least a deeper impression, to share. Whatever lyrics I want to put out there, I don’t want them to just be a reaction to something. I want them to actually help towards whatever change it is I want to see—but I first need to understand exactly what it is I’m witnessing or feeling before I can do that.”