LINDSEY WEBSTER
Woodstock native performs new album highlights and older favorites at The Falcon on Saturday.
MARLBORO, N.Y. » Jazz musician Lindsey Webster always enjoys coming home to the Hudson Valley.
And she’s looking forward to playing The Falcon on Saturday night.
“It’s always one of the most rewarding kinds of shows, seeing everyone and all of my friends,” Webster said. “It gets a little crazy when you play to all kinds of crowds of strangers.
“It’s always great when we get to play here in the Hudson Valley.”
The Woodstock native added that the Falcon and the Colony in Woodstock are two of her favorite places to play in the Hudson Valley.
“We did a show at the Colony in Woodstock in January, and that new space is incredible as well,” Webster said.
Webster briefly previewed the upcoming show, which will highlight songs from her new album, “Love Inside,” along with some older favorites and perhaps even a few covers.
Webster said she always enjoys playing new tracks.
“The energy is high, people are excited to hear new stuff, especially locally with people who have seen us hundreds of times,” Webster said. “The energy tends to be little more exciting than when an album’s been out a year, and they know what we’re going to play.”
Webster is also looking forward to signing her CDs at the show. She added that’s become a tradition for her.
Webster described “Love Inside,” her fourth album, as “soulful and a little jazzy.”
“We just continued to write in the same style that we do,” Webster said, adding that her band’s style has evolved through four albums.
“We took a lot of care to ensure the songs were ones we were proud of, and we really cared about them,” Webster said.
She added she wanted to be sure this album didn’t have any songs they didn’t want to hear again after cutting it.
She explained why it’s titled “Love Inside.”
“We decided to call it that after all the songs were written,” Webster said. “All of the songs are about loving each other, being in a relationship or loving ourselves.”
But Webster cautioned that “love” in this album is not strictly romantic.
“It’s all sorts of love,” Webster said. Webster said she likes to keep things positive and avoid hate or negativity in her music.
The inspiration for a new song comes in all sorts forms at all times, Webster said.
Webster shared the story of how she wrote the album’s title track.
“When I wrote the song “Love Inside,” I was folding laundry, and the melody just came to me,” Webster said. “Other times you have to work a little harder.”
That was the case with “Free to be Me,” she added.
“I didn’t get it right in the first few weeks,” Webster said. “It’s a more politically motivated song.
“It just comes from a lot of experiences.”
Webster said she was inspired by the times and wanted to create a song that celebrated loving one another and accepting differences. “I talk about at some point (how) we all started to be judgemental.” The second verse deals with reckoning with being judgemental, Webster said. “We’re all guilty,” Webster said.
The third verse offers hope that everyone can come together, Webster said.
Webster said the choruses discus her belief that everyone will be together.
“One thing we can agree, we all want to be free,” Webster said.
At her side throughout the writing process was her husband and pianist, Keith Slattery.
“The way Keith and I write: Keith writes the music and sends me two or three ideas,” Webster said.
Webster said when she got the instrumental piano pieces of “Free to be Me” she knew it was a “beautiful song.”
“I had to do something with it,” Webster said. “I had to figure out what I was going to write.”
Webster said that inspiration came on a flight where she looked down at all the houses below and thought about their inhabitants’ day-to-day struggles.
“It made me think about how we wanted to be free to do what we do,” Webster said. “I didn’t want to make it be something that would even further divide people.”
Returning to The Falcon, she said she’s glad to play a local gig that has a stage and sound system dedicated to live music.
“We’ve definitely played at places, where it’s not an ideal sound situation,” Webster said. “We’ve been fortunate to play at venues that care about that.
“I’ll still do my very best, and play a show even if it’s not ideal.”
Webster said she believes more young people would dig jazz if major radio stations played it more.
“On the national level, pop is definitely the most listened to,” Webster said.
While pop records sell more, Webster said she’s happy to keep doing her thing.
“The fans we have are very loyal,” Webster said. “We have a great fanbase and followers who continue to support our music.”
They enjoy jazz and 1990s R&B, with jazz influences, she added.
There’s something special about a band that plays with live instruments, Webster said.
“A lot of pop is just preprogrammed music,” Webster said.
Webster admitted at times she’s contemplated adopting more of a pop style to break into a bigger market.
But she always ends up sticking to her style.
“We write music that comes from our heart,” Webster said. “We don’t write to do the flavor of the week.
“It’s not just catchy pop stuff, that’s not who we are.”
Webster said as her career has progressed, she’s had fewer chances to play locally and sometimes she misses those local shows.
“We have to travel to get our music out in the world,” Webster said. “But it’s great when we get to come home, it feels better than any other show.”