Strong spirit
Loebe gives voice to her ‘Ghosts’
Singer-songwriter Rebecca Loebe came home from a songwriting retreat thinking she had penned a female empowerment anthem. Away for days with no phone or internet, Loebe drove into cell range and discovered the news that dozens of women had accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
“When that news broke, I didn’t feel like writing this uplifting empowerment jam anymore,” Loebe said ahead of her Wednesday stop at Passim.
But, with some coaxing from a friend, she turned the song into a darker piece of art. The track, “Growing Up,” which opens her new album, “Give Up Your Ghosts,” examines our cruel, dangerous world. She sings, “So you learn how to smile, find your own way home/ Keep your keys in your fist when you walk alone.”
“My friend gave me permission to give in to writing verses about where we are right now,” Loebe said. “Sometimes these days we all feel like that kid in the cafeteria getting bullied. That’s what it can be like to be a young woman.”
Loebe is best known for competing on the first season of “The Voice” with Team Adam but has been releasing sweet and sad folk songs for 15 years. She sharpened her skills as an undergraduate at Berklee and in clubs and coffeehouses from her hometown of Atlanta to her new home in Austin, Texas. And she’s been rewarded for her efforts (see “The Voice” and a 2009 New Folk Award for songwriting at the Kerrville Folk Festival).
“Give Up Your Ghosts” has more intensity than her past work. It feels of the moment, and Loebe knows this moment has been hard for so many.
“Life can be so depressing, so frustrating, and I think starting the album with ‘Growing Up’ gets to the core of that,” she said. “It was always ‘Growing Up’ or (the title track) ‘Ghosts,’ which has a similar message, that I knew would come first to set the tone of the album.”
Loebe had the opportunity to tap into the zeitgeist for her new LP after signing her first record deal. Blue Corn Music President Denby Auble gave her the hard sell to sign with him, then he gave her time to devote to making “Give Up Your Ghosts.” “I had always recorded in little bits when I wasn’t on tour, but suddenly I had my schedule cleared for eight weeks and time to work on just this one thing,” Loebe said. “I think this gave the songs more focus. They go together because they were written all in the same sixmonth period.”
“And they take on where we are culturally,” she added. “Like so many people, I have felt a lot of grief and tensions. They were starting to affect my daily mood. I needed a way to process everything and these songs became that way.”