About That Song: LAAMAR
About That Song #52
In our special series, singer-songwriter Sarah Morris interviews artists about the songs that shaped them.
Hi! I’m Sarah Morris. I’m wildly in love with songs and the people who write them. There have been a few songs in my life that have been total gamechangers—songs that made me want to be a songwriter and songs I’ve written that made me feel like I am a songwriter. About That Song is a space where I can learn more about those pivotal songs in other writers’ lives.
In the 52nd edition of our special series—marking one full year of About That Song!!—I was thrilled to have a conversation with rising Minneapolis singer-songwriter LAAMAR to learn about his creative evolution.
LAAMAR. Photo credit: Aaron Rice.
Sarah: LAAMAR! Hello! I had the pleasure of seeing you perform live at Dakota in early 2023. Since then, you’ve released a fantastic EP, Flowers, played notable Twin Cities stages like the First Ave mainroom and Palace Theatre, and been named one of our scene's Best New Bands by The Current—it’s all pretty spectacular to witness. It’s great to get a chance to say hello again, and to learn a little bit more about you and your journey as a songwriter. Do you remember the song that you heard that made you want to be a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
LAAMAR: Well, through most of my youth and young adulthood—and really through college—I had a feeling I could write songs (singer-songwriter songs that is), and occasionally I did dabble. First on the piano in the home I grew up in. Genre-wise I was kinda all over the place, mimicking everything from Ben Folds to Counting Crows, Anthony Hamilton to Anthony and the Johnsons(now Ahnoni).
In college I was exposed to the broader genres of folk, Americana, and many artists that make up the ever-expanding singer-songwriter world. During that time I was really impacted by emerging contemporary (at the time) folks like Sufjan Stevens, Cat Power, Calvin Johnson, Johanna Newsom, Kimya Dawson, the Microphones and so on. But I was also studying jazz saxophone/composition and listened to a lot of Ornette Coleman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Sun Ra, Coltrane (Alice and John), Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis. And lastly during that time I played in a funk/soul/R&B jam band … and we listened almost exclusively to Outkast lol. All to say, I had a lot of influences. Not to mention I also started writing poetry, how cliche.
No surprise, I was really introduced to Bob Dylan during those college years living in upstate NY and, like many, the allure of the quintessential ’60s downtown NYC artist lifestyle really resonated romantically with me. “Visions of Johanna” and “Just Like a Woman” remain two of my favorite songs, and ones I wish I’d written. “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” too! Post-college I dove into artists like Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, AA Bondy, Fiest, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Frank Ocean, Solange…I could go on!
Sarah: Your list is extensive, and fantastic! I feel like you have just handed me a playlist I should get busy listening to. Plenty of names I am familiar with, but have never really listened to—thank you. Once you began writing, did you feel like a writer immediately? It took me a few years of writing before I believed it—was there a song that gave you that “a-HA! I AM a songwriter!” moment? Tell us about that song.
LAAMAR: I experience imposter syndrome regularly, so make of that what you will. I will say, one of the first memories I have of my song moving people is what gave me the sense I could at least write one good song. This was one of the first shows I played with my first band Jus Post Bellum. I was at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, probably in January of 2011.
It was an extremely simple song I never recorded where I played maybe two strings on the banjo (which I still cannot play) and sang a song about a man dying (a favorite topic of mine) with harmonies by my girlfriend, now wife Hannah. I can’t recall the name of the song, but I realized then the power of a story sung/told in its most spare form both lyrically and sonically. You can do so much with a simple but moving melody, and lyrics delivered with intention and care.
LAAMAR. Photo credit: James Napoli.
Sarah: Yeah, that’s good and true. Witnessing within a show a song that you’ve written moving people in the audience—that is a special gift of a certain kind of live performance, and I love that that experience offered you the sense that you could write one good song. Imposter syndrome feels like a regular visitor to many of the songwriters I’ve spoken with over the past year. I think it’s a good thing to have memories like the one you shared to run to when needed.
Last year you offered listeners Flowers—your first full release in a decade, your first music since your return to Minnesota in 2016, and the first under the LAAMAR name, after time with your project Jus Post Bellum. Congratulations! Did you set out to write this EP deliberately? Or were you writing, and a song came to you and in some way told you “it’s time to return to the studio”?
LAAMAR: Thank you! It was more time away than expected, but good to be back and in my hometown. Ultimately this EP was a combination of some songs I wrote shortly after moving back to MN from Brooklyn, and a few of many other songs that were inspired by the time between the murders of Philando Castile and George Floyd. Practically speaking, these songs were kinda the best of both batches when limited to EP length, and worked well together. I actually tracked a full album’s worth of material, but whittled it down to a manageable (in terms of financial and time resources) number of songs.
Sarah: Ah, yes, the money and time constraints. As a fan, I’ll just cross my fingers that maybe we get to hear the rest of the rest someday. The song “Home To My Baby” elegantly marries a summer-y, catchy melody with lyrics that carry the weight of an important story—painting the scene of a traumatizing traffic stop. Can you tell us about that song?
LAAMAR: As I have some distance, I’ve come to see “Home To My Baby” and “Say My Name” as a connected pair of works. Both describe, in part, traffic stops. “Say My Name” was specifically inspired by the murder of Philando Castile, and “Home To My Baby” was a zoomed-out distillation or aggregation of so many similar stories experienced by someone like myself, though not myself.
It describes a rather innocuous situation for some which for others can be a viscerally frightening or triggering experience. The violence in the song is really in what is imagined but does not ultimately happen, and I suppose in some way the melodic/rhythmic lightness of the music serves as a scaffold for the disparate experiences folks likely have listening to this music, in parallel to what it feels like to be pulled over by police depending upon the body you are in.
Sarah: The way you deftly hold and weave these threads of heaviness and light speaks to your skill as a songwriter. I know that I get to hear you soon up at Lutsong—the three-day music festival in beautiful Lutsen, MN—what else does your summer hold for shows? Or recordings? Where can we hear you sing that song (or any other song for that matter) in the near future?
LAAMAR: So excited for Lutsong! The first festival I’ve played as LAAMAR, and one of the few I’ve ever played. The summer holds a lot, possibly too much… Top of mind we are soon releasing the first single from our forthcoming full-length record, yay!
Sarah: OH YAY indeed!
LAAMAR: I’ll be working diligently on that this summer while also playing many fun shows all across the Twin Cities, including opening for Lissie at Hook and Ladder, Lowertown Sounds with the New Standards, a live show taping for TPT at 7th Street Entry, Surly Brewing, and the State Fair. An embarrassment of riches that I’ll enjoy while it lasts!
Sarah: What a fantastic set of shows! I look forward to getting to hear you in person and will be happily waiting for your upcoming release. Thank you so much for stopping by About That Song!
LAAMAR’s Hook and Ladder show is sold out! But it’s not too late to get tickets to the fantastic multi-day festival Lutsong in Lutsen MN. Check out the schedule and snap up one-day or full-weekend passes!
Listen to “Home to My Baby”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Morris. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Sarah Morris is a superfan of songs and the people who write them, and a believer that certain songs can change your life. A singer-songwriter / mama / bread maker / coffee drinker who recently released her fifth album of original material, she’s been known to joyfully sing with people in her Big Green Bathroom.
