Trish Murphy

 Trish Murphy is an Austin singer-songwriter with a long family history of music. She is also a double Lilith Fair veteran. Her latest CD Rubies on the Lawn came out on July 20. FEMMUSIC was able to have a few moments with her a few days before at the AT & T Lodo Music Festival. As the music resounded through the tent, we spoke with her. This is what she had to say:

FEMMUSIC: What have been your biggest obstacle as an emerging woman artist?

TM: The biggest obstacle is really just the way that the music business has changed over the last few years. It’s a much bigger challenge to get your records distributed if you’re an independent artist. That’s a big one.

The obstacles sometimes turn out to be blessings. Because for example, Labels don’t really involve themselves anymore with artist development. So you find that if you’re an artist and you’re independent you are your own artist development. In the end that really works in your favor because you build things that way that nobody can take away from you. You build your own fan base. You decide yourself, not only how you want your music to sound, but how you want your records to look, how you want your t-shirts to look, if you have those. Everything is subject to your approval and sometimes you have to generate that yourself. The biggest surprise to me has been as I’ve moved up the ladder, and moved up the music food chain I’m still doing most of all of that stuff myself. I still have control over it all, and ultimately that’s not a bad thing at all.

FEMMUSIC: Besides the AT & T Lodo Music Fest, you’re also playing the Lilith Fair for a second year. In your opinion, how has the Lilith Fair changed the music landscape for women artists?

TM: The best thing about Lilith Fair ,to me, is not what they did for female artists, but what they’ve done for new and emerging artists. I have never seen a festival that dedicated two entire stages to new and developing and up and coming artists in various phases of their development. You know the first year I played the acoustic stage. This year I’ve sort of graduated to the beads of the second stage and it’s really great. It’s amazing to me the effort that they put in into seeking out new talent. They have a talent search in every city, and they make themselves available to you. Not just as a festival, but the artists on a very personal level. Walking around on stage.

I didn’t really do this but I felt like if I wanted to I could sit down with Meredith Brooks, or with Queen Latifa and just ask questions. If I had questions about what it looked like from their level, I’m sure they would have taken the time to talk to me. That’s what I think the emphasis really was for me. Was that they spent a lot of time and effort seeking out new artists. That’s an amazing opportunity.

FEMMUSIC: You’re new album Rubies on the Lawn hits stores nationally on Tuesday (July 20). What have been your biggest obstacles in putting that CD together?

TM: Well fortunately instead of obstacles this time, I had lots of help and lots of support. The record was a genuine pleasure to make. I had a producer who I genuinely loved working with. Great musicians. The luxury of not only recording in Austin but in LA. So it was really an embarrassment of riches, and not many obstacles at all. So I’m really ecstatic. I’m just ready to enjoy watching it come out, and watching people discover it. It’s a good feeling.

FEMMUSIC: Conversely, what have been your best memories in doing the CD?

TM: Well really one of the highlights was bringing in the string orchestra, and recording all of the strings. And of course the string version of “Vanilla Sun” that’s at the end of the CD. That was a heart stopping moment. To hear something that you’ve written arranged and composed for an orchestra was beautiful, unforgettable.

FEMMUSIC: On that same note, what has been your best memory since you’ve been playing music professionally?

TM: I’ve been playing along. Some of the best memories are things like having my dad come up on stage and sing a song with me. And watching people just explode. Those are great things.

The other thing that’s really cool to do is to have your friends come up and play with you. I have a reunion with my drummer at Lilith Fair in Austin. She’s gonna come up and do a song with me. Those are things that remind you that no matter how busy it gets, how good it gets, or how bad it gets the few minutes that you’re on stage are all that really matters. That is one time you really just get to be completely be in the present moment. And that’s a real gift. So I would say that’s the best thing.

FEMMUSIC: What advise would you give to an emerging woman artist just starting out?

TM: I would say this, If someone had told me two years ago, “Hey listen. You’re going to make this record on you’re own, and you’re going to put it out by yourself, and it’s going to be a long, long time before anybody takes you seriously.” If somebody had told me that two years ago I think that I would have been more patient with the process because it’s true; part of building your credibility is being consistent, and being diligent and just working, and working and working. Sending out press release, after press release, after press release. So that eventually that people see your name so many times that they realize that you’re not going to go away. That is a really important part of the independent process. Is just being there and being around. Circulating your name. I think it takes a while for people start to understand that you’re capable of doing it on your own. When they see that, then they’re motivated to help you because then they know rub your hands and leave it there for someone else to do. So that’s really my best advise. Do it yourself, and do it diligently, and stay in. You can’t lose.

FEMMUSIC: Where do you see yourself in five years?

TM: In five years? Well I’m hoping I’ll have time to go to cooking school sometime in those five years, but if not, I’d really like touring all of Europe. I would like to tour in Asia because I’ve never been there. Never been to Australia. I would like to do that. And I would like to be able to cut a swath through the United States at least two or three times a year. And just be able to keep playing. Again that’s the one thing that no radio airplay can take that away from you. No lack of airplay can take that away from you. No label support can determine that for you. You create it for yourself. It gives you an indestructible life in music. I think that’s as much as any artist can ask for.

FEMMUSIC: What else would you like to say to our readers about you, Lilith Fair, and music in general?

TM: I guess I could comment on the internet because that seems to be a big new frontier. It is very true, and so much of corporate music not only from a label standpoint, but from a radio standpoint is very difficult to penetrate if you’re an emerging artist and so the internet is really a final frontier. It is open. It is relatively deregulated, and relatively available to everybody. My website has been a cornerstone of my communication directly with people that listen to my music. I have a website http://www.trishmuphy.com and I still write it all myself. I have a webguy that maintains it for me, but I do a monthly newsletter, and I write a section on food which is my own personal indulgence. I try it to keep it as much generated by me as I can. It eliminates everything that’s not essential which is the music and the listener. It gives the artist and listener a big head-on collision. That’s unprecedented. So I want to take full advantage of it.