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There's
no formula to soulful singer-songwriter Toby Lightman's music.
She just writes what she feels, when she feels it. When it comes
to her sudden success however, Lightman's story is textbook: Discover
you sing really well. Send demo. Secure deal with Lava Records.
Tour and hear radio stations across the country play your hit
song. Lightman admits all that was the easy part. Now comes the
hard work - keeping up with the grueling tour schedule and appearances
that come along with it. In her young career she's already pulled
up chairs alongside David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Carson Daily
and Craig Kilborn in support of her debut album Little Things.
I
spoke to Lightman on the eve of her last show with Josh Kelly.
She was re-packing her suitcases for an upcoming string of dates
with J. Records artist Gavin DeGraw. Lightman was a bit road weary,
but grateful to be doing what she loves-playing her rock/r&b
tunes live.
WOMANROCK:
Your
album's only been out since March 30th and already you've made
the rounds on all of the major late night talk shows and built
an impressive fan base through touring. How do you feel about
all of the sudden attention your music's receiving?
TOBY
LIGHTMAN:
"It's
definitely a crazy thing. That's for sure. It's definitely a lot
of work. You've got to know when to be able to draw the line.
But it's been fun and it's exciting.
WOMANROCK:
You've
been out on the road with Josh Kelly and you're heading out now
with Gavin DeGraw. What are your plans this time out?
LIGHTMAN:
It's
going to be the first time I have more than 2 acoustic guitars
on the road. We're going to have a 4-piece band, so I'm really
excited about that.
WOMANROCK:
You've
been touring on and off since last August. Have you had any downtime
while you're on the road to enjoy the places you're visiting?
LIGHTMAN:
Unfortunately
if there is down time, it usually is only an hour or two. But
there was one weekend I was on tour with Edwin McCain. We were
in Wilmington, North Carolina and we were able to get to the beach
for like an hour and then walk around. The city was really cute.
For the most part there isn't any downtime. That was a Saturday,
so we were lucky.
WOMANROCK:
Do
any other places stand out?
LIGHTMAN:
Every
time I played in Atlanta it's been really cool. We had a really
great show in St. Louis. It just depends if we catch them on a
good night. Last night was also a great show. We played in Long
Island. The people were really excited and singing along.
WOMANROCK:
How
do you approach your songwriting?
LIGHTMAN:
There's
really no set formula. It really just happens when it happens.
I'll usually just be playing around and it will start me on something.
But unfortunately I haven't had any time to really write anything
new these days.
WOMANROCK:
Tell
us about the songs on Little Things.
LIGHTMAN:
Well
the song "Everyday" is probably my favorite song on
the album, just because it took me a while to write and get it
to where I was really happy with it. I started writing it in college,
so it took about 4 years to finish. I would say that's the song
that's the most, maybe, revealing about me.
Everybody
seems to like when I play a song called "Front Row."
It's definitely a live song because what I'm talking about is
basically singing in front of someone and having some sort of
interest sparked and never really acting on it - which tended
to be the story of my life for a long time.
There's
a song called "Running Away." When I first started writing
it, I was like, "This is the perfect last song on the album."
I wrote it with all my friends in mind, just sitting around and
hanging out and having nothing to do and it's alright because
you're with people that you care about. It just had a very peaceful
quality about it. I thought it would be a perfect way to end the
album.
There's
also a song called "Leave It Inside." When you're going
through a rough time, or when I'm going through a rough time,
I tend to keep it bottled up and not let it out and not let it
show that things are affecting me. It starts to take its toll
basically.
WOMANROCK:
"Devils
and Angels" is getting a lot of radio play. Is that the song
you thought should be the first single?
LIGHTMAN:
It
was mostly the record company. I had my opinion, but I didn't
necessarily feel that strongly about any other song. I understood
why they thought that should be the first single. I'm happy people
are accepting it.
WOMANROCK:
What
is that song about?
LIGHTMAN:
I
definitely had certain things that sparked me writing it, but
I would say it just turned into an empowering, "It's time
to walk away" kind-of a song. Musically I started writing
the verse - like a Spanish tinged progression I guess you can
say. I had it for a while and I didn't really know what to do
with it. It was actually the first song I played for Peter Zizzo,
my producer. He came on and re-wrote the chorus with me. It just
kind of took a life of its own. It became very aggressive. I wanted
it to be progressive with the drumbeat and the use of a different
kind of bass sound.
WOMANROCK:
You
played violin with the New York Philharmonic on "Frightened?"
LIGHTMAN:
It
was really crazy to play one of my songs with all these amazing
musicians. We didn't keep it a secret that I was playing in the
orchestra. They obviously could pick out that I didn't belong
there. I didn't want to tell anyone and make a big thing of it
though because I didn't want to get nervous - I hadn't played
in a long time. They're definitely very amazing players to be
playing with, so it was very intimidating.
WOMANROCK:
You
started playing violin when you were 6 years old. How long had
it been since you pulled it out of the case?
LIGHTMAN:
I
hadn't played in a couple of years. It's definitely not like riding
a bike.
WOMANROCK:
You've
said you love when people come up to you and feel that you're
singing about what they're thinking about... that people are relating.
Why is that so important?
LIGHTMAN:
I
really don't do this consciously. Writing music can definitely
be a selfish thing. But when I'm writing lyrics I like to keep
it very general. I don't want to put my own experience to it if
other people are going to be able relate to it. But everybody,
no matter how you write a song, whether it's specific or not,
is able to make it their own. You find that track on an album
that isn't on the radio and feel like that's your song and nobody
else knows about it. It's definitely a powerful thing.
WOMANROCK:
You're
vocal talent took you by surprise. Do you remember your first
solo?
LIGHTMAN:
I
had a couple solos throughout high school, but the main solo was
at graduation for high school. That was kind of the first time
that I sang in front of my family and my friends. It was amazing
to get the kind of reaction I got. No one knew I was doing a solo,
so people weren't really paying attention at first. Then they
started looking around like, "What's going on?" My music
teacher was crying in front of me.
WOMANROCK:
Some
of your major musical influences include, Stevie Wonder, Etta
James, and Ella Fitzgerald. What are some of the qualities that
attracted you to these particular artists?
LIGHTMAN:
I
would say the soul in their voices for the most part. They're
amazing vocalists. It's really awesome to listen to them because
they're so free-spirited in the way that they sing and interpret
songs.
WOMANROCK:
When
was that moment when you decided that you wanted to be a professional
singer?
LIGHTMAN:
It
was a lot of different factors. I think over the years in college
I started getting so many amazing reactions and people being so
excited about what I could do that in my senior year I just put
things into perspective and said, "You know, you're not going
to be in college for that much longer." I figured I should
just give it a shot while I could…I moved to New York and
started bartending.
WOMANROCK:
Were
you booking your own gigs and playing out?
LIGHTMAN:
I
was just trying to meet people to work with. I wasn't necessarily
playing out, because I had done so much of it in college. I really
wanted to hone in on my style and get a good product together.
WOMANROCK:
How
did your relationship with Lava come about?
LIGHTMAN:
I
met my manager by sending a demo. He set me up with my producer
who then set me up with Lava. It really all happened fairly quickly.
WOMANROCK:
What
do you see for the future?
LIGHTMAN:
My
main thing is just not to compromise myself to do this. I'm not
going to put on a whole juggling act. If it works it works and
we'll see what happens.
Check
out Lightman's site for tour dates: www.tobylightman.com.
Tina
Whelski is a NY-based freelance writer/photographer who has
written for the Village Voice and currently contributes a regular
music column to the Aquarian Weekly/East Coast Rocker. She's also
a drummer.
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