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<\/a>And the world was listening. Ford says that writer and filmmaker Robert Gordon heard her on the radio down in Tennessee and was so moved that he reached out with hopes of bringing her down to Royal Studios in Memphis.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, this guy looked me up and emailed me,\u201d says Ford. \u201cHe had heard a song of mine on the radio down in Memphis. He knew those guys [at Royal Studios], and knew they were still active. He asked me out of the blue if I was interested in working with them. I had always been obsessed with [the Royal Studios\u2019 session musicians band] and everything they played. It was just a bizarre sort of miracle to me that someone who knew them eventually reached out to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Royal Studios\u2019 session band played on most of Al Green\u2019s recordings; Ford says that playing with her heroes was actually really scary at first.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never really expect your dreams to come true,\u201d says Ford. \u201cIn the moment I was quite intimidated to direct them, and then eventually I got nervous about how to make a soul record. I had to just let go and write the way I write. It was a real journey. Sometimes the press reported it like we walked into the room and just started recording, but there was a long process and a journey to figure out what that sound was going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result was Ford\u2019s critically acclaimed album Indian Ocean<\/i>, which had her headlining shows across North America, Europe, and Australia. Now, Ford is coming back to Victoria to promote her latest album, U Kin B the Sun<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last album was so lush and layered that it was a beautiful experience,\u201d says Ford. \u201cI loved Indian Ocean<\/i>, and I loved that sound, so I could go and make that album again, but I already did that, so I figured I\u2019d see where else I can go now. We just explored with how groovy we could be with the simplest instrumentation. In the studio we wanted to keep the jam vibe, which was both funky and acoustic.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a quality to Ford\u2019s songs that seems to speak universally to her listeners.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone recently pointed out that there is something about reckoning in my songs,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like I\u2019m trying to make peace with something. Like something difficult has happened between me and the subject and through the writing of the song I\u2019m sort of making sense of it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford says that she never aims to write about anything in particular, adding that she just starts playing and follows her intuition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t often set out to tell a story,\u201d says Ford. \u201cIt\u2019s about a feeling until I weave a story in around it. There is a story that wants to be told and I\u2019m trying to figure out what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n