Quick Q and A with Natalia Zukerman
 by Kathy S-B  ·  17 October 2008

Natalia Zukerman was practically born with an instrument in her hands. As you’ll learn below, she grew up surrounded by music. It would have been pretty difficult to avoid it since she happens to be the daughter of violinist/conductor Pinchas Zukerman and flutist/writer Eugenia Zukerman, Natalia’s breezy jazzy style is reminiscent to Ani DiFranco as is evidenced in this video clip. Bonnie Raitt and Chris Smither influences come to mind as well, but even still, she’s got this totally indescribable flavor which is a very good thing. Her sound goes from soft and sultry to gutsy and extremely bluesy. Take a listen to some of the songs on her website and appreciate the diverse sampling and you’ll see what I mean.

Your parents’ involvement with the arts obviously had a major influence on you. Can you recall any early memories of being surrounded by such a vibrant musical environment?

I remember music in my house all the time — whether it was my mom or dad alone, my sister playing piano or singing or an ensemble of people getting together to practice a program. We had a grand piano down the hall from the entrance to the house so the moment you opened the front door, you could hear and see people making music — standing around the piano with music stands and instruments. I remember waking up to music, being annoyed by it in my high school years of course when it disturbed my sleep. But it’s something I so appreciate now. And my parents took me and my sister on tour with them as much as they could when we were little — especially in the summertimes to festivals like Aspen and Spoleto. I grew up listening to people like Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harell, Anthony Newman, Jaqueline DuPre — making music in my living room. Really charmed childhood, that’s for sure.

Your first instrument was the violin and you realized early on that it wasn’t the instrument for you. Did you feel at home with your musical self once you picked up a guitar for the first time?

I went to a really cool elementary school in NY called Bank Street, an experimental teacher’s college. A lot of the teachers used music in the classroom as a teaching tool and we got together as a school a few times a week to sing songs together — Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Harry Chapin songs. It was the most joyous part of my musical life and didn’t seem to relate at all to what felt like torture to me to practice the violin. I just wouldn’t make the sounds I was used to hearing. Violin is so hard! So I got a toy guitar when I was really young and later a small classical guitar and learned a few chords. It was always my favorite thing but I gave it up for a while to stick with the violin. It seemed like the choice I was supposed to make at the time. But as soon as I gave it up and took up the guitar again, yes, I was totally at home.

It sounds as though you’ve tried just about every type of guitar there is: acoustic, electric, slide, lap steel, and even the banjo. Do you go through phases with all the various types of guitars you play or do you love them all equally all the time?

My Goodall guitar is my work horse. I bought it in Berkeley, CA in 1998 as a way to really push myself. I was certainly not worthy of such a gorgeous instrument back then and it pushed me to play a lot. I wrote my first songs on that guitar. Since then I’ve bought a dobro and a friend gave me a banjo. I really just tinker with stringed instruments but plain old acoustic guitar is what I always go back to.

Do you have any female guitar heroes (or should I say “sheroes”)?

Oh wow. There are so many. From Memphis Minnie, to Ma Rainey to now Bonnie Raitt, Sue Foley, Mimi Fox, my good friend Erika Luckett and Deborah Coleman in the blues and jazz worlds. Sharon Isbin in the classical world. Joni Mitchell and her alternate tuning universe changed my life! It was like discovering that you could put a wash of color on a blank canvas to start a painting and find the shapes inside the washiness, you know? It helped so much in terms of letting go too of my “Training” and to just hear and feel the music. The innovative ways Ani DiFranco has revolutionized the acoustic guitar and turned it into a bass and a drum set at the same time has certainly been a huge influence. . . and in that vein as well there are women like Patty Larkin, Vicki Genfan, Louise Taylor, Shawn Colvin, Ana Egge, Erin McKeown, Jonatha Brooke, Pamela Means making music now who are so incredible and unique. There are so many great women guitarists and I’m meeting more and more all the time — it’s so inspiring and humbling.

If you could rock out with a guitar orchestra of sorts, who would you invite up on stage to play with you and what would you play?

Funny. Well, I’m making a record with Willy Porter who is one of my all-time heroes and getting to make music with him is pretty much as close to a guitar orchestra I think as I need for now!

What’s the latest on the new CD that you just recorded? How is it different than your previous recordings? When can we expect to hear it?

Well, it’s not done yet! I’m actually on my way now back to Milwaukee, to Willy’s studio to finish the tracking. I’m so excited about this record. It’s really making me stretch out. I’m playing some lap steel, we’ve done a guitar loop and the drums are just killin’. It’s a much more “produced” record than I’ve made before but it still sounds like me. Me, only better! So I hope we’ll have it done and out by January or February ‘08. I’ll keep you posted. . .

Natalia Zukerman plays the me&thee coffeehouse on October 24.