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Nancy Atlas is one very busy woman … and keeping up with her is no easy feat.The singer, songwriter, guitarist and front woman of The Nancy Atlas Project seems to be just about everywhere these days—including on the deck of The Surf Lodge in Montauk where, on a recent Wednesday evening, drummer Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers sat in for a couple of songs.
And in the few hours she has left, Ms. Atlas, who lives in and loves Montauk, can be found relishing her role as mother to sons Cash and Levon, and daughter Tallulah, a recent nursery school graduate.
As if that weren’t enough, in late May, Ms. Atlas and the band released “Cut & Run,” their first CD in seven years.
She readily admits, it was about time.
“We have a very strong following for original music. People have been asking for an album for five years,” explained Ms. Atlas during a recent phone interview—one that was rescheduled to accommodate an egg and spoon race she was set to run at Tallulah’s school.
“We were way overdue.”
But given the high-wire balancing act Ms. Atlas has to manage on a daily basis, who could blame her for the lapse in CD production?
“The pink elephant in the room in my life is performing on a very consistent basis,” she said. “I hit it hard and from May to October, I’m doing constant events. I have four shows this week. I’m also gone for the weekend. That’s how I make my living.”
“Then when I stop, I’m immediately catching up with my kids,” she added. “I’m making stuffed shells, building a fire, and I’m 100-percent mom. That’s the balance.”
And like hard-working, multi-tasking artists everywhere, sometimes it takes a deadline to inspire true motivation.
That was certainly the case with the release of “Cut & Run.”
“I snapped my fingers and it was six years gone by,” said Ms. Atlas. “I got this big push in that the book was what brought me out of my coma.”
“The book” is, of course, “A Speck in the Sea,” by Anthony Sosinski and Johnny Aldridge, two Montauk fishermen (and friends of Ms. Atlas) whose harrowing tale of ocean survival has become the stuff of legend, song and, soon, the big screen.
Mr. Sosinski and Mr. Aldridge co-own the Anna Mary, a lobster boat that they operate as a two-man crew. It was a system that worked fine until the pre-dawn hours of July 24, 2013, when Mr. Aldridge went overboard after the handle on a cooler he was moving snapped off, sending him reeling backward off the edge of the rear platform. With Mr. Sosinksi asleep at the time and the boat on autopilot, Mr. Aldridge found himself adrift in the open sea with only a pair of buoyant fishing boots and a knife to keep him company.
“Anthony said ‘Our book is being released on May 25, and you can write a song.’ This is back in November. I thought, ‘I have to have the album done by then,’” Ms. Atlas recalled. “It was great. It was the finish line I needed to cross. I don’t have a major label, so if I missed the promotion of that, it’s on me.
“So I made the decision that on May 10, whatever was ready would be on the album,” she said.
Let’s face it, it’s not every day that the opportunity arises to write a true seafaring ballad, and Ms. Atlas jumped at the chance. Among the tracks on “Cut & Run” is “The Tale of Johnny Load,” Ms. Atlas’s soulful rendition of what happened after Mr. Aldridge went overboard and the miraculous search efforts that brought him back to Montauk alive.
“I’m ecstatic the song is associated with a story in which my friend lives,” she noted. “The moment they found him, everything else was gravy. Anthony, John and I all have our feet firmly on the ground and planted in Montauk. Whatever is thrown our way, we’re able to keep our priorities living here. Limos are nice, but do you want to go clamming?”
Though Mr. Aldridge’s story was pure inspiration, Ms. Atlas admits that the writing of the song didn’t come easily. For eight months she tried and it was not coming at all. At one point, she was about to give up entirely because she felt her song was so bad.
But one day, while in the twilight phase between being awake and asleep, inspiration struck and the chorus suddenly came to her. Like any good mother, Ms. Atlas made sure child care was covered by planting her kids in front of “Sesame Street” and she went to work as the song began to flow.
She also called on Chad Smith to lend a hand.
“I called him and said, ‘You know how you always offer to play?’ I told him I had a sea chantey and he worked closely on it with me,” she said. “I added five or six more verses. It’s a bona fide folk song and sea chantey and when it came on, it came fierce.”
“Then Chad helped me really tighten it up to the version you hear today,” she added. “He loved the bridge—I didn’t even have the clarity yet. He was like, ‘That’s the best. You have to do it twice.’”
That bridge goes like this:
“The ocean’s your mother, your bitch and your lover and nobody gets to ride free. It’s a role of the dice if she’ll let you survive so bow down, boys, to the queen.”
Perhaps it’s no accident that Ms. Atlas worked in a strong reference to motherhood in “The Tale of Johnny Load,” and for her part, beyond the symbolism inherent in the notion of being adrift at sea, she views the variety of songs on “Cut & Run” as representing the concept of transition.
“There’s a lot that’s being said. Definitely a vibe of enjoying where you are, but moving on with things that aren’t working,” she said.
It also comes back to that sense of balance—taking on the role of dedicated mother while also staying true to the soul of the musician. Ms. Atlas thinks this is something many mothers, particularly those who have had vibrant careers, struggle with when transitioning to motherhood, especially if they feel they must give up their identity and dreams in the process.
“There’s a saying in Ireland that you throw the dog off the cliff if it attacks the lambs,” Ms. Atlas said. “Our generation of women have tasted the freedom of the world. While there is no substitute for being a mother, my world spirit is still very much alive. I run to the music as a release.”
Maintaining the passion for the music very much defines Ms. Atlas’ individuality and represents the ultimate balancing act between family and career.
“It’s a wonderful thing to dedicate your life to raising your kids. But no matter what you do, you get the short end of the stick as a mom,” she said. “But when it comes to my writing and my music, it’s the one thing I stay true to—and hopefully the essence of who I am.
“When you follow who you are, it’s great and there’s beauty and bliss in being your own boss,” she added. “While I would love to be playing Jones Beach or Red Rocks—and I know our band could do that—there’s also the beauty of running with an egg on a spoon with my daughter at 10 a.m.”
“When you’re not there, suddenly the egg and spoon becomes of constant importance.”
The Nancy Atlas Project performs every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at The Surf Lodge in Montauk. Other upcoming shows include the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett on July 2 at 8 p.m.; Agawam Park in Southampton Village on July 3 at 6:30 p.m. (bring chairs and a picnic); and Gosman’s Dock in Montauk on July 9 at 6 p.m.
Ms. Atlas and her bandmates, Johnny Blood, Brett King, Richard Rosch and Neil Surreal, are celebrating their 21st year together along with the release “Cut & Run.” In addition to Chad Smith, other musicians who played on the CD include Clark Gayton, Inda Eaton, Annie Morgan Rosch, Barrett Rehm Gerdes, Thomas Bradley Muse and G.E. Smith.
on Jun 27, 2017