1 Photo
Singer-songwriter Diane Birch—born in Michigan and raised in South Africa, Australia, and Portland, Oregon—began studying piano at the age of 7. Little did she imagine at the time that she’d end up moving to Los Angeles to become a sought-after lounge performer.
Thankfully, staying parked in a West Coast bar playing covers of popular songs on a piano was not to be her fate. In 2009, with the release of her album “Bible Belt,” things finally started falling together for Ms. Birch and her own brand of original music, which blends rock, soul, gospel, and folk. It’s been an uphill climb ever since, one that has led to both her upcoming show at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on July 16, and a set at the 2010 Great Chefs Dinner in Bridgehampton on August 8.
Even though many will no doubt see her as an overnight sensation, Ms. Birch has definitely paid her dues along the way, especially during her years as a “pianist for hire.”
“I used to play in restaurants and hotels, and people would hire me to play at weddings and dinner parties,” Ms. Birch explained in a recent telephone interview. Those experiences ranged from “fun to frightening,” she said.
“Once, Jackie Chan hired me to play at his house for a party, which went from an Elvis sing-a-long to a bottle-breaking karate extravaganza,” she laughed. “A less enjoyable experience was when a businessman hired me to play a ‘dinner party’ for his guests at his home in Bel Air, but actually tricked me into playing a solo performance for just him. About 20 minutes in, I told him I had to grab something out of my car and ended up peeling out of there completely furious.”
Despite the less-than-appealing gigs, Ms. Birch said that those formative years helped her prepare for two major breakthroughs: a stay in London, where she wrote much of her album and signed a publishing deal after being “discovered” on social networking site MySpace; and being signed as an artist a year later (2007) to Steve Greenburg’s New York label, S-Curve Records.
“As a pianist-for-hire, I developed a knack for understanding the layman’s ear, and the simplicity and timelessness of a good ‘hook,’” she explained. “I also developed my skills, as I would just sit for hours a day playing.”
Once Ms. Birch was ready to start work on her album, it was time to face a whole new set of challenges. Recording, she says, took her through a “huge range” of emotional experiences; here was a musician used to doing everything on her own, and suddenly she was working with an entire crew of people, including some big names.
“In the past, I had control over all my ideas,” she said, “so it was very hard to let go at times. I realized that because it was my first album, I had to look at the big picture. These musicians, with all different ideas and visions, were all amazingly talented, and I was honored to have been able to play with them. Lenny Kaye, Adam Blackstone and Cindy Blackman are extremely big-hearted people that brought so much to the experience.”
“Bible Belt” itself, ’70s-inflected and reminiscent of Carly Simon or Norah Jones, contains just as wide a range of musical ideas and song topics, from the bluesy “Don’t Wait Up” (about Ms. Birch’s teen years) to the Memphis horns of “Rise Up.”
New York City, where Ms. Birch moved upon being signed to S-Curve, also played a part in the album’s themes.
“I wrote ‘Magic View’ shortly after moving to NYC,” the songwriter explained. “It was winter and bitterly cold; I had recently fallen in love and was also really excited to start recording my album. I was just so present in the moment, overwhelmed with awe at the city and filled with promise for the coming year. It was one of the happiest times in my life.”
Another happy time for Ms. Birch, she said, is when she is touring, which she calls “exhausting but incredibly rewarding.” Her audiences in Westhampton Beach and Bridgehampton will get to share the singer-songwriter’s enthusiasm, and perhaps also get a few glimpses back into her lounge-performer days as well.
“Yes,” she said with a laugh, “I still love to throw in random covers.”
Diane Birch will be appearing at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Friday, July 16, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $35, $25, and $15, available online at whbpac.org, in person at the Arts Center at 76 Main Street in Westhampton Beach, or by telephoning the box office at 631-288-1500. Ms. Birch will also be the musical guest at the Great Chefs VIP Wine Dinner benefit for the Hayground School on August 8; for tickets and more info on this event, visit www.greatchefsdinner.com or telephone 631-327-0573.
on Jul 13, 2010