If you want to rock and roll
Then you better want it
Wicked bad …
Kristen Ford belted out those words like she meant them.
Because she does. Because she lives them.
Acoustic guitar in hand, Ford sang those lyrics to a song still in progress during an appearance Thursday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program. The drums, bass, power chord-enhancing electric guitar accopmaniment are to come as Ford refines “Wicked Bad” to record on her upcoming album Sad Sac.
“There will probably be at least 16 guitars on that track,” Ford predicted. “Maybe more.”
Ford was visiting town, where her parents live and where she was once a one-woman-band regular in the local music scene, between stops on a tour that will take her to Kennebunkport, Maine; the Pride fest in Greenfield, Mass.; and across the country to Walla Walla, Washington, before she returns to her new home of Sacramento (the full name of the “underdog city” referenced in the upcoming album title).
The new tour — following last year’s 72-stop touring and surprise invitation to appear on The Kelly Clarkson Show — promotes Pinto Luxe, Ford’s new album on musical soul mate Ani DiFranco‘s Righteous Babe records. The album dropped this month.
Meanwhile she’s cranking out new songs, including “Wicked Bad,” which she started working on Monday, three days before her WNHH visit.
As she performed on air, Ford captured the visit live on her Instagram feed. She posts regularly on multiple social media feeds in between updating her $5-a-month Patreon “mechanics” (monthly contributors) whom she has invited to watch her develop the new songs and offer input. In between producing her podcast. In between posting monthly “photo dumps” and unreleased demos for paid subscribers.
In other words, Ford continues to frenetically multitask her way through the long-tail digital-age imperatives of making it as an indie singer-songwriter. As she has been doing for two decades.
More original musicians than ever can cobble audiences from further afield thanks to the possibilities opened up by mass-platform algorithms. If they’re willing to cut the Faustian bargain with Big Tech. And as long as they want it wicked bad.
“In some ways as an artist, it’s a bummer that you need to advertise through something like Meta to reach your audience and to release your music, even independent music,” Ford reflected in between songs on “Dateline.”
“But in another way, it’s really amazing that we have the ability to reach people who might really like this kind of music because all of our data is being farmed by these algorithms all the time. It’s a unique opportunity: You could connect with somebody who’s like a vegan DJ/former newspaper editor, and he might be in Japan or he might be in India or South Africa.
“It’s easy to get discouraged, but it’s also … really empowering to be, like, with one click, you can release something globally.”
Ultimately, Ford seeks to find the thousands of most inspired listeners who help her build a following that sticks with her for longer than a single click as she continues to hone her celebratory, introspective, socially-conscious, rhythmic, DiFranco-meets-Ramones-meet-Tracy Chapman material.
So click here to follow her homepage, here to sign up for her newsletter, here to contribute $5 a month to become a “mechanic” who gets looks under the music-making hood, and below to watch her full interview on WNHH FM’s “Dateline,” beginning with the recording of her new single “Pop Pop Fizz Fizz.”
