This is Ozarks at Large. I'm Kyle Kellams.
Rochelle Bradshaw's momentum keeps moving along. The singer-songwriter will be on stage Friday night at George's Majestic Lounge for the annual Bob Marley tribute, and her full-length album, Island Girl, is available now.
Rochelle came to the Carver Center for Public Radio recently to talk about Friday night's show and to discuss some of the tracks on Island Girl. The CD version of the album is a double-disc recording and carries the subtitle The Journey.
Rochelle Bradshaw: It's always a journey. I have a friend in Jamaica, and his favorite thing is, life is a journey. I mean, it is. Everything is. So that is entitled The Journey because it's not only the original CD, but the dub version also. So the journey of the whole Island Girl journey in dub.
Kyle Kellams: Where did you record it?
Bradshaw: In Jamaica. At my home studio in Portland.
Kellams: I think we've talked about this before, but is there something about being in your home studio that just makes the flow better? I mean, I've actually recorded three and a half albums already. This will be the fourth and the only one to have been released. And number four was way easier to record because I went home.
Bradshaw: I don't know. I can't explain it more than to say that just going home comforted me. And I hadn't spent two weeks at home in years, and it was just me and my uncle in the studio every day, and it just kind of flowed. It was just wonderful.
Kellams: I want to ask you about some of the songs on the CD. Let the Storm.
Bradshaw: Yes.
Kellams: Now, I have always seen you as a positive person.
Bradshaw: Yeah.
Kellams: And this song, to me, is a sort of positive outlook.
Bradshaw: I mean, it's my whole island girl, island time concept. So basically, Let the Storm is just saying that I can handle it. Whatever comes my way. Let it come. I'm not afraid of it. I actually love the lightning. I love the thunder roaring. Sometimes we need a little fire to ignite passion in us. So I'm not afraid of that. So let the storm come. It's optimistic and it's confident.
Kellams: Yeah. What's inside?
Bradshaw: Inside there is confidence. And also not so much. And a lot of fear. And yeah, what's inside. I was sitting and talking with my brother before I flew down to Jamaica, just chatting about things. And I just remember saying, I really want people — I hope people will take the time to listen to, venture further in. Not just look at the surface. Look at the pretty album cover, look at the names, maybe listen to one song. I really want you to come inside. Consider what's inside for a moment. It's what's inside. It's what's inside. It's what's inside.
Kellams: You mentioned the album cover. Well, it is pretty. It's gorgeous. You look wonderful on it. I love the font. I love the colors. If I know you — I don't know you that well — I don't know if you're a perfectionist or not. Ladies and gentlemen, we just got an eye roll. You didn't see this. But it wouldn't surprise me to know that you're meticulous about every detail.
Bradshaw: I try. I try to do my best.
Kellams: So how does that work? I mean, you want Let the Storm. You want people to see what's inside. But you also need to control some stuff. You said control. I didn't. Others have said. So can you find that medium?
Bradshaw: I have to. There is no choice but to find it. Because of my concept of life, island time, the no-problem situation is not that there is no problem. It is there are problems. There are always problems. But here's what I'm going to do. Here's how I'm going to handle it. So it's all in the concept. So I know that there is the storm. There is the fear. But we're still going to go ahead. And in my song Warriors is where I put it all together because all these things are going to happen, but I am unafraid. So that's why I'm a warrior.
Kellams: When you're writing, recording, performing a song like that, you're telling us something about yourself. But are you trying maybe not to tell us how to be, but are you wanting us to come along?
Bradshaw: I want you to listen. I'm definitely not telling you how to be. For Warriors, it was me thinking about all these amazing women in my life. My grandmothers. My mother-in-law. My ex-mother-in-law. Hamza. Just how they do the thing that needs to be done. They're just going to do it. And I'm always so empowered by the inner strength of just regular people. Those are the warriors to me. Just regular people finding that courage to do the thing that needs to be done. And that's how that song came about. It wasn't even about me. It was thinking about them. But it's all of us.
Kellams: That's a beautiful segue into my favorite song on the CD.
Bradshaw: What?
Kellams: Ancestors Light.
Bradshaw: Oh, I love that. I love that song.
Kellams: There's a co-writing credit on there.
Bradshaw: Yeah. My sister Tamara.
Bradshaw: I love to give credit. And what bigger credit than where I'm coming from. Through the blood, through the loins, through all of that. I lost my father when I was 16 years old. In that short space of time that I got to see him, I didn't really get to know him because he was always on tour. But I learned a lot from him. And because of him, a lot of doors were open for me because I was Bradshaw. They'd say, "Oh, you're Tony's daughter. Come, let me give you a try." So I have to pay my respect.
Kellams: You can see and hear Rochelle Bradshaw with some of her favorite musicians from Northwest Arkansas Friday night at George's Majestic Lounge for the annual Bob Marley tribute.
Bradshaw: We always are showcasing Northwest Arkansas's finest.
Jeff Kearney, who can do anything, everything, and I want him on every single project I do. Patty Steele. Tim Warden. Matt Smith. My two singers from The Expressions. Harry Crawley. My sister is coming in from Georgia. We kick off the night with DJ Heartthrob at 8:30.
It's a family affair. My mother is flying in today from Jamaica. She went down just before the hurricane and got stuck fixing up our property, but she's coming back for the show.
Kellams: Rochelle Bradshaw's new album, plus the double-disc CD dub version titled Island Girl, is available now at RochelleBradshaw.com. You can hear her music on streaming platforms as well.
The Bob Marley tribute is Friday night at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville, beginning with DJ Heartthrob at 8:30.
Rochelle came to the Carver Center for Public Radio last week.
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