SNAILS 

News

SNAILS On His DJ Battle With Gud Vibrations At Lolla '19

Facebook Twitter Email
"It's a dream coming true, it's pretty insane," the Canadian DJ told the Recording Academy
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Aug 9, 2019 - 1:45 pm

DJ and producer SNAILS did his first-ever back-to-back DJ collab set with his label, Slugz Music, for a battle set against Gud Vibrations, a.k.a. NGHTMRE & SLANDER at Lollapalooza 2019.

SNAILS On His DJ Battle With NGHTMRE & SLANDER

"It's a dream coming true, it's pretty insane," the Canadian DJ said after the set. "It was cool sharing the stage with them. It was the first time ever, so it was a big moment for us."

Watch the entire interview above.

Lauv On "F**k, I'm Lonely," Staying Independent, Mental Health & More

Sierra Lever

News

:NEXT With Sierra Lever: The Rising Music Marketer Talks Artist Storytelling, Kendrick Lamar & More

Facebook Twitter Email
The future industry leader and Associate Marketing Director at Columbia Records opens up about how 'Good Kid, M.A.A.D City' inspired her to champion artists' stories and pursue a career in music
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Nov 11, 2019 - 1:31 pm

Meet Sierra Lever, a young music professional primed to make waves in the industry. As Associate Marketing Director at Columbia Records, she already has worked on such major releases as Tyga, Polo G, Chloe X Halle, Chase B, and previously at Motown Records on Migos, Stefflon Don, Zaytoven, and more. She's also featured in the latest episode of :NEXT, the Recording Academy’s new digital short-run series featuring the future of the music industry.

Music Marketer Sierra Lever Is :NEXT

Her journey began back home in Portland, where she put on parties to showcase local talent. She began booking more artists, big artists, such as Too $hort and Big Krit on her college campus. Her DIY spirit and interest in the behind-the-scenes workings of the music business led to her joining GRAMMY U and eventually taking an internship in the Recording Academy, where she worked in the Awards department and the Executive Office.

This wide range of experience helped illuminate Sierra's path into marketing, where she could learn how to tell artists' stories in a way that helps spread the word about their music. And while going to a Spice Girls concert as a little girl that lit the initial spark of Sierra's interest in music, it was a seminal hip-hop album that showed her the way to a career in the industry.

"Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was the album that really inspired me to enter into the music industry," she said. "[It] really tells his story. And it connected to me, and it connected to so many, It really represented the pressures of our environment that we live in… the minute I listened to it, it was on repeat. There's really no skips for this album. It's very thematic. It has all these different themes from the Bible to street violence to love and lust, all those different elements."

Sierra felt she was part of something when she listened to that album. Not content to be just a fan, she wanted to share that sense of belonging. She drew inspiration from the artists she loved and channeled those storytelling concepts into her own career on the business side of music.

"You have to be a student of the game," she said. "That is what really shows. You see these artists and you see how them studying the game really translates to their evolution over time, and I feel like that's the same for me working as a professional in music, [finding my] individuality [and] really taking risks."

Sierra first heard about :NEXT as an intern at the Academy. As her eligibility for GRAMMY U was coming to a close, Lever thought it'd be the perfect segue into a professional career. She was right.

"The best part about being a 'Nexter' is really being able to connect with your peers and see your peers evolve. That is a big thing for me, to be able to support each other, to know that you do have a support system," she said, adding, "We have panels, we have these industry vets that we get to have that face time with and connection with."

Sierra also talks fondly of her mentor, Recording Academy Washington D.C. Chapter Executive Director Jeriel Johnson. "He is someone who is really connected in the urban [music] space, someone who is a leader within it. I identified with him in the sense of, this is where I want to go and where I want to grow," she said.

"The most valuable lesson I learned from him is to always try," Sierra said. "Always go with your foot forward in the sense of, 'I'm learning and I'm going to be successful.'"

Now, Lever is striving to pursue her dreams in the music industry, and being a part of :NEXT has helped her stay on course. She compares the support she's received—and given to her fellow young music professionals—to that of a family.

"I will say this: The GRAMMYs, they are a family to me. There are so many people who have seen me evolve over time," Sierra says.

Her long-term vision is to continue to tell artists' stories, and she's off to a great start. She puts it best when asked what else she's learned from Johnson,  her :NEXT mentor, about being successful in music:

"When you strive for success, you never fail, you just learn."

:NEXT With Scott Michael Smith: The Innovative Producer/Mixer On Taking Risks, Steve Reich & More

Tei Shi

Tei Shi

Photo courtesy of Downtown Records

News

Tei Shi Has Found Her Happy Place

Facebook Twitter Email
Ahead of releasing her sophomore effort, 'La Linda,' the "mermaid music"-maker spoke to the Recording Academy about moving to L.A., Spanish representation and continuing to work with her "creative kindred spirit" Blood Orange 
Laura Studarus
GRAMMYs
Nov 11, 2019 - 11:00 am

There’s a certain romantic connection artists share with New York City. As Valerie Teicher Barbosa recalls, for a time the city acted as an effective creative incubator while she made music as Tei Shi. It was where she introduced herself in 2013, anonymously at first, with a series of crystalline vocal loops she called "mermaid music." It was also where she met collaborators, including Blood Orange (Dev Hynes), and where she wrote and recorded her first Tei Shi album, Crawl Space. But after closing what she calls a "chapter with a lot of baggage," she knew it was time to leave. 

Like many artists before her, the Buenos Aires-born Barbosa ventured West, landing in Los Angeles' Elysian Park, a neighborhood known for hiking, Dodger Stadium, and—like most places in Southern California—year-round sun. 

"It was almost like rebirth, I was so much happier immediately," she recalls of her relocation at the top of 2018. "I would do writing in my little studio and then I would go lie outside for a couple of hours and get some ideas and go back in…It was a really different experience for me. I felt like I had stepped into this otherworldly paradise."

That vitamin D-saturated euphoria informed her forthcoming sophomore effort, La Linda, arriving on Nov. 15 via Downtown Records. Barbosa is especially eager to put La Linda out in the world, as it spent most of 2018 lost in, as she diplomatically puts it, "label purgatory." A showcase of her skills as both a musician and executive producer, La Linda features Hynes again on the hushed duet "Even If It Hurts." Describing Hynes as a creative kindred spirit, Barbosa was pleasantly surprised to find a new coterie of collaborators this time around. As she describes, cherry-picking the right person for each job was what she needed to infuse her humanity-forward R&B/pop with a slick sheen. Ahead of the release, Barbosa spoke with the Recording Academy about Spanish representation, refusing to fight fate and a surprisingly influential apartment building.  

What does "La Linda" mean to you?

"La Linda" to me is like a place. It's representative of how I was feeling during the phase when I was first writing the album. I had just moved to L.A. from New York, and felt like for six months after I moved here I was in this oasis. I was so inspired and felt so free. I felt in this really beautiful state of mind. It was sunny and beautiful and nature all around. Every day I would wake up and I felt like, oh open space. I can breathe and take my time with things.

I live in a house now. I would do writing in my little studio and then I would go lie outside for a couple of hours and get some ideas and go back in. It was something that I had never experienced before. I feel like in the past, when I made music it was, "Okay, we have this amount of time in this studio." It was a really different experience for me. I felt like I had stepped into this otherworldly paradise. 

I think what was going on internally and in my life on a personal level was playing into that. I felt like when I was leaving New York I was closing this chapter with a lot of baggage. When I came here it was almost like rebirth. I was so much happier immediately. I think that combined with the sun and the green just made me feel so euphoric. I wanted the album to reflect that. All the songs on the album aren’t happy songs by any means, but I wanted it to feel very beautiful and lush and bright. The title was something I came across; it was an apartment building called La Linda. It had this sign. A really cool sign. I took a photo out in front of it. In Hollywood. In Mid-City. And stuck with me. The name felt right to me. It felt like that vision of that sign stuck in my head. It was a sign for something I was entering into. It was something I wanted the album to feel like and look like. All the visuals to reflect that. 

The album includes the wonderful Spanish track "No Juegues." What inspired the bilingual shift?  

After I released Crawl Space and that song in Spanish, I got a lot of response from my listeners and fans. I realized there are a lot of Spanish-speaking people who listen to my music, which encouraged me to tap into that more. But it was more an organic thing. The past few years I've been more actively reading in Spanish, watching more stuff in Spanish. Revisiting the music that I grew up listening to and loved and influenced by that. 

I lived in Columbia until I was eight years old. And then my family moved to Canada. To Vancouver. And then when I was teenager we moved back to Columbia and then back to Canada. I basically grew up back and forth between Columbia and Canada. It was almost polar opposite places. But the cultures really complimented each other in how I absorbed them. I think once I opened up that, okay—let me actually try to write stuff in Spanish I'll try to release, it was really interesting and really freeing. Like anyone, you hit walls sometimes creatively. Once I was writing more in Spanish, it allowed me to step outside of myself a little bit. 

Is that something you want to tap into more?

I definitely want to tap in more. I want to be an international artist. I've always felt like that's just who I am. I want my artistry and career to reflect that, and to be able to resonate in different places around the world. I think it’s only natural for me to explore both Spanish and English sides of me, for sure. 

"When He's Done" seems to break that R&B pop mold you've created for yourself. 

That's good! I like to hear that. That was my personal favorite for a really long time. That was the first song I wrote for the album. I wrote that song right before I dropped Crawl Space. I thought about putting it on that album but it was too late and I wanted to take my time with it. That one feels special because it was the transition between Crawl Space and La Linda. I think to me, it’s the closest I've gotten to writing a classic song. Anyone who heard it, it's not about genre, it’s a song. It’s the one that I feel like I could sing that with just a guitar and it's still the song. That’s what I was going for. It’s also something a little different. My singing on it, it’s more powerhouse vocals. Which I don’t do a lot of but I love to sing that way. 

What came to mind was a modern take on "I Will Always Love You." My first thought was, "Wow, that girl knows what a broken heart feels like."

Oh, my god! I wrote it in kind of a crazy time. I made my album Crawl Space, I made with my ex-boyfriend. He was the other producer I worked with on it. We broke up halfway through making that album. And then we had to spend six months in the studio, producing it and recording it and finishing it after we broke up. 

I was experiencing being single for the first time in a really long time. Trying to find that companionship, that kind of love I was missing in different people—and being disappointed over and over again. We all go through that at certain points. So, it was kind of like coming from this place of being really jaded about love and falling for someone or opening yourself up to someone, and the inevitability of when you find yourself really into somebody who you know is not good for you and you’re like, "I know it’s going to end up in sh*t." When he's done, he's going to have his way. But it's also resigned in a way—but I'm still kind of going through the motions because I feel lonely. I feel like that’s a very relatable thing, the heartbreak not just of losing a relationship but the heartbreak of putting yourself out there and hoping for something or trying to find something. 

You're pretty upbeat about life in Los Angeles. Do you consider yourself to be an optimistic person? 

No! Absolutely not. I find myself being way more positive now in recent times. I think that's a result of me getting into a better place emotionally. Just being healthier all-around. Mentally and physically. I think it's been a journey to get to a place where I can draw from positivity in my work. For a really long time when I wrote music it was always coming from a place of sadness or despair or anger. It’s really hard when that's your nature to write music or to make any art inspired by just feeling good. I’m trying to make more of an effort. I don't think I'm an overly negative person. But I'm definitely not someone who you'd be like, "My friend Val, she's a very positive person!"

I think we do romanticize the suffering artist while forgetting you have to also live all those hours every day when you're not an artist. 

Totally! I think it’s also a negative thing because a lot of artists feel a weird pressure to self-sabotage. When you start feeling happen, for me, when I was in a really good place. Suddenly it's, "I'm not going to be able to write any music and I need to f**k up my life right now. I'm done!" That’s a horrible thing. I think a lot of people feel that pressure creatively. Sometimes it’s an internalized thing, but a lot of the time it’s what you’ve absorbed from the outside because it is such a glamourized thing. The suffering artist. Pain is art. Yes, that's true, but there's so much amazing music that’s come from people being positive. Redemption. People want to connect with a positive, empowering message. 

What does self-care look like for you?

I think it's surrounding yourself with people that contribute to your self-care. As you get older you realize how important the relationships you have around you are, in terms of your energy and mental health. I think one, it’s having people around me who are contributing to my well-being. And also for me, the number one thing, I need alone time. I'm the kind of person who recharges off being alone. And having space around me. So now that's a lot easier for me, not living in a place where anywhere I go you're in a crowd of people and you’re surrounded and there’s so much stimulus. I think the peace and quiet is really good in that sense.

And then taking care of my physical health too. When my body doesn’t feel good, that's when my mind is not good. Sleep is crucial! When I'm busy and stressed, my body doesn't process hunger. I live with my boyfriend and we were joking about it last night, when goes out of town, I lose weight. I rely on him for 90% of the time to feed me. When you're stressed and overwhelmed and overworked and stuff, something goes out the window. For me, nutrition is that thing. 

Do you feel like you were meant to move to Los Angeles? 

Yeah! I think so. I believe in fate to the extent that I think that every decision and action leads to the next. While I'm here because of every choice I've made before, it’s definitely not like there’s an alternate reality where I’m not a musician and living somewhere else. I do think everything worked in a way where everything felt like it had a purpose. The purpose was my own personal and creative growth. The finished product of the album.

You think about things that at the time felt terrible. How could this happen? I'm so upset about this! And then you realize that if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have ended up here. It's important to think about those things because sometimes you can dwell on negative experiences. When you follow the path and you realize those things lead to good things—I guess I am positive! 

After claiming the genre "mermaid music" during your first alum, how do you feel about mystical beings now?  

I wanted to distance myself from that, but then the album cover of La Linda ended up being literally the most mermaid thing that could have happened. That term—when I first made my Facebook page, there's the genre section and I didn't know what to say, so I said "mermaid music." When I started making music, I was using vocals to make these soundscapes. So, there was a lot of layered and looped vocals. Very ethereal. The siren song thing. That felt cute and kind of funny and natural.

As my sound has evolved and what I want to do musically has changed, I felt like it didn’t really resonate. At the same time, what is mermaid music? It's not anything, really. I like the idea of mermaids. It's always been super appealing to me. The concept of a fantastical creature whose voice can draw in people and cast this spell. There's so much power in the voice and the mystique. That always resonated with me. When I saw that album cover I knew I had to be a mermaid. 

Alejandra Guzman On Her 30+ Year Career, Live Album At The Roxy And Writing Hits | Up Close And Personal

Scott Mickelson, producer on Blanket The Homeless

News

On 'Blanket The Homeless,' Bay Area Artists Join Together To Raise Money For Those In Need

Facebook Twitter Email
The new album of original songs, produced by Scott Mickelson and featuring contributions from Fantastic Negrito, The Stone Foxes, Con Brio, Rainbow Girls and more, is out on Nov. 8
Adrian Spinelli
GRAMMYs
Nov 6, 2019 - 11:44 am

Beneath the Highway 101 overpass, the scene is bleak. Scattered rows of tents create multiple encampments that continue for several blocks from one neighborhood to the other. On some sidewalks, barricades have been placed against the walls to prevent tents from being laid up against them, but it doesn’t stop people from putting them up closer to the street instead. Some suffer from substance abuse issues or mental illness, though others don't. Regardless of backstory, they all just want somewhere to rest or simply have privacy from the world outside of the zipped-up nylon. 

In other parts of San Francisco, the scenes are similar: the city's homeless population counts over 8,000 people in 2019, a nearly 20% increase from two years ago. It’s a miserable sight, one that dehumanizes people who can't afford housing among the city's growing real estate prices.

Local politicians campaign on solutions for the growing homeless population in S.F., but the political will to find a long-term solution to the problem seems flimsy at best. It's in stark contrast to the amount of money flowing into the city's thriving tech companies. The rich are getting richer and the unfathomably poor are growing in numbers. And when political activity is lacking in dire times, it takes independent philanthropists and other local community activists to make a visible difference—anything to help rally a city. 

Enter artists: the ones who made San Francisco a haven for free-spirited creatives 50 years ago have also risen to the occasion over the years by any means necessary when faced with how to help the city’s homeless population. Comedian and S.F. resident Robin Williams led the charge over two decades through the Comic Relief series of events, raising over $50 million for homeless services in the process. After his death in 2014, comedian and S.F. native Margaret Cho coped with her grief by staging a series of busking performances throughout the city to raise money for the homeless population, coining the hashtag #BeRobin.

"It was a way for us to be charitable, but also bring a sense of comic relief and performance. Very Robin Williams," Cho tells the Recording Academy. "And calling attention to it, really ignites people’s humanity. It shows that we’re not going to ignore this problem."

A co-founder of the #BeRobin movement, Ken Newman is a San Francisco singer/songwriter and philanthropist, who has kept the efforts of Cho and others going. In 2016, Newman founded Blanket The Homeless, a local charity that has partnered with the St. Vincent DePaul Society Of San Francisco (SVDP-SF) by seeking to improve the day-to-day lives of people living on the streets. In short, they raise money and donate packages that include blankets, socks, toiletries and any other day-to-day supplies that the homeless population might need. 

To call further attention to the issue and continue to raise money, Newman's latest effort sees him partnering with producer Scott Mickelson to put out a compilation benefit album entitled Blanket The Homeless. Out Nov. 8, Blanket The Homeless features music from 15 Bay Area artists, each of whom contributed an original song to the album, including two-time GRAMMY winner Fantastic Negrito, Tim Bluhm of The Mother Hips, Con Brio, Rainbow Girls, The Brothers Comatose, The Stone Foxes, The Coffis Brothers, Seattle's Tobias The Owl (who lived on the streets as a teenager himself), Goodnight, Texas, King Dream, Whiskerman, John Craigie, The Old Soul Orchestra and tracks by Newman and Mickelson as well. The day before the album's release, many of the artists involved will be playing a benefit show for the project at San Francisco venue The Independent. All proceeds from the show and album sales will go directly to Blanket The Homeless. 

"Regardless of the title, I wanted this to be a strong musical statement that stood on it’s own," Mickelson says of the album. While most of the songs do touch on the album's titular theme, Mickelson (who also produced 2017’s After The Fire Vol. 1, a benefit album for victims of Northern California's devastating fires) let the artists know that the songs didn't necessarily need to be directly about being homeless. It just had to be a song they’d be excited to release. 

As San Francisco and Bay Area artists themselves continue to grapple with the ever-inflating cost of living, coming into Mickelson's Marin studio ready to record a song that speaks to the larger issue at hand came naturally. On "American Dream," a spiritual folk number by Rainbow Girls, the band reflects on the concept of self-worth when compassion might not be present. 

"When you listen to it deeply, it's for obvious reasons that this was our song,” singer Vanessa May says. "It's musing on this ideal that we're all seeking 'Americanness.' That we’re all just trying to find ourselves and exist as healthy selves and family. It talks about how easy it is for your carefully laid plans to be blown by the wind."

When May sings, "Everyone is worth something and it's not their weight in gold," one can't help but think about how invisible San Francisco's homeless population has become to many, let alone to themselves. This speaks to the heart of Blanket The Homeless: displaying compassion for human beings who are suffering every day without a place to call home. 

"It takes greater creativity to get people to care again," May says. "It's a different age, where we live in an attention economy and most of our attention is very much occupied." 

Meanwhile, "Working Poor," Fantastic Negrito's impeccable Delta blues track (and the only non-original song on Blanket The Homeless, having appeared on his 2016 The Last Days Of Oakland album), tells the tale of people being pushed out of the city and into the heartland; their home has new tenants as they’re forced to the sidelines. Similarly, on "Odd Man Out," Mickelson, who wrote the song during the process of producing the album, sings of the feeling of becoming invisible, like you don't fit in anymore, a relatable perspective whether you have a roof or a rainfly over your head at night. 

"I find it difficult to understand that in a city where we lead the world to believe that we're so liberal, diverse and the most conscious of the environment and rights, that we literally and figuratively step over the homeless," Mickelson says. "They’ve become such a fabric of the city that they won't be acknowledged."

True to his word, Mickelson has put together an album of songs that can indeed stand alone. While the message is clear throughout the journey of Blanket The Homeless, the mighty talent on the album is just as evident. The stripped-down bluegrass vibe of "Angeline" by The Brothers Comatose and the sultry groove of "Body Language" by Con Brio are two love songs that shine especially bright. For Con Brio lead singer Ziek McCarter, who lives in San Francisco’s Fillmore district, being a part of Blanket The Homeless is in line with his and the band’s ethos. They recently put out a single, "Living In The City," that sent all proceeds to San Francisco's Coalition on Homelessness, and have worked with Bread & Roses, an organization that brings music to institutionalized people. 

"We love to give back to the community," McCarter says. "But the condition within the city itself is tough. It's treacherous to walk through the heart of downtown and the Tenderloin. So any way we can contribute and have a positive influence, we’re there. We’re not just in it for the music."

It can be frustrating to think about how a lack of a concrete solutions from city officials is not only not solving San Francisco's homeless problem, it's making it worse. It can be even more frustrating to think that artists, who are becoming increasingly pushed out of the city because of similar economic mechanisms, are the ones left staging effective ways to help. But their efforts are inspiring nonetheless: The money raised will go directly to help S.F.'s homeless population, effectively continuing the great philanthropic work Williams did when he was still alive.

"He was endlessly generous with his time and his comedy," Cho says of Williams. "You know...the original spirit that the city used to stand for something, a great spirit of independence and DIY...it doesn't have to go away."

And for some, like the 15 artists involved in Blanket The Homeless, it hasn't. 

"To be an artist and to make a living in San Francisco...it's a grind," McCarter says. "But it’s a great honor to say that we're part of the legacy and history of artists that have thrived in the Bay and stood up for just cause and stood up for the people." 

For more info on Blanket The Homeless, and to purchase the album, click here.

Purchase tickets to the November 7th Release show at The Independent here.

Historic Berkeley Folk Venue Freight & Salvage Welcomes A New Generation Of Music Fans

Mary Bridget Davies as Janis Joplin

Photo: Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images

News

Janis Joplin Musical 'A Night With Janis Joplin' Hits Cinemas Nationwide

Facebook Twitter Email
Show lead Mary Bridget Davies and Janis' brother Michael Joplin discuss honoring the late rock icon in the captivating stage play-turned-film
Bryan Reesman
GRAMMYs
Nov 5, 2019 - 12:54 pm

Mary Bridget Davies has been living the musical life of Janis Joplin, singing her songs and bringing her music to her original fans as well as younger generations. What began as a regional theater gig in 2006 led the lifelong vocalist to touring with Joplin's original band, Big Brother and the Holding Company and then starring in the Broadway musical, "A Night With Janis Joplin," that extended into national touring. She even has the blessing and approval of the iconic rocker's siblings Laura and Michael Joplin.

Now Davie's exuberant performance in "A Night With Janis Joplin" has been captured for posterity and is being screened in theaters across the country between Nov. 5 and Nov. 11. CineLife Entertainment is releasing the film with BroadwayHD (showing and ticket info available here) of a performance that was recorded at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts in California in September 2018.

Originally staged on the Great White Way from October 2013 to February 2014, "A Night With Janis Joplin" has toured the country regularly since with Davies still in the lead role. The show landed her a Tony nomination for Best Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role In A Musical, and upon watching this two-hour concert style event, it is easy to see why. Davies commands the stage with her powerhouse pipes and also charms during the contemplative monologues between numbers that flesh out parts of Joplin's remarkable life story.

This show is not simply a Janis musical revue with a live band (who, by the way, have chops to spare). Interspersed throughout hits like "Tell Mama," "Piece Of My Heart," and the post-bow encore of "Mercedes Benz" are songs by four women who were major influences in Janis' life: Etta James, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, and Odetta, plus an Act One ending fantasy duet with her peer Aretha Franklin, which never happened in real life. The show creates a bridge and a dialogue between Janis and her female inspirations (in real life, Janis did sing with Tina Turner and Mavis Staples).

Davies explains that the show began as an off-Broadway production called "One Night With Janis Joplin," and only one female singer inhabited all the African-American singer roles. But the ensemble was later enhanced. The renamed "A Night With Janis Joplin" emerged in the summer 2012 in Davies' hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, went to the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and the Pasadena Playhouse, before landing on Broadway in spring 2013. "It was a very quick process," says Davies.

While the Joplin siblings were involved in the casting for "A Night With Janis Joplin," Michael recalled Davies from her role in a previous off-Broadway show called "Love, Janis," and knew that she had toured with Big Brother and the Holding Company. "There were a lot of women that could sing insanely well, but not a lot that could pull a Janis thing off," Michael explains. "I didn't realize that until we were auditioning."

They saw hundreds of women with plenty of theatrical experience, but Davies had the wow factor. "Mary comes from performance, and that's a real different skill set especially [in] rowdy bars," Michael says. "You learn a real different set on how to grab a bar." And a theatre audience.

"When you play Janis Joplin, you don't play her politely" -Mary Bridget Davies

When "A Night With Janis Joplin" first emerged on Broadway, there were some criticisms that it did not delve deeply into the tragic side of her story and stayed upbeat throughout the show. However, "Love, Janis," staged in NYC in 2001, handled that aspect and was inspired by the best-selling book written by Laura Joplin. Davies joined the touring company in 2006. Singers who tackled the role prior included Cathy Richardson, Andra Mitrovich, Beth Hart, Laura Branigan, and Sass Jordan, among others. (Interestingly enough, for whatever reason, many did not last that long in the part.)

"That was far more dark," Davies says of "Love, Janis." "It was telling her story chronologically from her beginnings in Austin, Texas, and hitchhiking to San Francisco, meeting Big Brother, all of that up until her untimely passing [in 1970]. It was pretty maudlin. We played the actual coroner's report. She shot up in scenes. It was heavy, but it was accurate, and that's what I loved about it. People just think rock stars are these happy go lucky bobbleheads, and that they're just living the dream. That show really proved that it's not all it's cracked up to be."

By contrast, "A Night With..." serves a different function, as if Janis were coming from Heaven and throwing her ultimate concert, one which Davies likens to the 1987 concert and TV special "B.B. King and Friends," which featured the rock icon performing with the likes of Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Chaka Khan, Etta James, and Gladys Knight. In this case, Janis is paying tribute, "To the women who shaped her sound and who she looked up to so much," says Davies.

The newer Janis musical is ultimately uplifting. "I wanted to have a fun night," says Michael. "I realized that I don't pay to go see movies that depress me anymore. I just don't care. I could do that just reading the paper. I want to be entertained. That was our goal from the get go, to have an entertaining evening that you felt good about. You might learn something, and there might be some tears, but there's gonna be a lot of joy."

Both "A Night With..." and "Love, Janis" have used direct quotes from Janis' life rather than fictionalize her story.

"People had done that enough already, even in their own stories about her," notes Michael. "Even in some aspects, Janis fictionalized herself. She was a really good salesman. She wanted to get stuff in print. She was 25 – what the hell, go for it."

Janis once addressed the idea that while she did not yet have the life experience of her idols, she had the strength and was hoping to reach a higher level as a performer. "I've always admired that," says Michael. "I thought that was extremely aware, and I've always applauded that forward thinking in her."

Michael praises "A Night With..." book writer Randy Johnson in tracing his sister's musical evolution and how her influences (blues, soul, Broadway, psychedelic rock, and later, a little country) guided her. The Joplin siblings grew up with classical and Broadway music being played at home.

Davies notes that many fans do not know that "Summertime," which was recorded by Big Brother and the Holding Company, came from the African-American folk opera "Porgy & Bess" which debuted on Broadway in 1935. Appropriately enough, this production's version begins with another singer tackling the original version before segueing into the Big Brother rendition. "I love watching the audience's reaction," says Michael. "They're in awe of both. That's so fun to watch."

While some in the media tried to paint Joplin as manic depressive or dour, her brother Michael has stated before that she actually was having a good time and enjoying her life. It showed on stage.

"Janis was such a different take," says Micheal. "All the women before were pretty straightforward and singing nicely. Grace Slick was a wonderful rock performer, but she was definitely singing that kind of theater voice versus the Janis rock thing. It just took everybody by surprise, so their automatic distrust of something new was going to be there. That's a human nature thing. It wasn't Janis' intent to break down any doors. She just did what she did. Big Brother was an intense garage band."

Michael says he and his family saw Janis perform three times with Big Brother (although not with the Kosmic Blues Band or the Full Tilt Boogie Band). "That was pretty insane," he recalls of the experience. "That was pretty cool. My parents were a little bit shocked by all of it. I can't see how they wouldn't be actually." The singer's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show cemented her legitimacy with her parents.

"As a parent, you've got to watch that and hope for the best," says Michael. "They had a lot of fears, and well-founded now in hindsight, but they were still incredibly proud of her and her drive and ability. But terrified all at the same time. As a parent now, I can completely understand that. You just pray that they get through it."

While there is no way to truly replace Janis, Davies has been doing an admirable and acclaimed job. Following "Love, Janis," she landed a gig singing with Joplin's original group, Big Brother and the Holding Company, on and off between the summers of 2006 and 2012.

"I was lucky enough to tour Europe with them a few times, see the world with them, and really get to know Janis from their point-of-view," says Davies. "They were all just like best friends. Just getting those background stories that you can't get except from the source was a lot of fun too. They still knew how to throw down. They were fun in their advanced age, if you will. The remaining members that are still alive are the rhythm section, Dave Getz the drummer and Peter Albin on bass, are still out there touring and doing their thing."

Davies has soldiered on with her chosen role in "A Night With Janis Joplin," dazzling fans old and new. "People who were there the first time remember it and feel young," she remarks. "My favorite moment is when you look out and see someone walk in with a walker or a cane, and by the end of Act One, they've got that cane in the air and they're standing on their own two feet and they're feeling that adrenaline like they did when they were kids. Then I've done my job. Then you see younger kids come up to you after the show and go, 'I had no idea who Bessie Smith was.' Or I'll get stage letters like, 'I saw your show last year, and I just want you to know that I did my social sciences diorama on women of the blues in the early Twenties.' That's cool."

According to Micheal, social media is likely the main way that younger fans find out about Janis and her music, although her multigenerational appeal means that younger people also discover the singer through older relatives. "We'd go to the play and watch grandmas taking their daughters with their granddaughters and they're all rocking," he says. "It's so cool to see that. Theater is definitely lending itself towards gray hair, but a lot of Janis' performances are not."

The distinct grittiness in Janis' voice is something that other singers have struggled with, and Davies certainly took time to transition into that vocal space. "I'll tell you as someone that's been doing it for a very long time, she had a lot of finesse under that," says Davies. "That banshee wail was a complete and very cool fabrication of her own singing voice. She created that." When Davies tried singing "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" for the first time with her cover band at age 21, she admittedly blew her voice out halfway through.

"It was literally navigating unchartered waters," says Davies. "It took me a couple of years to actually get it to where I wouldn't hurt myself, but I would still be able to really drop the hammer and go nuts."

If one listens to the first single "The Right Of Way" from Davies' forthcoming solo album Stay With Me: The Reimagined Songs of Jerry Ragovoy, which is due out in January 2020, one can hear her natural singing voice. (Side note: Ragovoy co-wrote a few tunes that Janis sung.) Davies' normal voice is just as strong but without that extra layer of grit, and it showcases a different side of her singing. She has learned to walk a line between her voice and that of Janis.

"That's the other thing – when you play Janis Joplin, you don't play her politely," observes Davies. "That's counterproductive. I've found a way to harness that lightning, but it took a few years for me to get it to where I could control it. I love putting the grit on it. Now it's second nature to me. I live in a world between the two now."

GRAMMY.com contributor Bryan Reesman is the author of Bon Jovi: The Story and host of the podcast Side Jams.

Inside Tina Turner's Empowering Final Album, 1999's 'Twenty Four Seven,' 20 Years Later