Getting to know Mary Webb
Mary Webb recently released her new album, Love Like Planets. We asked her to tell us about herself:
I am… an Adelaide-based singer-songwriter with a weakness for choc-oatmeal stout. I am an indecisive, strong-willed, perfectionist adventure-seeker who cannot stand being cold. I’m the youngest of four and have a slight complex about being the flighty, irresponsible one, but I work hard for things and people I care about.
Love Like Planets is… my latest album, recorded in Montana, USA. I wrote the songs during and emerging out of a difficult period in my late 20s. Writing music helped me to work through a lot of my hurt, confusion and fear, and to feel stronger in myself again. It’s an album about struggle, but also growth, discovery, lightness, love and strength. It is meant to be listened to as a whole album, in order, and preferably on vinyl!
My upcoming tour will be… a chance to share the songs with audiences in their raw, acoustic form. I’m touring solo, and am looking forward to having a few days in between each show to explore new areas and perhaps get inspiration for some new music. I’ll be playing Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle and Adelaide.
Home is… a beautiful place. Life in Adelaide really is special. I love the hills and the beaches, and now the city is coming alive too. I feel like it’s an exciting time to live here and see it grow and find its step. People used to leave school and leave town to seek out creative cities, but now more people are sticking around to be part of the growing scene, so it has become a bustling creative city itself. It’s now a UNESCO city of music!
I spend too much time… worrying.
I’ve never… wanted an office job. Every now and again I have a crisis of confidence about my own music and consider a career as a train driver, travel agent or nurse (etc) but I always come back to my senses! Music has always given me joy and meaning. I’ve always felt a very strong pull towards it and when I go without it for a time, I feel lost. I also feel a responsibility to make music that can nourish, comfort or inspire other people.
It might surprise people to learn that… when I was 19 I was simultaneously a Quaker, a hair model and an activist at Pine Gap Military Base in Alice Springs. I was newly vegetarian but ate road-kill kangaroo with the people I was traveling with, who I’d only just met. Someone told me I looked serious all the time, and I was very surprised!
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LIVE DATES
FRI 6 APR | WILLIE’S APPLE SHED, TAS 6:30-8:30PM | 18+ unless accompanied – Free entry
SUN 22 APR | MILK FACTORY, BRISBANE 4-6PM | CHILD-FRIENDLY
SAT 28 APR | SMITHS ALTERNATIVE BOOKSHOP, CANBERRA 7PM | 18+
FRI 4 MAY | THE EDWARDS, NEWCASTLE NSW | ALL AGES – Free Entry
SUN 27 MAY | CHEESE FACTORY STUDIO GALLERY, MEADOWS SA, 1-4PM | ALL AGES – Bookings recommended
Interview by Bobby Townsend.
