Paula Boggs of the Seattle-based Paula Boggs Band warmly answered the phone with a hearty “hello, Carrie” when I called her at the designated time for our interview. Her euphonious voice reached through the cell phone’s radio waves and she then captivated me with her thoughtful insightfulness on a myriad of topics during the hour-long interview that was much less of a Q&A and more like gliding from topic to topic.
Before I’d even listened to her music, I knew I wanted to interview this highly accomplished person. Not only has she been a paratrooper in the U.S. Army, but she was also an attorney in various capacities for the army, Dept. of Defense, and the White House Office of Legal Counsel (she was even appointed to President Obama’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities). She also served in a variety of high-level legal and other roles at Starbucks (and shared she does not receive free coffee for life after her 10-year stint there). Boggs has received many other accolades and also speaks across the country (including being a keynote speaker at the 2022 She Leads Symposium at Washington University).
She’s taken many paths in her life and has had successes and failures and highs and lows along the way. “When you make these sort of life leaping decisions” as Boggs calls them, “with preparation and planning, it gets easier after the first one. The first one for me was a literal one in the sense that I went into Army infantry airborne school to become a paratrooper, which I did, despite being afraid of heights. I figured out how to manage my fear” and she has learned to land on her feet over and over again.
This Renaissance woman, who partially grew up in segregated Virginia during the Jim Crow era has already outshined most of us and shows no signs of slowing down. When many musicians may be winding down their music careers in their 60s, Boggs continues to ramp up. Her third life chapter, and the reason for this interview, is Boggs’ music career which, she shared, began tugging at her in her late 40s in the mid-2000s when she was still with Starbucks. However, her life in and love of music started as an adolescent through the church, playing piano at age 6, picking up the guitar at age 10, and writing songs shortly thereafter. Being raised Catholic in the ’60s in Virginia meant being introduced to folk music, as many of the churches in that era embraced that style. As her mother was, and still is, a staunch AME church member, Boggs spent her time between the two faiths, and her world became a mixture of gospel and folk music which never left her and has become the basis of her seven-member band’s sound that they dub soulgrass and is a blend of jazz, bluegrass, soul, folk, and Americana.
“When I think about what this music is, and the diversity of influences it has nothing to do with the music,” Boggs said of what personally inspires her. “It has to do with their lyrical voice. So people like Gil Scott Heron, Leonard Cohen, or Tom Waits are people who, through the spoken word to which music is added, have a tremendous amount to say that resonates with me. I’m inspired by Lauryn Hill. She can capture whatever it is she’s talking about in the lyricism of her music. It’s something that speaks very deeply to me. There are musicians out there whose whole package is their story — Nina Simone is one of those artists; Leadbelly is another. When you take the totality of the who the why, and what they mean to music, I’m incredibly inspired by that. But I’m also inspired by, and you’ll find it in my music, Gregorian chants.”
We then chatted about the band’s 2022 release, Janus, their fourth studio album, produced and engineered by Martine and features Carolina Chocolate Drops co-founder Dom Flemons.
“There are a number of things about Janus I’m incredibly proud of including the song ‘King Brewster,’ which was a collaboration with Dom,” Boggs said. “Not only did he provide co-lead vocals on a song, but he played two different banjos, jug, and bones. And it is the true story of my ancestor King Brewster and his journey from bondage to quote-unquote freedom. And so I am incredibly proud of that song. How I got there, and how it turned out.
I’m proud of, you know, all of the songs on Janus, but that one has taken on a life of its own quality and has been quite special.”
Of the melodic “A Finer Thread,” one of the songs that struck my ear, she said, “oh, that one swings. With the banjo and the lap steel, I love how we do that one live.”
Boggs also spoke about a newer song, “The Bard of Vietnam” which they’ve only performed live a couple of times and will be performing in St. Louis on April 16. “The chorus includes ‘when you’re young, death’s the last thing on your mind, but the older you get, the more friends leave you behind.’ It’s a song that I think could only be written by someone whose rear view is a longer path than what is in front of them.” She’s discovered that the song resonates with people of all ages and not just the older set.
Boggs then discussed the genre of bluegrass music which turned into a brief history lesson about the origins of the banjo and how African music (and instruments) influenced the genre long before the 1940s when many lesson books will tell you that bluegrass was formed. She went on to mention musician Tray Wellington and other musicians who are “hellbent on reclaiming the banjo for Black people.”
The interview flew by and I’m a better person for having this experience and you will be, too, when you see and hear the Paula Boggs Band perform at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room on Sunday, April 16. “We’re so excited to return to St. Louis. We enjoyed the last two times in St. Louis and are thrilled to be playing the Duck Room.”
Those last two times in St. Louis (pre-pandemic) the band performed at the now-shuttered Cicero’s, which I had to share The Duck Room was once the basement bar/venue for the original Cicero’s. So, in a way, they’re performing at Cicero’s again.
The concert will also be a bit of a family affair for Boggs as well as her mom is flying in to see relatives who live in St. Louis and will also attend the show along with other family members.
Who: Paula Boggs Band
What: In Concert
Where: Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room
When: April 16, 2023. Doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m.
