DAN’S THE MAN
Where her voice wanted to go, was Nashville. Soon
after deciding to focus on her solo material, Yola got
involved with the UK side of the Americana Music
Association and through them, earned the chance to
go with some other UK-based artists to the home of
country music and play showcases for some of the
movers and shakers in town.
On her second pass through the city, word of Yola’s
unique talent reached the ears of Dan Auerbach; the
Black Keys main man knew he’d found the perfect
addition to his Easy Eye Sound label.
“I had got his 2016 record and I was just listening
to it thinking, ‘This sounds great... wouldn’t it be
really awesome to work with him,” she recalls of the
moment she got Auerbach’s call. “And then all of a
sudden, ‘Bring, bring!’ And I’m like, ‘Come on, buddy,
this is a bit on the nose, innit?!’”
Yola soon made her way to Nashville, and began
to write with Auerbach on what would become
her debut solo album. “At first it was just terrifying!
Because everything that’s around you [in his studio]
is just ridiculous. Just ridiculous levels of awesome.
And so you’re just trying to not drink in and focus.
But I knew that I just had to find that musical
crossover. And how we got going was very much,
‘Okay, what are you into?’ And as much ‘What you
not into?’ We definitely bonded over our loathing of
80s aesthetic!
“We probably wrote about 30 tunes in about five
days – we wrote a lot! So it didn’t take long to get to
the point – when you’re in the right environment,
it’s like everything’s in slow motion, like you’re Neo
or some shit!”
Those songs were pared down into Walk Through
Fire, a 12-track slice of sublimely vibey and
authentic-sounding soul-tinged country and
Americana, recorded by Yola, Auerbach and a
murderers’ row of Nashville session musicians.
The one track that she’s particularly proud of,
however, is the one that didn’t have her multi-
Platinum-selling co-writer in the room – It Ain’t
Easier. “I just worked up demos of songs that I had
and with that one I said to him, ‘Well, here it is,’
and he’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s pretty much it!’
“Obviously, a lot more money has gone into it!
But it was very interesting having the songs that
we’ve written and the ones that have just flowed
out of my brain and to just go, ‘Yeah, they sit
perfectly happily together.’”
FIRE PROOF
The album’s title might seem like a classic
songwriter’s metaphor for overcoming the hard times
that led her to the happiness and success that she’s
now found, but in truth, there’s a much more visceral
and remarkable story behind Walk Through Fire. Not
long after she began embarking on her solo career,
the kitchen of Yola’s house caught fire, when she
was inside... “I was in shock, because I was on fire- and the thing that snapped me out of shock was
thinking about the life that I’d been in previously
and going, ‘Oh, that was way worse...’” she says,
matter-of-factly. “And I started laughing, because
your first instinct is to laugh.
“And whilst burning, it dawned on me that I’d take
the life that I was building – I hadn’t even finished
building it, but it was kind of taking shape and I was
starting to see everything that could happen. I had
some people to write with, I was starting to pick up
the guitar and I could hold down a chord progression
without my hand crumbling to a pile of dust. And
I was like, ‘This is the beginning of something. This
has potential. I feel hope for the first time in years.’
“And so I started to feel this sense of hope. It
dawned on me that I’m still on fire, but I said,
‘I’ll take this now, on fire, over that life, not being
on fire. It was way worse than fire. I’d happily set
myself on fire right now. If the choice was that, or go
back to that old life. I’m like, ‘Where’s the lighter?’”
Yola’s debut album Walk Through Fire is out now on
Easy Eye Sound/NonesuchYOLAGUITAR MAGAZINE 47