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She was born in New York City and raised in Savannah, Ga., but these days modern soul songbird Kristina Train calls the Jersey Shore home.
While speaking recently with Metromix Jersey Shore, the songstress revealed her rationale behind moving to Long Branch two years ago. "I wanted to be closer to New York to work with the label and kind of remind them from time to time that I still existed, so we shopped for New York City but we ended up as close as Monmouth County," Train explained.
Asked what she thinks of life at the Shore, Train said, "I love it, it's a really great life. I get the best of the summertime and then in winter it's like I actually get seasons, because in Savannah there's no clearing season because it never gets cold enough, so right now I'm enjoying driving on the Garden State Parkway and seeing all those trees."
Train released her debut album, "Spilt Milk," on the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records on Tuesday (Oct. 20), and she's set to open for Keb' Mo' on Oct. 29 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank and on Nov. 5 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood.
How does it feel to have your album coming out on Blue Note Records next week?
It's a complete and total honor. Blue Note is home to a lot of my heroes, and to be grouped in with those players, it's like a dream come true, so I'm very excited.
I read somewhere that you had originally passed on a development deal with Blue Note when you were still a teenager.
Yeah, I originally got signed with them at 19 and my mom was just really freaked out about me going into the music business and wanted me to go to college first, so I went to school for a little while and then ultimately realized that I couldn't stand it any longer and went back and asked them if they'd give me a second chance and they did.
Looking back now, what do you think about the decision that you and your mother made to wait on starting your music career?
I think it's the best thing that could have happened. I've always dreamed of making this record, "Spilt Milk," and I think that everything happened as it should have and in taking that time I'm older, I'm hopefully a little bit smarter, make better decisions than I did at 19 and I made a record that, you know, I'm not so sure that I would have made at 19, so this is definitely what I want to define me and I'm happy it happened the way it did.
Can you tell me a bit about working with Jimmy Hogarth and Eg White on this record?
Yeah, it was Jimmy Hogarth, Eg White and Ed Harcourt and it was really incredible. Jimmy, from the moment I went over to London, he made me feel so comfortable and really at ease in order to kind of try new things and express myself and write songs. And Eg White, who is a great songwriter and also an amazing artist on his own, he brought a lot of really great stuff to the table, and Ed Harcourt (did) as well, and we came up with stuff that I think sort of can tell people what my passion is, as far as what types of music I listen to, but also, we made a record that sounds modern.
Now, a couple of those guys have worked with some neo-soul singers in the past who are either from England, like Adele, or Wales, like Duffy. It must feel gratifying now to actually be someone from the south kind of taking back the soul sound, in a way.
(laughs) Yeah, I mean, it's really great to know that people love the music that means so much to me and a lot of other people. But yeah, in London it seems like sometimes when you're separated from something that is so close to you, like I mean, that's our music, people consider that to be American music, but in London they have such a huge appreciation for it and they can kind of see it from an outsider's point of view and I think that adds to the freshness of it all.
Now, I heard you guys ran into some computer problems while you were working on the record.
Oh yeah (laughs). When the album was all finished, we did a test master and ... after that we were so pumped and excited and then we got a phone call that while the album was getting backed up from the first to the second to the third hard drive or whatever something happened and it was all erased, and so we had to go back and re-record the whole album except for "Spilt Milk."
How do you think having to go back and re-record the bulk of the tracks impacted the finished product?
I'm not worried about it at all. Look, "Spilt Milk" was the record I always wanted to make, I knew it had to be made and I knew it was going to be made by hell or high water, and so we all went back, we rallied and made an album that I think is perfect the way it is today, so I don't look back on that and wonder at all.
And did those computer problems ever make you think about switching to analog for the next record?
Yeah (laughs). Well hey, technically I am on my next record. But for the second time around we recorded not only on computer but we recorded to tape (as well), just to make sure.
For me, one of the standout tracks on the record in "Half Light." Can you tell me a bit about that one and where that's coming from?
Oh yeah, sure, that's one that I really fought to get on there. When I grew up in Savannah, I grew up next to an old, historic cathedral and outside my bedroom window were the church windows and every hour I'd hear the chimes, so we sat down and the opening chords kind of allude to those chimes and it's about sort of like a reckoning, like what you have to wake up to and look in the mirror and try to face yourself with in the face on the church chimes, so Savannah had a lot to do with that and I like the way it starts out slow but then gets into a nice groove.
