Interview: Rebecca Haviland & Whiskey Heart’s ‘Late Nights’ Is a Love Letter to Blues Music and Community

Rebecca Haviland 'Late Nights' © Manish Gosalia
Rebecca Haviland 'Late Nights' © Manish Gosalia
Rebecca Haviland is a multi-functional music industry professional, continuously shifting gears from frontwoman to background musical support to educator, among other ventures. A Rebecca Haviland & Whiskey Heart performance at NYC’s Rockwood Music Hall in the fall of 2017 was, in the life of an aspiring young journalism student, one of many formative examples of how the phrase, ‘Those that can’t do, teach,’ is trivial and an elementary grasp of the definition of success. Haviland, never content, continues to chase her goals and ambitions while passing her skills down to the next generation.
‘Late Nights’ – Rebecca Haviland & Whiskey Heart




Just before hitting the road in support of a beloved British musician, singer/songwriter, performer, and educator Rebecca Haviland, alongside her trusted band Whiskey Heart, released her anticipated EP, Late Nights.

Haviland, a respected and tenured musician, has shifted roles throughout her lengthy musical journey.

As a frontwoman, she continues to please audiences with tasteful, fervent performances of her blues and folk-laden catalog. As a touring band member, she has assisted in rounding out the live sound for a plethora of contemporary acts. As an educator, she brings her wide array of experiences and connections to the classroom, acting as a sponge for students in the early stages of their artistic journeys.

This interview, which Haviland kindly participated in while tucked in the corner of a clamorous pub in the UK following tour rehearsal, was proudly curated by a former student.

Late Nights is out now.

Late Nights EP - Rebecca Haviland & Whiskey Heart
‘Late Nights’ EP – Rebecca Haviland & Whiskey Heart

Opening track “Monday Nights” sets the scene for the project, highlighting Haviland’s native, sturdy contralto as she holds her own against the concentrated, potent discharge of deep bass and additional musicality. Lyrically, she laments what she perceives as a changing of the tide in the music scene, personal aging, and persistent negative connotations from outsiders, though her vocal is, rather deliberately, produced to the ilk of a classic blues recording.

There is an authentic and intentional distance between herself and the listener.

I need something to give me release
Just a little guarantee
Waking up every single day,
feeling miles away
But how could I ever leave this home?
The only place that I’ve ever known

“I had a couple of big goals for this record,” says Haviland. “The first was that I wanted to sing songs that were really personal in regard to my journey. And that has been a lot of different things as a touring musician, a songwriter in New York, a session musician, and an educator. The second was that I wanted to involve ALL of the genre of American roots music. To have songs that were more soul, more R&B, more blues.”

She achieves that level of diversity on this project, and attributes its haphazardness of sound and overall creative process to a mantra correlating to songwriters plucking ideas from a hat, and/or procuring an idea from elsewhere and executing it. “That happens to me sometimes,” she says. “I put so much of myself into the song, that what I’m doing is such a reflection of the music that is being made.”




Rebecca Haviland © Manish Gosalia
Rebecca Haviland © Manish Gosalia

Sins,” the most explicit blues track of the record, and the definitive standout of the project, showcases Haviland and co.’s deep-rooted comprehension and cognizance of the genre, as well as their proficiency to create modern tunes within its rich framework.

Opening line, “I’ve been a gambler all my life,” sees Haviland, seemingly slipping into character, lean into sultriness as her vocal line descends and slinks down to near nothingness with a sensual crackle, and she maneuvers her way through passages of a recurring blues guitar lick.

“The blues is just… in me,” she says. “I’ve been playing in blues bands since I was a kid. It’s always just inadvertently there, and so it finds its way into what I do so easily.”

Despite the finesse of the finished product, “Sins” was far from a straightforward effort. “It’s probably 10 years old, and I rewrote it three times,” she says. “Sometimes you got to let a song sit, then rewrite it, and rewrite it again. Other ones, like, ‘Monday Nights,’ I wrote the day before the session.’” An early version of “Sins” was governed by blues classic “Hoochie Coochie Man” by Muddy Waters, followed by a stripped-down acoustic version. The finalized version leans towards the former, yet features a wider melodic trajectory.

While “Monday Nights” may be seen as Haviland’s individual crisis management set to song, “We All Cry a Little” leans towards a collective understanding and camaraderie. Confessing to the semi-sarcastic usage of the phrase, ‘Just livin’ the dream,’ Haviland sympathizes with her fellow creatives while navigating the arduous lifestyle herself. “Being a musician, you have to be really stubborn,” she says.

“We all share experiences. We’re all exhausted… but we just love doing it. However miserable you think you are, you’re still doing what you love to do.”

Another night on the road,
just the radio and me
I used to feel tired,
but now I don’t know what that means
When my friends ask how I’m doin,
I say I’m livin’ that dream
‘Cause there’s nothing
I’d rather be doin’ babe,
then tearing my heart apart at the seams
We all cry a little
Laugh a little
Drink too much
Rebecca Haviland © Manish Gosalia
Rebecca Haviland © Manish Gosalia

On “We All Cry…,“ Haviland softens her vocal tone, opting for pockets of airy wistfulness in her delivery as if to portray feelings of slightly mournful contemplation. “I emulate a lot of vocalists that I love,” she says. “On ‘Monday Nights,’ I was trying to do more of a Stevie Wonder meets James Brown. ‘We All Cry…’ is a little more Linda Ronstadt, Beatles kind of vibes. That really helps me differentiate the direction I’m going for, whether it’s more shouty, with some vocal fry and distortion. The other ones I go for a clean, almost elegant sound.”

Though these influences guide her, Haviland is, sans unintentionally leaning too far into Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home to Me” on “Those Were The Days” (or Stephen Sanchez’s “Until I Found You” for the younger listeners) unafraid to allow her own skillset, and the music itself, to spearhead her creative vision. “I think I’m the common thread between all the songs,” she says. “I’ve been tied to many influences over the years, so it has been fun to still be me, but lean in more than one direction.”

The music video for “We All Cry…,” consisting of public domain footage from Mad Men, acts as a statement piece for Haviland. Both the audio and visual aspects of the tune are meant to reflect the struggles of everyday musicians, such as her friends, colleagues, and students. Haviland, taking advantage of the current visualizer-over-music-video trend, opted to explore her concept in an impactful, psychedelic fashion.

“That era, and that show, spoke so clearly about the expectations of that generation,” she says. “How it was so important for them to not show who they really were to fit the role. For me, as a women, that has been an interesting thing to navigate. But, I didn’t want it to only come from a women’s perspective. How it’s like, ‘Oh, you have to have kids. You have to stay home. You can’t be a traveling musician.’ That song speaks to a lot of different capacities, and it was really important for me to let people take from it whatever their personal experiences have been.”




Rebecca Haviland 'Late Nights' © Manish Gosalia
Rebecca Haviland ‘Late Nights’ © Manish Gosalia

As an educator, Haviland makes the near hour-long commute up to Westchester from New York City, where she encourages students not only to capitalize on the resources and community of the institution, but also to become disciples of music history.

“I try to remind students that it is important to remember what the backbone of what American music is,” she says, “so that they can be influenced by the same artists that influenced the artists that they love. It’s so important to play and put in the 10,000 hours of learning that music. Many of us… are very open about students not feeling pressure to do a specific thing with how they make their music, and how they record it, but to find what it is that is the best method for them. Don’t just go, ‘I’m going to sound like Sabrina Carpenter.’ Trace the lineage of that back and do your own thing. That’s what’s always exciting, successful, and the best way to connect with your fans. Trying to be someone you’re not gets old really fast.”

Undoubtedly, Haviland’s students and fans are presented with a figure who has been knocked down, but has not stayed down, by the pressures of the music industry. Late Nights is a project that operates at solely her level, and a project she sees as a professional victory lap.

“On this record, I feel like I’m making my own thing,” she admits. “I get these responses from people… who say I’m not quite Americana, I’m not quite blues, or I’m not quite indie rock. I love that that’s what has happened with this record, because it’s new. I made a new thing.”

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:: stream/purchase Late Nights here ::
:: connect with Rebecca Haviland here ::

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Watch: “Sins” – Rebecca Haviland



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Late Nights EP - Rebecca Haviland & Whiskey Heart

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? © Manish Gosalia

Late Nights

an EP by Rebecca Haviland & Whiskey Heart



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