Photo by Paul Deatherage
Last week I chatted with Alice DiMicele, a long time Rogue Valley resident and musician. Alice has been playing and creating music for most of her life, and weaves folk, jazz, gospel, and country into one super genre. With the mixture of these genres Alice’s music struggles to find a permanent home. “The Folkies don’t wanna play me because my music has too much jazz in it..the Jazzies don’t play me because my music’s too folky…it’s not country enough for them to consider it Americana, although that’s really what I consider it.” Pinning down her style of music “has been the bane of [her] existence” Alice told me with a sigh.
Alice wrote her first song, a minuet, on piano when she was around 5 years old. “I always had a song in my head and in my heart,” Alice told me, “I wrote the song Celebrate the Rain when I was 11,” which appeared on her first album years later. When she was 17 years old she picked up a guitar and has not put it down since.
In 1988 Alice created her own record label, Alice Otter Music, and released her first album under that label. She was approached by many agents offering record deals, but she turned them down, wanting to stay true to her craft and her sound. “I just didn’t want to go [through someone else], I had people sniffing around…and there was one guy who was super agro. He kept saying ‘oh yah we’ll get you a stylist and they’ll help you choose your hairstyle and your clothes’. I just looked at him and was like are you kidding me? No thank you!” I mentioned how remarkable that choice was, especially for a 20-something-year-old artist who is just starting out, most musicians would have been ecstatic to have record companies asking them to sign with them.
Having an independent record label has helped and hindered Alice’s musical journey. I inquired about the different ways that it has affected her, “Independent minded people are like ‘yah right on I wanna check this out’ and people are excited to support it.” Alice has been held back by her own label in different ways, “for many years you couldn’t get a booking agent without a label, and also when you don’t have a label you have to do all the work. So I’ve had to do all the work myself, which is quite a feat. I’m very grateful for the people who have helped me over the past thirty years.” Although this has been a lot of work for her, Alice is able to see the silver lining, “the blessing is that I get to make all the decisions. No one is taking the money and putting it into something that I don’t believe in. If I have extra money I give it away to people or organizations that need it.”
Alice’s first record, Make a Change, is 30 years old this year. I asked how it felt to have a piece of her work turn that age, “it’s weird,” she replied, “it’s like when you’re kids are 30, it’s really weird. I don’t really know how describe it, but I’m really grateful that I have a body that is learning to corporate with me, and I can do most of the things that I love to do and I’m still making music.” Alice recalled how she remembers playing to hundreds and hundreds of people when she was young, “[the music] was ok, but I was just learning and everyone was flocking [to me], which is funny because now I have to work a lot harder to fill a venue and the music is light years better.”
Alice admitted that she has a hard time appealing to younger audiences, not because they do not like her music, but because she does not know how to reach them, “and people my age don’t want to go out anymore.” She has not lost any her of long term fans, they support in anyway they can by purchasing her records and donating to her many political causes, but they are coming to fewer live shows. I asked her how she was adapting to this, “I’m having to learn some of the technological things to try to reach a new audience, which is humbling and good on so many levels, it’s also really challenging,” she replied. Thankfully her original fans now have their own kids that they bring to her concerts, many of which will come up after the show and ask her for an autograph. “I have young women come up and say ‘my mom or my dad dragged me to this show, I had no idea what I was coming to and I’m so inspired.’ That’s the crux of joy to me.”
During her 30+ years of music Alice has been politically and environmentally active. Many Rogue Valley residents may have seen her at this year’s Women’s March that happened in Medford in late January. Her website lists multiple organizations that she supports and encourages others to do the same. I asked her to dive into her reasons for sharing this passion with her listeners. “For me, we all have to pay our rent. There’s paying rent to your landlord or your mortgage, but then there’s paying rent to be on the planet. To me it’s really important that we fix what’s broken [and] change the course of what’s happening on this planet, and I’m not gonna stop working.” Alice really appreciates indigenous wisdom and works hard so that future generations can enjoy what she and her ancestors had. The music that she creates carries the same message, it’s just a different format.
Continuing with this ancient wisdom theme, I asked about the nature imagery that comes through her music and that often sounds like a prayer. “Ever since I was a little kid my biggest connections have been with nature. I grew up in a suburb of New York City in New Jersey, and somehow I connected to the dandelions growing through the cracks in the sidewalk. For whatever reason, I felt that connection even though I lived in a place that wasn’t really about that. I [believe] that [connection with nature] is a gift, and I don’t want to adopt someone else’s culture, but there is a sense of indigenous wisdom that I think we all have. Everybody on this planet is indigenous to somewhere. I feel like that wisdom is important to tune in to.” Alice mentioned that the Rogue Valley is home to Grandma Aggie, a spiritual elder from the Takelma tribe, who shares her wisdom with the community. Along with the spiritual community of Ashland, Alice has met and bonded with people on the road who have similar beliefs. This wisdom easily weaves itself into her music, creating a sound that is authentically her.
One With the Tide is Alice’s newest and 14th album. I asked about her writing process as I’m always interested in how people write and create songs/albums. “The musical body of work as a whole has taken my whole life, and it’s going to continue into the future and I don’t know how many songs I will or won’t write, but some of the songs on that album, like The Other Side, were written in 1999,” she replied. “Some of the songs come flying out, and others you have to work on. The song One With the Tide was written for my friend Barry when he was about to cross over, or as I like to say ‘graduate from this life.’ He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and they gave him 6 weeks to live. He began the Siskiyou Film Festival and he was going to be at one of the festivals and I was on the road. The people who organized it called me up and said, ‘you’re one of Barry’s best friends, we want you to come and sing’, and I was heartbroken because I had a gig that I couldn’t cancel. So I wrote the song and put it on YouTube, I could barely get through it because I was crying the whole the time. They played it at the festival and that was the way I said goodbye to my friend.”
When Alice plays live she chooses songs that will take her listeners on a meandering path through different emotions. One With the Tide is the song that “invokes our loved ones that are no longer with us, and to acknowledge that to be human is to grieve.” This gives the audience a cathartic experience as well as a chance to let go of any emotions they need to before moving on to the next song. Her favorite song from the new record is Seeds, “it took me a bit to write, but it’s a really good message for myself and several friends of mine. It’s probably my favorite because it has a lot of imagery that I can relate to.” The song talks about putting your energy towards what we want in our lives and what we want to create in them.
Alice and her band tour relatively often and she has 14 albums to her name. I was curious if she prefers touring or recording more, “I love recording, but I’m also a Gemini, so I have two lives. I have the recording life and the touring life and if I had to choose one I would just perform. Nothing’s more magical than taking willing people on a journey. I’m not really interested in performing in front of people who are talking, my idea of performing is to an audience that’s listening attentively.” Alice went on to say that her band recently performed in Santa Cruz where part of the audience was sitting in front and everyone in the back was dancing, she loved this. Her goal is to get people to sing and dance and get involved. “If you are gonna take people on a journey it’s kinda like a ritual, so you if you’re taking them down into the depths to get a release you have to bring them back up.” Her favorite performers always did this, they took their listeners on a cathartic journey and left them feeling uplifted and inspired, this is what she endeavors to do during her shows. As a performer, Alice believes her duty is to take people on an emotional journey as well as create community for her listeners. She is really proud of the community her fans have created, and has lost count of the amount of people who tell her they met their partner at one of her shows.
30 years in and Alice is still trying to improve her craft. “I’ve worked really hard to be what a singer is and I’ve studied voice. As I get older there are different challenges that I’m facing. I’m trying to meet those challenges with joy, respect, and appreciation. I feel like my voice is getting better which is surprising, but then I think about my favorite singers who’s voices got better as they aged.”
Alice’s band, Force of Nature, will be heading out on the road in May. There will be several shows in Washington and in California, including the recording of a live album in Sebastopol. Check out her website for more information, tell your friends and get ready for an emotional journey that will leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart!
You can find Alice on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Bandcamp, and Spotify
Autumn Micketti 