WATCH: Hattie Webb Shares New Single “Shakespeare’s Shores”
New album from renowned UK singer/harpist, Wild Medicine, out September 20th
The first time UK harpist Hattie Webb made a splash here in the United States, she was on tour with her sister, Charlie, as the backing vocalists for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on their final tour in 2017.
Nearly eight years later, Webb finds herself releasing the second single from her second album, Wild Medicine, which is a song she wrote with Heartbreakers bassist Ron Blair from recording sessions featuring the musicianship of guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench. Needless to say, the Petty vibes are strong on “Shakespeare’s Shores” even though the tune itself feels more like a gentle breeze of English folk, albeit with a twist of Wildflowers.
“‘Shakespeare’s Shores’ is about the passing of time and choosing to turn a corner after heartbreak,” she tells Rock & Roll Globe. “I wrote this song with Ron Blair in California, which felt so far from my homelands of Kent, England. The main body of the song is the harp and voice telling the story in real time, and yet moments from the past are evoked and carried by the mellotron, prepared piano and slide guitar. These instruments are panned in the mix either side of the harp and voice, which is how I feel memories live beside and inside of me, emerging and still traveling with me from the past.”
For Webb, the song’s theme serves as a means of coping with a breakup and achieving acceptance in its finality against the odds.
“It’s about turning a corner after heartbreak and finding a way to accept the losses one faces in life,” Hattie says. “It’s like a ‘Hansel and Gretel’ story, leaving a trail so you can still be found but also a bittersweet letting go of how life once felt, and letting go of someone who is technically in your past but still living on within.”
As for Wild Medicine, which comes out on Hearts Connect Records this coming September 20th, “Shakespeare’s Shores” as well as the album’s previous single “Golden” both signify what to expect from the album, which also includes further contributions from such seasoned vets as former Frank Zappa drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, guitar wizard Eric Johnson and former Madonna keyboardist Pat Leonard.
For Webb, she sees Wild Medicine as a conduit for the harp’s possibilities in the realm of creative pop music.
“Playing the harp growing up, people expect you to be more gentle, or to perhaps not be so direct with how you feel,” Hattie says.“In my years of studying, going to harp festivals, I struggled with the more creatively narrow narrative that the harp is sometimes given. There’s so much intensity and meat in the instrument, like a grand piano, and I really wanted to explore how that could translate into the songs I was writing.”
Watch the gorgeous video for “Shakespeare’s Shores” below.
Hattie Webb will be on tour with legendary Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour this fall.
VIDEO: Hattie Webb “Shakespeare’s Shores”
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