hannah pralle

The singing thing started shortly after birth. Favorite places to sing as I grew up: bathrooms, cars, concrete slopes beneath freeway overpasses. The guitar thing was an adjunct to the singing thing, initially. I was in this country band on the rez when I was 16 and I didn't get to pick what I wanted to sing - the guitar players picked, because they didn't want to learn things that were hard. So I had to sing heinous love songs in front of people. That made me want to learn guitar so I wasn't at someone's mercy when I wanted to sing. The writing thing started somewhere in the wonder years, and has stayed pretty traditional in form, while fairly explorative in content. Trying to get away from verse-chorus-verse can be its own variety of conformity, at times. So, there's not a lot of jazz or funk or rapping to my style. I grew up rural, and I think simple music can still be sophisticated in its own way. I'm still trying to refine my own style, while appreciating what else is out there. My songs are a tender spot for me, I get antsy trying to talk about them. I'd rather run out of the room and breathe into a paper bag than talk about my songs. I like funkin in my car while I drive and singing to all sorts of things. I'm secretly trying to learn the infamous metal scream, but it's seriously harder than you'd think. I wish people at gigs would show their appreciation by helping me carry gear rather than buying me drinks. It's even harder to carry the gear by myself when I'm drunk.