shawn colvin sunny came home album cover pics

But the inspiration for the song was the woman on the cover of record, the painting of the woman-which I had chosen before I even wrote “Sunny Came Home,” so it was kind of the cart before the horse. I think to an extent, no matter who you’re writing about, it’s infused with, it’s informed by your own experience. And I just think people were intrigued.Īnd you’ve said before that Sunny was you? But it’s in a minor key and it’s got a good chorus. It’s tuneful, and I think qualifies as a tuneful hit song. But the song itself, it’s a mystery story, you know? And I think it piqued people’s curiosity. The time was right for that type of song in terms of radio and what would be played, and what people were responding to. If I understood what became mainstream hits, I’d probably have more of them. Of all your songs, why do you think “Sunny Came Home” was the one that became a mainstream hit? It was just about the disintegration and the alienation that happens when you’re just growing apart from someone and how painful that is. To me, it was about the happiness you had in a great relationship, now lost. I actually remember listening to it in college on a Greyhound bus looking out the window, getting teary-eyed, thinking about a breakup. “Stranded” is one of my all-time favorite songs. So it was really icing on the cake to win a Grammy. I just felt like if I never did another record again, this one would have been enough. I dreamed of recording, you know making records when I was younger, but I honestly was never confident that I would make a record of original material. It was probably the biggest accomplishment of my life to just have made that record. How surprised were you to win a Grammy for your first album? So “Diamond in the Rough” kind of launched me into where I was. And I was able to reflect and just find my voice. And then it took a few years before I thought, “Well, I’m really a singer and I’m supposed to be writing kind of personally.” By that time a lot had happened in my life, and I was in a good place. I don’t think I did such a great job, but I was learning. And at the time we were working on pretty straight-ahead pop songs. But it really had to do with John Leventhal who had music but not lyrics and invited me to write some lyrics to his music. And I did pick some of them up later and finished them after I got my legs under me as a songwriter. Essentially, I did write some songs when I was younger I’d worked on songs a little bit in the late 70s but I didn’t really consider them to be anything of note. How did you get your sea legs as a songwriter? 30-31 performances at The Birchmere, shows celebrating the 20th anniversary edition of A Few Small Repairs.

Yet her struggles are also what make her music original and unapologetic, with lyrics that resonate and a voice that artfully weaves between strength and fragility.Ĭolvin spoke with us in advance of her Oct. After studying her craft in the music halls of Austin, Texas, and New York City, she released her debut album, Steady On, in 1989. That initial work won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 1991 Grammys, but it was “Sunny Came Home” off of 1996’s A Few Small Repairs that brought her mainstream recognition (and two more Grammys).Ĭolvin’s past is rife with challenges-including two divorces, drug addiction, alcoholism, anorexia and depression-much of it becoming fodder for her honest and self-deprecating 2012 memoir, Diamond in the Rough. From humble beginnings in 1960s South Dakota, Shawn Colvin has become an indefatigable and fearless singer-songwriter with 10 studio albums under her belt.

Shawn colvin sunny came home album cover pics