Beth's Music: Links to Beth's CDs, Lyrics, Videos & News

Post by **roxybeast** » September 14th, 2009, 3:36 am

Had fun at the Saloon tonight ... sitting here listening to the baby Aardvark! ... & digging it!

You need one too!

"Raw but rocks!"

Post by **roxybeast** » September 24th, 2009, 8:14 am

9.23.09

This NEW VIDEO sort of reminds me of Haight-Ashbury in the late 60s:
"Dock of the Bay" ... original psychedelic acoustic take on an old classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4FqLF8EBRY

Post by **roxybeast** » September 27th, 2009, 8:18 am

9.27.2009

NEWEST VIDEO: A sneak preview of a new song "Colors" ... have most of the lyrics, but still working on it, just a sneak preview of things to come! Really trippy psychotic video!

Hope you dig it!

, Beth ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJRVNy0-Rsc

Post by **Arcadia** » September 29th, 2009, 12:12 pm

wow!! bravo for the acoustic-powerful-black&white-spiral-mandalic Colors!

& interesting songwriting contest! I´ll try to listen to the songs!

Post by **Arcadia** » September 29th, 2009, 12:55 pm

the sound now works ok on "Dock of the bay" (it seems I have to touch the wires from the computer to the loudspeakers from time to time!

) I knew Michael Bolton´s version of the song in the eighties and loved Perl Jam´s one!. I also loved yours!! gracias for sharing your music!!

(I have to go now: my three day-tea-lemon-honey-amoxicilina-loratadina-pseudoefedrina-ibuprofeno-benzocaína is waiting for me!

)

Post by **roxybeast** » September 30th, 2009, 10:54 pm

Yay! ... finally figured out how to include some pictures in the mix ... as you can now see!

oh ... & be sure to check out the new videos of "Colors" & "Love In Vain" posted this week!

Post by **roxybeast** » October 3rd, 2009, 8:01 am

NEWEST VIDEO ... cover of "Angie" by the Rolling Stones ... I like the way the video makes my face and particularly my playing hand glow! ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi_vSLtT_ZY

Post by **roxybeast** » October 3rd, 2009, 8:31 am

Here's a link to just the video player ...

http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/s ... ist_397280

Post by **roxybeast** » October 3rd, 2009, 9:23 pm

Post by **roxybeast** » October 4th, 2009, 3:23 am

<center>PRESS INTERVIEW</center>

October 4, 2009 ... This is an interview I just gave to Pam DeGroff with TG Forum about my life & music. She plans to write & publish an article, and I'll let you know when she publishes the final article.

Pam: What contact information for you will you allow to be published?

Beth Isbell
9300 N. May Ave., Ste. 400-292,
Oklahoma City, OK 73120
E-mail: roxybeast@hotmail.com
Music: http://www.studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=16212
Or reach me @ /bethisbell @ Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Reverbnation

Please forgive the length of some of the questions, but I found your music and background to be very interesting. Here goes...

1. Basic background: You're originally from Georgia, correct? When did you move to Oklahoma? When did you first start playing music? Who were your earliest musical influences growing up? What's your education background, and do you have any formal musical training or background?

Yeah, my dad was in the Army, so we moved a lot growing up. But yes, I was born in Georgia and lived there and next door in Alabama, … well, and then all over the US and even in Germany for six months. So you trade off having close friends with getting an education about the world.

I sort of came at music late in my life. I did pick up a guitar in high school, but quickly lost interest. Had college, law school & a civil rights attorney career to focus on. I really didn’t pick up a guitar again until shortly before I got divorced in the mid-90s. I sucked! Gosh, I was awful, but that’s how it is unless and until you keep working on it. Eventually, you will get better! I have not had any formal musical education other than private lessons here or there for a month or less at the time. I think you just have to do it. Watch, listen, pick up what you can & work on it! It’s a constant fight & you’re never good enough, but that’s the challenge!

I remember my mom & dad giving me and my sister some money to go pick out a record at the PX. My first record. I remember there being so many, bins and bins and bins of them, and I didn’t really listen to a lot of music prior to then. My parents listened to a lot of country music, which was ok, but it wasn’t my thing. I had no clue what to pick out. Finally, I decided on Neil Diamond’s “Hot August Nights” – I liked the picture. My sister suggested that I trade it in for some Beatles. I think eventually, I heard some things on the radio and opted to go with Alice Cooper’s “Billion Dollar Babies,” then on to Kiss mania, but eventually after getting to college and regaining my senses, I focused on Led Zeppelin & a lot of what is now classic rock. My guitar playing eventually led me to a love of the Blues. So today, I would have to say my favorites are still Zeppelin, Clapton, SRV, Buddy Guy, Pink Floyd, System of a Down & the other artists listed on my website. It’s funny, looking at it as a guitar player, all of my most favorite bands are ones that are extremely hard to play well! But you do what you can do, so as an artist I think my style is closer to Lou Reed or David Bowie, or even Neil Young, but I also like to play folk & love to play blues!

2. Let's see if I have your album releases correct:
"The Good Woman Waltz" (2005)
"Live @ Blue Moon" (2008)
"The Awakening" (2008)
"The Dead Prophets Live" (2008)
"Aardvark" (new-2009)

My first real CD was “The Good Woman Waltz” which is a folk-country CD of original tunes I recorded in Nashville & released in early 2005. I got into music mainly to be a songwriter, but discovered along the way that if you don’t sing well or play well, nobody listens to your original songs. So that caused a lot of internal conflict for a while, until I eventually accepted it, and focused like hell on getting better at both! Now, I’m pretty good, but still have a lot of learning to do! Anyway, I hired a great producer, who brought in some of Nashville’s best musicians to play on the GWW. The playing and production on that album is top flight, truly amazing. The title cut went #1 Country in the Texas Top 40, was a TAXI Top 10 pick, & was voted #1 by fans at various sites. It’s a hilarious song, but it’s not even the best song on the CD, and several others get more radio spin.

Around the same time as GWW was being cut, I started a psychedelic rock band in Dallas, Texas, named “The Dead Prophets.” If you are interested in getting to know me as an artist & person, this is the place to start! We developed a pretty nice following and were playing all over. We put out a demo CD in 2006, which is included on the 2008 release “The Dead Prophets: Bonus Edition.” The drummer in that band now tours the world with major label blues artists Smoking Joe Kubek & Bnois King. Funny thing is, that at the time, she wasn’t even the best player in the band. We had a totally amazing guitar player Big Mike Clark who just has a sound all his own, probably closest to David Gilmour of Pink Floyd in the way his guitar sounds. We put on a surprise reunion show last November & have even been talking about getting together for a new CD.

After moving to OKC, I put out two solo acoustic CDs in 2008. “The Awakening” has three songs I recorded in a studio here in OKC, and “Live @ Blue Moon” is a seven song live show I did here in 2007. Mainly solo acoustic original rock with blues and folk edges. On my site, you’ll notice that I’ve now packaged these CDs together to make a full 10 songs. My favorite songs off these CDs are “Katrina” and “Misunderstood.” The latter, together with another funny folk song I wrote, were selected as finalists in their categories for the 2008 USA Songwriting Competition.

I released the “Aardvark” EP in August 2009. It’s a collection of six acoustic rock tunes. Five originals & a nice cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.” It received a really nice review by L.A. based Music Connection magazine. My Texas Music’s review calls it “alternative art at it’s best.” I don’t know about all that, but I do like these songs. My personal favorite is called “Work” which is about songwriting and relationships. I love the cover pic.

Those are the “official” CDs that I’ve released to date. On my music site, you will also find some “unofficial” collections of recordings by my first band ever “The Flying Lennys” and by my old OKC blues-rock band “Ed.” The TFL material even features jazz legend Joe McBride (Head’s Up Records) playing keyboards on one of the songs. The “Ed” material has 4 live tape recordings with the amazing Steve Henderson on lead guitar. The site also has some other newer demos of original tunes and some trippy live psychedelic videos of songs … my latest, most recent, interest.

3. How old were you when you first started dealing with your gender issues?

I was about 3 or 4. I was taking a bath with my sister and upset that I had different equipment than she had. I remember being taken to a doctor for bed-wetting which was resulting from my urethra exiting partly like a female, and the doctor having to do a minor procedure to correct this. He asked me if I’d rather be a girl. But I’m still not sure if this memory is real. I liked dressing up as a girl and even did so for Halloween a few years before my parents decided not to let me do that anymore. I’ve always felt female in many ways, but have never considered myself gay. Is that a bit weird? I do consider myself, even now, after my transition, to be bi-sexual.

I tried, like a lot of later developing MTFs to put all this aside & focus on school, career & even getting married, but in my 30s all that changed when a psychiatrist asked me about these issues and diagnosed me as having gender identity disorder. After that I began to gradually transition.

4. In the long run, how has being transgendered (and transition for that matter...) affected your music?

Well, it has definitely made the journey more difficult. It’s harder to find good musicians willing to play with you and initially for fans to accept. All of which just makes me work harder & harder on getting so good so that eventually it won’t matter. What I’ve noticed about society is that people are willing to overlook differences, even ones they don’t accept, if the work is brilliant. So that’s my focus. Long way to go, but getting closer.

5. I love some of the quotes on your MySpace page. The "...bastard love child..." quote is great. So is the Neil Young quote. I plan to use these in the article. Which brings us to the question at hand. Your influences seem to be varied a great deal. Everything from Zeppelin to Clapton and SRV, the Stones, etc. Are you more influenced by vocalists, musicians, songwriters, or doesn't it make a difference?

I respect good singers. Some of them have a natural amazing talent. But you can work on and develop your voice. So there is hope. Joe Cocker is an example. What folks in the audience want more than talent is passion. They want to experience your soul. And, if you can give that gift to them, it will almost always overcome not having the sweetest voice in the world. The chicken-catcher guy that just won America’s Got Talent, Kevin Skinner, is a great example of this principle. I think it’s far more difficult to be a great guitar player. Far less natural talent & far more effort. The legends are often legends because you can recognize the player simply by listening to their solos, e.g, Page, Santana, Hendrix, Knoppfler. That is a gift, but one that required thousands & thousand hours or more of work.

I suppose that my musical tastes vary so dramatically because I think of myself as a songwriter. Great songs draw me in, whatever their genre. There are a lot of famous artists that would never have been famous if not for the songwriter that wrote their biggest hit. It’s both a passion & an obsession.

Yeah, I love the Stones. If I was on a desert island and had a choice between having the entire Stones record collection or Beatles record collection to listen to, I would definitely pick the Stones. They rock!

I appreciate the talent of folk artists like Gillian Welch or Slaid Cleaves. I love the old-style blues of Mance Lipscomb and Lightning Hopkins. I love to hear a great gospel choir. Obviously, I love bands like Zeppelin, Cream, Aerosmith, and a lot of bands mainly from the late 60s & early 70s period. I love to watch Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB, Clapton, or even the lesser known Luther Allison - all blues masters. And you have to appreciate the soul of great R&B artists like Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Bobby “Blue” Bland. I even like country, well, some of it. I like Hank Williams, outlaw country artists, & Brad Paisley. I really can’t stand the current let’s make a country song sound like an 80s rock song movement. Traditional country and folk, the kind played around campfires, is just better. I guess my answer is I’m influenced by what I think is good & my advice is don’t let anyone tell you what to like.

6. I listened to some of your videos. Your voice reminds me of Lou Reed by way of Bob Dylan. Do you have a favorite vocalist? Any favorite females, besides Janis Joplin?

My voice gets compared to David Bowie and Lou Reed a lot. Some folks that have seen me do blues-rock at live shows, make comparisons to Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison. I guess that’s because I take it to another gear sometimes when I’m a full band that’s really rocking & the crowd gets into the mix. I really like that feeling of losing it & taking it to a totally out of world level on stage. I’ve been getting a lot of requests to do Janis Joplin tunes lately, so I guess I should start working on some of her material. Singer-wise, there are so many great ones to pick from, but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Nina Simone. I also like Nancy Wilson (from Heart) a lot. Her sister gets all the vocal attention, but Nancy’s a great singer and songwriter, and a really underrated guitar player. I like her style a lot.

7. There's also another great quote about "...everybody only wants overproduced static perfection...". I love that. It seems to me that for rock at least, most bands are nothing more than a singer/songwriter with a rhythm section. Musicianship doesn't seem to matter any more. If you want to hear some chops, you'll have to go to blues or jazz. Thoughts on this?

Yeah, you see a lot of that. I think what matters is a good song & good delivery of it. Hopefully with a lot of passion and soul. I don’t agree that good musicianship doesn’t seem to matter anymore. At least where I live, there are way too many really good musicians compared to good venues. The art of the truly good and memorable solo is not nearly as common, except as you say in blues or jazz, but there is still a hook, beat, drive, or something else catchy going on that is making a particular song popular.

But I do worry that the industry doesn’t seem to want to do any hard work anymore. Artist development is largely dead. Now they want perfection handed to them on a silver platter. If you’re demo is not state of the art, don’t bother. Unless you have 10,000 or more fans who will actually come to a show or buy your latest release, don’t waste our time. The other side of that view is that if we already have that, who needs you? There are very few A&R folks left who have the vision to see beyond the demo packaging. There are no A&R people or big labels that would have ever signed Kevin Skinner. None. Yet, America loves him. Because he delivers passion. But it’s really hard for them to place that bet. But Passion is the key ingredient. That is true for both the artist & the label. Eventually, they’ll figure it out.

8. I've read that you're also an attorney, specializing in trans employment issues, correct? What's it like doing that kind of work in Oklahoma? I would take it that you are very politically involved.

As an attorney, I practice employment law, with a focus on discrimination and civil rights. I’ve had my share of success, big verdicts, and important cases that have changed the law for the better of society & working folks, but I have not done a lot of legal work or lobbying on transgender causes. I have done a little. I’d love to work for a non-profit with an emphasis on transgender issues. The law is generally against true accommodation of transgender persons, so that is a hard usually losing battle as an attorney. Change is going to have to occur on a legislative and societal level first. But the science is starting to come around and victory is now foreseeable.

9. Are you still part of the band The Dead Prophets? Play electric or acoustic with the band?

That’s actually an interesting question and I’m not sure of the answer. I guess the answer is that we broke up when I moved up to Oklahoma, but we are technically still together in the sense of still being available for shows and have been talking lately about getting together to record a new CD. I love Mike & Carol. I play acoustic guitar only in this band. And sing. I have been the main songwriter, but Mike and Carol are good ones. We think of TDP as a three piece with me on vocals & acoustic guitar, Mike on lead electric guitar, & Carol on drums. We do pull in bass players for recording or live shows, but they are not technically part of the band. My playing acoustic in this band is a trade off because we are only a three piece, and consequently my job is to fill the rhythm guitar & bass sonic spectrum while Carol drives the beat and Mike lays down the psychedelia. I’m actually excited about the prospect of doing something new with TDP.

10. If you don't mind, talk a bit about your newest project, "Aardvark".

The little “Aardvark” is just a gift to me and to anyone else who feels like they don’t fit in. The Aardvark says hey I’m here & proud to be different!

On my website, there’s a really great funny old Sesame Street video about Aardvarks which very nicely sums up how & why this CD came to exist.

I do have to warn folks before they adopt one, these baby Aardvarks do love to rock, use bad language, & punch happy people in the face! They come with their own sleeping bags & I’ll even sign his/her belly for you!

11. What advice would you offer to any musician, trans or not, who is starting out, or just plain struggling?

Listen to everything you like & respect. Watch & study how and why it is done in a certain way. Most things look or sound more complex than they actually are. Keep practicing. You make progress when you least expect it. When performing, stick to what you’re good at - particularly if you care in any way about being popular, it will happen much quicker. That’s a hard lesson learned from years of doing the opposite in an effort to get good. I’ve had the attitude to try things, experiment & learn, even on stage. It stems from the desire to want to be truly great, beyond good. But screwing up often in public, as will certainly happen, does not help anybody to like you or your music & usually has the opposite effect. Eventually you learn to do you best, and, to be satisfied with sticking to that material in public. Behind the scenes, the sky is the limit. Don’t avoid things that are difficult, practice them first. Always be listening. Always be observant. Try harder. The reality is that you are going to fail a lot before you succeed. So get busy, and start failing now! Eventually, you will fail less & less & less … Music is like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it, if you can manage to live through the frustration. On the other side of it is a lot of fun.

12. Anything you'd like to say to the trans community as a whole?

When you first start transitioning, it’s your entire focus. After you’ve completed the transition, you focus on living your life. So after your transition, you’re not nearly as hyper-focused on these issues. It’s fun being a girl. But it’s very hard emotionally. Some folks will never accept you. Move on, focus on the ones who do and will. They greatly outnumber the ones who won’t. Always be true to who you are inside.

Some advice: Don’t smoke and take hormones. They tell you about the “risk” in a vague way at the doctor’s office, but the reality is that if you do, you WILL suffer a pulmonary embolism. There is no “if” here, you WILL.

If you transition as a child or in your teens, you are far more likely to develop the voice and body of a natural female. If you wait until your 30s or 40s, you will notice some changes, not nearly as dramatic, and you can manufacture a body that appears female. The voice is the most difficult. Testosterone does turn FTMs voice and body very male. But estrogen does not work that way. It does affect your mind & body, but will not change your voice. As a performing singer, I’ve just had to accept that my singing voice will never be completely female. While I can put on the female voice act sometimes in conversation, on stage I’ve found that I just have to be me … and that even includes singing like a guy. So my story is sort of the antithesis of what most MTFs desire, but that’s the price of pursuing what I love to do – writing, playing & performing. It has certainly made my transition far more public. I can’t hide in the corner or on the fringe of society like some MTFs do before or after their transition. I’m fully out there. What I’ve found, however, is that most folks learn to accept you. Particularly if you’re nice, genuine, and strive to be good at what you do.

Politically, there is an interesting dichotomy. From the studies I’ve seen, there is actually far more evidence that trans-genderism is a medical situation resulting from hormonal imbalances in the womb or possibly even genetics. While that may be the case for gays & lesbians, the medical evidence is far stronger with transgender. On the other hand, the public seems to be more willing to accept gays & lesbians and provide them equal rights, than trans-gendered persons. I’ve had personal discussions with leaders and attorneys with the big US GLBT political organizations. In my experience, they are often willing to sell out the transgender community as a compromise to get reform. Frankly, we should be angry. True reform will never occur unless & until we change this paradigm. In my view, the science and law actually favor us. And in my experience, once the public knows that is true, their views of us change dramatically.

It’s a scientific fact that there are more than one variety of gender. This occurs naturally at birth in the case of inter-sexed persons like the recent South African sprinter who won the world championships, or even later due to hormone or genetics. The world is full of color, variety, and varying shades of gender or sexual preference. It happens naturally. There are gay penguin couples and lots of examples across most species. Seems hard to suggest God intended to make something different than she created. So this really is just a matter of society accepting fact & science. It will in time.

13. Any future plans, tours, etc., that you can share at this time?

Nothing I can mention.

I’m sort of in transition at the moment and may move out of OKC sometime soon, either back to Texas or maybe the coasts. So I’ve just been working on new material, learning covers & getting better at guitar playing. My twins Abby & Bella, who are the love of my life, live here in OKC, so I’m really conflicted about moving, but you have to do what’s best for you and them, which includes making a living for them. I will be playing some festivals & shows all over the country next summer.

14. Any final thoughts, or anything you'd like to say in closing that I might not have asked? Now's your chance to sound off...

Transition will not “solve” any of your problems. It may lessen some or transform others, often in very unexpected ways, but on the other side you face new mountains and new valleys. Eventually you just have to accept your shortcomings and realize you may never be able to change some of them, & then begin to run with them. Make who you are an advantage.

And if I play a show somewhere near you, please come out & say hi!

Post by **roxybeast** » October 7th, 2009, 9:18 am

NEWEST VIDEO ... cover of Neil Young's "Down by the River" ... live ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T--OV29NsC0

Post by **roxybeast** » October 8th, 2009, 10:16 am

My friend Manda has a new "interactive" music video ... this is like way cool state of the art technology ... you can switch the drivers of the car that they are all riding in ... totally cool - check it out ... I'm sure a lot of artists and record labels might start doing this kind of thing!

http://www.manda-onetruelove.com/

Once video loads, hit the play button on the radio then drag your mouse over the video to change driver (and hear the instrument they are playing louder in the mix!) and then grab the mix knob on the other side of the radio to adjust the instrument against the main album mix, more or less ... are you kidding me! THIS IS WAY COOL!!!

,

Post by **Arcadia** » October 9th, 2009, 7:54 pm

I read the entrevista, felicitaciones!

I admire your capacity to express what´s going on in your life Beth! Best wishes!

Post by **roxybeast** » October 13th, 2009, 11:35 am

NEWEST VIDEO: Acoustic cover of Tom Petty's "Last Dance with Mary Jane" by Beth Isbell 2009. Had to record with the built in mic due to the particular video effect, ... but it still turned out cool!

,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeQlBu247Hs

Post by **roxybeast** » October 13th, 2009, 2:25 pm

CLASSIC BETH: Just found this old gem of a video ... me playing my original song Katrina down at the Cutting Edge Music Festival in New Orleans last year ... which is fitting since the song is about New Orleans & Hurricane Katrina ... & a really, really nice performance!

, ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjFRZSyoIVY

Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

Beth's Music: Links to Beth's CDs, Lyrics, Videos & News

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