Busker of the Day: Tara Hack

“In San Francisco I was lucky enough to play with Jason Adamo,” says Tara Hack with her whimsical giggle filtering through the air. “He asked if I wanted to take a vocal lesson, and I said, ‘yeah, sure.’ I’m thinking I should get my ‘go-go-go’s’ ready. We went to the bar, took a shot of whiskey and high fived each other. Best vocal lesson I ever had.”

Tara loves Panera bread, Greek Salads, tomato soup and her native New York City, specifically Long Island. Long Island is both the longest and largest island in the contiguous US of A, extending 118 miles in length, and is home to two New York boroughs; Brooklyn and Queens. She lives a comfortable life here. She has the unadulterated support of a loving family, her father a cross between Jackie Gleason’s character on the Honeymooners and Yogi Bear; the talent and ability to create a lifestyle around her music and a certain Joie de vivre that is endearing to all who come across her notes.

It is not to be taken for granted by the 25 year old songstress who has already performed at the Conference of World Affairs in Colorado, appeared on WOR Radio’s The Joey Reynolds’s Show and been featured in various magazines and papers across the globe. Accolades and politics aside, she simply wants to play for “anyone who will listen”, making the street corners her stage and her life experiences her muse. “I don’t ‘pop molly’” she explains, “so I’ll never have that as a lyric in one of my songs. Everything I write about, is a feeling that I felt at one point or another.” And through this, she stays true to her craft, her music and ultimately herself.

Her current 5 song EP, Letters From the Chase, was recorded at Dan Gluszaks home studio. “The recording experience was amazing,” she says, “nothing but good vibes.” Those vibes shine through as a raft of finely wrought tunes that showcase her indie pop sound with winsome clarity. The musical influences she cites, Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton, Sara Bareilles, are a collection of female pop gems who, like Tara, not only have something to say, but know how to say it.

Times Like These, the 1st track on the EP, is one of Tara’s favorites. “There’s a line in the chorus,” she says, “times like these, I long to be young and naive” and when I wrote that, it captured completely how I felt and sometimes still feel. When you’re younger the world seems so wonderful and innocent. Then you get older and wonder, did it just get bad? Or was it always like this, and now I’m just realizing it? How can I go back into it being this wonderful place without pain?”

As Tara’s youth gradually gives way to her life work in progress, it remains a progress that is worth watching and hearing, every note of the way.

#buskers #Turntable