Written by guest writer Elizabeth Jacobsen
The future of rock & roll may actually be its past. The
Dallas, Texas-based TrueHeart conjure memories of the Mamas and
the Papas and Crosby, Stills & Nash. If that doesn't adequately
describe their sound to you already, you must not be familiar
with the Golden Age of late '60s folk rock. TrueHeart excel in
harmony-driven, acoustic-popped American roots music. Vocalist
Karen V. Cavazos recently contributed her time to answer my questions
about this refreshingly real group, which she shares with her
two brothers.
Elizabeth Jacobsen: What is it like being in a band with your
siblings? Describe what each member contributes to the sound
of trueheart and how all of you are able to get along.
Karen V. Cavazos: I have never been in a band without one or
both of my siblings, so playing with my brothers is my only musical
experience, which is and has been great. We have so much fun;
we get along well and even when we don’t, it is probably
the sibling bond that compels us to work it out and get on with
things. We are not comfortable when we are not getting along
and have worked hard to develop relationships that allow us to
communicate, resolve, and get back to having fun.
Ross [Vick] provides the melodies always, but when he presents
Pat [Vick] and I with something really special, something we
immediately feel and love, Pat and I often inspire Ross to let
the song to evolve down a different path than he originally intended:
We play with melodies, harmonies, sometimes we wrestle over who
sings lead….particularly in my case if I really love the
song….I’ll play the older sibling card and try to steal
it away from my brothers. It is sometimes a solitary process
for Ross, but I’m always happy when I am involved as well
as with "Ain’t Life Great." That day we were rehearsing
at my home, just the three of us. Ross was playing a particular
guitar riff that I really liked, and I was just filled with a
need to express happiness and joy after a particularly rough
couple of years. Ross allowed me to throw out some lyrics, we
all three played with them and by the end of a few hours, we
had "Ain’t Life Great"…then I stole the lead
vocal.
EJ: Which of the tracks on the new album are the most personal
to each of you?
KC: "Ain’t Life Great" is my expression of happiness
with my husband Sam; however, "Side of Grace" moves
me as it is such a wonderful tribute – naturally Ross wrote
it for Julie [Mrs. Vick], but I sing it to all of the Julie’s
in the world – this planet has so many wonderful women.
"Take Life" is the only way to live life, one day at
a time….let’s face it, I love them all and find a way
to make them all personal when I sing them.
EJ: What made you decide to record the covers on the LP? Were
they all personal favorites?
KC: We’re such fans of music and have been all of our lives…it’s
hard to think of a rehearsal where someone didn’t break
into a cover tune…seems that is what musicians do for fun!
I’m not sure the covers are personal favorites, but rather
group favorites – if I didn’t love our original music
so much, I would enjoy doing more covers!
EJ: What messages do you feel TrueHeart is conveying to its
listeners?
KC: Hopefully a message of 1) it is never too late to follow
your dreams, 2) life brings us all our share of tears and pain
so let’s have as much fun and laughter along the way as
we can – we have a “glass half full” mentality
towards life.
To find out more visit http://www.truehearttexas.com
