Juliana Hatfield is best known as a Boston-based singer-songwriter/musician, formerly of indie rock bands Blake Babies, Some Girls, and The Lemonheads, and leader of her own band, The Juliana Hatfield Three. In the early 1990s, she came to prominence as part of a wave of female alternative rock artists like P.J. Harvey, Liz Phair, Tanya Donelly (Belly), and Courtney Love.
These days, she’s pivoted in a slightly different direction, recently recording a pair of tribute albums with a third on the way in November. Thus far, she’s covered The Police and Olivia Newton-John, and is releasing a tribute to Electric Light Orchestra next month. Hatfield is currently on a two-week solo tour, with a stop planned for POP Emporium in Providence on October 14 at 7PM.
It might have come as a surprise to longtime fans that this hip, alt-rock musician chose Newton-John to cover, but as Hatfield explained in a recent interview, she appreciates the beauty and depth in the late Australian singer’s words and melodies.
“That became even more true for me when I was learning her songs; some of them are very complicated constructions,” she explained in a recent phone interview. “Singing her songs was really kind of challenging, especially compared to (covering) The Police, which felt pretty easy and natural for me. My range is more like Sting’s than Olivia’s.”
Newton-John, who passed away in 2022, starred in movies and dominated the pop charts in the 1970s and 80s. She’s music royalty in her native Australia.
“She does have such an under-appreciated voice,” added Hatfield. “She was a huge star and has millions of fans around the world, but there was the feeling that she was a sweet cupcake and had no depth. But her voice is technically very powerful, and she has a wide range. I think she was a very soulful singer, I always loved her, she was underrated by a lot of people. I know how complicated the songs were.”
Hatfield has seen success as a songwriter and mentioned she is working on new material due out in 2024. But the focus this fall is on a tribute album to Electric Light Orchestra, Jeff Lynne’s iconic band that had its heyday in the 1970s and early 80s.
“I think there is a definite nostalgia element in it for me,” said Hatfield. “I’m at an age where I’m really contemplating a lot of stuff, things from earlier in my life. Going back to childhood is the first step. The music of my childhood, like Olivia Newton-John and ELO, is such a great escape for me; it really brings me back to the best part of early life … which was discovering music, and discovering this magical, beautiful, hopeful world that I wanted to live in. That was always my escape when things were complicated and difficult, and going back to my childhood music is the greatest escape for me.”
How does she choose which songs to cover? “My process is so non-intellectual. I tend to follow a whim; in the case of ELO, it was like, what pops into my mind,” explained Hatfield. “I was thinking of doing an album of REM covers, and was listening to a lot of REM, but I was like, there’s too much, how am I ever going to choose? And then ELO popped into my mind. ELO was a presence in my life from as far back as I can remember, almost like a friend that would pop into my life on the radio, a really welcome friend.”
No doubt, many fans discover new artists on tribute and compilation albums. “Tribute albums can make people hear the original artist in a new light, with my Olivia Newton-John record, it forced some people to re-assess her music, I’m hoping I was able to do that,” said Hatfield.
“There’s something to be said for a beautiful voice. For me, the voice and the melody are the most powerful things; the lyrics are not as important to me, the melodies and lyrics are just the transmission system for the feeling behind them all. I never needed the most sophisticated or smart lyrics, although I’m not trying to put down ELO or Olivia Newton-John lyrics. I have visceral, emotional reactions to certain voices that I can’t explain.”
Check out Hatfield on tour Saturday, October 14, at POP in Providence. Her set will be preceded by a discussion with author, drummer, and former Blake Babies bandmate, Freda Love. Click here for tickets to the show.
