Lisa Marie Presley - Q & A

 Q: So you're living in England now. Please tell me you live in a manor house with liveried footmen, like on "Downton Abbey."


A: I don't. It's one of those conventional thatched-roof houses. They say it was a medieval house. I don't know what that means, but it's very interesting (looking).


Q: Could you have made this new album if you hadn't moved to England?


A: I could have made it, but it wouldn't have turned out the same. ... It took somebody not pushing me — giving me the space to do what I want — and I ended up doing the right thing. That's kind of what happened. I was set up to write with so many different writers, from pop to rock to electronic to just whatever — given so much freedom — I just wound up embracing what I should have embraced.


Q: Was there a point in your life when you thought you might not make another album?


A: I thought that a while ago. Then I thought, maybe if I just get drastic and change everything about how I make the next one, maybe I can do it again. It just wasn't a pleasant experience making the last two. And then I got off the label — that was a big part of it, shaking a lot of things off and then restarting. I went to a whole 'nother country to do that, and that just helped change everything.


Q: One reviewer said your first albums were you trying to be a pop star and this one was you trying to be an artist. Fair?


A: I do think it's fair. It's more difficult to do a record like this. A pop record is instant gratification. That's desirable for a lot of people in the business. To put out an artistically desirable record, it takes a lot more work.


Q: But it gives you a longer shelf life. You can be like Emmylou Harris, making albums like this when you're 60. A pop star couldn't do that.


A: Right. I wasn't necessarily trying to be a pop star myself, but that's kind of where I was placed. It wasn't my thing. I would much rather make albums like this one. I would.


Q: Somebody like T Bone knows what he's doing and has his own ideas, so what's it like between you two in the studio?


A: I have so much respect for him, and I was so excited he was doing this. You know, he does what he wants. He gives a lot of freedom to whoever he's working with. He's not some diva. Ever.


Q: The first time you met him, you didn't know if he would agree to produce your album, right? Were you dying?


A: Oh, yeah, I was really nervous. I walked in, and he was like, "You know, I don't really want to do a big song and dance. I love the demos, and I love where this is headed, and I want to do your record." And I said, "OK."


Q: Was the material on the new album close to what you listened to growing up?


A: I listened to everything — soul, pop, gospel, country, singer-songwriter. I always loved singer-songwriters. You name it.


Q: A lot of people might have thought your first album would naturally have sounded like this one. Was it a question of wanting to get away from what your father sounded like?


A: Yes. Without a doubt. But I was also younger and just kind of fighting my way through it, rather than letting whatever was natural happen. But you grow up, and you get there, hopefully.


Q: One of your new songs, "Sticks and Stones," has lyrics about your father, about how people expect you to be like him. Is there a feeling of self-consciousness when you write songs like that, knowing they'll be picked apart?


A: I don't really think about that when I'm writing. If I thought about that, I wouldn't write at all.


Source: Chicago Tribune