Singer and New Orleans native Erica Falls lays her soul bare for all the world to see on her long-awaited third album, Emotions, out now across all digital platforms. Written during the pandemic, the full-length studio work reflects Falls’ experience living life as a Black woman during a tumultuous time. With lyrics that invite listeners to ride a roller coaster of human sentiments, Emotions digs deep into love, sadness, frustration, fear, grief, marginalization, joy, doubt, encouragement, and release. Ultimately, it stands as a testament to Falls’ determination, perseverance, and growth as an artist.
Co-produced by Falls and New Orleans drummer Nick Mercadel, her longtime collaborator and member of her backing band, Vintage Soul. Falls’ remaining bandmates— bassist Donald Ramsey, guitarist Chris Adkins and keyboardist Jason Hodge—also chip in on the record, as do legendary New Orleans bassist George Porter, Jr. (The Meters), Grammy-nominated soul artist Jamison Ross, and Cresent City vocalists Coty Hunter, Alayna Mayberry, and Christen Spencer. Years in the making, Emotions follows 2011’s Me Myself and I and 2017’s superb Homegrown and ushers in the next phase of Falls’ two-decade career.
Fans may know Erica best from her time as the touring vocalist for New Orleans guardians of funk Galactic, a position she held for nearly five years. Long before that, Falls had caught the attention of local legends like Dr. John and Allen Toussaint with her singing chops and toured as a backing vocalist for some of music’s biggest stars, from Sting to Jennifer Hudson to Joe Sample to No Doubt. Since heading out on her own, she has made her mark as an up-and-coming heroine of neo and vintage soul with frequent appearances on the festival circuit including at events like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Essence Festival, and Suwannee Hulaween.
A decision to go solo back in 2019 seemed ill-fated when the Covid pandemic hit the following year and nearly derailed that dream. A consummate survivor, Falls emerged stronger than ever and has taken full control of her life and career, including the decision to release Emotions herself. In recent conversations with Live For Live Music from her home in New Orleans, Falls delved into the evolution of Emotions, the trials and tribulations of being an independent artist, and the joy of making music. Stream Emotions below while you read.
Erica Falls & Vintage Soul – Emotions – Full Album
[Note: The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.]
Live For Live Music: Thank you for speaking with me Erica. It’s been a minute. The last time we saw each other it was 2019 and you had just launched your solo career. How did you make it through those first couple of years of the pandemic?
Erica Falls: Well, honestly, when everything first happened, I went into survival mode. I was like, “Okay, so I still got to pay my mortgage, the bills are still coming.” And so I was doing stuff like Instacart and I started baking my bread puddings [for her baked goods company, HEN E. Sweets] and shipping bread puddings out. I took some of the money from that and put it into merch and sold merch.
Then the live streams came into play and I did some live streams and people were kind enough to send donations and all. … But what happened within that, WWOZ was doing “Festing In Place” and they played my (Jazz Fest) show from 2019. Man. That hit me like a ton of bricks. And I was like, “Oh. This is what I do!” And I wept, I wept like a baby.
I needed that, though, because the release allowed the creativity to come back in. Because I wasn’t singing. I wasn’t writing. I wasn’t doing nothing. None of that. I just wanted to survive, and I was in this mold like, “Okay. What is gonna happen to me next?” … That allowed music and creativity to come back. And I’m glad it did because that’s when I started to write.
Live For Live Music: As things started to open back up, what were your first live shows of significance?
Erica Falls: The first one was at Tipitina’s [in 2021]. Tips was having shows and they had tables set up with linens and they were serving food. … It was weird but comforting. You still were concerned about the virus, concerned about COVID, but it felt so good to actually see people’s faces. I can see them and interact and know who they are. Because, you know, with a person with half of his face covered, I would see people and still wouldn’t recognize them. Then you really learn to know people by their eyes. … It felt so good to be back. But, you know, you still have to worry of what was going on in the world and there’s still the uncertainty of how we were gonna move forward.
Live For Live Music: With writing the songs for Emotions, did the spark of creativity come back easily? Was it like riding a bike, so to speak, or did it take a little bit of time?
Erica Falls: It was a little bit of both because I’m an emotional writer. Most people, you can give them a track and they can just chart out a whole song. I’m a little different. It’s either what I’m feeling or I see something that I relate to. And I was feeling a lot of things during that time. That’s why the album is titled Emotions. Because, you know, it really made me look at a lot of things. We had so much going on in the world at that time. Just me living in the world as a Black woman, how I’m perceived in music and outside of music, the exasperation of living with this virus and realizing that no matter where I go, it’s there. I’m still gonna have the same concerns. I could go to Timbuktu and it’s still there.
That’s how the writing came to me. Sometimes when it came, it came all at once and I had to pin it. Sometimes it took a little bit. Sometimes I would only hear the melody of a chorus and then have to go back and really say what I was feeling in the verses. Sometimes that wouldn’t come until a week later, or two weeks later. It was dependent upon the emotion that I felt at the time.
Live For Live Music: You decided to go out on your own, which is wonderful and scary all at the same time. What made you take the leap?
Erica Falls: Well, my mom used to always say either you gonna s— or get off the pot. So I decided to s— [laughs]. Yeah, I decided I’m gonna go ahead on this path and do what I need to do. … I had to take the leap of faith and also trust that God didn’t bring me to this space to leave me here. He was gonna order my steps. … [And] the mistakes that were made, I was gonna learn from that and know how to move forward.
Was it scary? Hell, yeah. And it’s still scary, because I’m still learning. Every day is something new that we’re learning in this process. But I’m grateful that I did it because I would hate to say woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Live For Live Music: How has the reception been to some of the early touring you’ve been doing with Vintage Soul?
Erica Falls: You know, this last run I did, it was a first for me in each of these places on my own. I’ve been to Chicago before with Galactic where we played some other places. And I’ve been to Minneapolis and we played another place. But the places that I went to – The Dakota (Minneapolis, MN), The Navy Pier (Chicago, IL), The Levitt Pavilion (Dayton, OH), Broadway Oyster Bar (St. Louis, MO)—it was my first time at each of those places on my own. And each day got better—the reception and the turnout.
And you know what really blew my mind? Some people had seen me before with Galactic, but then some people just found me. One lady that heard my music on YouTube she said, “I saw you were gonna be here.” This was in Chicago, and she said, “My intent was to come see you and the fireworks.” So, things like that blow my mind because I’m in the grind. You know, you’re working and you’re putting stuff out there and you’re hoping that people receive it. But you’re still in the middle of it, so you don’t really see that it is reaching people. And man, when you get that, it makes all the difference in the world.
Live For Live Music: Who makes up your band Vintage Soul at the moment?
Erica Falls: So, right now, I sort of have two Vintage Souls. I have the band that I work with here in the city, but their obligations here really don’t allow them to travel. so I have another unit that I tour with. That’s how I kind of have to make it work because the train has to keep rolling. But the cats here in New Orleans are Nick Mercadel, Donald Ramsey, Jason Hodge, Danny Able, and Chris Adkins, who plays when he’s available for gigs and in the studio. Those are the cats that basically helped me with this record—with the musicality part of it.
And then on the road I use just three pieces. It’s Eddie Christmas on drums (Eddie Xmas 504) Eric Vogel on bass, and also Danny Able on guitar. When I tour I use three pieces because right now budgets are so small and, you know, we have to accommodate everyone. Then here at home, I use four pieces because it’s just a little bit easier. I don’t have to worry about travel and things of that nature. So, it’s a little interchangeable at times.
They’re all great, great, fantastic musicians. I mean, I’m just being honest. This is what we have to do as musicians these days because the whole scope of the industry has changed. So, you know, I respect these guys for what they have to do here at home. That’s their mainstays. But it’s nothing but love across the board.
Live For Live Music: You had some great musicians playing on Emotions including George Porter, Jr. Can you talk a little about his contribution and what that song means to you?
Erica Falls: It was on a song titled “Big”. “Big” came from, you know, sometimes as Black women in the music industry, you can be put in a box. That song came from: “Don’t put me in a box, because I’m too big. Don’t put me in something that only your mind can see, because my vision is much bigger than yours. What I see for myself is much bigger than what you see for me … so don’t put me in your box.”
That’s how that song came about. And when I was writing it, I just heard George. And he always said, “So, have you written that song yet that you want me to play on?” And so I said,” Hey, George, I wrote it. Bless this track.” And he did.
Live For Live Music: Jamison Ross also plays on the album. Can you tells us a little bit about that?
Erica Falls: Jamison Ross and I did a co-write on a song called “Take Me Away”. I’ll just give you a little bit of the verse. It says, “No mask, no fear of breathing killing me, or the color of my skin for the exact same thing – breathing.” And that’s how that goes and it’s just, “Take me away,” you know. That was the song that came about.
I said earlier, that you can go to Timbuktu, you can go to Japan, you can go anywhere, and COVID was there. Also, is there somewhere where I can go as a Black woman and just live without all of the stigmas and the assumptions of who I am as a woman and as a person and who we are as a culture? Is there somewhere I can go where my brown skin can breathe?
These are some of the lyrics that I wrote in that song. The lyrics I just quoted to you, I had that as my second verse and Jamison was like,”Nuh-uh. We’re gonna switch this around. Sometimes you got to punch them in the gut first and then you come back and give them a little back rub on the second verse.” (Laughs). So, I took his advice.
Live For Live Music: You’ve described you longtime collaborator and co-producer of this album, Nick Mercadel, as your musical conduit. Can you elaborate on that?
Erica Falls: So even though I came up playing the piano and violin as a kid, when I got to high school, I veered away from it and really got more into singing. … When it comes to writing, I can figure out the key and all, but really, I can’t play out what I’m hearing in my head. So, what I do is I sing a memo. I sing and I make a voice memo on my iPhone. And then I go to Nick and I’m like, “Okay. Hey, Nick. This is what I’m hearing.”
And then I also find songs that may have the vibe that I’m looking for or the house that my idea lives in. You know, I don’t want to mimic it, but it gives him some sort of direction of what I’m hearing because it’s all in my head. Right? So I go to him and I’m like, “Okay, Nick. This is what I’m hearing” And we sit and we hammer it out.
We’ll come and say, “What are you hearing for the bass line?” And then I work it out and I sing to him. Then he’s able to come and we’ll figure out the bass line. And then we put bones together as a structure to now send to Donald Ramsey. This is the idea, and now you lay what you’re hearing on the bass line. And then we send that to Jason. Then Jason comes and he’s able to put the keys on top of what we’re hearing. And so Nick, he’s my conduit for that. He helps get everything that I’m hearing in my head out so I can actually hear it through my ears, if that makes sense.
He’s known me for so many years. Nick started playing drums with me, oh my gosh, it has to be over 12 years now, maybe longer, so he’s seen the [evolution] of me from doing all covers, to originals … He knows me musically and he helps me to express and get out of my head what I’m hearing.
Live For Live Music: Each of your previous albums have a certain vibe to them. Is the vibe of Emotions significantly different from your previous works?
Erica Falls: It is, because I’m more honest on this project. I’m more vulnerable. You may hear me say some things like, “Wait. Is that what she just said?” But I had to say it. Right? So this project, it allowed me to grow as a writer. It allowed me to really express myself as an artist and to truly be honest in what I’m saying.
The last project, it was a growing spurt for me. When I listen to it, I can hear from the first songs to the end where the growth happened. But I was still guarding myself, still guarding what I wanted to say, fearful of what people may think. But with this one, I was more honest, more vulnerable, I really learned to express myself as an artist.
It was also cathartic for me. I’ve been writing this project from the pandemic really up until getting everything completed months ago. So it really took time for me to write these things and go back and revisit some of the melodies that had come to my head and say to myself, “Okay. Let me complete this. I’ll make this a complete song or a complete thought. I’ll tell the entire story.”
Emotions, the new album from Erica Falls & Vintage Soul, is out now on streaming platforms.
Erica Falls & Vintage Soul – Emotions – Full Album