Listen to interviewSinger-songwriter isn’t just another broad stroke label music writers use to classify an artist. It carries a certain expectation the lineage of Dylan, Simon, Young and Stevens helped create. Thoughtful and introspective. Artistic and cerebral. Life’s lessons translated into soulful expressions.
Toby Lightman proudly carries the torch for those who came before her. The concept is simplistic. A guitar and a microphone. But Lightman’s execution of the art is what separates her. With a mastery of vocal melodies accentuating her real life experience song writing, she has emerged from the pack of coffee house composers to bring her music to the masses. And despite her growing popularity, Lightman remains true to her roots. Singer-songwriter. A welcomed cliché in a music world centered on self-importance.
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Click here to see Toby Lightman at the Hard Rock Cafe New York.
Don’t Talk and Chew
"When you’re on the phone, you’re talking basically through a microphone into an earphone. So it’s just accentuated. My mom does this. Friends do this. And I end up taking the phone away from my ear. For some reason it just really bugs me. You can hear all the food meshing around."
The Producers
"The two of them have a history together. I think that personality-wise they are very different people… But in their own right, they’re both amazingly talented people. But they have very different ways of working. You had to pull a little chameleon act to mesh into their environment."
Keep Your Integrity
"I’ve always been fairly lucky and fairly opinionated at the same time. I’ve been able to really explore my own interests in the music that I make… It’s still my name. It’s still my record. And you can’t let them completely dictate where it goes."
Bird on a Wire
"Trying to put a title on a body of work that you’ve been working on for a year was really difficult… It actually means to put yourself in a position of vulnerability… And so I liked that. Because when you’re putting out your album, you’re putting yourself out there."
Lightman Superpowers
"To show the true colors. Instead of just shedding light, it’s like to reveal the truth… I make people honest."
Balling with Prince
"He’s pretty quick on his feet. He could probably block me."
