In anticipation of her performance at LPR on September 4th we asked cellist Maya Besier to do a guest post for us on the music that inspired her latest album. Check it out below and come join us at the show!

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The first time I heard Janis Joplin I felt shaken to the core. Somehow her unique, raw expression snuck its way into the inner shrine where until then only the likes of Bach and Schubert were allowed to enter. It felt so sacrilegious that I was giddy with guilt. Just imagine a young acolyte of any dogma, experiencing her first transgression…

The cello, the earliest serious choice of my life, destined me for years to be an outsider in Janis Joplin’s world. Her place in the blues and rock and roll, and the blur of electric guitars, percussion and bass – that world seemed barred to me, a classical cellist.

With time, as I forayed into different sound worlds, developed my personal vocabulary, and “unburdened” myself from the weight of the classical tradition, a whole new universe emerged. It made it possible for me to take on, with my cello, the voices of Joplin and Hendrix and Muddy and Page and Plant.

In my new album, UNCOVERED, which I am premiering at LPR, I dive into the inner layers of some of my favorite songs. Uncovering untouched surfaces, nameless colors, dazed images.

Enjoy this playlist of the music that inspires and moves me every day.

With Love,

Maya