Home Share Tweet
Next Story Underneath the wings of a Boeing 747, The Black Tones and Payge Turner play Seattle's first large-scale concert in almost a year
Interviews Podcast Pop Rock

Talking Tracks: American Harlot by Halley Greg

In this live episode of Talking Tracks, Dan and Halley break down the meaning behind and the making of each song on the project — a 10-track album about gaining confidence, female empowerment, and what it means to be a woman in today's society.

Dan Ray March 31, 20212 Comments
Share Tweet
Talking Tracks: American Harlot by Halley Greg March 31, 20212 Comments

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

Halley Greg performs on Talking Tracks. // Photo by Collene McCarter of Ballard Vox

Every month on Talking Tracks, we interview local artists about their latest drops — song by song. It’s a little bit like a curated Spotify playlist, except way more in depth, and it’s all the people who live right in our city. In each episode, you’ll get to listen to the full album or EP right alongside the artist’s inspiration behind the tracks. Now, we’re teamed up with LiveMo and Amit Sounds to bring you special, live set editions of the podcast every second Saturday and fourth Wednesday of the month.

Seattle pop rock artist Halley Greg released her debut album, American Harlot, on September 26, 2020. In this live episode of Talking Tracks, Dan and Halley break down the meaning behind and the making of each song on the project — a 10-track album about gaining confidence, female empowerment, and what it means to be a woman in today’s society.

Listen and subscribe to the full interview below, and then click through our photo story for all the best moments. Download the LiveMo app on Apple and Android to stay updated on future live episodes.

Track listing:
1. American Harlot – 16:50.
2. Born to Die This Way – 29:45.
3. No Go – 47:20.
4. “And” Life – 59:10.
5. Let This Love Age – 1:15:10.
6. Why Do You Love Me – 1:28:00.
7. Worth It – 1:42:20.
8. Hey – 1:53:35.
9. Fault Line – 2:09:05.
10. The Gaslight – 2:23:35.

Each episode of Talking Tracks, host Dan Ray interviews musicians about their albums or EPs song by song. On this episode: Halley Greg plays through American Harlot.
A 10-track pop/rock LP, American Harlot deals with themes of feminism, confidence, and growing into yourself. Pictured here: Halley Greg.
The show is recorded in a practice space in SoDo. Performers are spaced six feet apart for COVID safety.
Guitarist Jerett Samples plays a Reverend Airsonic, an instrument that combines the sustain and attack of a solid body with the full tone of a semi-hollow.
Bassist Charles Wicklander sports a Kaiser Permanente face mask. The company also provides his health insurance.
Early in the pandemic, Greg quit her career as a high school science teacher. Second track "Born to Die This Way" is an ode to teachers and, according to Greg, anyone overworked and underpaid.
Drummer Paul Davis.
Excited about how American Harlot reminds her of the songs she grew up on, Dan Ray plays a game with Greg: "What early-2000s band inspired this song?"
Samples also played the previous Talking Tracks episode with soul-rock singer-songwriter Payge Turner.
At the first night recording of the podcast, the crew and band shared a box of wine. Ray joked, "I'm drinking because I just want to be the female, liberal version of Joe Rogan."
" 'And' Life," the third track on American Harlot, is about Greg coming to terms with her bisexuality. As she put it, it's not about one or the other; you can have both.
Amit Amram of Amit Sounds runs sound for each podcast.
"Let This Love Age," track five, contains much imagery of wine and berries. One line about rubbing berries on your lips was born from an experience where one of Greg's romantic partner mansplained how to tell if berries are poisonous: first you rub them on your skin and then on your lips.
Backup vocalist Jen Monette.
Scott Langdon (left) plays shaker and tambourine for the set.
On track seven, "Worth It," Wicklander contributes background vocals along with Monette.
"Worth It" is the only track on American Harlot without a traditional verse-chorus-bridge song structure. Greg said it just came out that way.
Eighth track "Hey," one of the most rock-oriented songs on American Harlot, takes on patriarchal notions of how women are deemed to behave. Greg said it was written in a period of recognizing that she's allowed to feel anger — something she was taught wasn't an acceptable female emotion.
Ray said "Hey" is her favorite track on the album because it reminds her of if Nickelback grew up and got a female lead. Nickelback was Ray's first concert.
Due to time constraints for Monette, the last two tracks of the album are flipped. Here, she performs tenth track "Fault Line."
Greg stands for the final track of the night (but the ninth track on the album), "The Gaslight." The song is based on Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play, "Gas Light,"  that coined the now popular term. In the play, a husband convinces his wife she's crazy because she thinks the lights in the house are dimming — but really he's been dimming the lights and pretending they're fine.

Photos by Collene McCarter of Ballard Vox.

Enjoy this content? Consider becoming a monthly Patron.

Comments

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).