Ep. 178 - YOLA ("Faraway Look")

SUMMARY
Our guest on this episode of Songcraft is Yola. The acclaimed British singer and songwriter has released two albums on Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label, both of which were produced by the Black Keys’ frontman. She was nominated for four Grammy awards for 2019, including Best New Artist, and is a sometime collaborator with the supergroup The Highwomen alongside Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Marren Morris, and Amanda Shires. Yola joins us to chat about her life as a songwriter and artist. 

PART ONE
Paul and Scott discuss the history of the Best New Artist Grammy category, including a few surprising tidbits of trivia.

PART TWO 
Our in-depth interview with Yola

ABOUT YOLA
Singer-songwriter Yola made a major splash at the 2020 Grammy ceremony with four nominations: Best Americana Album, Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song for her composition “Faraway Look,” and Best New Artist in the general category alongside Lizzo, Lil Nas X, and Billie Eilish. Dubbed by many as a "country soul singer," the British artist’s breakthrough came when she teamed up with Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach in Nashville to write and record her debut solo album, Walk Through Fire, on which she and Auerbach collaborated with a roster of Southern soul songwriters including Dan Penn and Memphis studio legend Bobby Wood. She was subsequently nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year and Album of the Year at the 2019 Americana Music Honors & Awards. 

Though Yola’s emergence might have seemed like an overnight success to some, she’d been working in music in the UK as a vocalist and collaborator with DJs and producers, including Massive Attack. In 2009 she was a writer on “Hopes and Fears,” a single by UK singer Will Young, and in 2013 she co-wrote the Top 10 UK hit “Turn Back Time” by Sub Focus, on which she also sang an uncredited vocal. Additionally, Yola sang lead on the Top 5 UK pop hit “Won’t Look Back” by Duke Dumont. 

In the wake of her success with the Walk Through Fire album, Yola reteamed with Auerbach for her most recent release, Stand For Myself, featuring highlights such as “Diamond Studded Shoes” and “Dancing Away in Tears.” Her accolades continue, having won Artist of the Year honors at the 2020 UK Americana Awards and earning a 2021 nomination from the CMA for the International Achievement Award. Earlier this month she played a sold out show with Chris Stapleton at Madison Square Garden.