Blues is something that I always had an interest in, said Anna Troy. “To me, blues is a living art form, meaning it is about being in the moment and capturing what you feel in that moment. Each time you play a blues song, it will be different.”
Though only 22 years old, Troy has already paid significant dues in the music scene. With her sister Lyndsey, she was signed as a teenager to Elektra Records, scoring a minor hit with the song “What Do You Do.” It’s a testament to the song’s success that it became available in a karaoke version and earned the girls appearances in dozens of magazines, including Teen Vogue. They even got to film a big-budget video for the song, spending some of their post-show time visiting the set of a Fleetwood Mac project next door. The duo’s relationship with the label was short lived, and Troy soon went solo, releasing three EPs as a singer-songwriter before finally giving into her love of the blues.
“Being a teenager, I wasn’t exposed to any blues artists that were accessible for me to play with and learn from,” she remarked. “I knew it was something I would do at some point, but my theory about art, is that you can’t force things.”
The opportunity soon arose.
“When I was 19, I met Robin Henkel at an open mic at Lestat’s. At that point, I was doing the whole singer-songwriter thing and playing a very percussive style of acoustic guitar. Robin said he really liked my style of playing and that my voice was very emotional. So we got together, worked out a few of my tunes where he would play slide guitar, and from that point forward he became my mentor. I have to give him credit for teaching me how to really play the blues.”
Troy took to the genre with passion, writing a plethora of topnotch tunes in just a few months. Within a year of beginning to craft those songs, Troy was selected as one of the top three finalists in the International Blues Challenge at the San Diego House of Blues in November 2005.
She spent the following six months working on her first blues recordings. On Aug. 13, Dizzy’s will be the site of a special CD release concert for Troy’s debut album “Ain’t No Man.” Performing the entire disc and few special surprises, she will be joined by a one-time only line-up of musical friends including Gregory Page, Robin Henkel, Billy Watson, Bushwalla, Lindsey Troy, Nathan James and Jeff Berkley.
The album itself is an incredibly strong collection that shows Troy to be a natural at writing hook-laden blues tunes. Closer in style to Chuck Berry and roots music than Johnny Winter or any of the boogie bands, the album’s secret weapon is its range of styles within, using both electric and acoustic instruments as well as different-size combos.
“This album was definitely a labor of love,” Troy said. “I spent almost two years preparing it, from the time I started writing the songs and forming my artistic vision to this point as a solo artist, where I felt like I was finally ready put out a full-length album that I would be proud of.”
For Troy, the songs are the most important part.
“I waited until I had the material that I knew would kick ass once it hit the streets,” she explained. “To me, writing a song is almost like writing an essay, and I do a lot of research before I write them. I try to take inspiration from my favorite artists and pick apart everything that they are doing so I can understand the fundamentals of how they sound like they do. Then I write my song, in hopes that it can capture a little glimmer of what the artist that inspired it gave me.”
While Troy is at home playing in any genre and has already lived through a bad major label experience, she is happy where she is.
“I am very glad I chose the direction that I did,” she remarked. “I am the type of artist that is always willing to take on a challenge. And I am always forcing myself to move forward and grow and change. Once I become comfortable in what I am doing artistically, I have to push the envelope and move forward, or else I get bored.”
Anna Troy performs at Dizzy’s, 344 Seventh Avenue Aug. 13.
