Interview: Uwade

Born in Nigeria and raised in Charlotte, Uwade earned her breakthrough in 2019 when Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold heard her cover of the band’s “Mykonos” and was so taken with her voice that he invited her to record with them in Paris. Pausing from her studies abroad at Oxford University, the Columbia University student recorded vocals on three songs for the group’s 2020 album Shore — “Wading in Waist-High Water,” "Can I Believe You,” and the title track — and has steadily grown her musical career ever since.

Prior to hitting the road with Pecknold and crew after a successful 2022 run, which will bring her the closest to a hometown show on Friday, June 23, at Rabbit Rabbit, Uwade spoke with Asheville Stages about North Carolina’s musical heritage, figuring out the logistics of touring, and maintaining joy.

Edwin Arnaudin: So you’re from not too far from here, right?

Uwade: Yeah, I grew up in Charlotte. I'm actually here now and I'm planning to come up with my mom to Asheville maybe tomorrow or Sunday, just for the day.

EA: Oh nice! Is that a pretty regular trip for you two?

Uwade: Not super regular. The first time we did it was maybe a month ago. But it's a lot of fun, so I think we want to make it a regular thing.

EA: Excellent. Well, to get things started, I’m curious what kind of musical upbringing you had in Charlotte. Were there lots of opportunities there for young musicians to learn and grow?

Uwade: I was very lucky with my elementary, middle, and high school experiences because I did a lot of choir in class settings, and then also regional choir performances and choir camps and this and that. So, I think my first love was vocal performance and just the different ways the human voice can sound and can make people feel.

And North Carolina, being one of the first colonies, there's a lot of early music from this area. So, I think a lot of that was also explored when I was growing up. But yeah, there's a bit of everything.

EA: Are there certain musical traditions from the state that especially spoke to you when you were coming up?

Uwade: I’d say being here — a bit of rap, a bit of hip-hop, a bit of country, a bit of school and church choir stuff. I had a very well-rounded musical upbringing growing up because of being here.

EA: And did you get out to a lot of shows?

Uwade: Honestly, I feel like this is a mark of the sort of “internet generation” that Spotify playlists mark my musical everything more than anything. I didn't really grow up seeing that many live musicians. But I mean, of course finding out that Nina Simone was born in Tryon — I was like, “Oh my gosh. Whoa!” And then Roberta Flack — we drove by on our way into Asheville, near Montreat, I think is where she grew up. So hearing about these super cool people, and then more modern artists like Sylvan Esso, I'm like, “Oh, there are so many cool North Carolina connections,” even if I didn't know about them until sort of later on in middle and high school.

EA: Yeah, there’s a really neat mural of Roberta Flack on the side of Black Mountain Brewing in downtown Black Mountain.

Uwade: Yeah! I think that's what we saw.

EA: Nice! Well, we’re excited to have you come to Asheville with Fleet Foxes. It seems like touring with them for the past year must be a surreal, full-circle experience in a way. How has you relationship with Robin and the rest of the band evolved since that first Instagram message you got from him to come record?

Uwade: I mean, that was pretty crazy getting that in the first place. Initially, he was asking me if I accepted singing work, and I had never really done anything like that before, but I was like, “Of course! So cool. I love your music.” And so I recorded a weekend in Paris and then sort of nothing happened until things were getting finished with the album, and then it was released and it was COVID time. And it was sort of also surreal because this major thing was happening, but I wasn't really able to connect that much with the outside world.

But then that really changed with last year's Shore Tour in that it went from surreal to feeling very real — you know, being able to be on stage and even be a part of some of the songs that I love that I wasn't necessarily on on the album. And they're all just wonderful people — like, that's not an overstatement at all. They're just great, great guys, very talented musicians, and it's just been very easy to play with them. So, I feel very lucky to be a part of the experience at all.

EA: That’s always great to hear about people you admire turning out to be as good as, if not better, than you imagined. And then opening for The Tallest Man on Earth last year, was that your first tour?

Uwade: Yeah, it was.

EA: How did you imagine that life on the road would be, and how did that line up with what actually happened?

Uwade: I had absolutely no clue what it was going to be like. It was just, you know, doing one show in this place, and then the next day, a show in this place — thinking about having to do that was so daunting to me. So I was like, “How do I get from there to there? And then also have the energy to perform?”

But I think it just happens pretty seamlessly and you get into a bit of a rhythm, and it feels really comfortable after a while. So I think I had no expectations. I don't know if I have a terrible imagination or something, but I literally had no idea. It's like, “I'm just going to see what happens, because I can't even begin to fathom what it's going to feel like to, you know, play four shows in a row at the Troubadour. So, we'll just see what happens when we get there.”

EA: I really enjoyed your “Live on Boston Harbor” set on YouTube and was impressed by you playing it solo with just your voice and guitar — that’s all you really needed. Have you taken that approach for all your tours so far or are you experimenting with a full band?

Uwade: So actually, for the first tour for The Tallest Man, one of my good friends and a wonderful musician, Andy Vaic, joined me on bass and everything else — like, he played a bit guitar and some drums, which was really nice having someone for that first go-around.

But yeah, I have just sort of been comfortable with feeling very low maintenance as an artist and just picking up my guitar and trying to connect with people as best I can — which, you know, is a challenge when there's no one to feed off of on stage. But then I have to really tap into the audience, which is nice.

But I would love to play with more people. I played with a full band in New York for sort of my first major show — at Public Records — and that was a lot of fun. It's a very different experience, but I'm happy to do either one, honestly.

EA: You’ve also played shows with Andrew Bird and Sylvan Esso. Is there any professional or personal advice you sought from these four veteran acts, or any nuggets of wisdom you gained from simply spending time with them and becoming friends with them?

Uwade: Nuggets of wisdom. Hmm… Well, I feel like for professional musicians, there's a very real…I wouldn't say it's a “tendency” because not everyone does it, but there's difficulty in just treating music as a business and losing the passion for it, or losing your excitement for, you know, jamming or singing with people or trying new things. But when I got to do the Psychic Hotline set at Newport [Folk Festival] with Sylvan Esso, the night before one of our rehearsals, we were all in an Airbnb and I was in my room getting ready for bed, and outside in the common area, the A's, which is like sort of a…I don't know if you know them.

EA: Oh yeah! They opened for Wilco here a few months ago.

Uwade: Yeah, yeah, yeah! They're fantastic. They were just singing and practicing, but also just singing beautifully — just sort of for fun and just enriching everyone's lives by doing that. And so I guess through that experience, I keep remembering how much fun there is and how much joy there is and how much life there is in music for the people who make music and not just for those who get to experience it. So I try to keep that playfulness and that excitement in mind from these people I get to play with.

EA: Nice! Yeah, I would agree that “joy” is a great word to describe The A’s.

Uwade: Yeah.

EA: And then where are you in your academic studies?

Uwade: I just finished! I just graduated actually a month ago now from a Master's. So technically, I'm done being a student for the foreseeable future — the first time in my life, which feels very strange.

EA: For sure! A weird but good feeling. So is that freeing you up to pursue music full time?

Uwade: Yeah. Right now, it's what I'm doing. I'm in it. I'm learning how to…I feel like it's so funny to have a touring career as, like, your postgrad sort of “gap year” experience. [laughs] It’s very much not what most people get to do. So, I'm just trying to stay along for the ride.

EA: And are you working towards an LP or EP, or would you prefer to keep releasing singles?

Uwade: I am hoping to release an EP, hopefully in the next year. It's been a while, and I feel like COVID and also finishing school and all these things could've put breaks on that process of releasing things. But I have quite a few songs recorded. I have quite a few songs that I finished that I want to record. So it's only a matter of time — soon. It's been in the works for some time now, so, yeah.

EA: Very nice. And with your mom still in Charlotte, do you feel pulled to live in North Carolina again or has living in big cities made you want to keep doing that for a while?

Uwade: I mean, we'll see. I feel like Asheville is way more fun than Charlotte. I'm like low key a Charlotte hater. [laughs] I’m not a Charlotte hater. There's great beauty in this city, but it's not my favorite place in the world. I guess growing up here, when I think of North Carolina, I think of Charlotte, but there's so many other places in North Carolina and I could totally see myself living in not Charlotte. So maybe — maybe somewhere else in North Carolina would be a long-term spot for me.

EA: Well, if you do decide to give Asheville a try, I think you’d really enjoy it and would be warmly welcomed by the artists here.

Uwade: Amazing! Thank you.

IF YOU GO

Who: Fleet Foxes with Uwade
When: Friday, June 23, 7 p.m.
Where: Rabbit Rabbit, 75 Coxe Ave., rabbitrabbitavl.com
Tickets: $49.50 advance/$55 day of show

(Photo by Shervin Lainez)